Never went away.

[Marauder]

A 29-year-old journalist who was shot dead as she covered riots in Northern Ireland has been named as Lyra McKee.

 

https://news.sky.com/story/woman-shot-dead-in-londonderry-police-say-11697813

[The Hallucinating Goose]

I've been reading a book called 'reporting the troubles' which is a collection of articles written by loads of journalists about their worst memories of the troubles. It really paints a picture as to just how scary it must have been to cover that dreadful time. The journalists were just as at risk as the soldiers or police as the various dissident organisations tried to keep their activities secret. Many many journalists lost their lives to report the troubles and it was so sad to read this morning that another has died just to try to tell us a story. It is so admirable. No matter how much we like to think we have peace in northern Ireland the threat of conflict will always loom in the air. I highly recommend that book to anyone. 

[ckn]

3 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I've been reading a book called 'reporting the troubles' which is a collection of articles written by loads of journalists about their worst memories of the troubles. It really paints a picture as to just how scary it must have been to cover that dreadful time. The journalists were just as at risk as the soldiers or police as the various dissident organisations tried to keep their activities secret. Many many journalists lost their lives to report the troubles and it was so sad to read this morning that another has died just to try to tell us a story. It is so admirable. No matter how much we like to think we have peace in northern Ireland the threat of conflict will always loom in the air. I highly recommend that book to anyone. 

I always thought the journalists were exceptionally brave when I was in NI in the army.  They not only put their names against articles, they  did it repeatedly and still stayed in the area, and they didn’t have the punitive protection of thousands of armed squaddies behind them.

Not sure I have that sort of courage.

[Maximus Decimus]

1 hour ago, Marauder said:

A 29-year-old journalist who was shot dead as she covered riots in Northern Ireland has been named as Lyra McKee.

 

https://news.sky.com/story/woman-shot-dead-in-londonderry-police-say-11697813

It's never gone away but it isn't the same.

Thats not to say it can't come back. 

[Oxford]

No they never went away, nor will they until .....

Very sad news prayers and condolences to family and those close.

[Damien]

Of course it never went away. This is on all sides of course including recent Loyalist murders that you didn't start a thread about. Condolences to her family, NI is really a much better place without all of this nonsense.

Unfortunately for hundreds of years there has been conflict in Ireland and as long as there is a British presence in Ireland there probably always will be. Of course even no British presence will then open another can of worms. What I can say for certainty is that dissident groups who don't believe in the GFA are a small, small number with limited support.  What I can say with equal certainty is that the current political vacuum, no action to implement all aspects of the GFA and almost daily revelations about soldiers murdering unarmed 15 year old boys and priests don't exactly help either. That allows these groups to justify their existence. The government doing nothing to progress any of these issues and the way it keeps kicking the can down the road, hoping that time will take care of things, is a major issue. As is the government being propped up by the DUP.

[Marauder]

9 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

It's never gone away but it isn't the same.

Thats not to say it can't come back. 

Fingers crossed that lessons from the past have been learnt. 

[Marauder]

11 minutes ago, Damien said:

Of course it never went away. This is on all sides of course including recent Loyalist murders that you didn't start a thread about. Condolences to her family, NI is really a much better place without all of this nonsense.

Unfortunately for hundreds of years there has been conflict in Ireland and as long as there is a British presence in Ireland there probably always will be. Of course even no British presence will then open another can of worms. What I can say for certainty is that dissident groups who don't believe in the GFA are a small, small number with limited support.  What I can say with equal certainty is that the current political vacuum, no action to implement all aspects of the GFA and almost daily revelations about soldiers murdering unarmed 15 year old boys and priests don't exactly help either. That allows these groups to justify their existence. The government doing nothing to progress any of these issues and the way it keeps kicking the can down the road, hoping that time will take care of things, is a major issue. As is the government being propped up by the DUP.

I've got the feeling it's Derry not Londonderry and don't get touchy by showing signs of why it's not gone away, as for any murders the Loyalists may have been guilty for, they haven't made the headlines on the mainland and blame Barra McGrory for putting the can in the street to be kicked and the government for not closing the loop hole that is allowing soldiers to be arrested while convicted murderers run around with a get out of jail piece of paper.

 

[gingerjon]

A lot of good coverage by local reporters on BBC Five Live this morning.

[tim2]

I'm not from Northern ireland or have even been, but the news of a person being shot by a terrorist and the sight of police vans on fire in a housing estate was very distrurbing, like a bad dream of something that was familiar years ago.

