I’m, of course, referring to the journey my beloved Arsenal have taken in the 25/26 season which took us to our first Premier League title for 22 years, as well as defeat to arch title rivals Manchester City in the League Cup final, and a shock defeat to some wee French team in the weekend’s Champions League final in Budapest.
My beloved Gunners have played some 60-plus first team matches this season and I’ll happily describe each one as ‘a squeaky bum’ sensation. Folk regularly ask me what’s it like to support Arsenal given the fact that we’ve ‘bottled’ the Premier League three seasons in a row before the tearful formal lifting of the trophy after the final game of the season at Crystal Palace?
It’s brutally simple - every Arsenal game is like taking the train from Belfast to Dublin, while suffering from severe diahorrea, but finding all the toilets on the train are out of order! It’s that painful.
Then again, why did I begin supporting Arsenal as a primary school pupil when my late dad, Rev Dr Robert Coulter MBE, to whom I was exceptionally close as a son, was a life-long Liverpool fan?
In the Sixties, the two favourite teams among the pupils at the local village primary school in the north Antrim hills were Leeds United and Manchester City. There was one Man United fan, one Chelsea fan - and me as the lone Gunner!
The daily newspaper in Clough Presbyterian Manse in those days was the Belfast News Letter. From time to time, I’d read the sports pages. By the time I was preparing to sit my Eleven Plus exam, I’d progressed comic-wise from The Topper and The Victor, to Shoot, a weekly football magazine.
Arsenal had reached the final of the old European Fairs Cup in the 69/70 season. Until that final, I’d only said I was a Gunner at primary school just to be different from my chums as I was the sole preacher’s kid in the entire building.
Arsenal had been beaten 3-1 in the first leg of the final by the crack Belgian side, Anderlecht, and it would take a massive effort by the Gunners to overhaul the deficit in the second leg. They did, beating the Belgians 3-0 at Highbury. My decision was made. I would become a committed Gunner for the rest of my life.
The following season was another roller coaster ride in my Arsenal journey. It coincided with me leaving Clough Primary School to spend my Primary Seven year at the Ballymena Academy Preparatory Department. 1970/71 saw Arsenal complete their first double - the league and FA Cup.
We beat Liverpool 2-1 in that historic final, and after the game, I’d pretend I was a great Charlie George outside the Presbyterian Manse kicking my football against the Manse front gate scoring that winning goal over and over repeatedly.
One thing has sky rocketed since those prep school days - the price of football kits. In 1970, I bought my first ever Arsenal strip; the jersey with the badge, shorts and socks all came to five pounds! When family asked me what I wanted for my birthday or Christmas, the answer was always the same - the latest Gunners strip!
Needless to say, my collection has grown since 1970. It now fills an entire wardrobe section of my home. As a married man with two sons, I can now add Father’s Day to the constant moan of me asking for the latest Arsenal ‘footie top’. Nowadays, the price has jumped to around £100 plus per shirt. And it’s no longer ‘home and away’ jerseys - most major clubs now have a third shirt.
My eldest son is also an Arsenal fan, so a visit - much to the disapproval of my Man United supporting darling wife - to the Arsenal shop at The Emirates in London to buy all the tee-shirts and strips associated with being Premier League champions and runners-up in the Champions League will ‘bust the budget’!
Being a Presbyterian minister’s son and an avid Arsenal fan has got me a few tickings off in my time. I was reduced to tears in 1972 when Leeds beat us 1-0 in the FA Cup final. I was told by dad not to make any cheeky remarks to my Leeds chums at Sunday school the following day.
I got the same fatherly warning in 1973, when lowly Sunderland beat Leeds 1-0 in the 1973 final and was sternly warned not to taunt the Leeds fans at Sunday school in retaliation for the banter I’d received the previous year.
Away from work, my casual dress code involves wearing one of the dozens of Arsenal shirts I now possess in my collection. In my spiritual journey, I’ve witnessed a radical relaxing of the dress codes over the years to Sunday worship and especially the mid-week Bible study and prayer meetings.
This has brought me into conflict on occasions with the wives of some of the elders. In one place of worship, at a ‘mid-week’ as they are affectionately called, I was wearing my Arsenal top. Two members of session were also present - one in a Spurs top; the other in a Chelsea shirt.
Another elder’s wife decided she’d had enough of these sporting tops at the ‘mid week’ and vented her spleen on me only! She didn’t say anything to the two elders - just me as the preacher’s kid. Since then, she has become known as ‘Mrs Footie Top’.
On another occasion during a church holiday to York in England, I was dandering through that historic city proudly sporting my Arsenal shirt when I became conscious that I was being glared and stared at.
By sheer chance, I met another Arsenal fan wearing his top, who said to me - ‘they don’t like us Londoners up here!’ To avoid any conflict, I went into the nearest sports shop and bought a local football shirt!
The same happened again a few years ago at a train station in Lisbon in Portugal during a family holiday when I was confronted by Sporting Lisbon fans. We exchanged a few insults across the platforms, but thankfully no punches!
