SWEETS I USED TO KNOW

There was a Sweetie Shop across from Saint Finian’s School, just above Leeson Street on the Falls Road. It had a large advertisement for Blue Bird Toffees  as part of its frontage. It was an attractive feature boasting an iconic Blue Bird in full flight.  I call this fine establishment a sweetie shop because my recollection, which may be flawed, is that this shop sold only sweeties. They were there in large glass jars with big screw-on lids. Shelves upon shelves of them. Confections of all descriptions.  

Britain’s legacy of shoot-to-kill

Two weeks ago the BBC programme Panorama broadcast a report which claimed that the British Army’s elite death squad - the Special Air Service (SAS) was responsible for as many as 54 killings of detainees in Afghanistan in 2010-2011. The excuse in most instances was that the detained Afghan men either unexpectedly produced weapons or made an effort to take a weapon from a SAS member. Senior British Army officers covered-up these actions.