We live in turbulent times; just seven months into a new decade and it has been totally dominated by crises, especially in the form of the pandemic and the economic crisis it has detonated.
Theory & History
100 years since the Belfast Pogroms: A warning from history
This week marks 100 years since the outbreak of the Belfast pogroms, when the city saw significant sectarian violence and the expulsion of an estimated 10,000 men and 1,000 women from their workplaces, starting in the shipyards and spreading to other workplaces. The violence also spread to the Belfast slums with 22 killed and hundreds wounded. It was the start of a period known as the first ‘Troubles.’ Between June 1920 and June 1922, 428 people were killed and tens of thousands kicked out of their homes, similar to the early phase of the later ‘Troubles.’
Review: One Man’s Terrorist by Daniel Finn
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Provisional IRA. This new book, One Man’s Terrorist: A political history of the IRA, is therefore a timely study of this movement. Seán Burns looks at the book and the lessons that can be learned for today.
Ten Years of Tory Rule
When researching for this article, it came back to me that, around the time the Tories first came to power, the mainstream media often referred to “Broken Britain”. A decade on from then and any serious examination of the facts shows irrefutably that first Cameron, then May and now Johnson have only broken it further.