I will admit the tears were flowing when the team lifted the Premier League trophy this season, especially as we came so, so close to ‘bottling’ it again for a fourth season in succession. Finishing runner-up in the Premier League when we had led the league for so long during the season is bitter medicine for any fan to swallow.
Even as a pensioner in my 60s, the experience of being a Gunner can be an emotionally challenging one. I’ll leave my rant on the penalty decisions in the Champions League final against that Paris lot for another day.
Just a reminder - its Father’s Day again in a few weeks; you know what I want as a pressie! Size XL please.
 |
| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. |
Ten links to a diverse range of opinion that might be of interest to TPQ readers. They are selected not to invite agreement but curiosity. Readers can submit links to pieces they find thought provoking.
Before We Conform, Or Condemn, Let Us At Least Be Curious
♜One recognizes one's course by discovering the paths that stray from it - Albert Camus♞
I received a long-winded and rambling email the other day from someone I have crossed paths with on a number of occasions over the years, the documentary film-maker Sean Murray.
Sean was anxious to know whether I knew Clifford Peeples, popularly known to tabloid readers in Northern Ireland as the “pipe bomb pastor“. It seems he’s making another documentary on his muse and wanted to know the nature of my dealings with him.
Like many journalists and academics who have worked on the Northern Ireland conflict, I do indeed know Clifford Peeples.
And he has – like a lot of other people I know back home – ‘a past’.
Peeples’ involvement in loyalist political activism and militancy over several decades is well-known and documented.
He has always been an unapologetic opponent of the Provisional IRA and the process by which they were brought in from the cold by the British government in the 1990s.
Clifford’s extreme opposition to what he called the “sell out and surrender” of the Good Friday Agreement (1998) led to him being arrested and convicted of possessing two grenades and an pipebomb in suspicious circumstances in late October 1999.
Peeples was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in 2001.
The judge accepted Peeples and his co-accused were transporting the bombs but had no intent to use them.
These days, like a number of rehabilitated ex-political prisoners, Clifford has become an accredited journalist and researcher who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of our troubled past.
He has worked with many other journalists, academics and researchers in Northern Ireland and beyond and shares his contacts and knowledge generously.
That does not mean he is universally popular.
Some journalists dislike him so much they have reportedly engaged in threats and intimidation towards him.
In 2013 Peeples was attacked in Belfast city centre by another journalist.
The veteran Irish Times and Sunday Tribune correspondent Ed Moloney was so incensed by the incident he wrote a piece on his Broken Elbow blog rebuking Clifford’s assailant.
Moloney said he would have no problem entertaining Clifford as a dinner guest, acknowledging, like most of us in the writing profession, that journalism and politics go together ‘like fish and chips’.
Peeples is also well-known to republicans.
Some see him as a loyalist bogeyman; others, including dissident republicans, regard him as a loyalist hard-liner and, remarkably, have engaged with him.
He reminded them they all shared the same blood and genetic makeup as those they regarded as planters.
It was a bold play considering some in the audience had been in Maghaberry with him in the early 2000s and were painfully reminded of his reputation when they clashed with him in Bann House.
Nevertheless, I’m reliably informed by one of the organisers that all members of the organising committee – bar one – agreed to him speaking and they were genuinely amazed he came along.
Peeples hit the news headlines in 2023 when it was reported that he went to Ukraine in what he described to journalist Hugh Jordan as a ‘humanitarian aid mission‘.
Peeples was in the news again in 2024 when he was arrested at his home on suspicion of fomenting unrest in the wake of the Southport riots.
Cynically, the arrest took place on the 53rd anniversary of the launch of internment without trial when loyalists and republicans were detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure, some for several years.
On that day in August 2024 it must have seemed to local loyalists like a rerun of that infamous day decades earlier, with some reports saying it took 27 police officers and a dozen land rovers from the PSNI’s Tactical Support Group to take him into custody. He was subsequently released without charge, with the Public Prosecutions Service informing him he had no case to answer.
Peeples told The Times afterwards, he had been questioned for two days “over four social media posts”. He said one related to the Southport attacks “expressed concern for the safety of police officers” and claims that police did not explain how it was incendiary. The one social media post that apparently offended the person who reported him was a YouTube video (now removed) fronted by that well-known purveyor of alternative thinking at the Spectator, Douglas Murray! Intriguingly another post by Peeples expressed his concern for police officers having to deal with the deteriorating situation across the UK.
In July 2025 Peeples’s home was fire-bombed and he was nearly killed. One line of enquiry about the motive was he had angered associates of the Provisional IRA because of his advocacy on behalf of families who had their loved ones murdered by the group during the Troubles.
In true Peeples style he told Hugh Jordan it is this work that has exposed him to danger, not only from those associated with Provo death squads but also ‘elements within loyalism who have become embedded with republicans’.
To say Clifford Peeples is an implacable opponent of the Provisionals and their political wing Sinn Féin is probably an understatement.
I was first introduced to him over a decade ago by my dear friend, the late journalist Lyra McKee. I remember how, at first, I refused to even entertain the notion. It quickly dawned on me how I was once given advice about having to talk to those we do not agree with, so as to get a better understanding of where they were coming from that I agreed.
