'I'll keep on crying until I die':

Mother's desperate letter to PM, begging to clear name of son killed on Bloody Sunday

SAM MCBRIDE, NORTHERN IRELAND EDITOR, Belfast Telegraph, April 25th, 2026

CIVIL SERVANT SAID 'THERE IS NOT MUCH MORE WE CAN GIVE MRS KELLY THAN KIND WORDS' — BUT FILES SHOW OTHER OFFICIALS BELIEVED FROM EARLY 1990S THAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD 'ATONE' FOR ATROCITY INVESTIGATION

After lying in a sealed file for more than three decades, a heartrending letter to the Prime Minister from an elderly mother whose teenage son was killed in cold blood on Bloody Sunday has emerged.

The poignant letter from Kathleen Kelly shows she begged John Major to clear her son Michael's name, telling him that she wanted to be able to meet Michael in heaven and tell him the news.

The document, in a secret file declassified at The National Archives in Kew, is contained alongside papers which show that from at least the early 1990s senior officials wanted to express regret for the atrocity, but were overruled.

In early 1993, Downing Street sent Mrs Kelly's letter to Paul Johnston in the Northern Ireland Office's (NIO) security division.

He said the “highly emotional” correspondence “appears to be a genuine plea from the heart, from a mother who would like to have her son's name cleared.

“However, I think there is not much more we can give Mrs Kelly than kind words; it is not for the Government to rewrite the findings of a judicial enquiry [the discredited Widgery inquiry]…”

Mrs Kelly's neatly handwritten letter said that her son was just 17 when he was killed on his first civil rights march. He had, she said, “no interest at all in politics”. Rather, his only interest “was work and the love of his pigeons”.

She wrote: “He was a very good boy and was never in trouble with police or anyone else, nor were the rest of my family who were brought up to respect everyone and everything.”

The heartfelt letter went on: “I cry every day for Michael because he was my child and I will keep on crying until I die.

“You have a family of your own and I know you have a son of about the same age as Michael and I am sure you and your wife would feel as I do if he were taken away from you at such a young age. God forbid. I hope it never happens.

“I have prayed every day to God, that one day, one of the Paras would admit that all killed on Bloody Sunday were innocent. It happened last year on a TV programme, but still you ignored it.”

She added: “I know that he was innocent, you know he was innocent and the Company Sergeant of 1 Para knows he was innocent. But still you play with words and you will not admit fully he was innocent to the extent which will completely clear his name. Why?

“Are you afraid to admit the truth? I always believed that you were an honest and fair man… you will know something is wrong with the findings of Widgery.

“I am almost 70 years old and I will soon meet my maker, but I would like to die peacefully with the knowledge that Michael will meet me in heaven, as I know he is there, and I will be able to tell him that his name has been cleared… I do not call for revenge.

“All I want is justice for my son Michael. All over the world, British justice has been known as being the most fair, but in the case of Bloody Sunday, I feel that you have let yourselves down.”

What Mrs Kelly could not have known is that in the months prior to her letter top civil servants had debated whether to effectively admit that Bloody Sunday was not as Widgery had claimed.

On February 5, 1992, senior NIO official Peter Bell scathingly said of a bland draft answer to a parliamentary question about Bloody Sunday that it gave the impression that “like the Bourbons, we have forgotten nothing and learnt nothing”.

‘A failure of Command’

In another memo, Bell informed colleagues that he'd told historian Paul Bew that a previous General Officer Commanding (GOC) had described Bloody Sunday as “in essence, a 'failure of command'” where “the wrong 'signals' were given — above all to the 'opposition' — with the result that lives were, counter-productively — given the nature of the campaign — 'lost'. Not so much a crime, therefore, but — much worse — a mistake from a professional viewpoint.”

He said the GOC referred to was at that point Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, General Sir John Waters.

Five days later, Bell wrote again, saying that he, David Fell (a future head of the civil service) and an official called Wilson “have reached, independently, the conclusion that we should, if possible — and in Mr Wilson's words — 'express regret at what was, by any standards, a tragic loss of life in an incident in relation to which, by common consent, mistakes were made'”.

He asked NIO security colleagues to “urgently” explore this.

That day another senior NIO official, John Ledlie, said he agreed that “if the time, mood and personalities were right” it would be “entirely appropriate for regret (and perhaps even a little more) to be expressed by someone in authority (I choose my words carefully)… but exactly what can or should be said now — and by whom — requires careful thought”.

On February 17, senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) official WP Cassell told Stephen Leach in the NIO that the MoD and the Army “have very strong misgivings” about the suggestion.

He said that even “a very limited statement of regret” without admitting guilt could cast doubt on Widgery, add to the impetus for a fresh inquiry and could mean prosecutions. A day later, Conservative MP Peter Bottomley, a former NIO minister, forwarded to Secretary of State Peter Brooke a letter from Margaret O'Donnell, chair of Londonderry's Peace and Reconciliation Group.

She said: “We realise you have to be careful in what you say, but we would have thought that you are in a position to say that you recognise that innocent and unarmed people were killed on that day, that this should have not happened [sic] and you deeply regret it.”

Bottomley said: “I think there is quite something in what she says.”

On March 9, AM Dodds in the NIO told colleagues after reading Bell's draft of a letter for Brooke to send to Bishop Daly: “I was struck by the potential which such an approach would have for being regarded as quite an important historical footnote at some future time.

“It is unlikely, for example, that a Viceroy or a Chief Secretary could, or would, have written in similar terms to a Catholic prelate in the nineteenth century, still less a Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in the present one.”

Paras lies

In fact, the historical footnote is that the British state couldn't bring itself to do this until more than a decade later, at which point a monumental public inquiry had torn apart the Paras' lies.

That same day, Ledlie said he opposed a sudden move, arguing that “it needs extensive brokering with the Ministry of Defence (and perhaps others) before it is put forward; and, in any event, I am doubtful (as I gather are mature minds on the political side of the office) of the wisdom of suggesting that Mr Brooke should write as proposed at this particular political moment”.

