#loyalist car bomb

[seachranaidhe]

Brother of man murdered by UVF paramilitaries to sue police and the Ministry of Defence.

Brother of man murdered by UVF paramilitaries to sue police and the Ministry of Defence.

http://seachranaidhe-irishandproud.blogspot.com/2022/10/brother-of-man-murdered-by-uvf.html

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1974 – Three car bombs in Dublin and a fourth in Monaghan exploded without warning, injuring almost 300 people and killing 34, the greatest loss of life on a single day during the Troubles.

On the morning of 17 May 1974, four cars are stolen in Belfast. That evening, they would explode without warning in Dublin and Monaghan resulting in the deaths of 34 civilians and injuries to more than 300. The bombings were the worst single atrocity in Ireland during the “Troubles.” The bombings were a Loyalist reaction to the Sunningdale Agreement and attempts to introduce power sharing between…

[dougielombax]

50 years ago today.

17th May 1974.

34 innocent people (all civilians) were killed when the UVF (a loyalist terrorist group backed by the British govt who from their inception were set up to kill as many civilians and innocent people as possible, since they viewed Irish people as being inherently evil and subhuman, which we are NOT!), operating in collaboration (collusion is the preferred term for some) with the British government set off numerous car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan.

These bombings were carried out during the Ulster Worker's Council Strike by loyalists and unionists in Northern Ireland, who opposed the Sunningdale Agreement, that called for power-sharing with Irish nationalists.

The bombings left 34 people dead and hundreds more injured.

The Irish government of the time practically bowed down in response to British demands to stop the investigation into the bombings. Like a bunch of cowardly old women.

Their response at the time (or lack thereof?) was and still is BEYOND shameful. A textbook display of bootlicking cowardice.

Followed by the usual policy for the time of turning a blind eye to the suffering of the Irish in the north, tut-tutting at the PIRA and even blaming them for British attacks. All while washing their hands of the matter and parroting the British state’s propaganda.

Above: A memorial to the victims of the bombings in Dublin.

A campaign by families of the victims led to an Irish govt inquiry in 2003 under Justice Henry Barron, that criticized the Garda Síochána's investigation as well as the inaction of then Labour Govt.

Many idiotic Irish politicians and revisionists today insist that the bombings either didn’t happen, or were an accident or were committed by Sinn Fein. (They were not)

None of which are true.

Reports have stated that there is a VERY high likelihood of British security and intelligence services being involved alongside the UVF.

But the British government refuses to release the documents to this day.

I’m posting this here today 50 years on from the bombings because I believe in accountability.

(Also because I study history but that goes without saying)

Reblog the shit out of this.

[werewolfetone]

Also mad how this book was reviewed as a solid unbiased condemnation of violence perpetrated by all sides during the troubles because unless it takes a sharp turn in the last 50 pages "condemning all sides" has so far consisted on 300+ pages of talking about how every ira member needs to be burnt at the stake VS like 2 sentences of "& btw not too fond of the army. ignore the fact that I've glorified them throughout this book" + the author brought up loyalist paramilitaries one (1) time & it was to say that his uvf character who literally does nothing on page but talk about getting together with the lads to kill some fenians didn't deserve to be car bombed. if this is unbiased I would hate to see what biased is

[thegalievthought]

Modern British Gangs and The Poppy

The Modern gangs of the United Kingdom fall very far yet close enough to the gangs of the past century, unlike their brothers of ages past the modern gangs of the British dwarf the criminal organizations of the past by an easy tenfold. Modern street gangs in the UK have membership roasters in the tens of thousands, the largest having between seventy to one hundred thousand members! Informants, runners, enforcers and more that belong to these gangs populate the stress of the United Kingdom today! And in the past years, they earn forty-eight billion Pounds a year! They terrorize poor communities, they have active, and former police on their payroll and at worst the police even work with them in their illegal activities. The politicians on every level of government and of every party bribe them and openly embrace them, from Labour to the Tories every party reveres them. 

They march in the streets and frighten normal innocent people. They attack minorities and repress civil rights for many people. They kill innocent people and get away with it their murders going unpunished for sometimes as long as thirty-five years!  They carry rifles in the streets and wear boots and camouflage. These gangs, as you might have guessed by now, are the British Army and their compatriot branches. For many in western nations, the eleventh of November is a day for remembering veterans or largely the Armed Forces of your state. From France with Remembrance day, Britain is the subject of today, with Armed Forces day or to the US with Veterans Day. 

