Delusion growing at top of Stormont as leaders blame public for not appreciating all they’ve done
Sam McBride, Belfast Telegraph, September 11th, 2025
There is delusion at the top of the Stormont Executive, the First and deputy First Ministers made clear yesterday.
Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little Pengelly believe the real problem is that the public don't understand how great their administration is, rather than moving to accept the absurdity of how little it has achieved.
If you're an optimist who thinks the Executive is inching towards taking years of difficult untaken decisions, or that it might accept it can only spend more money if it raises more money, Stormont's leaders yesterday indicated unambiguously this is unlikely to happen.
In a rare appearance before the Assembly committee meant to scrutinise the department (they haven't been there for a year), the two ministers dismissed criticism as either a media exaggeration or public misunderstanding.
The session again reinforced the limp nature of an Assembly scrutinising an Executive where most of those acting as scrutineers are members of governing parties.
During the first 25 minutes of the hearing, just one question was asked — largely because the committee allowed long opening statements in which the ministers told MLAs what they already knew: the success of The Open, public appointments they'd made, legislation they'd proposed, and so on. That's not scrutiny.
Ms Little Pengelly said there was “a narrative out there” which didn't accord with the “delivery” from the Executive which she said was widespread.
Referring to the bland Programme for Government, Ms Little Pengelly implausibly claimed “we have made a strong start in relation to all of those priorities”.
When SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin said Stormont was now “toxic” as DUP-SF relations fracture, Ms O'Neill said the issue was “are we delivering? … and the answer is yes”.
In denial
At a time when Lough Neagh is worse than ever and Stormont can't even agree on curtailing the two main sources of pollution — agriculture and sewage — and when one of Ms O'Neill's own ministers can't so much as put a bollard in Belfast's Hill Street (blaming “underfunding and austerity by the British government”), this is nothing short of delusional. Ms Little Pengelly boasted about £20m for Lough Neagh, part of it for “a Lough Neagh report agreed by the Executive”.
This is classic Stormont: pouring money into consultations, consultancies and reports, while failing to take the common-sense — and free — option to just stop the pollution we know is pouring into the lough.
Ms O'Neill claimed that “what doesn't make the news is good news and progress and delivery”.
Yet her department is so incompetent it couldn't organise its own press conference at The Open, keeping journalists waiting for hours.
She said: “I often hear people speaking about the Executive not taking the hard choices … I'm not prepared to push hard-pressed households to pay for more while public services are in decline and it's not of their making.
“The people who say 'make the hard choices', they mean charge people more. That's not how we're going to operate. We're going to transform and fix public services and change things around.”
This is increasingly Sinn Fein's position: pretending to be a left-wing party which believes in taxing the rich but pretending everyone in Northern Ireland is a “hard-pressed household” while pretending not to see Ferraris, the Porsches, and — as this newspaper recently reported — a property market where a three-bed apartment is on sale for £3.5m.
Choosing not to tax these people more is a perfectly reasonable policy, but Stormont is being dishonest in pretending they don't exist.
While disagreeing with Ms O'Neill liberally, Ms Little Pengelly made clear her broad agreement on this issue: “Michelle is absolutely right; when people sometimes accuse the Executive of not making the hard decisions, when you question them to say 'what are those hard decisions?', they talk about introducing new rates or charges for people, they talk about closing hospitals … there are decisions that we're not going to take; that doesn't mean we're not taking other decisions that are difficult, that are challenging.”
Publicly divided
Despite uniting on this, it was unmistakable that Stormont's leaders are now publicly divided.
Asked by the TUV's Timothy Gaston if she could define a woman, Ms O'Neill said: “I really wish you were genuinely interested in the topic but you're not. You're here to cause division.” Mr Gaston denied that, saying she was evading the question.
By contrast, the deputy First Minister said firmly: “I don't accept a redefinition of 'woman'; the vast majority of women don't accept it … I know what a woman is; I am a woman.”
Similarly, they disagreed on meeting Donald Trump. The First Minister made clear she wouldn't go to a state banquet for the US president and urged the DUP to focus on Gaza's humanitarian crisis.
But Ms Little Pengelly sharply pointed out that Trump's stance on Israel is the same as President Biden's — who she'd happily met.
As the ministers also publicly disagreed on whether the Army should be barred from a Londonderry jobs fair and on the Irish Sea border, the Deputy First Minister said that some journalists are “obsessed about trying to look at relationships and potential fractures in relationships”.