In a blog post I published last December, I explained how around that time I asked Clifford to assist me with my research into the murder of UVF commander John Bingham on 14 September 1986.
Bingham was killed by a Provisional IRA death squad from Ardoyne.
Clifford had contact with Bingham’s daughter Elizabeth and I helped her to get access to her father’s inquest file.
She then asked him to write a narrative of what happened to her father, subsequently published as The Bingham Report.
It was the first of several reports Clifford would compile on the murder of loyalists that uncovered suspected collusion between the Provos and the British state.
Peeples’ work was – and is – based on a rigorous academic methodology tempered with good old-fashioned investigative journalism. Coincidentally, it even preempted the conclusions reached in the final report of Operation Kenova.
I think it is fair to say Clifford Peeples and I do not share the same politics or views about the peace process. He is on the right of the political spectrum and opposed the Agreement. I am the complete opposite.
Readers of this blog and my work will know that I was an early proponent of the Belfast Agreement and the peace process.
I worked alongside prominent PUP members Billy Mitchell, Billy Hutchinson, Dawn Purvis and David Ervine, among many others, in their attempts to engage the UVF and RHC in dialogue to transform these terror groups beyond violence.
It’s how I cut my teeth in terms of the peace-building work I did in my twenties and, later, when I assisted the PUP in terms of policy development and political education.
I have written unashamedly about my involvement in this work and of my left-leaning politics at the time.
Guilty by Association?
In the course of my peacebuilding and academic work I was introduced to former members of the Official and Provisional IRAs and other republican groups and have maintained good working relations with them over the past 25 years.
Two of my oldest friends were members of the Officials imprisoned in Long Kesh compounds in the 1970s.
Among those who I have also interviewed or interacted with in the course of my work are two well-known figures from the (Provisional) Republican Movement, Danny Morrison and Sean ‘Spike’ Murray.
As you can see from the photograph below, taken in 2015, I have occasionally joined them on social occasions.
Spike Murray was convicted on explosives charges in March 1982. His IRA ‘bombing team’ were caught in possession of two beer keg bombs, which was traced back to a massive bomb-making factory containing over two tonnes of explosives. I know from my own historical research that the intelligence agencies were on his trail for several years prior to his arrest.
My sources have confirmed to me over the years that after his release Murray allegedly worked his way up the ranks of the IRA’s Northern Command, serving as Second in Command to Martin McGuinness in the 1990s.
Spike later became a key proponent of the Sinn Féin peace strategy and remains a central figure in the Republican Movement to this day.
I remember Spike telling me over a decade ago that the peace process was ‘the only show in town’ when we spoke about community tensions and dynamics.
Although my recollection of our conversation then is a little hazy, he may even have offered to speak to my students to communicate his political views. I’ll leave the reader to judge whether this was said in jest.
What I do know is he was always helpful, for as long as I have known him. The first time I met him was in 2005 when I stepped in for my friend Stephen Bloomer for a few weeks at Interaction Belfast. My job was to act as the lead on a special “research project” for Roisin McGlone and Spike who were attempting to manage issues connected to the Whiterock parade. It was a particularly tense time and the talks collapsed into the worst violence the city had seen in years.
I learned a lot about the failure of conflict mediation when trust is lost.
As a senior academic at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for almost twenty years I have continued to build and maintain a wide and diverse range of contacts for my research.
Any casual reader of my work will see I rely on oral testimonies of those involved in paramilitary violence to a considerable extent.
Sometimes that has meant interacting with people who have been involved in some horrendous things.
I know many people reading this will be abhorred that I have no qualms interacting with former gunmen and bombers but sometimes, in order to gain insight into the thoughts and actions of people involved in terrorism and extremism, you have to talk to them.
That doesn’t mean you agree with what they did – or are alleged to have done – it simply means you are unafraid to ‘look them in the whites of their eyes’ to borrow a phrase from my late friend Billy Mitchell, all in the pursuit of the truth.
As I have said on countless occasions in multiple fora, academic researchers do not seek to excuse but explain so that we can get a firmer understanding of radicalisation, extremism and terrorism and take steps to stop it.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
An old friend of mine who was a fairly senior member of the Provisional IRA’s GHQ once jokingly called me “the man who knew too much.” I would qualify this by arguing that I am probably the man who knew too many people!
Readers will be able to see the reality of my ability to access and speak to a wide range of people when they come to read my next book, Enemies Within, a major study of Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair and his infamous C Company paramilitary gang.
It has been said that Adair, who is rarely out of the news headlines, was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of dozens of people in the 1980s and 1990s.
Yet, I was able to look at his role from a complete 360 degree perspective.
Deciding I wouldn’t talk to anyone because of who they were or what they were suspected of doing or had done would have meant being unable to answer so many questions for those who lost loved ones at the hands of Adair’s gang.
On the other hand, the book I am currently working on is about the Provisional IRA’s abduction, torture, murder and disappearance of Captain Robert Nairac GC. It has meant accessing a wide range of interviewees, including those from the republican community. They have brought me into their confidence so that I can tell a more rounded story of their experiences of South Armagh in the 1970s.