What all of these have in common is that they attempt to celebrate the institution of the military, primarily those who served and are currently serving, they generally take place on the eleventh of November that being the day The Great War came to a close and generally due to these have connects with the right wing and patriot nationalism for capitalist nations. And these events being connected with the far right has always put them at odds sadly with the many people that their states do not care for, The army being brought in and used as a tool to dismantle and destroy any who would oppose the state or their existence in it. For example, the Irish in Northern Ireland have been fighting the military for 50 years, Where the army has consistently been used to suppress Irish Catholics and their civil rights. They take away their freedom and their safety the story of an innocent Irish person murdered by the army is no uncommon thing to hear. And those who support the street gang of the British army get away with it merely by claiming “accidents” and “misfires”. But the truth of the matter is much darker and much more clear to the residents of the North whether Loyalist or Republican it has been made crystal clear that the Army is on the side of the Loyalists and the Police Service of Northern Ireland and against the freedom of people to choose their fate. By bullet, bomb and armoured car, the British army was a surefire force in suppressing the rights of the Irish people. And even then the British army not only got away with these clear crimes against the people but then for thirty-five years slandered and attacked the lives of people that their blood thirty devils murdered innocent people in the Bogside massacre. Then we won't even get started on internment and the long long list of crimes committed by the British Army in Northern Ireland alone let alone the harassment and threats from the army. 

Then the army in many other places in the Uk in recent days has been used as an auxiliary force to the police even outside of Ireland. This has led to show that the unrest of the poor and oppressed peoples of Britain will only be met with violence. And this is only in supplement to the already long list of similar cases of harassment, violence and even killings done by the police of the UK. So coming up on this next Friday the eleventh of November what symbols like the poppy mean to the people who face consistent attacks from the military and police. And how symbols like the poppy are then worn by people who excuse their actions, blame the victims of them and then work harder and harder to make their lives harder. I do not doubt in my mind that the poppy is a hate symbol. It is not a symbol of peace and remorse but a fascistic symbol that is dripping red with the blood of those murdered by the army, like Jackie Duddy William Nash, James Conolly or Chris Kabba. My advice is to cast your poppy on the ground and stomp it in. The British Army is nothing more than a gang of murderers and tyrants they will always be your enemy, an occupier and they will only continue to get away with it until we end it ourselves. In closing no matter where you are from occupied Ireland or occupied America. The military is the enemy of the worker, an enemy to trans people and every group that the state may deem "undesirable". The only undesirables I see however are the capitalist and their military crooks and criminals that carry out their orders, the British Army is in my mind no different than a street gang that terrorize innocent people and workers, that their actions irrefutably show this too, that the British Army is not and likely never will be more than a street gang and deserves no respect and honours only to be brought to justice before the people they have harmed and before the families of those they have killed. 

[alanshemper]

Yearly reminder that if your idea for celebrating St. Patrick's Day is to get wasted on "Irish car bombs" at a bar, then you should go fuck yourself, you Loyalist prick

The Hillcrest Bar bombing, also known as the "Saint Patrick's Day bombing", took place on 17 March 1976 in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a car bomb outside a pub crowded with people celebrating Saint Patrick's Day. Four Catholic civilians were killed by the blast—including two 13-year-old boys standing outside—and almost 50 people were injured, some severely.

[abellinthecupboard]

