Opinions
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Words of the revolutionary and former South African President the late Nelson Mandela, himself once incarcerated in penitentiaries, including among others […]
In August 2018 a new film will premier. It is directed by the son of IRA Northern commander Sean ‘Spike’ Murray, also called Sean Murray. The film purports to investigate the so called ‘Glenanne gang’. This film is based largely upon allegations made in the book Lethal Allies and interviews with a convicted murderer, John […]
As Northern Ireland heads for what appears to be a never ending cycle with no functioning devolved Government, the women’s community education sector has never felt as vulnerable. The usual challenges continue – the sustainability of organisations working at the coal face, with vulnerable people, who want to take the steps to improve both their and their families […]
Over recent weeks, there have been numerous offerings from Unionism, ranging from strategic preparation for any border poll to a general commentary on the laissez-faire attitude of the Unionist community. All of which have made valid points, albeit with a sense of uneasiness underlying their central message. Any murmurings of a divisive and unnecessary border […]
Kate Hoey MP is a former Government Minister, current Labour MP and Chair of the UK all-party Zimbabwe group. A strong supporter of the union, Kate is also a key member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. By Kate Hoey MP Over the last few weeks I have escaped from the doom mongers of […]
An analysis of the latest film produced by republican legacy activists and the political motivations which underpin it.
By Jamie Bryson The gradual collapse of statutory bonfire management schemes is a strategic triumph for those within loyalism that have plotted for a number of years to make the schemes unworkable. The schemes were never anything more than a way to ‘buy off’ loyalist culture and tradition, which would eventually lead to bonfire builders […]
Every genuine loyalist should take issue with a politically contrived Task Force designed to fund ‘good loyalists’ and criminalise ‘bad loyalists’ The pursuit of individuals involved in crime is to be welcomed by all right thinking persons. We must all aspire to a society whereby the rule of law is upheld, and those that breach […]
By Jamie Bryson 10 April 1998 was the saddest day in the history of political unionism. The Belfast Agreement, which was sold to unionists as a settlement, instead breathed into life an expansive ‘process’ which is in of itself a Trojan horse for Irish nationalism. Entwined with this process was peace, creating the moral blackmail […]
By Jamie Bryson The decision of Mid-Ulster council to impose a ‘permit scheme’ upon unionist bonfires within their area is the outworking of many years of province wide statutory led bonfire management schemes. In May 2011 I wrote the following in a submission to Ards and North Down Borough Council; “The process around the statutory […]