If a lifetime of interacting with a broad range of people who played a part in our Troubles means I am guilty by association then so be it.
Presumably that also includes Sean’s father?
Why I Write About… Northern Ireland 5 April 2021
It’s Hobson’s Choice Time for Unionism 12 January 2024
Stones Left Unturned: Op Kenova, Collusion and the IRA Assassination of John Bingham 10 December 2025
Sean was anxious to know whether I knew Clifford Peeples, popularly known to tabloid readers in Northern Ireland as the “pipe bomb pastor“. It seems he’s making another documentary on his muse and wanted to know the nature of my dealings with him.
Like many journalists and academics who have worked on the Northern Ireland conflict, I do indeed know Clifford Peeples.
And he has – like a lot of other people I know back home – ‘a past’.
Peeples’ involvement in loyalist political activism and militancy over several decades is well-known and documented.
 |
| Clifford Peeples has featured beneath several front page headlines over the years. Source: Belfast News Letter, 30 April 1999. |
He has always been an unapologetic opponent of the Provisional IRA and the process by which they were brought in from the cold by the British government in the 1990s.
Clifford’s extreme opposition to what he called the “sell out and surrender” of the Good Friday Agreement (1998) led to him being arrested and convicted of possessing two grenades and an pipebomb in suspicious circumstances in late October 1999.
Peeples was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in 2001.
The judge accepted Peeples and his co-accused were transporting the bombs but had no intent to use them.
These days, like a number of rehabilitated ex-political prisoners, Clifford has become an accredited journalist and researcher who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of our troubled past.
He has worked with many other journalists, academics and researchers in Northern Ireland and beyond and shares his contacts and knowledge generously.
That does not mean he is universally popular.
Some journalists dislike him so much they have reportedly engaged in threats and intimidation towards him.
In 2013 Peeples was attacked in Belfast city centre by another journalist.
The veteran Irish Times and Sunday Tribune correspondent Ed Moloney was so incensed by the incident he wrote a piece on his Broken Elbow blog rebuking Clifford’s assailant.
Moloney said he would have no problem entertaining Clifford as a dinner guest, acknowledging, like most of us in the writing profession, that journalism and politics go together ‘like fish and chips’.
I have spent much of my professional life breaking bread or ingesting stronger substances with greater and more mendacious blackguards than he, and while I have never met Mr Peeples, he strikes me from a distance as an honest type – Ed Moloney on Clifford Peeples (2013)
Peeples is also well-known to republicans.
Some see him as a loyalist bogeyman; others, including dissident republicans, regard him as a loyalist hard-liner and, remarkably, have engaged with him.
In August 2020 he was a guest speaker at the Republican Sinn Féin conference at Conway Mill in west Belfast where he joined a panel to talk about Éire Nua.
 |
| Clifford Peeples speaking at a Republican Sinn Féin event at Conway Mill in August 2020. Courtesy of one of the organisers of the event. |
According to one of my friends who was involved in the organisation of the conference, Clifford reportedly told the audience how Éire Nua died when the Provos massacred ordinary Protestants during the Troubles.
He reminded them they all shared the same blood and genetic makeup as those they regarded as planters.
It was a bold play considering some in the audience had been in Maghaberry with him in the early 2000s and were painfully reminded of his reputation when they clashed with him in Bann House.
Nevertheless, I’m reliably informed by one of the organisers that all members of the organising committee – bar one – agreed to him speaking and they were genuinely amazed he came along.
 |
| Clifford Peeples delivering humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people in January 2023. |
Peeples hit the news headlines in 2023 when it was reported that he went to Ukraine in what he described to journalist Hugh Jordan as a ‘humanitarian aid mission‘.
Peeples was in the news again in 2024 when he was arrested at his home on suspicion of fomenting unrest in the wake of the Southport riots.
Cynically, the arrest took place on the 53rd anniversary of the launch of internment without trial when loyalists and republicans were detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure, some for several years.
On that day in August 2024 it must have seemed to local loyalists like a rerun of that infamous day decades earlier, with some reports saying it took 27 police officers and a dozen land rovers from the PSNI’s Tactical Support Group to take him into custody. He was subsequently released without charge, with the Public Prosecutions Service informing him he had no case to answer.
Peeples told The Times afterwards, he had been questioned for two days “over four social media posts”. He said one related to the Southport attacks “expressed concern for the safety of police officers” and claims that police did not explain how it was incendiary. The one social media post that apparently offended the person who reported him was a YouTube video (now removed) fronted by that well-known purveyor of alternative thinking at the Spectator, Douglas Murray! Intriguingly another post by Peeples expressed his concern for police officers having to deal with the deteriorating situation across the UK.
In July 2025 Peeples’s home was fire-bombed and he was nearly killed. One line of enquiry about the motive was he had angered associates of the Provisional IRA because of his advocacy on behalf of families who had their loved ones murdered by the group during the Troubles.
In true Peeples style he told Hugh Jordan it is this work that has exposed him to danger, not only from those associated with Provo death squads but also ‘elements within loyalism who have become embedded with republicans’.
To say Clifford Peeples is an implacable opponent of the Provisionals and their political wing Sinn Féin is probably an understatement.
