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In his 1975 book about Irish nationalism the Parisian writer Maurice Goldring wrote about the void which can too easily be concealed behind the noise of battle. ‘To substitute a “spectacle” for the participation of the masses is to hide a wasteland behind gaudy coloured hoardings. The emptier the political arena becomes, the more vivid the colours must be, the most garish tints are those associated with explosives. White, black, the ochre of the explosion, the redness of th

On Sunday afternoon, I reported a Tory Councillor to the Police Service of Northern Ireland for anti-Irish pro-Brexit hate speech. Ironically, his words came after the Irish Republic gave no points to the UK in Saturday night’s Eurovision contest. It’s been quite a week for Ireland. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: to have one VIP visit in a week may be regarded as a misfortune; to have three looks like a stampede. You’re spoiling us, Mr Ambassador… And to hear the reaction from

I was on Talkback today, here's the link. Talking about preparing for death. Cheerful huh? I'm on with Tara Mills and Corinna Grimes from the PHA, who have just published a great book available to download from their website. Here's a link to TB - we're on just after half twelve. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08pgd1p https://twitter.com/BBCTalkback/status/862636270635372548 https://youtu.be/FXULIAu9R9M

This is a fine piece by Suzanne Breen in Belfast Telegraph. How long will my friend Martin 'Marty' McGartland have to wait before his testimony is accepted at last? How long will victims, survivors and their families have to wait before we finally have a comprehensive truth recovery process? And yes, that includes the state, too. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/informers-sacrificed-by-state-ira-infiltrator-to-tell-stakeknife-probe-35627852.html