Former minister Claire Sugden shot back: “I don't think it's just coming from the media. I don't think it's just coming from people who want to create mischief … I don't see any form of collective responsibility”.
Ms Little Pengelly dismissed a sharply critical recent report of the Executive's performance by the think tank Pivotal. She presented it as a problem for Pivotal rather than the Executive, asking: “Why do people not hear the delivery that's actually happened?”
She said it was “a nonsense to say things haven't been delivered”, citing improvements in childcare, more places for special needs children and more money for health.
Ms O'Neill said if there was one thing that united them, it was ending violence against women and girls.
Yet she didn't mention — and nor did anyone else — the PSNI's chronic underfunding. How can they be serious about protecting women — or any other part of society — while the police wither and the Chief Constable's pleas for support go unanswered?
Ms Little Pengelly spoke robustly and without equivocation against racism and sectarianism, saying she fully supported police in each case.
Again, the underfunding of the police went unmentioned.
And so it circled back to the refusal to take difficult choices: blame the media, blame opposition politicians, blame a think tank, blame anyone other than those who have the power to tax, to spend and to legislate.
This is an Executive which the public can see isn't working, and now its leaders are turning on each other.
It feels like the next election campaign has now started, and hope for serious Stormont reform has ended.
Little-Pengelly and O’Neill deny ‘toxic’ relationship is hindering delivery
JONATHAN McCAMBRIDGE, Irish News, September 11th, 2025
MICHELLE O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly have denied that a “toxic” relationship in the leadership of the Stormont Executive is impacting on delivery.
The first minister and deputy first minister appeared together before their scrutiny committee on Wednesday where they were told the public perception of the executive is one of “unedifying bickering”.
MLAs returned to Stormont this week following the summer recess.
However, the two largest parties in the power sharing executive quickly became embroiled in a row over whether the British army should attend a jobs fair.
The army had been due to attend the event in Derry but withdrew after some Sinn Féin, SDLP and independent councillors objected.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said earlier this week he believed Sinn Féin vice president Ms O’Neill had demonstrated she was not a “first minister for all” and needed to show leadership. Ms O’Neill responded by telling Mr Robinson to “butt out” and respect the council decision.
‘Unedifying bickering’
At the start of the meeting, Executive Office Committee chairwoman Paula Bradshaw detailed a number of areas she said the executive had failed to make progress in.
She said: “What we are seeing is a lot of very unedifying bickering between political representatives from both your parties.
“I would put it to you that we are not seeing progress on these pieces of work because I think it suits both your parties politically to keep this place divided and to keep people suspicious of each other.”
Both Ms O’Neill and the DUP’s Ms Little-Pengelly said they disagreed with that assessment.
Ms O’Neill said: “The real work here is about being focused on building a good society, a fair society, an inclusive society.
“That means building on good work being done up to this point.
“I share some frustration about some things not being able to be done as quickly as I would potentially like them.”
SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin asked the first minister and deputy first minister how they could improve executive relations.
Stormont’s ‘Toxic environment’
She said: “I have to say I am really, really dismayed at how toxic this environment is in this place.
“We have only returned, this is our third day back and it is not a nice environment.
“There is a great deal of toxicity and we can see it quite clearly in ministers’ statements and statements in the assembly.”
Ms O’Neill said: “I think the real question for ourselves is are we delivering on a day-to-day basis on the issues we have identified that are our priorities, which is the programme for government – the answer to that question is yes.
“It is a shorter mandate, we are halfway through. At that halfway junction I am proud to say that we launched a programme for government. I am proud to say we have secured an additional £1.3 billion in finances for public services, we have launched our childcare package, made huge strides forward. Have we more to do? Absolutely.”
Ms Little-Pengelly said: “We will have differences, there will be differences across the parties.
“At the heart of all of this, 99% of time is spent getting on with things, pushing things through the department, trying to get that delivery.”
Turning to the row over the army jobs fair, the SDLP MLA asked Ms Little-Pengelly if she agreed with the views expressed by her party leader.
Ms McLaughlin said: “If it is your view as well I am concerned we cannot deliver any good targets and outcomes if you are both locked in to a way that is absolutely toxic.
“There is no business out there which could do business if directors in the boardroom had that toxic relationship.”
Ms Little-Pengelly said: “So much of what we have done is showing that collegiate approach, but also dealt with where we have differences in a mature way.”
DUP MLA Brian Kingston asked Ms O’Neill if she believed people had a right to pursue a career in the armed forces.