By mid-July, Bell was expressing disappointment that bland acknowledgements were being sent to letters from those campaigning to overturn Widgery.

He said to colleagues: “I remain, as you know, uneasy about the posture [the Government] has taken over the years in relation to 'Bloody Sunday' and what I at any rate was inclined to regard as the lost opportunity to 'make amends' at the time of the 20th anniversary”.

Six weeks later, RC West in the NIO's security division said there were two possible interpretations of Bloody Sunday — that of Widgery or that “in effect, the soldiers committed mass murder”.

He said that “unless the Government repudiates the first interpretation… it is not clear what 'mistakes' were made… if one is to criticise the actions of individual soldiers — and Widgery describes the behaviour of some of them as 'bordering on the reckless' — the 'mistake' was to allow them on the streets in the first place; and then not to prosecute them for their recklessness”.

He said if they were serious, they should think about asking ministers to set up a new inquiry, although he said he “would be very much surprised if ministers would in fact wish to do down this very controversial and difficult avenue”.

Almost a month later, MI5's Stephen Rickard said in a letter to four NIO colleagues that he had redrafted a submission to the new Secretary of State, Patrick Mayhew. He said: “I share Mr West's doubts about this project.”

However, he questioned whether the “doubts” of his section of the NIO should be “made evident in any covering minute” going to the minister, saying that the MoD would “clearly be key players if we decide to proceed”.

The draft to which he referred didn't go to the Secretary of State for almost four months.

In a January 8, 1993, memo, NIO official Chris Maccabe said: “As one of those who thought we missed a golden opportunity this time last year to make a significant gesture towards constitutional nationalism, I might be expected to be similarly enthusiastic about such a step on the 21st anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

“However, circumstances alter cases and… I share Mr Fell's view that now is probably not the right time for a further initiative.”

On January 13, Bell's long-delayed submission went to Mayhew.

‘Is there is a case for some kind of expression of regret?”

He said officials had been considering the question: “Does the Government's public stance in relation to 'Bloody Sunday' remain correct? Is there a case for some kind of retrospective expression of regret?”

Bell said that Bloody Sunday “remains the single most damaging event for perceptions of British Government policy in Northern Ireland during the present Troubles… On one view, all this is water under the bridge: there is nothing to be gained from ministers pronouncing on an event which happened many years ago, and in very different circumstances.

“Short of the prosecution of the soldiers involved, and an official repudiation of Widgery, those bitter with the Government will not be appeased… others, equally, would be angered by what might appear to them weakness in the face of republican activism.

“The contrary view is that 'Bloody Sunday' is an issue that will not go away… the relatives of those who died remain vocal in their criticism of what appears, to them, to be total indifference by the Government to their grief.

“And the implication of the Widgery Tribunal — that those who died were in some sense responsible for their own deaths — is one which strikes many people as intrinsically unjust, particularly in the light of recent indications that the forensic evidence on which Widgery partly based his conclusions was flawed.”

He said there were “strong considerations both for and against” expressing regret or apology and “officials find the arguments on both sides persuasive (and finely balanced)”.

He went on: “My own personal judgment, however, which I share with Mr Fell, Mr Ledlie and others, is that for ministers to go further than they have in the past (which is not, to be frank, very far) could open up old wounds in ways that are more likely to cause them to bleed messily than to heal.

“One might also be more confident about recommending a magnanimous gesture if we could say with rather more conviction that incidents of this kind had never, or could never be repeated (not least by the Paras) — but the Coalisland affair last year alone makes this hard.”

He wondered “whether the market will bear another conciliatory gesture to nationalists” but said ultimately it was “one very much for ministers' political judgment” and cautiously suggested some “limited gesture in the direction of at least expressing regret”.

Two days later, NIO minister Jeremy Hanley's private secretary said Hanley was against “re-opening this matter and feels that it would be a sign of weakness, particularly at this time”.

That same day, Mayhew's private secretary wrote: “The Secretary of State feels that it would be grossly unfair to the soldiers involve [sic] who are still alive, to pass comment on their actions without considering Lord Widgery's report in detail comparing it with the evidence (if the records are still available) and giving the soldiers an opportunity to make their own representations.

“All of this is clearly impractical 21 years on and he has concluded that, compensation having already been paid, the matter must be left at that.”

Unionists and Sinn Féin are like Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – desperate to be loved

Populist giveaways and overstaffing are costing Northern Ireland a shocking €3.3bn a year

Newton Emerson, Irish Times, April 23rd, 2026

Stormont would have an extra £3.3 billion (€3.8 billion) a year at its disposal, equivalent to almost a fifth of its budget, if it ended populist giveaways and overstaffing in the public sector.

That is the finding of a so-called “open book review” by the UK treasury, after combing through the finances of every Stormont department. The review was a condition of an emergency loan in February to cover £400 million of overspending, mainly due to unfunded pay rises in health and education, departments controlled by the UUP and the DUP respectively.

Unionists are a little more conservative than Sinn Féin with public money – the health and education ministers made some cuts to help towards the pay rises. But the difference between them is becoming more like that between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael than any party would care to admit.

Similar budget reviews have been made in recent years by the Northern Ireland Office and independent fiscal bodies. These have produced figures of about £700 million, so the treasury’s shocking assertion is that matters are five times worse. Most of the giveaways it identifies are wearily familiar. Subsidising university tuition fees, refusing to introduce domestic water charges, charging lower household taxes than the rest of the UK, plus waived fees and discounts on other public services all add up to about £1.3 billion by the treasury’s reckoning.

There is no prospect of Stormont scrapping these policies. Discussion of them has being going around in circles for years. Sinn Féin is becoming more entrenched due to its position against water charges and students fees south of the Border. A common criticism of powersharing is that parties act as if they are in government and opposition at the same time. This is literally true for Sinn Féin from its all-Ireland perspective. It takes opposition stances in the Republic that it feels it must adopt in office at Stormont, dragging policy down to a responsibility-free level.