I was first introduced to him over a decade ago by my dear friend, the late journalist Lyra McKee. I remember how, at first, I refused to even entertain the notion. It quickly dawned on me how I was once given advice about having to talk to those we do not agree with, so as to get a better understanding of where they were coming from that I agreed.
In a blog post I published last December, I explained how around that time I asked Clifford to assist me with my research into the murder of UVF commander John Bingham on 14 September 1986.
Bingham was killed by a Provisional IRA death squad from Ardoyne.
Clifford had contact with Bingham’s daughter Elizabeth and I helped her to get access to her father’s inquest file.
She then asked him to write a narrative of what happened to her father, subsequently published as The Bingham Report.
It was the first of several reports Clifford would compile on the murder of loyalists that uncovered suspected collusion between the Provos and the British state.
Peeples’ work was – and is – based on a rigorous academic methodology tempered with good old-fashioned investigative journalism. Coincidentally, it even preempted the conclusions reached in the final report of Operation Kenova.
I think it is fair to say Clifford Peeples and I do not share the same politics or views about the peace process. He is on the right of the political spectrum and opposed the Agreement. I am the complete opposite.
Readers of this blog and my work will know that I was an early proponent of the Belfast Agreement and the peace process.
I worked alongside prominent PUP members Billy Mitchell, Billy Hutchinson, Dawn Purvis and David Ervine, among many others, in their attempts to engage the UVF and RHC in dialogue to transform these terror groups beyond violence.
It’s how I cut my teeth in terms of the peace-building work I did in my twenties and, later, when I assisted the PUP in terms of policy development and political education.
I have written unashamedly about my involvement in this work and of my left-leaning politics at the time.
Guilty by Association?
In the course of my peacebuilding and academic work I was introduced to former members of the Official and Provisional IRAs and other republican groups and have maintained good working relations with them over the past 25 years.
Two of my oldest friends were members of the Officials imprisoned in Long Kesh compounds in the 1970s.
 |
| The author with Brendan Mackin and Harry Donaghy, former members of the Official IRA, and others, including respected academic Dr Tony Novosel, in 2008 (c) Aaron Edwards |
Among those who I have also interviewed or interacted with in the course of my work are two well-known figures from the (Provisional) Republican Movement, Danny Morrison and Sean ‘Spike’ Murray.
As you can see from the photograph below, taken in 2015, I have occasionally joined them on social occasions.
 |
| Winning Friends and Influencing People? The author enjoying a Christmas drink with a few notable personalities, including Spike Murray in 2015 (c) Aaron Edwards |
Spike Murray was convicted on explosives charges in March 1982. His IRA ‘bombing team’ were caught in possession of two beer keg bombs, which was traced back to a massive bomb-making factory containing over two tonnes of explosives. I know from my own historical research that the intelligence agencies were on his trail for several years prior to his arrest.
My sources have confirmed to me over the years that after his release Murray allegedly worked his way up the ranks of the IRA’s Northern Command, serving as Second in Command to Martin McGuinness in the 1990s.
 |
| Sean ‘Spike’ Murray was sentenced to 12 years for possession of explosives in the early 1980s. Source: Belfast Telegraph, 12 March 1982. |
Spike later became a key proponent of the Sinn Féin peace strategy and remains a central figure in the Republican Movement to this day.
I remember Spike telling me over a decade ago that the peace process was ‘the only show in town’ when we spoke about community tensions and dynamics.
Although my recollection of our conversation then is a little hazy, he may even have offered to speak to my students to communicate his political views. I’ll leave the reader to judge whether this was said in jest.
What I do know is he was always helpful, for as long as I have known him. The first time I met him was in 2005 when I stepped in for my friend Stephen Bloomer for a few weeks at Interaction Belfast. My job was to act as the lead on a special “research project” for Roisin McGlone and Spike who were attempting to manage issues connected to the Whiterock parade. It was a particularly tense time and the talks collapsed into the worst violence the city had seen in years.
I learned a lot about the failure of conflict mediation when trust is lost.
As a senior academic at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for almost twenty years I have continued to build and maintain a wide and diverse range of contacts for my research.
Any casual reader of my work will see I rely on oral testimonies of those involved in paramilitary violence to a considerable extent.
Sometimes that has meant interacting with people who have been involved in some horrendous things.
I know many people reading this will be abhorred that I have no qualms interacting with former gunmen and bombers but sometimes, in order to gain insight into the thoughts and actions of people involved in terrorism and extremism, you have to talk to them.
 |
| The author with high-ranking UDA commanders Andy Tyrie and Jackie McDonald at a conference held in Queen’s University Belfast in 2010 (c) Bobby Hanvey |
That doesn’t mean you agree with what they did – or are alleged to have done – it simply means you are unafraid to ‘look them in the whites of their eyes’ to borrow a phrase from my late friend Billy Mitchell, all in the pursuit of the truth.
As I have said on countless occasions in multiple fora, academic researchers do not seek to excuse but explain so that we can get a firmer understanding of radicalisation, extremism and terrorism and take steps to stop it.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
An old friend of mine who was a fairly senior member of the Provisional IRA’s GHQ once jokingly called me “the man who knew too much.” I would qualify this by arguing that I am probably the man who knew too many people!
