The illegal movement of cattle (to benefit from the different agricultural subsidies) was common practice. We lived a hundred yards from the actual border and a Derry man called Miah often arrived at our house in a highly agitated state having had a close a shave with the Excise man from St. Johnston who patrolled what was known as the back road between Derry and Carrigans.
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We’ve truly transformed into a land of opportunity, still flawed, not perfect, but improving.
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The Camera Club has resumed in blended form – attendance for some and Zoom connection for the rest. I viewed online a first class presentation by Ken Lindsay of Eastwood last night. While interaction with other members has gone, there are bonuses – no travel and home comfort.
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African skies, the rhythms of the pupils, their villages and celebrations were glimpsed and relived as old images appeared on the screen. Zambia will always be precious to us; our first child was born there.
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At the end of our detailed submission, Liddell glanced at Osler and the officials; a look which read , ‘that’s not what you bastards are telling me upstairs’; the scenery collapsed and we got a rare glance at the inner workings of the machine.
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he was the politician whose principles remained intact , whether tackling local situations in Derry or travelling the World as an international statesman.
It is unlikely that we shall see his equal again in these islands.
Atrocities by British forces in Castlereagh and Abu –Graib were invoked when Othello threatened to smother his officer with a plastic bag. Shakespeare’s enduring popularity is due in some measure to the universality of content in his work. ‘Black Lives Matter’ is the predominant emotion felt by the spurned Iago.
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I now understand that Clive headed, with undisguised brutality, the group which plundered the Indian Sub-Continent. The echoes of Empire which surfaced in the EU Referendum carefully selected a picture of a benign regime where indigenous peoples were extras. We were fed a distorted and highly abridged version of reality. My primary school teacher, if he knew, failed to point out that Wolfe had perfected the bayonet technique during service in Ireland where he helped to subdue restless natives. Scots will be aware that he also saw service with Cumberland at Culloden. Had I known those facts then, I would have better understood why the British Empire was coloured red on our classroom World map.
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L.Alex Wilson (pictured) was a 6’3” newspaper reporter who covered the admission of nine black students into the segregated Little Rock Central High School ; attacked and beaten by a brutal, white mob he walked on, picking up his sombrero whenever he fell, intent on doing his job as a newsman; the following morning , his report of the ‘Little Rock Nine’ appeared in the Tri-State Defender ;
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There will be an inquiry into the handling of the crisis and already anxious cabinet ministers , stalking corridors of power, are sharpening their knives and considering which back will prove the most convenient recipient. My money is on the scientists landing the role of fall guys.
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