The DUP has always been a populist party. It liked to convey an image of sober economic leadership when it was Stormont’s largest party, but since dropping to second place it sees no advantage in even pretending it might seriously tighten the purse strings. Its ministers are currently boasting of a £100 emergency heating payment for low-income households that will arrive in the middle of July.

The 24 per cent ‘Northern Ireland’ factor

The novel aspect of the treasury assessment is that it confronts the hidden giveaway of excess spending on public services. Independent experts have assessed that Northern Ireland needs to spend 24 per cent more per head than England to deliver services to the same standard, due to social and geographic factors.

Stormont receives enough funding from the treasury to do this, yet spends “significantly more” on most services: 52 per cent more on health and 40 per cent more on education, for example.

This is its own form of populism. Failing to take difficult decisions on managing and reforming services means, in practice, employing more people than necessary in more locations than necessary.

The treasury claims getting Northern Ireland’s public-sector pay bill even half way towards UK average levels would save £1.25 billion a year, enough to cover everything the northern executive wants to do on spending and investment. Reducing Stormont’s civil service to a UK average headcount would save £400 million a year – the same as last year’s overspend on health and education.

Emma Little-Pengelly, the DUP Deputy First Minister, dismissed the review as “absolutely preposterous”. “Who is suggesting that we are going to raise over £3 billion in one year from a population of approximately 1.9 million?” she asked.

“The burden of that on hard-pressed families in Northern Ireland would be extraordinary.”

This confused raising revenue with cutting costs. Ending the £1.3 billion of low taxes and fees would involve taking more money from the public. Everything else is money Stormont could put to better use – it could even cut taxes and fees further.

Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin First Minister, said the fundamental problem is that London has not given Stormont enough money for “well over a decade”, while Wales and Scotland are more generously funded in terms of need.

Her first claim is subjective, but considered mistaken by Stormont’s independent financial experts. The second appears objectively mistaken: Northern Ireland is better-funded than Scotland and Wales.

“But it is the starting point which is wrong,” O’Neill concluded on the review.

“It is very hard to go out to the public and talk about raising funds when their services are decimated day by day because of the lack of investment over the years.”

This was back to front. Public services are collapsing because Stormont wastes money trying to be loved instead of investing in reform. Addressing that need not be as unpopular as Sinn Féin and the DUP fear.

Unionism faces 'defining choice' in next Assembly poll: Allister

BRETT CAMPBELL, Belfast Telegraph, April 25th, 2026

TUV LEADER TAKES SWIPE AT 'PROTOCOL IMPLEMENTERS' IN CO DOWN SPEECH

Jim Allister has said unionist voters will face “a defining choice” between his party and “protocol implementers” in next year's Assembly election.

The TUV leader set out a “distinct approach” to the Stormont poll at a public meeting in Newtownards last night. 

He warned unionist voters must decide whether to “endorse DUP/UUP ministers continuing to implement the Union-dismantling protocol, or help TUV call time by refusing an Executive so long as the protocol exists”.

It will be interpreted by some as downplaying the chances of TUV agreeing to alliances or pacts with other unionist parties.

“You can't be a protocol implementer by day and a professed opponent on the doorsteps at night,” Mr Allister said.

“Nor can you be in the Executive without implementing the protocol, that is the compulsion of a minister's pledge of office.

“It is only by recovery of the leverage surrendered by the dud Donaldson deal that unionism can retrieve its clout.

“As the PM is discovering at Westminster, retaining trust through honesty and integrity is key.”

The North Antrim MP, who unseated Ian Paisley of the DUP in 2024, is opposed the Windsor Framework which effectively keeps the region inside the EU market.

The agreement was championed by former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson.

But now unionist politicians, including current DUP leader Gavin Robinson, argue the arrangements leave Northern Ireland in a weakened constitutional position

Mr Allister took a swipe at his political rivals as he spoke alongside his party's Strangford candidate Jonathan Jackson.

Trust

He said: “At the next election every unionist will decide if they can afford to trust those who so blatantly lied to them about having got rid of the Irish Sea border?

“I think not, even if they again try to divert from those lies by pretending an interest in stopping Sinn Féin.

“Those who for almost 20 years have buddied Sinn Féin as their partners in government are not those interested in denying power to Sinn Féin.

“Enemies of Sinn Féin don't partner them in government.”

The framework, and its predecessor the NI Protocol, require checks and customs paperwork on goods moving from Britain.

In December the Government accepted recommendations outlined in Lord Murphy's independent review into our post-Brexit trade arrangements and vowed to support local businesses.

Mr Robinson responded by warning the Windsor Framework will continue to harm Northern Ireland's place in the UK, and criticised the review as “too narrow”.

TUV, which had a partnership with Reform UK during the last Westminster election, stepped aside a candidate in Upper Bann ahead of the poll.

It said the decision was “in the interests of the greater good”.

But Mr Allister said on Friday: “By your first preference vote you will declare who you trust.

“I'm proud to lead a party with an unblemished record on the Union, resisting the protocol and opposing Sinn Féin.

“I don't need to nuance or finesse our stand.

“It's clear and firm for all to see. And it is that consistency, honesty and integrity that Jonathan Jackson offers the voters of Strangford. Strength, not weakness is our way.”

A party spokesperson said the proportional representation system at Stormont gives voters “the luxury of choice without the danger of a split vote” resulting in a non-unionist taking the seat.

It will be advising people to vote for its candidates and transfer to other pro-Union names on the ballot, and expects such an approach to be replicated by its rivals.

They added: “We are happy to have a deal on a sensible basis in terms of transfers across the unionist family.”

Unionist areas ‘will feel it most’ if planners move against paramilitary memorials in statue row

Sinn Féin considering legal action in wake of council move to only review Bobby Sands memorial and ignore others

PAUL AINSWORTH, Irish News, April 25th, 2026

UNIONIST parts of Belfast will “feel it the most” if there is any planning enforcement against paramilitary memorials built without permission, it was warned on Friday.

Sinn Féin made the claim as the row over a Bobby Sands statue in west Belfast sparked a threat of legal action.