Ms O’Neill said: “The DUP might not like the outcome of the local councillors in Derry City and Strabane, but in my opinion it is the right outcome, it is the right thing to do for the people of Derry, and I think everyone just needs to move on.”
Mr Kingston responded: “I think that is an appalling comment.”
He added: “You are not giving leadership to help society move on.
“For someone who has talked about healing the wounds of the past, you are perpetuating the wounds of the past.”
Ms Little-Pengelly said: “The first minister referenced in her answer to an earlier question that there shouldn’t be any no-go areas and yet the councillors in Derry have created a no-go zone for the British army.
“I think it is absolutely wrong to tarnish the armed forces in this way.”
Independent MLA Clare Sugden said the executive looked “volatile”.
She said: “I think it would be unforgivable if we didn’t see out the end of this mandate and I would like to see a commitment from both of you that that wouldn’t happen.”
She added: “There may be four parties but there is one government, and I don’t see any form of collective responsibility.
“Even listening today it is disappointing at how divided, how polarised, you seem to be.
“In the last number of days, weeks and months it feels so toxic, and the people out there don’t want to see that from us.”
'Citizen journalist' representing himself in court is reprimanded as his key witness 'is in Tenerife'
ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, September 11th, 2025
SELF-PROCLAIMED AUDITOR CHARGED WITH THREE ALLEGED MOTORING OFFENCES
A so-called citizen journalist, who is representing himself in a magistrates court case, has been reprimanded after telling a judge his case could not go ahead as planned, as his key witness was “on holiday in Tenerife”.
Charles Johnson (50), with an address in Kylemore Gardens in Larne, appeared in Laganside Court as a self-litigant facing three alleged driving offences.
The case had been listed for contest, with the prosecution and a police officer, who was to give evidence, present in court for the case.
However, Johnston asked for a last-minute adjournment, citing an ongoing Ombudsman's complaint about the arresting officer and the fact that his key witness — a man he said was a passenger in his car on the date of the alleged offences, was on holiday.
Johnston, a self-styled citizen journalist, goes by the name CJ Audits online.
He is charged with failing to give his name and address to an officer on June 29, 2024.
He is also charged that on the same date he drove on the Belmont Road, in Belfast, “without due care and attention” and a further charge that on the same date he was driving a vehicle “on which was affixed an incorrect form of registration mark”.
Despite the minor nature of the offences, usually dealt with by way of a fine, Johnston is contesting the charges and intends to cross-examine the arresting officer as a self-litigant.
He told the court he was accompanied by a 'McKenzie Friend' — a layperson who supports someone representing themselves in court.
Mr Johnson told the court that he required an adjournment, adding: “This is with the ombudsman, so it is, and the witness is still out of the country, he's in Tenerife”.
He added that he was alleging the arresting constable had “lied under oath”.
District Judge Natasha Fitzsimons said in relation to the arresting constable: “When you say lying under oath, he hasn't actually given evidence.”
In relation to the missing witness, Judge Fitzsimons said: “Where is he? It says here in his email that he has a pre-booked holiday and other personal issues, but he's actually out of the country.
“Then he said he had financial strain, due to being made redundant, but he still got on his holiday?”
Judge Fitzsimons then questioned when the holiday was booked given the case was listed for July.
“I reviewed this on the 6th August. I reviewed it again personally on the 20th August… so there has been two occasions for you to tell me that he was going on his holidays.
“We could have vacated the hearing date in advance if we'd known he was going on his holidays.
‘Just a fellow journalist’
“I am not impressed that I am hearing about this for the first time today. You've had ample opportunity to tell me about this,” Judge Fitzsimons said, adding that she would give him one more chance to “get his witness to the court”.
The case was listed for review on September 17, for a new contest date to be set.
Johnston has been uploading 'auditing' videos to YouTube since 2022.
The videos are mainly of him standing outside PSNI stations, becoming involved in interactions with officers.
The phenomenon of auditing started in the US, but has since spread.
More recently, Johnston has abandoned auditing and instead attends far-right rallies and is often seen in the company of so-called vigilantes.
His YouTube channel has almost 13,000 subscribers.
In one of his recent videos, he is seen following BBC NI radio host Stephen Nolan, saying that the “mainstream media are telling lies”, claiming he was just “asking a fellow journalist questions”.
Sinn Féin says PSNI ‘must do more’ to tackle racist mobs
CONOR COYLE, Irish News, September 11th, 2025
THE PSNI “must do more” to tackle racist mob violence on the streets of Belfast after a “deplorable” attack on migrants in their cars, Sinn Féin has said.
