Nick Maxwell Sir Patrick Mayhew’s setting up of an independent review of parades and marches in northern Ireland, under the chairmanship of Dr Peter North, follows a pattern set in the last century. Orange marches through mainly Catholic areas invariably led to resentment and riot, sometimes to death and destruction, often followed by a government inquiry of … Read more
On Saturday 11 February 1922 a gun battle at a County Monaghan railway station resulted in the deaths of four Ulster Special Constables, the local IRA commandant and the wounding of numerous other combatants and civilians. What really happened? Robert Lynch investigates. The events at Clones were inevitably interpreted in radically different ways by both … Read more
One May afternoon in 1868, a lanky adolescent in thick spectacles was hunched over some showy Chopin at a piano in Bray. As his fingers scattered notes profusely towards the Dargle, a three-year-old boy called Harry took advantage by secretly and expertly picking his pockets. Aside from the teenage pianist’s unusual virtuosity there was nothing … Read more
Sir, —Liam Ó Ruairc’s interesting review of the work of Peter Hart and Meda Ryan (HI, 12.1, Spring 2004) mentions Tom Barry remaining a member of the IRA from the Civil War until 1938 and also his being a ‘staunch’ supporter of the Provisional IRA. Like so much with Barry’s life the reality is … Read more
‘The same people living in the same place’? Readership response to our new design has been very positive, and in this issue we have added quantity to quality with eight extra pages. There was, however, one unfortunate glitch. Many readers of the interview may have been surprised to find that James Maguire is a … Read more