There are believed to be hundreds of paramilitary memorials across Belfast, many or most of which do not have planning permission.

Sinn Féin is now considering legal action after its proposal for Belfast City Council to review all illegally erected memorials across the city was rejected in favour of a DUP motion calling for a detailed examination of decisions made regarding the Bobby Sands statue in west Belfast only.

That review by the planning committee follows a tense vote at an emergency full council meeting on Thursday over the statue of the late IRA hunger striker in the nationalist Twinbrook area where he grew up.

The statue was erected without planning permission on Housing Executive-owned land last May, but earlier this month the council had said it would take no further action against it following a probe.

That decision was overturned following Thursday’s vote, with DUP motion proposer, Councillor Dean McCullough, saying the determination not to take enforcement action “strikes at the very heart of public confidence in this council”.

The council told The Irish News it does not have a figure for the number of illegally erected paramilitary memorials in the city.

Sinn Féin party group leader on Belfast City Council, Ciaran Beattie, referred to loyalist memorials at Wednesday’s meeting, stating that in the Shankill area, “every street corner has a mural or a plaque, and none of them have planning permission”.

The party had said the DUP initially planned to back their proposed amendment calling for a wider review of all memorials erected without permission, but the DUP said following the heated debate they would not support an amendment to their motion.

Speaking yesterday to The Irish News, Mr Beattie said his party was considering legal action as the response to memorials “must be equal across the board”.

“The DUP proposal was a nonsense, and it’s a stupid strategy by them,” he said.

“This is something we will be looking at legally, and the DUP knows they have made a blunder here, as if this is eventually examined in detail, it will be unionist areas that will feel it the most, as that is where the majority of memorials are located.

‘It’s about people remembering their dead’

“However, we believe this still needs to be dealt with in a sensitive manner, as it’s about people remembering their dead.”

Secretary of the Bobby Sands Trust, former Sinn Féin publicity director Danny Morrison said yesterday of unionist councillors “the hypocrisy is stunning”.

“Unionists had no problem with illegal monuments, plaques, murals and memorial gardens in largely working class loyalist areas,” he said.

Mr Morrison added: “We know the real reason for this debate has got nothing to do with a universal principle to be applied to everyone but everything to do with unionists resenting the fact they can no longer control the narrative about the history of Belfast and how there are no longer second-class citizens in this city.”

The UFF was a cover name used by the UDA in sectarian murders until the UDA was outlawed in 1992.

Among the loyalist memorials in the city is a large memorial garden at Roden Street in the Village area, honouring the ‘fallen comrades’ of the UFF’s ‘South Belfast Brigade’.

Another enclosed UDA memorial for the group’s ‘East Belfast Brigade’ is located at Dee Street.

A council spokesperson told The Irish News that under existing legislation, it is understood both of these memorials, and others would be immune from planning enforcement, as they have been in place longer than five years.

In west Belfast’s St James Crescent area, a large walled memorial garden includes a ‘Roll of Honour’ for IRA members.

The council said planning permission for a ‘community garden’ had been granted for this site, adding: “No assessment of the site has been undertaken to ascertain whether the memorial garden is in accordance with the permission granted.”

Meanwhile, last November the BBC reported how almost 200 murals and memorials – explicitly for paramilitary groups – were located on Housing Executive land across the north, out of more than 400 memorials.

An IRA memorial in the St James Crescent/Donegall Road area; below: the UFF memorial in south Belfast’s Roden Street

Over 300 of these were regarded as either ‘loyalist’ or ‘republican’, with the remainder ‘unaligned’ or unspecified.

A Housing Executive spokesperson told The Irish News yesterday: “We are – and will continue to be – proactive in removing structures, emblems or signs, where possible.

“Our response is based on collaboration with the local community and partner organisations, with the safety of our staff and contractors a priority consideration.

“In the last five years, alongside community groups, we have delivered 57 different reimaging projects right across Northern Ireland, the majority of which resulted in the removal or prevention of a memorial or mural which would have undermined positive community relations.

“We have also been proactive in removing hate signage and graffiti from our buildings and estates.

“We support local communities in the removal of sectional symbols including murals, memorials and territorial displays – this is core to our daily work and how we provide services.

“This approach is consistent across our communities – if we are asked to act by the community or their representatives, we will.”

The spokesperson added: “We will continue to work with other partners as issues around expressions of cultural identity and sense of place, which manifest themselves in murals, monuments and flags, cannot be addressed by a single agency.”

If ignorance were an exam subject, Stormont would be top of the class

PATRICK MURPHY, Irish News, April 25th, 2026

ALTHOUGH senior managers in Ulster University must carry responsibility for the proposed loss of 450 jobs there, the source of its difficulties lies ultimately with Stormont.

It is not because the Executive has the wrong policy for higher education. It has no policy for it and it has never suggested it might need one.

Indeed, apart from children with special educational needs, Stormont’s Programme for Government makes no reference to education at any level.

Meanwhile, 73% of our schools are financially insolvent, to the tune of about £100 million.

The Education Authority is in financial and administrative chaos and Ulster University is losing about 15% of its staff.

A more honest approach by Stormont would be to appoint a Minister for Ignorance to oversee the planned mutilation of our education system, rather than the current process of its incremental dismemberment.

So what, you ask, is wrong with education here? There are three main problems.

The first is that Stormont governs education as two separate systems, rather than as a seamless process.

Schools are run by a DUP-led Department of Education. Universities are administered by a Sinn Féin-led Department for the Economy.

So schools apparently exist for education, but SF and the DUP believe that universities exist solely to train people for jobs in “the economy”. (The clue is in the department’s name.)

Universities in same Dept as Tourism

As a result, universities are lumped together in the same government department as tourism, consumer affairs, health and safety, and employment law – but not schools.

Philosophy, anthropology, Irish, or sociology, for example, are presumably not considered “economic” – even though an ignorance of history and a failure to appreciate philosophy or sociology have inflicted most damage on our economy in recent years.

The second flaw in our education system lies in selecting those for university at the age of 11.

