The Daily Mirror leads with a mental health story, an academic’s warning that trauma from the Troubles has been been passed to unborn children.

Research shows some evidence that a parent’s trauma can affect the genes passed to their children, Professor Siobhan O’Neill from Ulster University said. Read more »

Think about what is happening inside the Northern Ireland Office right now, and what is due to happen in New York in just a few days time.

In Belfast and London, there are decisions to be made on the responses to the legacy consultation; decisions on what next after asking questions on a proposed structure involving a new Historical Investigations Unit (HIU), an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR), an Oral History Archive and a reconciliation element. Read more »

The Case for the United Kingdom

Recently there has been some debate from members of the public in Northern Ireland as to the Benefits of the United Kingdom, this got my old grey cells thinking so I have listed a few which comes to mind : Read more »

A former IRA leader in east Tyrone has disputed claims that loyalists and republicans reached an “understanding” after a secret meeting in the early 1990s.

Fresh claims about the meeting have emerged just weeks after Sinn Féin MP Francie Molloy said he met two members of the UVF and a Protestant clergyman in a hotel car park near Dungannon. Read more »

In a packed Belfast hall, there is a silence as a set of new TV and radio adverts are given their first public airing.

They are chilling. The screams of a young lad, lying on the floor, calling for his mother after being shot in the knees, are difficult to listen to. Read more »

On August 22, 1972 Mary Casey’s father was killed along with eight others when an IRA bomb prematurely exploded at the Customs Office in Newry, she fears a hard Brexit could see customs checkpoints becoming targets again. Read more »

Great article about Brexit by Noel Dorr in today’s Irish Times

The negotiations in Brussels on Brexit seem to have reached an impasse. It is not yet clear whether the deadlock on the backstop can be resolved at prime ministerial level; or whether that will remain an obstacle to an agreement on the terms for the departure of the UK from the EU next March. Read more »

Long Kesh Diary.

       1987. Special Category Status. The Cages of Long Kesh. The hunger strikes had come and gone. The 1983 escape from the H-Blocks was a memory. The troubles stumbled on in N. Ireland. Some of the darkest periods still lay ahead. A certain M. Thatcher was Prime Minster and the N.I. Sectary of State was Tom King. The average prisoner in the Kesh had served about 12 years and there were no more fixed sentence year men in c.21 that housed the UVF/RHC men. A major turning point was 1985 when, for the first time, a lifer or SOSP prisoner was released directly from the cages. They happened to be prisoners from c.21.   From then on a process of sorts was implemented to look at the cases concerning lifers and to recommend that a case go to the judiciary for a release date or the case to be deferred or ‘knocked back’ for 1 to 4 years.  At this time, I had started to keep a very hap hazard diary of events. It is a snapshot of life for a special category prisoner. And it stands testament to the tricks that memory can play. Having only recently discovered this diary I am amazed at what I have readily forgotten. It does evoke memories, both good and bad, but as such, it is a contemporaneous,  albeit small, record of the end days of a very unique prison environment in British penal history. Read more »

Justice

We acknowledge the need for an effective and representative police service to uphold law, defend peace and protect the innocent. To achieve this goal a police force needs to have respect for the communities it serves. This respect must be two-way and can only be built through partnership. In the absence of full armed conflict the police service must now adjust to the new environment. We must develop initiatives that will assist in the development of safe and secure communities with rigorous opposition to organised crime, illicit drugs trade, antisocial behaviour and more. Our policy position is outlined below:-  Read more »

In research carried out by Unionist Voice it has been revealed that the Security Industry Authority (SIA) whilst in Northern Ireland have not only been operating far beyond their legal powers, but that over 92% of the door supervisors they have targeted have come from a Protestant background. Read more »