Local representatives in east Belfast have said PSNI officers “should have intervened” when two vehicles driven by migrant workers were surrounded and attacked by a group of men at Connswater Retail Park on Monday.
Video footage of the incidents were widely shared on social media and have sparked widespread condemnation, following weeks of vigilante patrols targeting migrants in east Belfast.
The PSNI is treating the incidents as racially motivated hate crimes, while a spokesperson said its officers were in attendance at Connswater during the attack, as part of an “evidence gathering operation” and would review evidence to determine if any offences were committed.
Brian Smyth, Green Party councillor on Belfast City Council, says police should have intervened and fears someone will be killed as a result of a rise in racist hate crimes and vigilante groups in east Belfast.
A spokesperson for Sinn Féin said the PSNI “must do more” to stop racist attacks and make arrests.
“This was a deplorable attack by thugs in Connswater Retail Park and another example of the disgusting and sporadic racist violence which we have seen across the city,” a party spokesperson said.
Vigilante violence ‘unacceptable’
“Vigilante violence is unacceptable and has no place in society and is wrong and it must stop immediately.
“Police must do more to stop these incidents, arrest and urgently bring those involved before the courts.”
Mr Smyth told The Irish News that PSNI officers should have intervened.
“If a car is being attacked, get in there,” he said.
“If there is an attack on a car in plain sight, go in and arrest.
“The onus is now on the police. The public are rightly outraged at this, there needs to be people arrested.
“The police need to be intervening, but we also know that the police are desperately underfunded. These groups know that and exploit it.
“We allow things to bubble and build until they become a fully blown crisis. What we witnessed on Monday night in that car park was an attempt at a racial lynching.”
Mr Smyth added that people from migrant backgrounds and those who have lived in east Belfast are “living in terror in their homes” as racist gangs patrol the streets in parts of the city.
A senior PSNI officer did not respond directly to questions over whether officers should have intervened during the Connswater incident, but said the force will increase its presence in the area to “engage, challenge and monitor these groups and provide reassurance to the community”.
“The activity of these individuals has been generating fear in the community and it has to stop,” PSNI East Belfast Chief Inspector Louise Dunne said.
“They are confronting and intimidating innocent members of the public, largely on the basis of the colour of their skin.
Those involved have neither the legal nor the moral authority to do this. It is the responsibility of the police service to enforce the law.
“These groups are not protecting the community from anything. In reality these groups are frustrating our efforts to provide a policing service to the people of east Belfast by forcing us to redirect our limited resources to monitoring them. I urge everyone involved in this type of activity to stop.”
Delivery driver living in city for 16 years fears entering areas after racist attacks
JAMES MCNANEY and GARRETT HARGAN, Belfast Telegraph, September 11th, 2025
A delivery driver who has called Belfast home for 16 years has said he is too scared to go into the east of the city and other areas following recent racist attacks and intimidation.
Speaking to UTV, the man, who is originally from Pakistan, said that on occasions he has been forced to stay at home rather than go out to work.
The man explained that his family has lived in Northern Ireland since 2009. But, for the first time in 16 years, he lives in fear of so-called vigilante groups who have been accused of “intimidating and attacking migrants”.
Recently he has stayed at home instead of going to work because he believes it would be “dangerous” to deliver in certain areas.
It comes after an eyewitness to a racist attack in east Belfast has said he feared the victims could have been killed during a “sickening incident”.
The eyewitness, referred to as “Dave”, said a crowd of 50-plus people had surrounded a car on Monday evening at Connswater, near a number of drive-through restaurants.
Speaking to Radio Ulster's Nolan Show, the man said he was concerned that the lives of the three men in the car were in danger.
The witness said: “At about a quarter to eight, I drive in and see around 40, 50 people, maybe 60, many with scarves over their faces, hiding their identities.
“All of a sudden, there's one jumped on a car. A lot of young ones at first, it was about 15 to 20 of them. I just turned around and they just run towards this blue car. Some fella was shouting 'cover your faces, cover your faces.'
“They surrounded the car, started kicking it, hitting it, shaking it. I saw one of the guys in the back, he was foreign-national looking - a human being, plain and simple - three human beings were in the car, being attacked by 15 to 20 people.”
The eyewitness confirmed the men in the car were all non-white, and “all of a sudden, there was about 40 to 50 surrounded the car” who began saying, 'Get them out, get them out'. Shaking the car, kicking the car, hitting the windows, booting the windows.