That system brands over 60% of our children as educational failures – the opposite of the Irish proverb “Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí” (praise youth and it will flourish).

Children are tested on topics such as grammar and spelling. Putting a comma in the wrong place at 11 can blight your employment prospects for life – unless you become an MLA, in which case everything will be written for you by someone else.

Universities are lumped together in the same government department as tourism, consumer affairs, health and safety and employment law – but not schools.

The third problem is Stormont’s continued abuse of education for political control.

In 2015, it abolished the five education and library boards which oversaw schools and replaced them with a single Education Authority (EA).

They said it would save £260m over 10 years. The EA has overspent its budget every year and now, about 10 years later, it is roughly £300m in debt.

The reason for the change was political, not financial. The education boards were largely governed by those appointed in a public competition for their experience and knowledge of education.

The EA is governed largely by those hand-picked secretly by political parties and the churches. Political control has bankrupted our schools.

That political interference can be seen at UU’s Magee campus in Derry.

Although Stormont has no policy on education, its programme for government contains two “priority” references to “expanding” Magee by up to 10,000 students.

It is suggested that 108 of the 450 UU job losses will be in Magee. So while UU is proposing to lay off staff, a Sinn Féin-led Stormont is funding an expansion of the university, but only in Derry. So who is running UU – Stormont, or the Vice-Chancellor?

With the slightest understanding of education, Sinn Féin might recognise a better way forward.

In 2018 the Dublin government created five technological universities, to provide a trained workforce with degrees in technology, engineering and business – what SF and the DUP believe all universities are for.

The Atlantic Technological University has 30,000 students in eight campuses in towns from Galway to Letterkenny, just 30 miles from Derry.

If Sinn Féin wants a Derry university to contribute to the northern economy, they should seek to establish Magee as the ninth campus of the Atlantic Technological University.

It would also be a step towards an all-Ireland education system – oh, and children would not need to undergo educational abuse at the age of 11 to gain entry.

Instead, Stormont persists on conferring favoured university status on nationalist Derry.

In 1968 the unionist government did something similar by locating the then newly-created UU in unionist Coleraine. Nothing changes here.

So in exam terms, Stormont has failed badly on ethics, governance and education, but it merits an honorary degree in sectarian geography.

Is it any wonder this place is in a mess?

Man wrapped Nazi flag around hand before punching victim in face

PAUL HIGGINS, Irish News, April 25th, 2026

A MAN who wrapped a Nazi flag around his hand before punching a man in the face during a racist assault has been handed a suspended jail sentence.

Sentencing Jamie Taylor at Craigavon Magistrates Court, Deputy District Judge Gerard Trainor told the 36-yearold his attack was “racism through and through, naked”.

“Behaviour of this nature is unacceptable in any right-thinking society,” the judge declared and turning to Taylor demanded to know, “have you anything to say?”

“Sorry, Your Worship,” Taylor replied, “sorry to the injured party.”

“I am not convinced that you are,” Judge Trainor told him, adding that “the only question is whether you go to prison today, or the next day when you commit further offences.”

Taylor, from the Tandragee Road in Gilford, had earlier entered guilty pleas to charges of common assault, disorderly behaviour, criminal damage

and resisting police, all committed on February 27 this year.

Yesterday, a prosecuting lawyer outlined that it was around 8.30am when the victim was standing on Thomas Street when Taylor walked past.

The defendant opened his jacket to show the victim his t-shirt which declared “stop importing – start deporting” before reaching into his backpack to pull out a Nazi flag.

After the victim called him a “racist c***,” Taylor told him “you have not seen f****** racism” and after wrapping the flag around his hand, punched him in the jaw.

The defendant left the scene but the court heard that when police arrived, they found that a Kia car had been covered in flour.

The prosecutor said there were “flour trails” which led police to the defendant.

During the arrest, Taylor resisted police and the court heard that both the assault, and the resisting police, were aggravated due to hostility based on race.

Defence counsel Peter Canavan told the court that at the time, Taylor had been “heavily under the influence,” adding that “the context (of the offending) is accepted.”

Although he suggested the case could be met with a community based disposal, Judge Trainor said given the nature of the offending, and the fact that Taylor had previously been on probation, any such option was out of the question.

Revealing that Taylor has 23 convictions, mainly for violence and disorderly behaviour, the judge said it was clear the defendant “had once persuaded probation that he is a reformed character and yet, here he is doing this”.

Imposing a six-month prison sentence, he added that given the contents of the report and the defence submissions, “I will suspend that for two years”.

Warning bells should be ringing in Sinn Féin

CHRIS DONNELLY, Irish News, April 25th, 2026

PLATFORM

IN June 2016, Mid and East Antrim council employed contractors to enter the majority nationalist village of Carnlough on the Antrim coast in the middle of the night and destroy a republican monument that had been illegally erected a few months previously to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising.

At the time, the Sinn Féin MLA for the area, Oliver McMullan, bitterly condemned the incident.

The unionist majority on the council had never countenanced destroying any of the plethora of loyalist memorials dotted across the area.

Indeed, just a few years earlier, the same unionist parties on the then Larne Borough Council (before it merged to form the new authority) had voted to erect a large crown at a roundabout without any prior planning approval.

The Carnlough decision amounted to a statement by unionist parties to nationalists that they really should know their place.

There are few – if any – personalities from the conflict in the latter half of the 20th century held in greater esteem amongst the broad republican community than Bobby Sands. Only Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams would be viewed as an equal in terms of historical status.

Sands’s leadership during the hunger strike period, his election as an MP, and ultimately the manner of his death make him an iconic figure. The political and electoral legacy of the hunger strike he led was the rise of Sinn Féin, the Anglo-Irish Agreement and political talks that led to the ceasefires.

The furore over the Bobby Sands statue caught republicans unaware because they naively continue to ignore the extent to which political unionism is committed to both fighting a war on our past and ensuring unionism retains a dominant position within northern Irish society.

