Belfast and Beyond

The Belfast and Beyond blog has just turned two. What have been your favourite B&B stories? We've been following the Taser saga from day one and the story is still going strong. Indeed this blog broke new ground when we published the...

First they came for the foreign students, and I didn't speak up because I was not a foreign student. Then they came for those on marriage visas, and I didn't speak up because that didn't apply to me. Then it was the turn of the airport...

A Northern Ireland Truth Commission moved a step closer to reality today with the call by Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams for such a body to be established to deal with the legacy of the thirty-year conflict. His endorsement of the idea...

Great news – at least, for now – fresh off the wires from Amnesty USA Blogs : "The Supreme Court of the United States has blocked the scheduled execution of Troy Davis! The Court issued an order staying the execution until Monday to...

Over the next couple of years there will be many personal tragedies triggered by the current global economic crisis: jobs lost in Halifax, Edinburgh and London are just the start. Yet could the financial crash have a silver lining...

Zimbabwe's 'First and Deputy First Ministers' Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai seem about as comfortable in their power-sharing deal as our own current incumbents Robinson and McGuinness . The former face the mightier challenge by...

As previewed on Belfast and Beyond ( Tasers: shocks and secrets ) some weeks ago, a Belfast child has applied for and yesterday won the right to challenge the PSNI's decision to start using Tasers. If successful, the child's court...

The arrest on Tuesday of five people by police investigating the murder of Sunday World journalist Martin O'Hagan in Lurgan seven years ago reminds us that no-one has yet been brought to justice for this crime (sadly, just like so many...

When I was asked to write a short 300 word piece for the Newsletter on the Death Penalty, ( see below) I didn't know that my opponent would be no less that Ian Junior . Now I am used to be called a "wishy washy liberal", in fact I am...

On telly tonight in Northern Ireland: Last Man Hanging (BBC 1 NI) 9pm I mentioned this case in a blog about the death penalty last November and here is the chance to review it on the small screen. From the BBC's blurb: "In 1961 Newry...

At the risk of coming across as Forrest Gump with bad timing (see previous post: ( 'One night (not) in Bangkok' ), last Tuesday I sort of stumbled across the Belfast end of an international arms bust. As I passed the Europa Hotel, I...

I can't remember exactly who told us the news. Maybe the manager of the backpackers' hostel in Perth, where we were spending our last night in Australia before heading to Bangkok. It was to be the final leg of our year-long post...