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May 2008 (15)
May 30 2008 1:50AM
Northern Ireland: 'It must never happen again'

While Northern Ireland's Consultative Group on the Past won’t be publishing their report till the summer, yesterday it’s co-chairs, Archbishop Robin Eames and Denis Bradley, set out to trail their findings with a joint keynote speech...

May 27 2008 9:57PM
Bush in Belfast: join the protest

President George Bush will be honouring Belfast with a flying visit next month. The BBC reports that "it is understood that Mr Bush wants to put his seal of approval on devolution." No doubt the President would like to claim a bit of...

May 24 2008 4:17PM
Protesting deportations

Belfast 2008: Protesting Deportations – What Next? In collaborationwith the Refugee Action Group, Belfast Exposed has organised a paneldiscussion around the issue of UK deportation. Do come along to this free discusson event on 27 May...

May 23 2008 2:00AM
What b0llix got Number 1? Let me guess Bono

Meant to blog this before now, but was reminded to do so yesterday as I witnessed former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern being awarded an honorary doctorate in law by Queen's University Belfast. Tony Blair got one too (by video!), as a tribute...

May 23 2008 12:56AM
Gore Vidal: in his own words #2

"Do you know they got rid off the Magna Carta, about six months ago?" – Gore Vidal. I previously blogged on the inestimable Gore Vidal and quoted some of his famous words from down the years. C4 News' Jon Snow interviewed the writer...

May 21 2008 12:03PM
Talking to the Taliban

Finally David Miliband has broken with his US mentors and stated that there can be no military solution to the "insurgencies" in Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas. This marks a major policy shift between the two allies, the US...

May 19 2008 10:57PM
Bobby Sands: hero, villain or other?

I really hate it when people who have not seen a film or play take it upon themelves to comment publicly on it – usually to criticise it in a Mary Whitehouse-style way, slamming the producers and urging others not to see it either. So...

May 19 2008 10:53AM
Gore Vidal: in his own words

That brilliant American man of letters, Gore Vidal , was featured on the South Bank Show last night. Melvyn Bragg had secured an interview with the great man in his new LA home, after decades of self-imposed exile in Italy. I have...

May 16 2008 10:56AM
Earl Wesley Berry will die on May 21

What are you doing next Wednesday? Earl Wesley Berry will die. Almost certainly. He is scheduled to be executed in Mississippi on May 21 for the murder of Mary Bounds. So Brian, over at the ever-improving Amnesty USA blogs , tells us...

May 15 2008 6:10PM
Criminal Responsibility and Guantanamo: Philippe Sands

Waow! Yesterday I went to a lecture delivered by Human Rights lawyer Philippe Sands, hosted by Queens University School of Law. The Lecture was based on Philippe Sands book "Torture Team: Deception Cruelty and the Compromise of Law". I...

May 15 2008 4:09PM
New mural in Belfast as Palestinians mark 'the catastrophe'

As mentioned yesterday , Israelis are celebrating 60 years since the foundation of their State. Meanwhile, Palestinians have been marking 60 years of 'al Nakba', the catastrophe. The Guardian has a short article here and a good photo...

May 14 2008 5:28PM
Sixty years of Israel, sixty years of 'the catastrophe'

US President Bush has arrived in Tel Aviv to help Israel mark the anniversary of its declaration of independence. As Israelis celebrate sixty years of Statehood, so Palestinians mark sixty years of 'al Nakba' – 'the catastrophe'. In...

May 13 2008 11:01AM
Hey, bombers, leave our cops alone!

Who do they think they are kidding? The terrorists who bombed an off-duty PSNI officer in Tyrone last night have nothing to offer modern-day Ireland, north or south, but a return to the worst of the 1970s – bad hair, bad clothes, bad...

May 11 2008 1:24PM
Murat Kurnaz

I think that we can definitely call Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish/ German ex-detainee from Guantanamo Bay’s visit to Northern Ireland a success! He visited the Foyle Amnesty group and launched his book in Northern Ireland at the Cathedral...

May 4 2008 4:19PM
The Lady Of Burma

Amnesty are presenting in association with the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival a play called “The Lady of Burma”. I will paste below the introduction I am presenting before the play which I will confess draws heavily on an article in...