‘I don’t want my kids brought up in a society like that’
“It sickened the life clean out of me. I'm a father of kids - I don't want my children brought up in a part of society like that there. The people there were like a crowd of animals, getting round a car. I don't know what they meant by 'get them out', but I saw them trying to break the windows, I took it as 'get them out of the car'.
“If they'd got them out of the car, they'd have killed them. That's what I thought. I felt terrified. The engine started, people jumped back. The car spun out. I saw the fear on the three fellas' faces. They were terrified.”
The eyewitness said the driver managed to get the car away from the attacking crowd, and that participants began to complain to nearby PSNI officers about the driver of the car endangering them. He claimed that when the attack occurred the police were “nowhere to be seen”.
The PSNI said it was reported that two cars were approached and the drivers confronted. One of the cars was damaged during the altercation.
Chief Inspector Cunningham said: “The activity of these individuals has been generating fear in the community and it has to stop. They are confronting and intimidating innocent members of the public, largely on the basis of the colour of their skin.
“Those involved have neither the legal nor the moral authority to do this. It is the responsibility of the Police Service to enforce the law in Northern Ireland.
“Officers at the scene conducted an evidence gathering operation and will review the footage to determine any offences committed.”
He added: “There will be an increased policing presence in the area, with officers continuing to work with relevant partner agencies in east Belfast to engage, challenge and monitor these groups and provide reassurance to the community.”
'Dangerous individual with extreme paedophilic tendencies' to be released on bail
ALAN ERWIN, Belfast Telegraph, September 11th, 2025
A former bar manager branded a “dangerous individual with extreme paedophilic tendencies” amid claims he discussed abducting and sexually abusing children is to be released on bail, a High Court judge ruled yesterday.
Robert John Parke, (33), is also accused of having more than 1,000 illegal files on devices seized from his Belfast home.
The scale of his alleged offending was said to have left even some of the PSNI's most seasoned detectives shocked.
Mr Justice McLaughlin stated: “The court is faced with a very dangerous individual with extreme paedophilic tendencies, whose presence in any community must send shivers down the spine of every parent and pose a danger to every child in his vicinity.”
Despite acknowledging the risks, he granted bail based on delays in the case and length of time the defendant has already been held in custody.
Parke, of Ardcarn Drive in the city, currently faces charges of possessing prohibited images of children, possessing and distributing indecent images of children, having extreme pornography and inciting another person to take an indecent image.
Police searched his home in February last year and confiscated a number of phones and computers, previous courts heard.
Examinations of the seized devices revealed around 1,100 files, the majority of them depicting the most serious forms of sexual activity with children.
Prosecutors claimed the phones contained conversations between Parke and others on the messaging app Telegram about grabbing, drugging and raping chidren.
In some discussions, Parke asked for illegal pornography to be shared and used phrases such as “baby” and “the younger the better”, according to the police case.
Defence lawyers argued, however, that he should now be released amid hold-ups in completing the investigation.
The court also heard the incitement charge is unlikely to be maintained in its current form.
With Parke said to have made admissions to possession of the devices and some of the communications, Mr Justice McLaughlin acknowledged the potential dangers.
But he highlighted how the defendant has already served the equivalent of any sentence if ultimately convicted of having indecent images, while any trial could still be several months away.
“I am ultimately, despite all of my strong contrary instincts about the risks the applicant poses, persuaded we have reached the point where the change in circumstances is such that I really feel no option (but to grant bail),” the judge confirmed.
Imposing strict release conditions, he banned the accused from any internet access or unapproved contact with children.
Parke was also ordered not to go within 100 metres of any school, college or child's play area.
After street fighting - a Park renaming row looms
MICHAEL KENWOOD, Irish News, September 11th, 2025
COMMUNITY leaders want a consultation over renaming a playpark in south Belfast, with unionists linking the move to a famous declaration in support of a Jewish state.
The park in the lower Ormeau area of the city is named after Arthur Balfour, a one time prime minister but also well known for the 1917 declaration.
During a Belfast City Council committee meeting, Sinn Féin said a local community group is asking for a consultation on renaming the park on Balfour Avenue.
The DUP accused the party of acting “coy” and “innocent” without revealing the full rationale behind a name change for the playpark, which is beside the Lagan Towpath.
Arthur Balfour, was the British Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905.
He is largely remembered today for the Balfour Declaration of 1917 when he was British Foreign Secretary.