[Damien]

39 minutes ago, Marauder said:

I've got the feeling it's Derry not Londonderry and don't get touchy by showing signs of why it's not gone away, as for any murders the Loyalists may have been guilty for, they haven't made the headlines on the mainland and blame Barra McGrory for putting the can in the street to be kicked and the government for not closing the loop hole that is allowing soldiers to be arrested while convicted murderers run around with a get out of jail piece of paper.

 

Strange how events only one way make the headlines on the mainland don't you think? 

No there are plenty of things they are kicking the can down the road about. Whilst your concern about a few soldiers is admirable it certainly isn't a pressing issue that troubles people in NI and causes these tensions. Not implementing all aspects of the GFA does, no Stormont does, Brexit does. Hoping that time will heal wounds and no having a proper truth and reconciliation process certainly does. Maybe if the government showed the slightest interest in addressing these issues then things could progress.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, ckn said:

I always thought the journalists were exceptionally brave when I was in NI in the army.  They not only put their names against articles, they  did it repeatedly and still stayed in the area, and they didn’t have the punitive protection of thousands of armed squaddies behind them.

Not sure I have that sort of courage.

You have a lot of courage to be a soldier in northern Ireland anyway my friend. 

[Marauder]

6 minutes ago, Damien said:

Strange how events only one way make the headlines on the mainland don't you think? 

No there are plenty of things they are kicking the can down the road about. Whilst your concern about a few soldiers is admirable it certainly isn't a pressing issue that troubles people in NI and causes these tensions. Not implementing all aspects of the GFA does, no Stormont does, Brexit does. Hoping that time will heal wounds and no having a proper truth and reconciliation process certainly does. Maybe if the government showed the slightest interest in addressing these issues then things could progress.

I'd put it down to whom is being murdered to be honest, and wasn't it Sinn Fein who walked out of Stormont, or the DUP (Again it depends on which side of the fence you sit) 

22,000 bikers, ex-members of the armed forces rode into London last weekend without a spot of trouble and it wasn't really reported in the news ,  today parades/protests are going on in many major UK cities in support of soldier `F` and now soldier `B`. will they get reported, Narrrrrrrrrr unless the government require a smoke screen.

Maybe to progress all the people running around with a get out of jail card need rearresting but if that was to happen the powder keg would ignite again and we don't want that.

[Damien]

1 minute ago, Marauder said:

I'd put it down to whom is being murdered to be honest, and wasn't it Sinn Fein who walked out of Stormont, or the DUP (Again it depends on which side of the fence you sit) 

22,000 bikers, ex-members of the armed forces rode into London last weekend without a spot of trouble and it wasn't really reported in the news ,  today parades/protests are going on in many major UK cities in support of soldier `F` and now soldier `B`. will they get reported, Narrrrrrrrrr unless the government require a smoke screen.

Maybe to progress all the people running around with a get out of jail card need rearresting but if that was to happen the powder keg would ignite again and we don't want that.

Stormont is suspended, you always seem obsessed with pinning blame. 

As for the rest absolutely nothing to do with this thread or the problems currently in NI. Indeed its quite obvious you started this thread with quite different agenda. People not being able to move on is a huge part of the problem.

[Marauder]

18 minutes ago, Damien said:

Stormont is suspended, you always seem obsessed with pinning blame. 

As for the rest absolutely nothing to do with this thread or the problems currently in NI. Indeed its quite obvious you started this thread with quite different agenda. People not being able to move on is a huge part of the problem.

So why is it (Stormont) suspended. and it was you who brought it down this route  by bringing Loyalists into it.

[Damien]

5 minutes ago, Marauder said:

So why is it (Stormont) suspended. and it was you who brought it down this route  by bringing Loyalists into it.

Stormont is suspended due to the RHI scandal and failure to implement all aspect of the GFA 

My only reference to Loyalists was asking a question why you never started a thread on that. Seems strange to only reference one side on a they haven't gone away thread.

[Marauder]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Stormont is suspended due to the RHI scandal and failure to implement all aspect of the GFA 

My only reference to Loyalists was asking a question why you never started a thread on that. Seems strange to only reference one side on a they haven't gone away thread.

Have I missed the news report on a loyalist shooting dead an innocent female reporter ?

[Damien]

19 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Have I missed the news report on a loyalist shooting dead an innocent female reporter ?

No but your last few posts just seem argumentative for the sake of it. Actually if you are truly interested on a daily basis the news the last few weeks in NI have been full of things like below. I suppose these missed attention on the mainland:

 

A former soldier is to be charged with murdering a teenager, who was shot twice in the head in Londonderry during the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Fifteen-year-old Daniel Hegarty was killed in an Army operation near his home in the Creggan in July 1972.

Last year, the High Court ruled a decision not to prosecute, taken in 2016, was based on "flawed" reasoning.

