Last Sunday, 13th May 2018, members of DiEM25 met in Belfast. That same day, eleven women, from both sides of the Irish border, travelled to England and Wales for an abortion that would have been illegal in Ireland. There was nothing unusual in that. It is an everyday occurrence. In 2016 just under 4,000 women…
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has refused an author’s request to view Garda security logs of Northern Ireland-registered cars which travelled between Belfast and Classiebawn Castle in Co Sligo, the late Earl Mountbatten’s summer home.Andrew Lownie, author of The Mountbattens: Their Lives And Loves, has told the Belfast Telegraph that Mr Harris, a former senior PSNI…
The Cold Case Detectives by Lyra McKee Lyra McKee is a freelance journalist and writer Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. So does this one. It can be summarised as a bullet, a bullet, and a bullet.This was Lyra McKee’s foreword to a collection of essays called ‘Paper Trailers’ – a…
Conference explores human rights and journalism If Friday’s session “Human Rights and Journalism” proved nothing else, it confirmed the deficits among media both here and abroad, particularly when it comes to reporting women and minority groups.The Friday discussion was part of the three-day Greater Kansas City Peacebuilding Conference. The theme this year was “Human Rights:…
HIA abuse compensation dead in a ditchBoris Johnson made a commitment in the Queen’s Speech to introduce legislation to provide compensation for Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse victims. Now Jacob Rees-Mogg says there may not be time before Parliament is dissolved on Monday. Kincora victims were recently told they would have to wait 66 years…
Ultra violet lit public toilets, designed to prevent drug users clearly seeing the veins in their arms to inject into, don’t work. Last Friday I went to a blinding and dazzling public ‘comfort station’ to find it locked. I left. I was worried that someone might need help so I returned. As I knocked on…
No Deal Doesn’t Mean a Clean Break Last Saturday, Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), brought a stark message about Brexit to the crowded Factory Room in Belfast’s Metropolitan Arts Centre – the MAC. ‘No deal doesn’t mean a clean break. It’s not as if it’s going to be a short,…
But a new book suggests the threat to the 70-year-old earl was well-known and key flaws in his security handed his killers their opportunityForty years ago today, Martin McGuinness, chief of staff of the IRA since 1978, was on the verge of realising the ambition he had vowed to fulfil when he took command. He…
Where you are tender, you speak your plural. Roland Barthes Last month I went to an early afternoon debate at Duncairn Arts Centre. The panel were Danny Morrison, Conall Parr, Rosemary Jenkinson, Laurence McKeown, chaired by BBC journalist Tori Watson. The Arts of War was an outreach special as part of Feile. Jamie Bryson was…
Sometimes life smacks you in the face.Yesterday I went to public toilets in Belfast and saw what I thought was a bundle of rags in a cubicle. Until I realised I could see an elbow. And the plastic plunger of a syringe. I’m not going to go into all the details. It is enough to…
