Keep Politics Out of Sport? Tell That To The FAI.
The Republic of Ireland football team are due to play Italy in the European Championships on Sunday 18th June in Poznan. It is a game of huge importance for Italy but somewhat of a dead rubber for an Irish team who were completely outclassed in last night’s fixture with Spain. The date of the game against Italy is a significant one.
Posted in Current Affairs
The Long Awaited…………And Many Times Delayed….
Website Launch
Thursday 14th June seen the launch of the longkeshinsideout website. It was intended to be a small low key affair and invites were sent to around 50 people. Almost 70 people turned up at Farset for a presentation that lasted around an hour and a half. It was certainly encouraging to see such a good crowd and especially so to witness people from many different corners of Northern Ireland.
Posted in Current Affairs
Marking Time.
Throughout the Troubles there were thousands of men and women locked up, detained, interned, etc., from all over N. Ireland. There are many different versions of the Troubles with people making their own spin on stories to suit their needs and objectives. One thing that was reality for many men women and their families was imprisonment. It may have been in the 19th century brick house called the Crum – now an empty but budding tourist attraction. It may have been the ‘Stalag’ like cages and compounds of Long Kesh and Magilligan in the ‘70 and ‘80s. Or it may have been the cold concrete of the world infamous H Blocks in the ‘80s and 90s. And Armagh prison, open from 1780 until 1986, housed some of those women who were involved in the Troubles.
You had to survive, stay sane and live through the day. This article is about the loyalist Special Category prisoners in the cages of the Long Kesh in the 1970s.
Posted in prison life
WHAT PRICE A STORY?
I’ve always liked Sunday mornings – rise about 7, get washed, dressed and go down the stairs. Put the kettle on, then the radio – if it’s cold, put the heat on. Get the car keys and drive to the garage to get the Sunday papers. When I come back I pour out a cup of coffee and sit down to read the papers – Sunday World first, then the Sunday Life and then the Sunday Times – you need a few cups for the ‘Times’.
Posted in Current Affairs
THIS WEEK IN THE PAPERS 8
I came across a story this week which, once again, had me thinking about the benefits of living in this ‘wee’ Country as opposed to somewhere else. DC Comics, formed in 1934, and responsible for a lot of ‘Super-Hero’ and ‘Evil-Baddie’ characters, including –Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Lex Luther, The Penguin, etc. has announced that one of it’s ‘Super-Heroes’ is gay and will be ‘Outed’ soon. This has caused out-rage in certain quarters of the ‘good old U S of A’. ‘One Million Moms’, a US Christian Group has called on DC Comics to change their minds immediately with regards this decision. That is a really a lot of people to piss off! Apparently the smart money is on either Batman or Wonder Woman. Makes you wonder (pun intended) what will be the most popular costume at the ‘Gay Pride’ parade next year. I may fly down for a wee look!
Posted in Current Affairs
The concept of DDR – Decommissioning, Demilitarisation, Reintegration – is a feature of all countries coming out of conflict. Throughout the world, attempts have been made, with relative success, to address this. We have seen the complex attempt the government have made, following the Good Friday Agreement, to dismantle the machinations of the state military. Following their 2007 ‘Statement of Intent’, the UVF/RHC have a strategic approach to conflict transformation.
Read more in our Transformation page
Posted in Current Affairs
Alternatives – A community – based Restorative Justice Project
With the ever-increasing rise in paramilitary attacks, in the form of summary justice ‘kneecapping’ in Republican communities, this barbaric phenomenon is relatively a thing of the past in Loyalist communities. With the PSNI currently exploring new ways to eradicate this, Alternatives have been a leading agency in employing a human rights approach to addressing summary justice in partnership with the community.
Read more in our Transformation page
Posted in Current Affairs
For Sale: Broken Record—Some Scratches— But Still Works.
What is it with these guys? Seriously, if it was your own child rhyming on and continually whinging they would get a right slap around the legs. In their job description for the House on The Hill there has to be something that states——” must be able to complain bitterly—be able to dig trenches—have double standards—and misrepresent “. There are quite a few that fall into this category but the two in question here are Jim Allister, who of course will go to great lengths, not only to be offended but to garner some—any—publicity, and Mike Nesbitt, the new darling of the Ulster Unionists who seems to have gained a degree in obstinacy and contrariness. And what is the problem this time? Just that old chestnut of Sinn Fein appointing an ex prisoner as a Junior Minister in Stormont.
Posted in Current Affairs
The Blue Banner
W.F. Marshall
Marshall penned this stirring poem in 1912 during the time of the Third Home Rule crisis. He used much of the original Covenant imagery of 1638 as inspiration. At the time of writing the poem Marshall was assistant minister in First Ballymacarret Church in Paulett Avenue, off the Albertbridge Road. The poem famously appeared in the Northern Whig on the day the Covenant was signed –28th September 1912.
Posted in Current Affairs
The first in an occasional series looking at some of the more interesting characters in Northern Ireland throughout the years. These mini biographies will illustrate the vast array of talent at many levels—highlighting those individuals that we can call “ Our Own “.
Rev. W.F.Marshall
The Bard Of Tyrone
William Forbes Marshall was born on 8 May 1888 in Sixmilecross, County Tyrone—his father was the principal teacher in Sixmilecross National School and this is where William was first educated. From there he moved to Royal School Dungannon and eventually to Queens College Galway. It was while he attended Royal School, Marshall had the distinction of writing the school song.
Posted in Current Affairs