Readers will be able to see the reality of my ability to access and speak to a wide range of people when they come to read my next book, Enemies Within, a major study of Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair and his infamous C Company paramilitary gang.
It has been said that Adair, who is rarely out of the news headlines, was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of dozens of people in the 1980s and 1990s.
Yet, I was able to look at his role from a complete 360 degree perspective.
Deciding I wouldn’t talk to anyone because of who they were or what they were suspected of doing or had done would have meant being unable to answer so many questions for those who lost loved ones at the hands of Adair’s gang.
On the other hand, the book I am currently working on is about the Provisional IRA’s abduction, torture, murder and disappearance of Captain Robert Nairac GC. It has meant accessing a wide range of interviewees, including those from the republican community. They have brought me into their confidence so that I can tell a more rounded story of their experiences of South Armagh in the 1970s.
If a lifetime of interacting with a broad range of people who played a part in our Troubles means I am guilty by association then so be it.
Presumably that also includes Sean’s father?
 |
| The author enjoying a pint with an eclectic mix of personalities in 2017, including Sean Murray Jnr and his father, Spike. I’ve a huge array of contacts across the board back home in Belfast. |
Why I Write About… Northern Ireland 5 April 2021
It’s Hobson’s Choice Time for Unionism 12 January 2024
Stones Left Unturned: Op Kenova, Collusion and the IRA Assassination of John Bingham 10 December 2025
 |
| Aaron Edwards is the author of critically acclaimed books, UVF: Behind the Mask and Agents of Influence: Britain’s Secret Intelligence War Against the IRA. His next book, Enemies Within, on the use of secret agents inside the UDA/UFF, will be published by Merrion Press in 2026. |
In this week’s bulletin
⬤ Kremlin perfect storm.
⬤ The coming bad peace.
⬤ Russia’s use of chemical weapons.
⬤ Repression numbers game.
⬤ The tale of Yermak.
⬤ Kremlin trolls on the march.
News from the territories occupied by Russia
Death sentence without witnesses in Russia’s latest conveyor-belt trial of Crimean Tatar political prisoners (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 22nd)
Ukrainian sentenced to five years for writing that Russian-occupied territory is part of Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 21st)
Russia passes life sentence on ‘treason’ charges against Ukrainian accused of acts of resistance (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 20th)
Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, May 19th)
71-year-old Ukrainian patriot Halyna Dovhopola unbroken after 7 years in Russian captivity, but “won’t survive another such winter” (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 19th)
55-year-old Crimean seized at Russian airport and tortured to fabricate treason charges over donations to Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 18th)
Russia’s fake ‘secret witness’ exposes fabricated charges against five Crimean Tatar political prisoners (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 18th)
Suspect in the deportation of children from occupied Kherson region becomes an ombudsperson in Russia (Zmina, May 14th)
News from Ukraine
Mass protests, hundreds of pages of amendments – what comes next? Human rights defenders and media professionals call for revisions to the draft Civil Code (Zmina, May 20th)
The tale of Yermak: How Zelensky’s former right-hand man ended up under arrest on corruption charges (The Insider, May 16th)
“Good customs” vs human rights: ZMINA brought together more than 60 participants to discuss the risks of the new Civil Code (Zmina, May 15th)
War-related news from Russia
“I Don’t Want to Get Used to the War” (Russian Reader, May 23rd)
Russia stages third ‘trial’ of Ukrainian POW, adds 2 years to illegal 18-year sentence for comments about Russian war crimes (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 22nd)
Institute of Philosophy raids target Aristotle translation project (Meduza, 22 May)
Azov Brigade chief medic tortured to death in Russian captivity (Ukrainska Pravda, May 22nd)
Trolls on the March on Kremlin’s Orders (Posle.Media, May 20th)
Inner Emigrants (Russian Reader, May 20th)
Ukrainian ex-prisoners in Russia remain in detention (iStories, 20 May)
The cold shoulder, instead of a “time for heroes”: Russian policy on war veterans (iStories, 19 May)
Political Repression Is a Numbers Game in Russia (Moscow Times, May 18th)
Analysis and comment
The political economy of Ukraine’s war and the politics of a coming bad peace (Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres, May 21st)
Kyiv says war has reached a pivotal moment (Meduza, 22 May)
The Kremlin’s Perfect Storm (Posle.Media, May 19th)
«Civil Society is the Backbone of Democratic Resilience». Center for Civil Liberties at the OSCE Civil Society Parallel Conference (Centre for Civil Liberties, May 15th)
War in Ukraine: How Has Our Analysis Changed? (September Collective, May 5th)
Research of human rights abuses
Memory that shapes the future: ZMINA joined the “Generation Nika” Award Ceremony in honour of Veronika Kozhushko (Zmina, May 20th)
How Russia Uses Chemical Agents Against Ukrainian Military Personnel (Tribunal for Putin, May 19th)
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Situations of Armed Conflict: human rights defenders made a submission (Zmina, May 18th)
International solidarity
Ukrainian on flotilla now out of Israeli captivity (Facebook, May 20th)
Upcoming events
Tuesday, 26th May, 19.00, Edinburgh. Voices Against Putin's War: An Evening in Solidarity with Ukraine. Lighthouse Bookshop, 43-45 West Nicolson Street, EH8 9DB. More information here.
