Robinson: we are prepared to invest in the future

Yesterday in New York Peter Robinson spoke at a lunch time seminar at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. He remembers his friend 23 year old Harry Beggs, who died on 25 August 1971, in an IRA bomb attack on the Electricity Board’s headquarters. He notes, “the murder made me angry, left me wanting retribution and very bitter. Over the years, as the grey hairs formed, I have observed from life that bitterness consumes the vessel that contains it …

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Thread from the past…

I was footering about in the back end of the site looking through the archives when I came across this thread, just days after the Northern Bank robbery. It’s remarkable for the candid, intelligent and largely civil nature of its conversation. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Phil Flynn tells his story…

Given the giddy way stories emerge and then seem to disappear from view in Northern Ireland, the Village has a useful interview with one of the public figures who popped out of the media scrum around early police investigations into the follow-up to the Northern Bank robbery. Phil Flynn tells his side of the story. Though, presumably for ‘legal reasons’ he won’t be drawn on any of the potentially interesting detail surrounding Ted Cunningham and the Bulgarian brothers who featured …

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And those ‘lucky’ numbers are…

There’s been a sudden flurry of activity related to the Northern Bank heist. The bank have published the serial numbers of (some of) the stolen notes and are suggesting they might recall and change their entire note issue – a complex, difficult and seriously expensive operation taking a considerable time to complete. Meanwhile police have searched premises in West and North Belfast – whether that’s simply a case of wanting to be seen to be doing something or the result …

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