America

America I've given you all and now I'm nothing. America two dollars and twentyseven cents January 　　　17, 1956. I can't stand my own mind. America when will we end the human war! Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb. I don't feel good don't bother me. I won't write my poem till I'm in my right mind. America when will you be angelic? When will you take off your clothes? When will you look at yourself through the grave? When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites? America why are your libraries full of tears? America when will you send your eggs to India? I'm sick of your insane demands. When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I 　　　need with my good looks? America after all it is you and I who are perfect not 　　　the next world. Your machinery is too much for me. You made me want to be a saint. There must be some other way to settle this argument. Burroughs is in Tangiers I don't think he'll come back 　　　it's sinister. Are you being sinister or is this some form of practical 　　　joke? I'm trying to come to the point. I refuse to give up my obsession. America stop pushing I know what I'm doing. America the plum blossoms are falling. I haven't read the newspapers for months, everyday 　　　somebody goes on trial for murder. America I feel sentimental about the Wobblies. America I used to be a communist when I was a kid 　　　I'm not sorry. I smoke marijuana every chance I get. I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses 　　　in the closet. When I go to Chinatown I get drunk and never get laid. My mind is made up there's going to be trouble. You should have seen me reading Marx. My psychoanalyst thinks I'm perfectly right. I won't say the Lord's Prayer. I have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations. America I still haven't told you what you did to Uncle 　　　Max after he came over from Russia. I'm addressing you. Are you going to let your emotional life be run by 　　　Time Magazine? I'm obsessed with Time Magazine. I read it every week. Its cover stares at me every time I slink past the corner 　　　candystore. I read it in the basement of the Berkeley Public Library. It's always telling me about responsibility. Business- 　　　men are serious. Movie producers are serious. 　　　Everybody's serious but me. It occurs to me that I am America. I am talking to myself again. Asia is rising against me. I haven't got a chinaman's chance. I'd better consider my national resources. My national resources consist of two joints of 　　　marijuana millions of genitals an unpublishable 　　　private literature that goes 1400 miles an hour 　　　and twenty-five-thousand mental institutions. I say nothing about my prisons nor the millions of 　　　underprivileged who live in my flowerpots 　　　under the light of five hundred suns. I have abolished the whorehouses of France, Tangiers 　　　is the next to go. My ambition is to be President despite the fact that 　　　I'm a Catholic. America how can I write a holy litany in your silly 　　　mood? I will continue like Henry Ford my strophes are as 　　　individual as his automobiles more so they're 　　　all different sexes. America I will sell you strophes $2500 apiece $500 　　　down on your old strophe America free Tom Mooney America save the Spanish Loyalists America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die America I am the Scottsboro boys. America when I was seven momma took me to Com- 　　　munist Cell meetings they sold us garbanzos a 　　　handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the 　　　speeches were free everybody was angelic and 　　　sentimental about the workers it was all so sin- 　　　cere you have no idea what a good thing the 　　　party was in 1835 Scott Nearing was a grand 　　　old man a real mensch Mother Bloor made me 　　　cry I once saw Israel Amter plain. Everybody 　　　must have been a spy. America you don't really want to go to war. America it's them bad Russians. Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. 　��　And them Russians. The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia's power 　　　mad. She wants to take our cars from out our 　　　garages. Her wants to grab Chicago. her needs a Red Readers' 　　　Digest. Her wants our auto plants in Siberia. 　　　Him big bureaucracy running our fillingsta- 　　　tions. That no good. Ugh. Him make Indians learn read. 　　　Him need big black niggers. Hah. Her make us 　　　all work sixteen hours a day. help. America this is quite serious. America this is the impression I get from lookin in 　　　the television set. America is this correct? I'd better get right down to the job. It's true I don't want to join the Army or turn lathes 　　　in precision parts factories, I'm nearsighted and 　　　psychopathic anyway. America I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.

— Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems (1956)

[tommytranselo]

very very curious about how the period after moretti’s death went.  i’m sure what happened to him was an open secret, or at least people had their suspicions, and moretti surely would’ve had his loyalists–old fashioned types who didn’t agree with the way things would come to be run.  not to mention that carlo wasn’t underboss; he was just a capo.  i don’t know if moretti had an underboss–maybe the guy had been killed earlier in the war and never replaced, maybe he never had one–but the important thing is that there were probably a few people that felt they were being passed over when carlo became the new don (this is my hesitant headcanon for rocco’s history–i’m very curious about him too).  and of course, tony balls was in the car when the bomb went off.  carlo had to be wary of him for a while, but obviously he still kept him on board (maybe he felt bad–he rewarded eddie and jack for their loyalty, so i figure it’s possible and that he wasn’t a total prick back then).  

so was there turmoil?  were their diehards in moretti’s camp who wanted carlo gone, and did he get rid of them, too?  maybe it was obvious hits.  maybe he sent them on dangerous missions to get rid of them.  once again, the fact he kept tony around makes me think he avoided getting rid of people he didn’t have to, especially given he was a young boss and probably being looked at with a lot of suspicion, so it was important to maintain an image as merciful.  it’s machiavellian, in a way: better to be feared than loved if you can only have one, but above all don’t be hated.  all that said, i have to doubt there was nobody he took out in the aftermath, “just to be safe.”

