The Duke of York 

The  recent cold snap and the sniffles of many of my associates reminded me of when I was a young curate in The Duke of York pub in Commercial Court in Belfast in the mid 1960s. In those days a hot whiskey was the cure for colds of all kinds. In the Dukes a ‘Hot Coleraine’ was the much prized preference of hot whiskey drinkers whether they had a cold or not. But in the winter it was regularly utilised to see off the ravages of Belfast chills for all and sundry.

Bloody Sunday

Last Monday – 30 January - was the anniversary 51 years ago of the deliberate murder of 14 Derry civil rights marchers by the British Parachute Regiment in Derry.

Following Bloody Sunday the British Widgery Inquiry blamed the organizers of the march, the victims and the IRA. Widgery accused the dead of being ‘gunmen and bombers’. According to the British the actions of the Paras actions were legal.Establish a Citizens’ Assembly on Irish Unity

In recent weeks some readers will have seen billboards calling on the Irish government to establish a 

Citizen’s Assembly on Irish Unity. Thousands of leaflets have also been produced.

This campaign is a natural consequence of the Good Friday Agreement which is 25 years old this year. The Agreement affords the people of the island of Ireland the democratic opportunity to decide through referendums North and South if they wish to end the union with Britain or establish a united Ireland. For the first time since partition there us a peaceful and democratic route to ending the union with Britain.