Wednesday 27 May, 19.00, Glasgow. Voices Against Putin's War at Mount Florida Books, Glasgow. With Simon Pirani & Fellow Readers More details here.
News from the territories occupied by Russia
Death sentence without witnesses in Russia’s latest conveyor-belt trial of Crimean Tatar political prisoners (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 22nd)
Ukrainian sentenced to five years for writing that Russian-occupied territory is part of Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 21st)
Russia passes life sentence on ‘treason’ charges against Ukrainian accused of acts of resistance (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 20th)
Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, May 19th)
71-year-old Ukrainian patriot Halyna Dovhopola unbroken after 7 years in Russian captivity, but “won’t survive another such winter” (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 19th)
55-year-old Crimean seized at Russian airport and tortured to fabricate treason charges over donations to Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 18th)
Russia’s fake ‘secret witness’ exposes fabricated charges against five Crimean Tatar political prisoners (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 18th)
Suspect in the deportation of children from occupied Kherson region becomes an ombudsperson in Russia (Zmina, May 14th)
News from Ukraine
Mass protests, hundreds of pages of amendments – what comes next? Human rights defenders and media professionals call for revisions to the draft Civil Code (Zmina, May 20th)
The tale of Yermak: How Zelensky’s former right-hand man ended up under arrest on corruption charges (The Insider, May 16th)
“Good customs” vs human rights: ZMINA brought together more than 60 participants to discuss the risks of the new Civil Code (Zmina, May 15th)
War-related news from Russia
“I Don’t Want to Get Used to the War” (Russian Reader, May 23rd)
Russia stages third ‘trial’ of Ukrainian POW, adds 2 years to illegal 18-year sentence for comments about Russian war crimes (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 22nd)
Institute of Philosophy raids target Aristotle translation project (Meduza, 22 May)
Azov Brigade chief medic tortured to death in Russian captivity (Ukrainska Pravda, May 22nd)
Trolls on the March on Kremlin’s Orders (Posle.Media, May 20th)
Inner Emigrants (Russian Reader, May 20th)
Ukrainian ex-prisoners in Russia remain in detention (iStories, 20 May)
The cold shoulder, instead of a “time for heroes”: Russian policy on war veterans (iStories, 19 May)
Political Repression Is a Numbers Game in Russia (Moscow Times, May 18th)
Analysis and comment
The political economy of Ukraine’s war and the politics of a coming bad peace (Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres, May 21st)
Kyiv says war has reached a pivotal moment (Meduza, 22 May)
The Kremlin’s Perfect Storm (Posle.Media, May 19th)
«Civil Society is the Backbone of Democratic Resilience». Center for Civil Liberties at the OSCE Civil Society Parallel Conference (Centre for Civil Liberties, May 15th)
War in Ukraine: How Has Our Analysis Changed? (September Collective, May 5th)
Research of human rights abuses
Memory that shapes the future: ZMINA joined the “Generation Nika” Award Ceremony in honour of Veronika Kozhushko (Zmina, May 20th)
How Russia Uses Chemical Agents Against Ukrainian Military Personnel (Tribunal for Putin, May 19th)
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Situations of Armed Conflict: human rights defenders made a submission (Zmina, May 18th)
International solidarity
Ukrainian on flotilla now out of Israeli captivity (Facebook, May 20th)
Upcoming events
Tuesday, 26th May, 19.00, Edinburgh. Voices Against Putin's War: An Evening in Solidarity with Ukraine. Lighthouse Bookshop, 43-45 West Nicolson Street, EH8 9DB. More information here.
Wednesday 27 May, 19.00, Glasgow. Voices Against Putin's War at Mount Florida Books, Glasgow. With Simon Pirani & Fellow Readers More details here.
🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.
We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.The bulletin is also stored on line here.
To receive the bulletin regularly, send your email to:
2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
To stop it, please reply with the word “STOP” in the subject field.
We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.
The bulletin is also stored on line here.
To receive the bulletin regularly, send your email to:
2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
To stop it, please reply with the word “STOP” in the subject field.
You need your leadership to define your politics otherwise you'd be out of Sinn Féin on your ear.
For example, Mary Lou McDonald has said on a number of occasions that she was willing to form a coalition government with either FF or FG, while at the same time she was also saying that they need to end the dominance of both parties in Southern politics.
The reason being is that Sinn Féin just wants to get into government and they are willing to jump into bed with any party to get there.
As for Mary Lou, she just wants to become the first female Taoiseach.
That's all that matters to them, and party members like David Cullinane aren't capable of changing a light bulb without asking the leadership if they can change it, then waiting for them to say go ahead and change the light bulb.
Then they'll sit in the dark wondering where the money is coming from to change the light bulb . . .
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Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman. Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie |
The good news is that Oklahoma recently became the 17th state (along with Washington, D.C.) to ban child marriage.
