Continuing the review ( link to the complete series ) of Martin O'Brien's speech on 'Human rights and the Agreement: how far have we come? ', the 2009 Stephen Livingstone memorial lecture. ---------------------------------------------...

Continuing the review ( link to the complete series ) of Martin O'Brien's speech on 'Human rights and the Agreement: how far have we come? ', the 2009 Stephen Livingstone memorial lecture. ---------------------------------------------...

Continuing my review ( link to the complete series ) of Martin O'Brien's speech on 'Human rights and the Agreement: how far have we come? ', the 2009 Stephen Livingstone memorial lecture. Here he reflects on the campaign to secure a...

Continuing review of Martin O'Brien's speech on 'Human rights and the Agreement: how far have we come? ', the 2009 Stephen Livingstone memorial lecture. ------------------------------------------------- O'Brien has harsh words about...

Continuing review of Martin O'Brien's speech on 'Human rights and the Agreement: how far have we come? ', the 2009 Stephen Livingstone memorial lecture. ------------------------------------------------- Ten years on from the Commission...

Continuing review of Martin O'Brien's speech on 'Human rights and the Agreement: how far have we come? ', the 2009 Stephen Livingstone memorial lecture. To what extent have the lessons of developing peace and justice in Northern...

I previously previewed Martin O'Brien 's delivery of the Stephen Livingstone annual memorial lecture, delivered two weeks ago at Queen's University Belfast. It was a hugely impressive speech, ranging over an array of issues of current...

Nearly eleven months on from the handover of the NI Human Rights Commission advice on the Bill to the Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward has still failed to carry out any consultation with the public on the Bill, Via Tuesday’s debate...

Noam Chomsky is a worried man. The war in Afghanistan? Yes. Crisis in the Middle East? Of course. Species survival in light of the threats of environmental catastrophe and nuclear weapons? Aren't we all? All that too, but, as I drive...

That Noam Chomsky's books have been banned , apparently, in the US detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, probably tells you all you need to know about the man and the place. The MIT professor's own comment on the affair: "This happens...

Sadly, not able to make to the opening concert tonight of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's . Valery Gergiev and St Petersburg's Mariinsky Orchestra both bring formidable reputations to Belfast and their version of...

This is your 'heads up' for what ought to be a thought-provoking speech on human rights in Northern Ireland. This year's Stephen Livingstone Lecture takes place next Wednesday (21 October) at 5:30pm, Room G07 in the Peter Froggatt...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Belfast yesterday urging politicians and people to keep moving forward to peace. Speaking to a full house at the Northern Ireland Assembly, she noted “that there are still those looking to...

Northern Ireland's political class is utterly focused today on the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton . As I write, her motorcade is en route to Stormont to meet the First and Deputy First Minister and to address the...

There's something about Mary I'm a long self-confessed fan of Mary Robinson . I even had the chance to host her in Belfast last year when she gave the Amnesty International Annual Lecture. The former Irish President and UN High...

It's National Poetry Day . As good an excuse as any for a visit to verse. As is my wont, I'll use the opportunity to highlight a favoured human rights poem and invite your own suggestions. Last year it was Seamus Heaney's From the...

Shaun Woodward keeps saying that the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly – the subject of talks in Downing Street today – is "the final part of the jigsaw" . The Northern Ireland Secretary of State...

During the summer, a church near where I live advertised its gospel mission with the slogan: "Worried about your job? Trust God." In the midst of a recession, with anxiety high about redundacies, mortgage defaults and unpaid bills, a...

Alan in Belfast has done a better summary of the East Belfast Speaks Out event from earlier this week than I could hope to. In the comments section he even includes a link to the BBC radio news report from the event, which features...

This event has already been picked up on the Northern Ireland blogosphere over on Slugger and on Alan in Belfast but, seeing as I'm one of the panellists, I'll give it a plug here too! East Belfast Speaks Out is basically (the hugely...