Legislation for an early British general election on Thursday, December
12 has been passed by the House of Commons. It brings down the curtain
on a deeply divided parliament in which the hardline unionist DUP held
the balance of power for almost two and a half years.
The deadline for Britain to leave the EU has been extended until January
31st, or earlier if the Westminster parliament passes legislation to
implement the Withdrawal Agreement.
The leaders of a number of loyalist paramilitary factions have held
talks to discuss how to force the British government into a u-turn over
a draft Brexit deal agreed this month between British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson and the European Union.
The issue of a unionist veto over political change has become central to
politics in the north of Ireland after attempts were made by unionists
to include it in the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
A failure of Westminster MPs to support British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson’s timetable for passing legislation on a Brexit deal has left
the project in a new limbo, although one which is likely to be resolved
this coming week.
There is growing concern about a draconian new registration procedure for
former republican prisoners which requires those targeted to notify the
Crown Forces of an extensive list of personal details, activities and
movements.
British military intelligence withheld documentary footage from 1972 of
the late Sinn Féin leader Martin McGuinness engaging in IRA activity,
according to an investigation by the BBC Spotlight team.
New photographs of hunger striker Bobby Sands have been discovered in an
archive of French photojournalist Gérard Harlay. Taken at a rally in
August 1976, they are believed to be the last photographs taken of him before his arrest and imprisonment at Long Kesh.
The editor of the Irish Bulletin, Kathleen Mary Napoli, was so involved
in the War of Independence that she accompanied the treaty delegation to
London. But she was informed she was not eligible for an IRA pension
because she was not officially a member of the organisation.
A bizarre publicity event organised by the hardline unionist DUP at the
defunct Stormont Assembly ended quickly today when an attempt to revive its lawmaking
powers failed.
The British government has been accused of deliberately failing to
implement the provisions of Good Friday Agreement in its domestic law
following an appeals court ruling which found that an Irish woman from
County Derry is legally British and not Irish.
The treatment by the PSNI of a Donegal pensioner has been widely
condemned after he was seen to be dragged around in handcuffs following
his extradition into British jurisdiction last week.
Escalating anti-Catholic attacks in a ‘shared’ housing development in
south Belfast have left a disabled man fearing for his life as well as
the life of his four-year-old son.
The police in the north of Ireland provided unionist paramilitary kingpin
Billy Wright with information to help his murder gang target Catholics,
one of his former associates has admitted.
Unionists are to gather at the mothballed Stormont Assembly chamber in a
symbolic attempt to revive the collapsed Six County institutions. They
intend to discuss the implementation of Direct Rule legislation for
abortion, due to become law on Monday.
Catalonia’s peaceful struggle for freedom has erupted into revolutionary
street actions and huge demonstrations after shocking prison terms were
handed down by a Spanish court to the former leaders of the Catalan
government who had organised a peaceful independence referendum.
A deal announced between the EU and the British government allows for
a form of special status for the North of Ireland in regard to
single-market regulations, customs and VAT, following a transition
period and subject to periodic consent being granted by the Stormont
Assembly. A round-up of quotes and statements ahead of
a vote on the deal at the Westminster Parliament.
A draft agreement has been reached on Brexit between the European Union
and the British government. However, following consultations with
loyalist paramilitaries earlier this week, the DUP continue to reject
the planned deal.
The New IRA has said any border infrastructure developed as a result of
Britain’s withdrawal of the north of Ireland from the EU will be
considered a legitimate target for attack.
The British government and the European Union are being urged to seize
the moment to prepare for peaceful Irish unification after Brexit
negotiators shied away from a disastrous agenda to reinforce partition.
Willie Frazer, a prominent loyalist who in recent years described
himself as a ‘victims campaigner’, secretly helped funnel weapons to
loyalist paramilitary groups in the early 1990s, according to a BBC
television news investigation.
British military intelligence removed and destroyed the files of a judge
who was investigating Crown Force involvement in the 1989 murder of
Belfast defence lawyer Patrick Finucane, according to a BBC documentary
aired this week.
The biggest ever demonstration for Scottish independence was held last
weekend in Edinburgh. A sea of blue and white moved through the Scottish
capital as an estimated 200,000 people marched in good cheer despite
damp and windy weather conditions.
The family of an Italian anti-fascist who died fighting ISIS in northern
Syria has appealed for support for the Kurdish people against a Turkish
invasion.
Donegal republican John Downey, who is being pursued in connection with an IRA action in
1972 in which two British soldiers died, handed himself in to Gardaí
police earlier today, according to a report this evening by the Press
Association.
Preparations are underway for a crash Brexit after British Prime
Minister Boris Johnson revealed a barely believable set of proposals for the
border through Ireland which appeared designed to be instantly rejected
by Dublin and the European Union.
US author Bonnie Greer has been credited with a significant intervention
in Britain’s Brexit debate by eloquently speaking out for Ireland and
the peace process on a BBC news talk show.
Suspicions are mounting that a former priest was allowed to sexually
abuse children in return for informing against republican families in
the north of Ireland.
Families suing over state collusion with a loyalist paramilitary gang behind dozens of
sectarian murders have secured a major breakthrough in their battle to
access documents.
A former British soldier charged with the attempted murder of a special
needs man shot dead in County Tyrone in 1974 attended a right-wing rally
in London last week despite claiming that he was too ill to attend court
hearings in Belfast.
This week marks the end of the 1981 hunger strike, in which ten
republican prisoners laid down their lives against the criminalisation
of their struggle for Irish freedom. The first hunger striker to die,
Bobby Sands, described the conditions inside the H-Blocks of Long Kesh
prison in September 1978.
What is the big sticking point on Boris’s Big Deal (BBD)? That’s easy –
he’s for putting in place customs checks/posts/huts/whatever you’re
having yourself.