Pointing out the sheer scale of unionist hypocrisy is not difficult. Illegal loyalist memorials and monuments abound across the city of Belfast and beyond, with some loyalist bands that accompany unionist politicians on loyal order parades also involved in explicitly UDA, UVF and RHC parades to these memorials and monuments at various times of the year.

Restless base

The nationalist and republican base is growing restless because they perceive the DUP and TUV to be in a state of constant agitation against nationalism, with Sinn Féin appearing to be either unwilling or incapable of effectively countering this aggression.

Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams attended the unveiling of the Bobby Sands statue last year.

“ Sinn Féin’s media strategy is simply bizarre. They are absent too often from public debates and have not been effective at shaping the daily media narrative, nor consistently being present and vocal to counter unionist attempts to do so

The ‘First Minister for All’ mantra has been carefully cultivated by Michelle O’Neill not simply because it is the right thing to do in a divided society, but also because it helped electorally expand Sinn Féin’s support, which remains apparent in polling as comfortably the most popular party in the north.

But it should not come at the expense of blunting the party’s capacity to strategise effectively to counter unionism.

Alarm bells should be ringing for a number of reasons. Sinn Féin has experienced a sharp drop in polls from around 30% to now below 25%, and, more importantly, there is a persistent and growing murmur of discontent within its grassroots and membership about the perceived failure to effectively articulate and develop policy at Stormont and also critique the performance and positions of unionist ministers.

Sinn Féin’s media strategy is simply bizarre. They are absent too often from public debates and have not been effective at shaping the daily media narrative, nor consistently being present and vocal to counter unionist attempts to do so.

Change is needed, and there is a sense that the change must involve personnel – both public-facing and in the engine room of advisors and policy personnel – to breathe new life into the party.

Sinn Féin is fortunate enough to be able to ponder taking such steps at a time when it remains, unquestionably, in a healthy electoral position, not least relative to others.

But the fear must be that a failure to act now, and to do so decisively, could lead to a further erosion in its electoral base, leaving it having to move on addressing the evident need for change at a later time, when its mandate and political power and influence has been diminished.

DUP ‘yearn for days of unionist misrule’

O’Neill tells Sinn Féin Ard Fheis that executive partners can’t turn clock back

CONOR COYLE, Irish News, April 25th, 2026

THE DUP are attempting to block and delay progress on issues that would make a real difference to people’s lives and ‘yearn for the days of unionist misrule’, First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said.

The Sinn Féin vice president was speaking at the opening of the party’s Ard Fheis last night, which is taking place at the ICC in Belfast.

In her keynote address, the first minister attacked their partners in the Stormont Executive, which has been accused of a lack of delivery.

Ms O’Neill said the four Sinn Féin ministers in the executive “have been working tirelessly to deliver progress” but pointed the finger squarely at the largest unionist party in the north for Stormont’s inability to transform public services.

“Progress in the executive has been slower than I would like, and I understand people’s frustration out there, because I feel that frustration too,” the first minister said.

“However, despite my best efforts, and those of Sinn Féin ministers, there are quite simply some who do not want to work together.

“The DUP want to turn the clock back. They are attempting to block and delay progress on issues that would make a real difference to people’s lives.

“They want to drag society backwards. They continue to deny people their rights. They attack everything to do with Irish national identity. They yearn for the days of unionist misrule.

‘We are only going forward’

“But here is the thing; those days are gone. We are not going backwards; we are only going forward.”

Ms O’Neill added that her party will “look at proposals to reform the institutions”, while talking up achievements of her ministers within the executive.

She referred to “enormous growth” at the Magee campus in Derry, the opening of Grand Central Station in Belfast and the beginning of demolition work at Casement Park as signs of progress.

The first nationalist first minister went on to criticise the British government and commented that “the union is cracking at the seams” with elections in Scotland and Wales upcoming.

“For the first time in history, there is a possibility that there could be three nationalist, pro-independence, and pro self-determination first ministers.

“People in Ireland, in Scotland, in Wales, are now more than ever, asserting their desire for independence.”

In attendance at the party conference were family members of Bellaghy GAA chairperson Sean Brown, who was murdered in 1997. Ms O’Neill called for a full public inquiry into his killing while saying her party will “challenge the British Government as it continues to deny access to truth for families, and to duck and dive from its commitments to legacy legislation”.

The first minister concluded her address by saying elections for the assembly and local councils next year would mark a “tipping point” where a “clear demand” for constitutional change can be shown. This week Ms O’Neill said it was “conceivable” there would be a border poll by 2030.

“It’s time the choice was put to the people,” Ms O’Neill said.

“As we approach 30 years of the Good Friday Agreement, we want the fulfilment of that agreement. Partition has failed all the people of Ireland.”

Michelle O’Neill tells Sinn Fein Ard Fheis she will work to reform Stormont to ‘end the blockage on progress’

By Jonathan McCambridge and Claudia Savage, Press Association

Belfast News Letter, April 24th, 2026

Michelle O’Neill has pledged to work to reform the Stormont institutions to “end the blockage on progress”.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister told the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis that the DUP “want to turn the clock back” and Westminster has “failed our people”.

The Sinn Fein vice president delivered the keynote address on the first evening of her party’s gathering in Belfast.

Ms O’Neill was introduced by party colleague John Finucane, MP for North Belfast, who said the first nationalist First Minister “represents a profound step forward in the political journey of this island”.

She said “building a future where we all live side by side” was the “bedrock” of her work at Stormont.

She added: “Showing respect to all our cultures and identities.

“For me, that is what leadership looks like.

“That is the leadership that our children, grandchildren and future generations deserve.”

She added: “I am the First Minister for equality. I am the First Minister for hope. I am the First Minister for all.”

Referring to the current political situation, Ms O’Neill said Executive parties at Stormont needed to “work together with a common purpose”.

She said: “Progress in the Executive has been slower than I would like, and I understand people’s frustration out there, because I feel that frustration too.

“However, despite my best efforts, and those of Sinn Fein ministers, there are quite simply some who do not want to work together.

“The DUP want to turn the clock back.

“They are attempting to block and delay progress on issues that would make a real difference to people’s lives.