In a letter to Lord Rothschild, seen as a leader of the British Jewish community at the time, Balfour proposed the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
It is considered a crucial milestone in the development of the state of Israel, which was realised in 1948.
British politician Lord Arthur Balfour (1848-1930) points out a feature of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to Governor Sir Ronald Storrs during a visit to Jerusalem in 1925
Playpark at centre of debate over 1917 declaration in support of Jewish homeland
Sinn Féin Councillor Róis-Máire Donnelly raised the possibility of a name change on behalf of Sinn Féin Botanic councillor Conor McKay.
She said: “He asked us to recognise the request from local residents in the Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group to rename Balfour Park, to better reflect the character and identity of the local community.
‘Timely opportunity to rename important community asset’
“With recent improvements to the park facilities, there is now a timely opportunity to engage with residents about renaming this important community asset, given the expressed support from the Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group and local community members.
“We ask the committee to support a consultation taking place locally to gauge community opinion on the proposed renaming, and to invite suggestions for alternative names that reflect the area’s heritage and community values.”
Chair of the People and Communities Committee, DUP Councillor Ruth Brooks, asked Councillor Donnelly: “Was there a rationale specifically for this park to be brought back?”
Ms Donnelly replied: “It is one of those parks [where works] have been approved recently, and because the Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group had come and asked for it, it was just to support that, and see if it is an option.”
DUP councillor Sarah Bunting said: “This request has been wrapped up in a very coy manner, and presented like it is just an innocent request.
“But we are not stupid, Arthur Balfour was a British prime minister, whose name is tied to one of the most significant moments in world history. He supported the creation of a Jewish homeland.”
She added: “If every name is up for changing, just depending on political taste, then no public space will ever be free from controversy.
“If a report is to come back, we have to ensure that policy is very clear, as to how we care to go about naming those parks.
“The park is on Balfour Avenue, it is Balfour playpark, that makes sense.”
The people of Derry, still haunted by Bloody Sunday, deserve respect
LEONA O’NEILL, Irish News, September 11th, 2025
YOU can’t force people to like and respect something they vehemently oppose, regardless of how many times you go on the radio or appear in newspapers to tell them they are awful for not supporting it.
Take the recent controversy about the British Army registering as an employer for a jobs fair to be held in Derry, in the council-owned Foyle Arena leisure centre.
Sinn Féin said it was ‘fully opposed’ to their attendance and they would ‘not be welcome’, while the Ulster Unionist Party accused nationalist parties of ‘sheer hatred and bigotry’. The DUP said the opposition was born out of ‘hostility to the army’.
It’s not really that difficult to get your head around why people in Derry would be opposed to the British armed forces peddling their wares at a jobs fair.
You can tell a traumatised community to ‘move on’ all day long, but it won’t take away the hurt – and generational trauma – that particular organisation caused, and ease any pain.
Indeed it will just reinforce the hurt by diminishing their suffering.
The history of the British Army in my city isn’t some dusty footnote.
It’s in the people still loved and missed, the people who don’t exist any more, and whose children, grandchildren and future generations don’t exist because of the actions of the British Army on Bloody Sunday.
‘Scarred for generations’
Families, friends and whole communities have been scarred, and will be scarred for generations, because of that day. Just like families across Northern Ireland were scarred by the actions of others in the conflict here.
People must see that many families in this city have spent decades trying to stitch themselves back together, to heal, to not let their loss consume them.
We are such a small community. That agony and struggle to get on with life spilled out, rippled through streets, filtered down through generations.
Only those who didn’t stand eye to eye with it will feel comfortable shaking hands with the armed forces and inviting them to speak to our children to offer them a career.
I wasn’t even born when Bloody Sunday happened. But I, like many others in my community, grew up with that inherited pain and that injustice ingrained in our very DNA.
As, no doubt, the pain caused by the IRA, UVF, UDA and others was and will be passed down through generations.
The simple fact of the matter is that there are those who were brought up respecting and loving the military – who have family involvement and have a deep affinity with it.
Thirteen people were shot dead when British soldiers opened fire on civil rights marchers in Derry on January 30, 1972
“ It’s not really that difficult to get your head around why people in Derry would be opposed to the British armed forces peddling their wares at a jobs fair
And there are those who carry a deep aversion to anything militaristic because of their experiences – Bloody Sunday, checkpoints, house raids, internment, riots and growing up in a community that was controlled and restricted by armed soldiers, who treated most of the nationalist community like an enemy.
We are all the product of our environments.
