One of the few success stories of the war was entirely pacific. The allotments movement was founded by the artist and former independent nationalist councillor Sarah Harrison in 1909 but made little progress until Dubliners began to experience chronic food shortages from 1915 onwards. It crossed political and religious divides, with Revd Dr Denham, Presbyterian … Read more
Had anyone been of a mind to survey the attitude of Northern Ireland’s Catholic population on the evening of Sunday 8 August 1971, they would have discovered an agitated people alienated from the ruling Stormont regime. A similar study carried out seven days later would have found a community still alienated from Stormont but now … Read more
Operation Demetrius (or internment, as it was known) began at 4.30am on Monday 9 August 1971, when the British Army began arresting those identified by the RUC. Of the 342 men arrested, 116 were released within 48 hours. Some 226 men were detained: 86 from Belfast, 60 from County Derry, 20 from the Newry area, … Read more