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 and contributed chapters to 'Reporting the Troubles' and 'Brexit and Northern Ireland: Bordering on Confusion'.
It’s a picture that speaks a thousand words. Those barriers on the Stormont steps a striking image in a place where obstacles, obstructions, blocks…
It was if a rewind button had been hit and what followed was a playback into conversations that have spanned two-plus decades. The panel…
The on-mic/on-the-record commentary was bad enough – but what was whispered on the sidelines of Thursday’s Stormont talks was all the more telling. “Shit show”…
If you can’t see a problem, then you can’t fix it; and if you can’t see, or won’t accept, that you are part of…
Think about what is happening inside the Northern Ireland Office right now, and what is due to happen in New York in just a few…
Crisis. Leadership issues. Spending issues. Confidence issues. Talk of last chance and of rearranging the furniture. I was watching the teatime football on television…
Soon decisions will have to be made on the Legacy consultations. We shouldn’t burden families who lost loved ones with the responsibility of having…
Just read this tweet on Wednesday evening from PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton: Those three words that he uses as his end thought -…
Last week the political script read like something out of EastEnders; the ‘word pellets’ firing from the RHI Inquiry providing enough material for a…
The words spit out like shrapnel – clearly intended to cut and wound. “Widow of the big hero.” “Widow of the Tout.” Two women -…
On the politics of this place, Theresa May’s speech had no announcement, no plan, no process, no timetable – no vision for a way…
On the eve of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit here and with a scheduled meeting of the intergovernmental conference next week, the question above…
It was one of those weeks that leaves us with questions; about politics, about policing, about peace and about our past and present. It…
When politics stands still for such a long time, so a little movement can give rise to suggestions of choreography. Arlene Foster’s recent outreach, then…
Last month, the Northern Ireland Office published the consultation paper: Addressing the legacy of Northern Ireland’s Past. It invites views on a structure shaped…