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‘H-Block POWs’ in Reading Prison
H-Block themes and hunger striking feature in a new Oscar Wilde exhibition which opened in Reading Prison last Sunday. Artefacts on display acknowledge the Irish struggle for freedom. There are aerial drawings of the H-Blocks of Long Kesh by Rita Donagh, and two...
No Change, No Deal – Brit Confirmation
The Irish Times this week has quoted from newly released British government papers relating to the 1981 hunger strike which includes an important interview given by Sir John Blelloch to author/historian Padraig O’Malley five years after the deaths of ten Irish...
Writing on the Wall
Stuart Borthwick’s book, The Writing on the Wall: A Visual History of Northern Ireland's Troubles, was given its Belfast launch during Féile an Phobail last week. Danny Devenny, an ex-political prisoner who served time in Cage 11 with Bobby Sands, is a former graphic...
Huge Commemoration in Belfast
The 35th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike was commemorated nationally in a huge march and rally through West Belfast last Sunday. A video report on the parade and speeches can be viewed here. Here are some photographs (courtesy Peadar Whelan) from last Sunday's...
Death of Father John Murphy
Father John Murphy, who was known affectionately to former political prisoners in the H-Blocks as ‘Silvertop’, ‘Spud’ or ‘Murph’, died last weekend and was buried on Tuesday in St Peter’s graveyard at the Rock Chapel, Stoneyford. Former republican POW Jim Gibney, who...
Thomas McElwee Remembered
On Sunday, 7th August, the day before the 35th anniversary of the death of Thomas McElwee, people, some in period costume representing 1916, gathered in Bellaghy to pay their respects to the young 23-year-old who died on hunger strike after sixty two days. After a...
★★★★★ From RTE for ‘66 Days’
The RTE review of Brendan Byrne's film about Bobby Sands' hunger strike, 66 Days, is quite considered and sensitive and has given the documentary five stars, which is astonishing given the history of the station with regard to coverage of northern affairs. These are...
Unionists on ‘66 Days’
Two unionists, one the political commentator and broadcaster Alex Kane, the other the DUP MP Gregory Campbell, have seen the film 66 Days about Bobby Sands’ hunger strike in 1981. Here are their views on the film: Alex Kane’s from The Newsletter and Gregory Campbell’s...
‘66 Days’ – Everyone Should Watch
Denzil McDaniel has been reporting news from Fermanagh for many decades and was a witness to the 1981 hunger strike and the election of Bobby Sands in the by-election in the constituency. In this opinion piece from The Impartial Reporter he gives his views on the film...
Follow The Money!
Four days after a DUP minister reinstated a £200,000 grants scheme for marching bands – which had been suspended last year due to budget cuts (largely championed by the DUP!) – the DUP have slammed the BBC and Northern Ireland Screen for part-funding the documentary...