The bad news? It wasn’t unanimous. In fact, 36 Republicans in the State House voted against the legislation, reminding everyone that they’re perfectly fine with adults forcing themselves upon children who aren’t legally old enough to make decisions for themselves.
Their excuses were downright embarrassing.
Senate Bill 504 shouldn’t have been controversial. All it did was remove the underage exceptions to the law about how marriage can only occur between legal adults. From now on, it won’t matter if your parents (or other authorities) agree to it or if you’re pregnant. No marriage until you’re 18. Simple. That’s a big deal because children are sometimes pressured by their parents to marry early or they feel forced into marriage because of teenage pregnancy. Plenty of adults enter into marriages that don’t pan out, but it’s perfectly rational to say a decision that important should only be made by adults.
The bad news? It wasn’t unanimous. In fact, 36 Republicans in the State House voted against the legislation, reminding everyone that they’re perfectly fine with adults forcing themselves upon children who aren’t legally old enough to make decisions for themselves.
Their excuses were downright embarrassing.
Senate Bill 504 shouldn’t have been controversial. All it did was remove the underage exceptions to the law about how marriage can only occur between legal adults. From now on, it won’t matter if your parents (or other authorities) agree to it or if you’re pregnant. No marriage until you’re 18. Simple. That’s a big deal because children are sometimes pressured by their parents to marry early or they feel forced into marriage because of teenage pregnancy. Plenty of adults enter into marriages that don’t pan out, but it’s perfectly rational to say a decision that important should only be made by adults.
Continue @ Friendly Atheist.
After fellow Christian nationalist pastor Brian Gibson declared that Islam is "incompatible with a constitutional republic that is built on the word of God" and must be banned, Beckwith readily agreed, saying that the right-wing effort to ban sharia law is vital to saving this nation by "giving people permission to hate again."
"I know that sounds a little harsh at first," Beckwith said:
We've seen this movement to eradicate hate in our culture; that is the worst thing we could do. The Bible talks about how God hates certain things and when we say we want to eradicate hate—think about this—we're actually saying we want to eradicate a characteristic of God. Hate is not the opposite of love; indifference is the opposite of love. So when I talk about this, I say, 'Guys, we need to, in Indiana, we need to hate.'
Continue @ RWW.
Ten links to a diverse range of opinion that might be of interest to TPQ readers. They are selected not to invite agreement but curiosity. Readers can submit links to pieces they find thought provoking.
Before We Conform, Or Condemn, Let Us At Least Be Curious
♜One recognizes one's course by discovering the paths that stray from it - Albert Camus♞
“It's a semi-automatic, get in the car/Corrosive heart and frozen heat/We're worlds apart where we could meet/Where the street fold round and the motors start/And the idiot wields the power.” - The Sisters of Mercy
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| Horns up |
New Horizons
17 albums in from Blag Dahlia’s madmen and they’re still as ferocious as ever. This new album sees them dial back the aggressive pop punk and go back to a more hardcore punk sound. As per usual, most songs are under 90 seconds and will make you want to start a fight on public transport but with a smile on your face. Progress, not perfection.
The album can be purchased here.
Darryl Jenifer – The Weather Channel
Now this came out of the blue: Bad Brains bassist returns to his jazz roots for his second solo album. And what a delight it is to report how great it is. Reinterpreting two Bad Brains classics in this style is a genius move to grab the interest of longtime fans, but the later fusions of dub reggae and metal make this album of the month.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
BIG|BRAVE - in grief or in hope
Like their contemporaries (and past collaborators) The Body, Big|Brave continue exploring terrain others won’t touch. This release sits somewhere between drone, dark electronic music, doom metal and post rock. It’s a haunting listen that conjures up so much potent imagery in the mind of the listener but what else would you expect from Big|Brave?
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Earth Motherfucker/Pound Land – Split LP
Reclusive noise punks Earth Mother Fucker have teamed up with prolific noise punks Pound Land to produce an album that is filthier than a junkie’s arsecrack. Melding each band’s interpretation of garage, dub, noise and free jazz, the album is utterly exhilarating as well as being caked in dirt. The perfect record for modern Britain.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Golden Oldies
Although they’ll forever be known as the band Metallica “borrowed heavily from” to create ‘Enter Sandman’, it’s unfair to relegate Excel to this footnote in music history as this LP (containing the aforementioned number) is just as potent and ferocious as anything recorded by their Venice contemporaries Suicidal Tendencies.
The Varukers – Still Bollox But Still Here
Fresh off a reunion tour supporting death metal legends Bolt Thrower, Rat and co. went back into the studio to rerecord some of their eighties oeuvre and what emerged was an astonishingly ferocious record of d-beat punk rock updated for the 1990’s. While the cover isn’t their finest moment, the rest of the LP is. They never topped this release.
Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
Although overshadowed these days by other releases in their discography as well as Billy Corgan’s propensity for cringy behaviour and statements, there is no denying that their debut LP is a gorgeous, dreamlike mix of shoegaze, psychedelia and classic rock. With a fat sounding production from Butch Vig, this album is a joy to dive into.
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.
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