And forcing people to accept and embrace something they are totally opposed to simply won’t aid healing or make change.
I often see army stalls at events and it makes me uncomfortable. For all the reasons above, as well as the fact that the army sells adventure, discipline, training to young people and recruits them into conflict situations where they can get hurt – physically and psychologically – and hurt others.
Pacifist
As a card-carrying pacifist, I cannot bring myself to support violence of any sort.
I have a problem with the army targeting young people as recruits because the pre-frontal cortex – the part of the brain that weighs up consequences and long-term risks – is still very much under construction at that age.
This means younger people tend to lean more on impulse, thrill-seeking, and emotion when making decisions.
Add to that the fact that this age group is searching for identity, for belonging, for a clear sense of who they are.
The army offers all of it neatly packaged – discipline, camaraderie, a uniform, a mission. For a young person unsure of their path, that is powerful.
And that makes me feel really, really uncomfortable.
I’m no republican. I’m certainly no dissident or bigot. I don’t hate the army or those who choose that path for life.
I understand that for many, it is an important role that they have enormous respect for because of their backgrounds.
But respect needs to be given to the people of this city who are still very much haunted by the actions of the army, still hear the echoes of army gunfire, and don’t feel ready to embrace the armed forces with open arms.
Veterans Commissioner: Ban on at jobs fair helps demonise those who wear the uniform
Letters, Belfast News Letter, September 11th, 2025
The Army were refused participation in Tuesday’s jobs fair at the Foyle Arena, and so young people in Londonderry didn't get to hear about the career opportunities
A letter from the Veterans Commissioner David Johnstone:
I am deeply disappointed by the decision that has resulted in the British Army being unable to participate in Tuesday’s jobs fair at the Foyle Arena.
Although recruitment to the armed forces is outside my remit, outcomes like the one in Londonderry this week, only serves to further demonise those veterans who wore the uniform and put their lives in danger on behalf of all society – such demonisation needs to stop.
In 2025, 27 years on from the Belfast Agreement, it is extremely disheartening that such opportunities are denied, not because of the value of the employment or educational pathways on offer, but due to narrow minded political considerations and outdated prejudices. It is particularly ironic that such objections are coming from those that are constantly talking about equality of opportunity for all, yet when it comes to the armed forces and veterans, such sentiment is sadly absent.
The British Army is one of the UK’s leading employers of young people. In 2024, it was ranked the number one apprenticeship employer across the country, supporting over 8,000 apprentices to gain vital skills, while nearly one in five of its workforce were actively completing apprenticeships during recent years.
These are real opportunities in trades, technical skills, and professional careers that benefit individuals and, ultimately, wider society.
To deny young people in Londonderry the chance to hear directly about these opportunities is regrettable. This is a city that often highlights the challenges of youth unemployment and limited career prospects.
Excluding a major employer from contributing to the conversation about future opportunities only narrows horizons further.
I respect that not everyone shares the same views about Northern Ireland’s past. However, I believe it is essential that young people are given the full range of options to make informed choices about their futures.
To close doors rather than open them risks doing a disservice to our young people, and by extension, to our society as a whole.
David Johnstone, Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioner
A private gathering in Oxford - Why the British-Irish Association (BIA) matters
Sam McBride, Northern Ireland Editor, Belfast Telegraph, September 11th, 2025
Last Friday afternoon I stood in line at Belfast City Airport, waiting to board a flight. Getting to the front of the queue, I confidently showed the air hostess my boarding pass and passport. After the briefest of pauses, she said: “I don’t think that’s your passport, sir”.
My heart sank. Earlier, I’d gone to the filing cabinet and hastily pulled out the blue British passport I thought was mine, believing that the rest of my family had Irish passports (my Irish passport having been stolen in Transnistria, as longstanding subscribers will recall).
Unknown to me – or, no doubt, known to me but long forgotten – my wife had got British as well as Irish passports for our children. What I’d confidently presented to Aer Lingus was the passport of an 11-year-old girl.
After a couple of minutes of frantic fumbling through my wallet – during which I suddenly realised the expiry date on my press pass has come and gone – I found a pass for The National Archives in Kew which has my photo on it and which the air hostess graciously accepted.
I recount this purely to satisfy those of you who take inordinate satisfaction in reading about my mishaps.
My reason for flying was to spend the weekend in Oxford for the annual conference of the British-Irish Association (BIA), a gathering which began more than half a century ago as an attempt to bring together key figures from British, Irish and Northern Irish life.
