cúisle mo chroí

This is heartbreaking:
Police ‘forced’ man to identify mutilated body of murdered nephew, court told
Police effectively forced the uncle of a teenage murder victim to identify the badly mutilated body against his will, the High Court has heard.
Alan Steele also claimed officers did not care because they wrongly believed his dead nephew, David McIlwaine, was a [...]

A must-read article from the Guardian about the potential findings of the Nelson Inquiry by journalist Beatrix Campbell:
The public inquiry into the assassination a decade ago of the human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson was about to open its doors in a blank Belfast office block to witnesses last year when a new and eccentric story [...]

It was interesting to see the story on the BBC yesterday about the increase in vigilante justice in the north of Ireland. Now, I’m not surprised to hear that paramilitary-style attacks are on the rise, given the recent activities of dissident republican groups, but I am particularly interested in these types of reports because [...]

Just read an article in Max’s New Scientist (September 20-26, 2008) that he brought my attention to due to its mention of the Patten Commission and policing in the north of Ireland.  The article is called “Shoot but not to kill” and is by psychology and human behaviour journalist Michael Bond.
Bond’s article is a brief [...]

Earlier this week, I sent a letter to Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis to express my dismay upon hearing that his office sought advice from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) regarding crowd control.  This August 28 article in the Boston Globe states that the PSNI, well-versed in the art of crowd control from [...]

From David McKittrick’s article in today’s Independent, “Staying on one side or the other makes life less complicated”:
Their widely differing takes on the Troubles were starkly illustrated by a poll that showed 86 per cent of Protestants approved of the police using plastic bullets while 87 per cent of Catholics disapproved.
The gulf in these mindsets [...]

From Jim Gibney in this week’s Irish News via Newshound:
This Sunday thousands of people from all over Ireland will march to Belfast’s City Hall in memory of the 10 hunger strikers behind a banner calling on the British government to tell the truth about its role in the conflict.
The march organisers – Sinn Féin and [...]

Journalist Stephen Breen reports on ex-RUC officer Laurence Templeton coming forward to support allegations of collusion between Special Branch and paramilitary informers in today’s Sunday Life:
This is the ex-RUC man who last night claimed Special Branch officers ignored the murderous exploits of their agents - to gain favour and [...]

From the Ulster Herald: No misty eyes about ‘Banner’
Few tears will be shed for Operation Banner, the British army’s 38-year involvement in the conflict here. Despite nostalgic footage of housewives treating squaddies to cups of tea, this military adventure should be remembered for some of the most destructive events of the Troubles. British military policy [...]

Folk musician and singer Tommy Makem, best known as one of The Clancy Brothers, died of lung cancer today. The following is a great video from YouTube of Makem both at and being interviewed about Free Derry’s “Liberation Fleadh” in celebration of the nationalist community’s self-declared autonomous zone.  A “fleadh” is a music festival.  This [...]