Longkesh Inside Out

“Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman”, said associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Louis Dembitz Brandeis.

In the case of Mairia Cahill, it is Cahill (not any organ of the state) who has forced an extraordinary story out of a close-mouthed system with horrendous import for wider society, of a rape victim who fell foul of the wrong people in the wrong place in post-conflict NI and who got no help from state agencies who abandoned key responsibilities. Read more »

Damage to poppy wreaths at Narrow Water in County Down is being treated as a hate crime, police have said.

Eighteen soldiers were killed in two IRA bomb attacks at the site near Warrenpoint in August 1979.

It is understood the damage happened on Saturday at about 17:20 BST. The wreaths have since been replaced.

Cliftonville Football Club said it was “aware of allegations of involvement from persons returning from our fixture in Warrenpoint”. Read more »

From the War of Independence through to the election of Donald Trump and on into the much anticipated mid-term elections, one group has been to the fore in shaping the ideas of American democracy.

They are often known as the Scotch-Irish. Often – but not always – as Warren R Hofstra, Professor of History at Shenandoah University, explained. Read more »

A tale of yeast.

      One of the more annoying features of Long Kesh life was the weekly search. Or worse still, getting 2 searches in a week. A search disrupted the daily routine. All of us, to 60 men, would have to go to the canteen hut (the hut without a toilet) for up to 2 hours.  The search team would then be able to search and wreck our rooms, called cubes, at will.  This routine became a bit tenser at the 12^th July and Christmas. These where the only two times of the year that the UVF/RHC allowed alcohol to be made and drunk. Of course the screws knew this and the cat and mouse game of hiding and finding the hooch, fire water or more simply, poteen, would begin. Read more »

BBC NI news detailed this story this morning (14/9/18). It makes for interesting reading and we all can speculate on what would have happened if the RUC had have been listened to at that time. Nostradamus would have been impressed with the analysis.

A 1968 letter warning of impending public disorder across Northern Ireland in the wake of and run-up to civil rights marches, has been discovered by students in a history class.

The letter was from the Inspector General of the RUC, Sir Albert Kennedy, to William Craig, the Stormont minister of home affairs in November 1968.

It was found in the Public Records Office by a group of history students. Read more »

So the Ombudsman has delivered his latest report (or letter) to Mairia Cahill, not simply on the deficiencies of, first the RUC and secondly the PSNI in handling her case, but some damning news for Sinn Fein too.

The BBC reports:

…the RUC, Northern Ireland’s police force before the PSNI was formed in 2001, had information about allegations of child abuse by an IRA member 10 years before the complaints were made but failed to act.

He also found that there had been a very odd decision… Read more »

THIS WEEK IN THE NEWS.

I’m hoping to resurrect this feature – we had some fun with it a while ago and it was great that people replied to some of the issues we highlighted – looking forward to hearing from you.

Was reading the old Sunday ‘Lies’ this week and seen that stalwart of truth and honour, Richard Sullivan, had an article reporting on the alleged tensions in North Belfast, featuring the LVF, UVF and the UDA. Some of the stuff he was relaying was very specific, if it was the truth, and it got me thinking as to whether the PSNI has visited him to find out who the sources are that he quotes. Read more »

The Rocking Chair.

     One of the many craft ideas in the Kesh was to build a Wishing Well from plain wooden clothes pegs.  Pegs came in large bags by the hundred and sometimes there would be leftover pegs. On one occasion I asked a friend for his leftover pegs. I sat down to see what I could do with them. My mother always liked a rocking chair so I started to design and build a small model chair.  I needed a coping saw blade, some white wood glue,  sandpaper and stain. And patience. The first effort kept falling over. Eventually I got the balance just right.  The 2 rockers needed a lot of sanding to get an even roll action.  When the glue had hardened I lightly sanded the whole chair. Then one coat of Mahogany stain.  When the item was sitting out for the stain to dry one man walked past,  seen it , came in and asked how much would that cost. ( In truth it had cost nothing as all the items were available!) A little earner had just been born. Later versions would include painted hearts, baize covered rockers and lollipop sticks with names engraved.  This item is the granddaddy and is 36 years old.

R

Seeing this cottage again brings back a lot of memories to me. I must have painted at least 30 of these over the course of some years. The image, whilst quite detailed, was fairly easy to paint but it took a while. I think the original image came from a card someone had received or got out of the shop. it was continuously passed round and made the artists a few pounds. Thanks to big R for sending this into the site. Keep them coming. B.