It was my first time there, present as a guest to talk about my book about Irish unity, along with my co-author Fintan O’Toole. It was a fascinating experience among about 150 people, many of whom I knew, but many others of whom I’d never met.
Chatham House Rules
I can’t write about who said what over the two days because it was held under the Chatham House Rule, which means that anyone present can use any information acquired at the event, but can’t attribute anything to individual speakers (although the BIA publish a summary of what’s said – last year’s is here).
As a journalist, this isn’t ideal. We want to report what has been said, but also who has said it – or at least some firm indication of who they represent. It is often this information which gives significance to a quote.
For instance, reporting that someone said “Irish unity is closer than we realise” would be fairly insignificant if said by the leader of Sinn Féin, but front page news if said by the leader of the DUP (who, for clarity, wasn’t there and hasn’t said this).
But the purpose of events like the BIA isn’t to facilitate journalists, even if several attend. It is to enable those who have some public or wider societal role to better understand each other, and the issues with which they are grappling.
While not attributing any of these comments, I can say that during the two days a senior public official expressed fury at the situation in which they find themselves, a political leader said something which if reported would perhaps see them overthrown, and one of our greatest living artists talked humbly about himself and his craft but loftily about its potential to help us understand ourselves, and each other.
Those present at Pembroke College for the weekend included political party leaders, government ministers, diplomats, senior civil servants, academics, bishops, and an assortment of others.
It will surprise many people that even among political foes there was respectful debate, humour, and the sort of straightforward humanity which is rarely a public feature of adversarial democratic systems.
Potential problems
Yet such gatherings aren’t without potential problems. They can become too cosy, reinforcing the sense of an out of touch elite who because they know each other so well will cover for each other when there’s wrongdoing. They can involve self-satisfied people who delusionally clap themselves on the back.
They can also foster a mistaken confidence that the impossible is achievable. A politician saying in private something highly controversial to a deeply atypical audience and being well received could give the politician the belief to say that same thing publicly to their voters, who might tear the politician apart.
For a journalist, getting too close to the powerful can undermine our effectiveness. There are journalists who know everything that’s going on, but can report almost none of it because they’ve traded freedom to report for access to power. This can be satisfying for the journalist, but ultimately of limited value to their readers or viewers.
If this group was taking decisions about how to spend public money or how to legislate or who to appoint to public roles, meeting in secrecy would be deeply problematic. However, this isn’t an executive body. It’s not even an informal decision-making body. Its purpose isn’t to decide anything, but to discuss issues.
In any society, understanding is important, even if it doesn’t lead to agreement. Irish history is especially littered with decisions – often involving bloodshed – which in whole or in part were taken in ignorance of how they’d be received.
As a journalist, the benefits of this – and many such off the record conversations – is to inform my reporting. Sometimes a line of questioning to a politician might seem curious, but is informed by the knowledge gleaned from such circumstances; we know what they really think because they’ve said it privately, but how close to that will they go in public?
Meeting a ghost from Kew
For me, the most exciting element wasn’t relating to any of the senior figures who were present, but more thoroughly nerdish: meeting a long-retired Whitehall official whose name would be unknown to almost everyone in Northern Ireland but which I immediately recognised from years of reading his memos in the declassified Government files.
Among other things, he told me they weren’t allowed to so much as look at a typewriter or the typists would go on strike. That meant everything had to be written out carefully in longhand, then proofed after being typed. Something as simple as that (arguably unnecessary) process meant that thinking was refined in a way which doesn’t happen with emails, and even less so with WhatsApp messages now used by senior civil servants and ministers.
After leaving the spectacular setting of Pembroke College’s grand architecture, perfect lawns and ancient splendour, I made my way to Birmingham Airport where my flight to Belfast was delayed by four hours because the plane had been struck by lightning.
Nervously wondering if I’d have to make my way home by boat, I approached the boarding clerk with outward confidence and showed him my National Archives pass. Uncertain, he went to his colleague to ask if it was OK, and mercifully he assented.
That’s all for this week. See you next week.
Sam
Ps. Some of you asked last week about the civil service response which was sent to me just before last week’s newsletter. It might have seemed odd that I didn’t include it but the reason was that I needed to clarify a couple of elements. I was able to do that, and filed a report from Oxford at the weekend which ran on our front page on Monday, showing that no one judged Ms Brady’s performance before awarding her a huge salary hike – and now she’s getting yet another huge pay increase. Astonishing, yet entirely in keeping with how the Stormont system now operates.