my other thought is why he did it: as much as it was a power grab and definitely had some kind of selfish motivation, i think he also believed or at least convinced himself he was doing it for the good of the family.  the war was dragging on, they were losing too many guys, business was bad and the men were tired.  moretti was never going to win, he told himself, it was best to just get it over with and salvage what he could before the whole thing went down in flames.  his cigarette card (mde) says the following: “no criminal can be trusted. take for example carlo falcone: the man who murdered his own boss. years spent at tomaso moretti’s side frustrated him: with deals unmade, and dissent that should have been stamped out plaguing the family. after two long years of the vinci-moretti war, falcone ended it in his own favor. moretti died in flames, and falcone now reigns. what lies ahead remains to be seen.”  this definitely gives me the impression that he was tired and had been for some time, and that he finally lost patience with what felt to him like a failing organization.  while he certainly became selfish, arrogant, and deeply untrusting by the 50s, i don’t think he was always like that–sure his card might call him untrustworthy, but the descriptions of other characters (e.g. tommy being “one of the most feared faces in america”) make it obvious the drama is being played up.

i think carlo falcone liked moretti, as much as the old man frustrated him, and i think it took him a long time to come to the conclusion of what he was going to do.  i think he regarded eddie and jack as friends.  and i think he thought he was doing the right thing.

[magsinhiding]

America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing.

America two dollars and twentyseven cents January 17, 1956.

I can’t stand my own mind.

America when will we end the human war?

Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb.

I don’t feel good don’t bother me.

I won’t write my poem till I’m in my right mind.

America when will you be angelic?

When will you take off your clothes?

When will you look at yourself through the grave?

When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites?

America why are your libraries full of tears?

America when will you send your eggs to India?

I’m sick of your insane demands.

When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my good looks?

America after all it is you and I who are perfect not the next world.

Your machinery is too much for me.

You made me want to be a saint.

There must be some other way to settle this argument.

Burroughs is in Tangiers I don’t think he’ll come back it’s sinister.

Are you being sinister or is this some form of practical joke?

I’m trying to come to the point.

I refuse to give up my obsession.

America stop pushing I know what I’m doing.

America the plum blossoms are falling.

I haven’t read the newspapers for months, everyday somebody goes on trial for murder.

America I feel sentimental about the Wobblies.

America I used to be a communist when I was a kid I’m not sorry.

I smoke marijuana every chance I get.

I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet.

When I go to Chinatown I get drunk and never get laid.

My mind is made up there’s going to be trouble.

You should have seen me reading Marx.

My psychoanalyst thinks I’m perfectly right.

I won’t say the Lord’s Prayer.

I have mystical visions and cosmic vibrations.

America I still haven’t told you what you did to Uncle Max after he came over from Russia.

I’m addressing you.

Are you going to let your emotional life be run by Time Magazine?

I’m obsessed by Time Magazine.

I read it every week.

Its cover stares at me every time I slink past the corner candystore.

I read it in the basement of the Berkeley Public Library.

It’s always telling me about responsibility. Businessmen are serious. Movie producers are serious. Everybody’s serious but me.

It occurs to me that I am America.

I am talking to myself again.

Asia is rising against me.

I haven’t got a chinaman’s chance.

I’d better consider my national resources.

My national resources consist of two joints of marijuana millions of genitals an unpublishable private literature that jetplanes 1400 miles an hour and twentyfive-thousand mental institutions.

I say nothing about my prisons nor the millions of underprivileged who live in my flowerpots under the light of five hundred suns.

I have abolished the whorehouses of France, Tangiers is the next to go.

My ambition is to be President despite the fact that I’m a Catholic.

America how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood?

I will continue like Henry Ford my strophes are as individual as his automobiles more so they’re all different sexes.

America I will sell you strophes $2500 apiece $500 down on your old strophe

America free Tom Mooney

America save the Spanish Loyalists

America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die

America I am the Scottsboro boys.

America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell meetings they sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the speeches were free everybody was angelic and sentimental about the workers it was all so sincere you have no idea what a good thing the party was in 1835 Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch Mother Bloor the Silk-strikers’ Ewig-Weibliche made me cry I once saw the Yiddish orator Israel Amter plain. Everybody must have been a spy.

America you don’t really want to go to war.

America its them bad Russians.

Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen. And them Russians.

The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia’s power mad. She wants to take our cars from out our garages.

