My dear friend Ben Lowry of The News Letter is worried again, I see. He’s concerned about legacy. Welcome to the club, Ben. There are people here who were worrying about legacy before you were born. Ben’s main thing, need I say, is that “elderly soldiers are [being] tried late in life for disputed single […]
Tag Archives | IRA
Alban and propagandist parents
If you were to get too serious about things, you’d go mad. I’m just off the Nolan show on Raidio Uladh/Radio Ulster, where Alban Magennis was defending his recent article in the Belfast Telegraph. You haven’t read his article? Well, in essence it sprang from another article by that well-known republican commentator, Newton Emerson …No, […]
Bishop Daly, Martin McGuinness, Frank Hegarty and some characteristics of violent conflict
A cliché: war is hell. All those who’ve been involved in violent conflict, and the many who haven’t, agree on that particular sentiment. Killing people, as G B Shaw said, is the ultimate form of censorship. Efforts have been made to end war – remember flower-power? – and failing that, to make it slightly less […]
Scandalous endorsement that got the light touch
Journalists have a way of disappointing you. A political story comes up and, while they report it, they don’t return to it again and again, especially now when politicians are vulnerable in the run-up to a general election. In ways it’s hardly believable. The example I have in mind is the fact that the Irish […]
Gregory and how to goad
I was on the train to Dublin when I heard of Gregory Campbell’s latest public statement. Now before we go any further I want to say that I’ve met Gregory on a number of occasions and have always found him polite and courteous – even likeable. But just as the Tories shouldn’t elect their new […]
Terry Wogan: Irish ambassador or sycophant?
I’m conflicted about the late Terry Wogan. The conflict is probably best summarized in the comments of two people I know. One of them texted me saying ‘Terry Wogan – Irish as it should be served, sycophantic, groveling, awestruck and grateful. With some loathing for all nationhood, bar UK, on the side.” The other person […]
Structures, structures, never were there such convenient structures
What are structures, anyway? And how can they be peace-threatening? I ask because the notion of ‘IRA structures’ has been tossed around mightily over recent days, not least by the three-wise-persons panel who declared that the IRA army council still existed, and that it gave orders/provided an over-arching umbrella for Sinn Féin and the IRA. […]
Freddie Scappaticci redux
Picture : youtube Wow. And there are still people who don’t believe in spooks. Freddie Scappatacci aka (allegedly) Stakeknife, the man who (allegedly) led the IRA’s internal unit to winkle out informers and punish them accordingly, is now to be questioned about up to 20 killings. So says Barra McGrory, the Director of Public Prosecutions. […]
Telling history or selling a distortion
Picture by Paul We can be very blinkered people in this sad corner of the world. I was listening on BBC Raidio Uladh/ Radio Ulster to a couple of local veterans who had been in the British army – both in the UDR I think. One of the men had lost both legs, both were […]
The Indo and child soldiers
The Irish Independent has been getting into a moral lather of late about ‘child soldiers’. It is expressing its horror that as many as nineteen republican ‘child soldiers’ died during the years of conflict here. Closer reading reveals that most were killed by the accidental discharge of guns or bombs and six were shot dead […]