Belfast and Beyond

Noam Chomsky is a worried man. The war in Afghanistan? Yes. Crisis in the Middle East? Of course. Species survival in light of the threats of environmental catastrophe and nuclear weapons? Aren't we all? All that too, but, as I drive...

A Guatemalan woman who has battled in U.S. immigration court for 15 years has been told in a one paragraph document that she is eligible for asylum – because of experiencing domestic abuse at home. The case of Rody Alvarado Pena is a...

That Noam Chomsky's books have been banned , apparently, in the US detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, probably tells you all you need to know about the man and the place. The MIT professor's own comment on the affair: "This happens...

There are some compelling arguments out there that ASBOs are actually an infringement on certain rights guaranteed in the European Convention of Human Rights (to which the UK is a signatory). ASBOs have 2 stages: the first is...

Sadly, not able to make to the opening concert tonight of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queen's . Valery Gergiev and St Petersburg's Mariinsky Orchestra both bring formidable reputations to Belfast and their version of...

This is your 'heads up' for what ought to be a thought-provoking speech on human rights in Northern Ireland. This year's Stephen Livingstone Lecture takes place next Wednesday (21 October) at 5:30pm, Room G07 in the Peter Froggatt...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Belfast yesterday urging politicians and people to keep moving forward to peace. Speaking to a full house at the Northern Ireland Assembly, she noted “that there are still those looking to...

Northern Ireland's political class is utterly focused today on the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton . As I write, her motorcade is en route to Stormont to meet the First and Deputy First Minister and to address the...

There's something about Mary I'm a long self-confessed fan of Mary Robinson . I even had the chance to host her in Belfast last year when she gave the Amnesty International Annual Lecture. The former Irish President and UN High...

It's National Poetry Day . As good an excuse as any for a visit to verse. As is my wont, I'll use the opportunity to highlight a favoured human rights poem and invite your own suggestions. Last year it was Seamus Heaney's From the...

I've found myself rather disturbed andannoyed at the portrayal of young people in the NI press in recent months,particularly surrounding issues of protests and political action. The media hasstripped young people of their agency...

Shaun Woodward keeps saying that the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly – the subject of talks in Downing Street today – is "the final part of the jigsaw" . The Northern Ireland Secretary of State...

During the summer, a church near where I live advertised its gospel mission with the slogan: "Worried about your job? Trust God." In the midst of a recession, with anxiety high about redundacies, mortgage defaults and unpaid bills, a...

Alan in Belfast has done a better summary of the East Belfast Speaks Out event from earlier this week than I could hope to. In the comments section he even includes a link to the BBC radio news report from the event, which features...

I can remember almost exactly five years ago travelling to a school on the outskirts of Belfast where the enterprising Amnesty group had managed to get the whole school PLUS parents to add their faces to the million faces petition...

This event has already been picked up on the Northern Ireland blogosphere over on Slugger and on Alan in Belfast but, seeing as I'm one of the panellists, I'll give it a plug here too! East Belfast Speaks Out is basically (the hugely...

Matt Baggott, the new Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland finally gets to try out his new desk today and will probably take a moment to reflect on the size of the task that awaits him. The term ‘baptism of fire’...

I am pleased that Canadian playwright, Judith Thompson, won the 2009 Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award for her political play Palace of the End. This post is perhaps premature, as I haven’t read the play yet, but this...

The recent evictions of Romanians from a house in South Belfast should be considered a political matter concerning civil and socio-economic rights, rather than as a purely private dispute between individuals. Commenting on the latest...

I reviewed this new comedy / politics documentary film for the BBC's Sunday Sequence programme, along with actor and writer Dan Gordon (you can listen again, here , 22mins 30secs in). I'd never heard of the Yes Men before now –...