Academic – Author – Analyst
The DUP is fast running out of options on what to do about the Windsor Framework. According to a leaked Northern Ireland Office (NIO) briefing note seen by the Belfast Newsletter, some Stormont government departments could face budget cuts of up to 10%. The former Sinn Féin Finance Minister Conor Murphy told The View from…
My interview with Matt Cooper on The Last Word, concerning the death of former IRA member and suspected British spy, Freddie Scappaticci, 12 April 2023 Matt Cooper: So as I mentioned there before the break, Freddie Scappaticci, a name that really jumped into the public consciousness about 20 years ago, died recently it was announced…
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework Agreement announced earlier this week has been greeted positively in Great Britain. In Northern Ireland, however, feelings have been mixed. Senior DUP politician Ian Paisley Jnr said it did not go far enough in restoring British sovereignty in Northern Ireland nor the Province’s place within the United Kingdom internal…
One of the best placed British agents inside the Provisional Republican Movement is dead. Willie Carlin died of complications arising from a Covid-19 infection on Monday 6th February. He is survived by his wife and child from a second marriage. I first met Willie in 2018 when I interviewed him for my critically acclaimed book,…
“To some commentators this may feel like run-of-the mill DUP rhetoric. However, a source close to DUP thinking informed me at the beginning of this week that there is a developing view within the party’s hierarchy that the Protocol must be resisted more decisively.”
“Agents of Influence is a genuine attempt to put historical evidence into the public arena so as to inform the debate over the steps an ancient liberal democracy has taken in order to meet the threat posed by a toxic strain of violent extremism.”
“I had always been interested in the security dimension of the Troubles, which played like a noisy soundtrack to my research and writing.”