The Army veteran, known as Soldier B, will also face a second charge of wounding the teenager's cousin.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47938218

 

A former soldier has told the Ballymurphy inquest that what he saw was "murder".

C4 had previously told the court that he saw British soldiers with red berets shooting and killing two men close to Springfield Park in August 1971.

He believed that the soldiers were from the Parachute Regiment.

The inquest is looking into the shooting dead of 10 people in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast in August 1971.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47797514

 

A former British soldier has told the Ballymurphy inquest he watched paratroopers shooting and killing civilians.

The inquest is examining the deaths of 10 people in west Belfast in August 1971.

Witness C4 was a 24-year-old man in 1971 and a serving member of the Royal Corps of Signals.

He explained that although he came from Gloucestershire he had married a woman from Ballymurphy.

He was in the area on leave at the time of the shootings.

On occasion he said he had acted as a go-between for the Army and the local community.

C4 told the court he was present during the incident where Fr Hugh Mullan and Francis Quinn were shot and killed on waste ground near Springfield Park.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47786573

 

A former Army medical assistant has told the Ballymurphy Inquest that an officer asked him to plant bullets on two men he had treated.

Nigel Mumford said an officer he did not recognise asked him to plant bullets on their clothes.

He told the court that he refused to do it and that the bullets were not planted.

A lawyer for the family of one of the victims asked Mr Mumford about the culture of the Parachute Regiment in 1971.

He agreed that at times rubber bullets had been doctored with nails by other soldiers before being fired.

He also described the treatment of men arrested and interned who he said were sometimes tied up and hooded, and pushed around.

"You use Paras to fight wars..." he said. "Not as cheap policemen."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47866782

[Marauder]

Have you got what the Para's said at the inquest - Thought not and you'll definitely not have what the IRA said because if I remember rightly they refused to take part even though all sides got told their statements couldn't be used against them.

As for the ex-Signaller, I'd look not further than his wife and where he is living - The medic refused to plant bullets but did not recognise the officer and the bullets didn't get planted - Not really solid evidence.

[Steve May]

4 hours ago, Damien said:

What I can say for certainty is that dissident groups who don't believe in the GFA are a small, small number with limited support. 

Dissident groups?

Brexit cannot be delivered while the GFA is in place.

British government policy is that the GFA is dead.  They just haven’t quite got the guts to say it out loud yet.

So it’s really not just dissident groups.   It’s mainstream politics.

Get used to more tragedy in NI.   It’s what the British public want and they must not be denied. 

 

 

[JohnM]

5 hours ago, Damien said:

 recent Loyalist murders that you didn't start a thread about. 

Now is your chance to correct that. Please feel free.

[Damien]

41 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Have you got what the Para's said at the inquest - Thought not and you'll definitely not have what the IRA said because if I remember rightly they refused to take part even though all sides got told their statements couldn't be used against them.

As for the ex-Signaller, I'd look not further than his wife and where he is living - The medic refused to plant bullets but did not recognise the officer and the bullets didn't get planted - Not really solid evidence.

Didn't think it would be.

[Saintslass]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

Stormont is suspended due to the RHI scandal and failure to implement all aspect of the GFA 

No it isn't.  It is because Sinn Fein decided pull the plug.  Of course the former IRA man who did the deed is now dead and so doesn't have to take the fallout from his own actions but that is the reason, not any scandal (whether proven or not - and was it proven?).

[Damien]

Just now, Saintslass said:

No it isn't.  It is because Sinn Fein decided pull the plug.  Of course the former IRA man who did the deed is now dead and so doesn't have to take the fallout from his own actions but that is the reason, not any scandal (whether proven or not - and was it proven?).

And why did they pull the plug, because of the issues I said. RHI was and is a huge scandal.

[gingerjon]

40 minutes ago, Steve May said:

Dissident groups?

Brexit cannot be delivered while the GFA is in place.

British government policy is that the GFA is dead.  They just haven’t quite got the guts to say it out loud yet.

So it’s really not just dissident groups.   It’s mainstream politics.

Get used to more tragedy in NI.   It’s what the British public want and they must not be denied. 

 

 

The New IRA are a tiny group with, it appears, hardly any weapons. They got lucky. And, as the famous quote goes, they only have to get lucky once.

We’re not yet at the stage - yet - where there are numbers on any side mobilising to a cause. As one reporter put it this morning: they’re mainly in it for the extortion but they probably have some members who want a United Ireland.

I do, because I’m not an idiot, agree with your points about the British government, and any Brexit cheerleader, and their attitude to the GFA. But I think this has far more to do with apparent recent PSNI raids than Brexit. For now.