“The saying goes that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but in this case… The basic problem is that the author is far too close to his subject to exhibit a meaningful degree of objectivity.”
That’s what An Phoblacht, the official media outlet of the Provisional IRA, wrote about me in a review of my otherwise critically acclaimed book, UVF: Behind the Mask (2017).
I see such waspish words as a compliment not an impediment.
We all carry baggage of sorts.
Mine, according to Provo News, is that I “grew up in a staunchly loyalist area of Rathcoole in north Belfast” where “senior UVF figures… were close family friends.” Worse still, reported the Provos, I’m now “a Senior Lecturer at the British Army’s Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst!”
Of course, being on first name terms with senior paramilitary leaders has had its uses, especially when I came to write a history of the UVF. My ongoing research and writing on paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland has formed the basis of my contributions to a range of media outlets, UK Parliamentary select committees, government briefings and both civilian and military audiences worldwide.
Back in the old country I attract a fair amount of antagonism from certain quarters.
A handful seem upset by my capacity to self-reflect; a tiny number are convinced I’m giving away what amounts to their “Trident nuclear codes”.
Interestingly, Provo News took a vow of silence on me after I published my extensive exposé of touts inside the IRA, Agents of Influence (2021) while some loyalists – who claimed to have fallen out with me a few years earlier – cheered me on.
Such is life!
In the words of one former senior member of the Provisional IRA who has become a close friend, I’m “the man who knew too much.”
So, strap in, dear reader.
If you like your authors “far too close” to their subject-matter “to exhibit a meaningful degree of objectivity”, this is the place for you!
Click on this link to go to my new Substack, Aide Memoire