Those opening words belong to the late Seamus Kelters – part of his thinking back to his young schooldays in west Belfast in the early 1970s…
Author: Brian Rowan
Brian Rowan
Brian Rowan is a journalist/author. A former BBC correspondent in Belfast, four times he has been a category winner in the Northern Ireland Press and Broadcast Awards. He is the author of several books on the peace process. His latest book (published by Merrion Press) POLITICAL PURGATORY – the battle to save Stormont and the play for a New Ireland is now available at www.merrionpress.ie
This week, the date we remember is the 20th anniversary of the PSNI. Yet, to look at policing in isolation, is to ignore the other…
I live in a town of coffee shops – too many of them, if there is such a thing; and, regularly, a new choice presents itself.…
In the political dramas of this place, NI Secretary Brandon Lewis will soon be centre stage. The wider frame in this latest play stretches well beyond…
Right now, politics here is performing another of those high-wire acts – with a blindfold and no safety net. It is a walk that is taking…
The legacy debate has now become the inevitable amnesty war – our past a story of deep trenches, political dead-ends and endless battles for information. For…
The politics of this place is in another of those waiting rooms – this time waiting on Sir Jeffrey Donaldson the latest and third DUP leader…
The recent Whitehall legacy leaks to the London Times and Telegraph on the NIO’s proposed legacy bill undoubtedly had an element of (English) election day propaganda about them. The leaks…
It turns out that Friday May 14 and that vote in the DUP leadership contest was only half-time – or the first leg in a two-match…
Belfast City Hall doesn’t do quiet or private political meetings, not even on a weekend. It is a place that talks. Last Saturday, new DUP leader…
As the DUP moves closer to its decision day, that opening thought is from one source explaining and emphasising how “tight” he thinks this contest has…
In politics, it is not over until it’s over. It has been a week of headlines. The push against Arlene Foster and her resignation statement with…
Northern Ireland in 2021 is not the place of celebration unionists had been anticipating. Beyond Covid, whenever and whatever that might be, the next big political…
Too often in this place we take too much for granted. The idea that Stormont can fall to rise again is one such example. On that…
In August Canon David Porter – chief of staff to the Archbishop of Canterbury – travelled to Northern Ireland. Those he would meet, including the Former…