September, 2016

The imposition of a suspended jail sentence on a man who interrupted a 1916 commemoration service held in Grangegorman military cemetery for members of the British army must surely rank as an outrageous attack on free speech and a slur on those who died for Irish freedom. Protester Brian Murphy, occupying the moral and ethical […]

OK. Time to get your contributions in for Saturday Pics of the week. I’m starting with mine because there have been no other submissions yet (ahem, Antrim Lens/John Patton).   The picture above is of Matt, one of my three sons. People who’ve known me for a long time swear that he is my expectorating […]

So – good deal, bad deal? The Orange Order appears to have reached a compromise with the Crumlin Ardoyne Residents’ Association (CARA), over their return-leg march past the Ardoyne shops. Next Saturday at 8.00 am, the Orange Order will conduct their march along the disputed route. In return, the Order has given a commitment not to […]

    DEBATE AT NLI. EXTRACT FROM PODCAST AVAILABLE  ON HISTORY IRELAND WEBSITE Yeats 150 Published in podcasts channel @ National Library, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. 7pm Fri 12 June 2015 Roy Foster, Catriona Crowe, P.J. Mathews & with readings by Theo Dorgan   In her contribution Caitriona Crowe speaking about Maud Gonne’s relationship with men […]

Between 9th-11th August 1971,  British soldiers belonging to the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment and one other regiment, in the words of journalist Ian Cobain, ‘went on a prolonged killing spree’ in Ballymurphy. They shot dead 10 people in 36 hours including a local priest, Fr Hugh Mullan, who was administering the Last Rites to one of […]

Two recent matters where I appear to have got it wrong. Regarding the families up at Stormont recently, seeking satisfaction from the proconsul Brokenshire: I was under the impression that they were seeking an inquest for the first time. MT has pointed out that they would have had an inquest at the time of the deaths, […]

So here.  When should there be an inquest? When it looks as if a death was caused by violence or in suspicious circumstances . That’ll do for a start. So when do you think an inquest should be held – like, how long after the death? Common sense would tell you that it should be held […]

    I only heard about this sad case recently. Fifteen year old Ahmed died in 2003 as a result of  the irresponsible and bloodthirsty actions of British soldiers in Iraq. Shortly after British soldiers arrived in Basra, some of them came across some youths who, it was alleged, were looting in the area. The British soldiers […]

Do you ever feel that you are out of the loop? No sooner have you got your head around the political situation in the Middle East when suddenly there’s something happening in South America or one of the African countries.Then something happens in America or Putin invades some country and you’re caught on the hop […]

The idea that there were scores, or even hundreds of thousands, of committed Trotskyists, quietly awaiting their hero’s Second Coming, reincarnated as Jeremy Corbyn, is really mind-boggling. Corbyn has been in politics a long, long time, frightening nobody. I’ve met a few Trotskyists, one a damned good and constructive Union Branch Secretary, others impressive in their unquenchable […]