“They want to drag society backwards, they continue to deny people their rights.

“They attack everything to do with Irish national identity, they yearn for the days of unionist misrule.

“But here is the thing, those days are gone. We are not going backwards, we are only going forward.”

The First Minister said Sinn Fein would work to “reform the institutions of the Assembly”.

She said: “I am giving a commitment that we will look at proposals to reform the institutions.

“Sinn Fein will work with all other progressive parties.

“To deliver the change that is needed to end the blockage on progress.”

Ms O’Neill also reiterated a commitment to the A5 road in Co Tyrone which she said “remains an absolute priority” for her and Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins, adding they “will leave no stone unturned in making sure that the A5 is built”.

The First Minister also spoke about the legacy of the Troubles and called for a full public inquiry into the death of Sean Brown, whose widow, Bridie Brown, was present in the hall.

Ms O’Neill said the UK Government “have made a political calculation to give preferential treatment to their state forces rather than deliver for victims”.

She added: “The tenacity, courage and resilience of Bridie Brown and her family is an inspiration, but it is cruel and it is grotesque that in 2026 the British Government drags Bridie, a woman who is nearly 90 years of age, through the courts just for seeking the truth for a loving husband and a father.”

Ms O’Neill said Westminster “continues to fail our people”.

She said: “While the name on the desk may change – whether it’s Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer or even god forbid… Farage.

“One constant has and will always remain – their contempt and complete disregard for people and communities here.

“They brought us partition; Brexit.

“They crashed the economy. They forced over a decade of austerity. They have failed the cost-of-living crisis.

“So, my message to Keir Starmer is clear, our citizens are not second class.

“People are entitled to good public service. They are entitled to a good quality of life.”

She added: “Decision after decision made in London shows clearly that they do not care about people and communities here.”

With local elections in early May in Scotland and Wales, Ms O’Neill extended solidarity “to our friends in the SNP and Plaid Cymru”.

“For the very first time in history, there is a possibility that there could be three nationalist, pro-independent and pro-self determination first ministers,” she said.

“What does that tell us? The people in Ireland, in Scotland and in Wales, now more than ever, are asserting their desire for independence, their union is cracking at the seams.”

In her concluding remarks, the First Minister said: “It’s time the choice was put to the people.

“As we approach 30 years of the Good Friday Agreement, we want the fulfilment of that agreement, because partition has failed all the people of Ireland, orange, green, nationalist, unionist or other. It’s time to end that partition and to start a new chapter.”

Law chief's social media warning ahead of Donaldson trial

JESSICA RICE, Belfast Telegraph, April 25th, 2026

Attorney General Dame Brenda King has issued a fresh warning around online commentary on court proceedings involving former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson.

Donaldson and his wife Eleanor are due to stand trial on May 26 accused of historical sexual offences.

She said anyone posting material that is in breach could find themselves in contempt of court and facing up to two years in prison.

Donaldson (63) has pleaded not guilty to 18 alleged offences.

His wife (59) faces charges of aiding and abetting, which she denies.

The alleged offences span a time period between 1985 and 2008. There are two alleged victims.

The former MP for Lagan Valley was arrested and charged at the end of March 2024. He resigned as DUP leader and was suspended from the party.

Dame Brenda said: “As mentioned in my previous media advisory notice, I am concerned about the potential impact of social media postings and commentary on members of any jury as the hearing date for the trial approaches.

“I would remind members of the public that they can be found in contempt of court if something they publish creates a substantial risk that the course of justice in the criminal proceedings would be seriously impeded or prejudiced.

“A sentence of up to two years imprisonment can be imposed. Users of social media should therefore take great care before posting or re-posting clips or commentary and may wish to delete material at this point rather than risk proceedings being brought against them.

“Further, it is a criminal offence to identify the complainants, who must remain anonymous.”

'He was a legend... his story was more than just the news and the headlines'

Belfast Telegraph, April 25th, 2026

BRIAN ROWAN ON THE LEGENDARY BELFAST JOURNALIST JIM MCDOWELL, WHO HAS PASSED AWAY AGED 76

I kissed his forehead, thanked him for everything and whispered just a few words — one of those 'I'll see you' goodbyes.

On Thursday, I was with Jim McDowell in one of those last days and last hours rooms on Ward 5D in the Royal Victoria Hospital; there with his wife Lindy and their family and with my wife Val.

Forty years ago this year, Jim was my best man — bringing all of his presence, that big voice and his dapperness to our wedding.

Lindy showed us a photograph of a recent portrait of him — with a stylish hat on his head and red DM boots on his feet.

From head to toe, he always stood out in the crowd.

We go all the way back to the 1970s, when I was a teenager involved in athletics and Jim was a correspondent on the News Letter and the Sunday News.

I still have a few of his cuttings, and will never forget his way with words — that colourful style he had when he pushed down on the old typewriter keys and found a description for everything and for everyone. The late Les Jones, who was the senior athletics official here and who managed one of Britain's track and field squads at the Olympic Games, became 'Jog-along Jones'.

And Jim McGuinness, the mile record-holder of several decades ago, had calf muscles like cannonballs. In newspaper print, it was another of those distinctive McDowell-isms.

Jim loved sport. He loved this place and his city, and I think of those who loved him, including Willie Jack at the Duke of York pub, just a stone's throw from the old News Letter and Sunday News offices.

As we chatted in hospital, Lindy likened a dander through the town with Jim to being out with Beyonce.

He knew so many people and they knew him, including the former RUC and PSNI Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan.

They played rugby together at CIYMS, as did Flanagan's brother Wilson, who died at 38.

Sir Ronnie recalled a tribute that the veteran journalist penned at that time; written for the News Letter, quoting from O Flower of Scotland — the lyrics, when will we see your like again. Words Flanagan described as very apt when it comes to Jim McDowell.

“He was a one-off. He gave 100pc to his rugby and to his journalism, and above all, of course, 100pc to his family.”

As I was writing this piece, I re-read one of his reports from 1981 — the first time the UK Athletics Championships were staged in Northern Ireland against the backdrop of the republican hunger strike in the Maze Prison.

So many competitors stayed away — frightened by the headlines, but the event was saved by the then Olympic Champion Steve Ovett, whom McDowell described as the jewel in a meeting “jaundiced by withdrawals because of Ulster's political trauma”.

Jim knew those traumas and, perhaps, his rugby and his running, and the other sports he followed, served as occasional escapes from the darkness and the horrors of the so-called 'Troubles'.

Union man

In the 1980s, McDowell was a newspaper editor on the Sunday News, but he was also a union man — who joined journalists from that paper and from the News Letter on a long strike that stretched across many weeks.

Gareth Gordon, now a television and radio political correspondent, was on that picket line.

“My impression was that Jim's professional ambition was to become editor of the News Letter, and by joining the strike he knew perfectly well that that would ruin his chances of ever becoming so,” the BBC journalist told me.

“That said a lot about the man. He chose his friends and colleagues above personal ambition.”

After that strike, McDowell became the lead journalist in a Belfast press agency that he shaped, before becoming Northern Editor of the Sunday World.

He had enemies. But many more friends.

McDowell was as hard as nails; in 1996 surviving a helicopter crash landing.

Throughout his working life, he lived with threats. Was attacked at Belfast's Christmas Market.

But he wasn't silenced or cowed. He stood his ground.

He fought with people. And he fought for people.

I know his kindness. His generosity. His help.

He didn't open doors for me into journalism. He kicked them down. Got me some training. Gave me a chance. And he did the same for so many others.

I owe him so much. I said that to Lindy on Thursday.

Casualties

When I think back now to that 1980s Sunday News team, I remember those no longer with us, among them Ken Reid, Stephen Grimason and Liam Clarke.

Now, Jim.

I also remember the September night in 2001 when I called him to tell him that his Sunday World colleague Martin O'Hagan had been shot dead.

I can still hear the shock in his voice — how he struggled. He didn't want to hear or to believe that news.

Jim McDowell was stitched into the fabric of this place.

The city he loved. The people he loved. The job he loved. The family and the friends he loved.

In that room of his last days in the Royal Victoria Hospital, I learned more about him; about his DIY, about the tree house he built for his son Jamie, about his wallpapering and painting and about a home in which superglue held so many things together. Stories told in laughter and with raised eyebrows.

He was a legend of this place. His story of 76 years about much more than the news and the headlines.

Not just about the big personality — but about the husband, the father, the grandfather and his wider family and friends. About someone who looked out for others. Someone who has left us with much to hold onto.

Brian Rowan is a former Sunday News and BBC journalist and an author on the peace process

Tributes to 'very brave' former Sunday World editor Jim McDowell after his death

By The Newsroom, Belfast News Letter, April 24th, 2026

​The Belfast man – who began his career in the News Letter - received death threats during a decades-long career where he reported on controversial stories, including criminality and paramilitary drug dealing. He was the northern editor of the Sunday World for 25 years until 2015.

McDowell was in his 70s, is survived by his wife Lindy, daughter Faye and sons Jamie and Micah.

He was also a campaigner for justice for his murdered colleague, Martin O'Hagan, who murdered by the LVF in 2001.

The BBC's former security editor and author, Brian Rowan, remembers calling McDowell to give him the news of the murder.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "I can still remember the shock in Jim's voice, him not wanting to hear or believe the news I was telling him. "He lived with those risks. He was very brave."

Rowan, who visited McDowell in hospital on Thursday, said he was a "legend". He added: "He stood his ground. He was hard as nails. He fought with people and he fought for people.”

He told the Belfast Telegraph: "My motto is 'Never look back, never step back and we are not bate yet'."

His bravery meant spending some of his time looking over his shoulder in Belfast, but he had no regrets about his career path. When he moved into semi-retirement, he said: "I love it. I would do it again without a moment's hesitation."

Veteran News Letter journalist Billy Kennedy said he was deeply saddened at the death of his former News Letter journalistic colleague.

"Jim was one of Belfast's highly respected journalists in the 1970s-1990s period,” he said.

"We were close colleagues at the News Letter news room in Donegall Street. He was a straight-talking, honest-to-goodness man who never shied away from a good story.

"He covered most of the brutal and challenging stories of the 'Troubles' with professionalism and total accuracy. A proud Donegall Pass man, from sound working class roots, Jim was a news editor in the News Letter in the 1980s and was editor of Sunday News, and later Sunday World.

"Jim was also a talented rugby player who appeared at Ulster inter-pro level. 'Big Jim' was indeed a real character, my deepest sympathy is extended to his wife Lindy, a Maghera woman, and long-serving journalist and columnist in the Belfast Telegraph.”

• Jim's funeral service will be on Saturday 2 May at St George's Church of Ireland, Belfast at 11am.

Alliance MLA Armstrong will not seek re-election

JONATHAN McCAMBRIDGE, Irish News, April 25th, 2026

ALLIANCE Party MLA Kellie Armstrong has said she will retire from politics next year.

The Strangford representative confirmed she would not be standing in the 2027 Assembly election.

Ms Armstrong was first elected to the Assembly in 2016, having previously been a councillor.

“It has truly been an honour to serve the people of Strangford on behalf of Alliance,” she said.

“I have been thinking about retiring for a while, and so it was with great sadness I made the decision the 2027 election is the right time for me to retire from politics.

“I will continue as an MLA, with my colleague Nick Mathison, to serve Strangford constituents until the dissolution of the Assembly, and promise I and my constituency staff will continue to give 100% for all those who need help in the meantime.”

Ms Armstrong highlighted the Integrated Education Bill, which she introduced to the Assembly, as a political high, while saying threats and abuse she has received online were a low.

Strangford MLA Kellie Armstrong has announced she will not seek re-election next year

She added: “I want to thank every single person who voted for me over the years and allowed me the privilege of representing them over the years.

“I will continue to be involved with the party, and wish Nick and my successor every best wish in serving the people of this great constituency to the highest possible standards.”