Her wants to grab Chicago. Her needs a Red Reader’s Digest. Her wants our auto plants in Siberia. Him big bureaucracy running our fillingstations.

That no good. Ugh. Him make Indians learn read. Him need big black niggers. Hah. Her make us all work sixteen hours a day. Help.

America this is quite serious.

America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set.

America is this correct?

I’d better get right down to the job.

It’s true I don’t want to join the Army or turn lathes in precision parts factories, I’m nearsighted and psychopathic anyway.

America I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.

[ysbnews]

Putin Faces Furious Coup as ‘Odious' Ukraine War Architect Narrowly Escapes Assassination — EXPRESS

8/24/2022 — VLADIMIR PUTIN has been warned a furious coup is plotting his downfall after his "architect of the Ukraine war" narrowly avoided an assassination attempt that killed his daughter.

Putin faces furious coup as 'odious' Ukraine war architect narrowly escapes assassination - © Getty Images

The daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ultra-nationalistic philosopher and the alleged architect of the Ukraine war, was killed by a car bomb that exploded on Saturday night. Daria Dugina, 29 years old, herself a highly controversial figure, ultra-nationalist and pro-war, was blown up in the bomb that is thought to have been intended for her father.

Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin attends a farewell ceremony of his daughter Daria Dugina - © Getty Images

The FSB claims a mother serving in the Ukrainian army slipped into Moscow to assassinate Ms Dugina before escaping to Estonia in a Mini Cooper. Estonia has hit back at this accusation, labeling the Russian claim a "provocation". Speaking on television on Tuesday, Urmas Reinsalu, Estonia’s Foreign Minister, said: “We regard this as one instance of provocation in a very long line of provocations by the Russian Federation, and we have nothing more to say about it at the moment.”

Officers investigating the scene of the car bombing - Image via Russian Investigative Committee

Russian officials said Natalya Vovk brought her 12-year-old daughter to the capital to help her stake out Ms Dugina who was killed by a bomb planted under the seat of her car on Saturday. The FSB released a passport photo of Ms Vovk alongside a video purporting to show her in Moscow. However, other suspects include rogue Russian security agents and resistance fighters, determined to overthrow Putin's regime.

Russian officials investigate the scene after the car of Daria Dugina was blown up - Image via Russian Investigative Committee

Russian historian Dr Yuri Felshtinsky said the car bomb was "most likely part of an internal Russian conflict". He told The Daily Beast: "The blowing up of the car of the famous Russian fascist and ideologist of the Putin regime, Alexander Dugin, was organised, it seems, by the Russian security services. "The Ukrainian special services, involved in a deadly battle with the aggressor on the territory of Ukraine, are unlikely to be able to send their officers to Moscow to organise terrorist attacks there."

Alexander Dugin got heart attack after eyewitnessed his daughter Darya was car bombed. - © Getty Images

The historian described Mr Dugin as an "odious" part of Russia’s regime and hinted the wealth and power of "Putin's Rasputin" may have made him a prime target for rebels. Putin’s ex-speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov described the bombing as "symbolic" and intended to intimidate Putin loyalists. He added: "This is no longer an abstract war that you watch on TV. "This is already happening in Russia… terrorist attacks are already being carried out in the Moscow region."

Alexander Dugin: aka. Putin’s Brain, Putin’s Rasputin - Express via © Getty Images

Murmurs of discontent have been circulating for months, with heavy military losses and severe Western sanctions believed to be hitting Russian morale. Ukraine’s spy chief has claimed a coup to remove Putin has been underway for months and predicted he will be defeated in his country by the end of the year. Major General Kyrylo Budanov, 36, told Sky News in May: "The breaking point will be in the second part of August.

Stop Putin protests in EU nations - Photo clip via YouTube video

"Most of the active combat will have finished by the end of this year. "It will eventually lead to the change of leadership of the Russian Federation. This process has already been launched." There are now fears Putin’s top generals will also be targeted in assassinations by rogue FSB spy agents to further destabilise the President’s grip on power.

Read the latest Ukraine News with related videos on EXPRESS

[fercnmi]

// serious topics, please read through this

i'm so tired of bigger media outlets not covering the violence in northen ireland rn and because they won't talk about it, i will

northern ireland is currently in a state of sectarian violence once again. night after night of rioting is happening, mostly instigated by loyalist communities. this has been boiling up for a while but it started over the shadow minister michelle o’neill attending a funeral.

this has been a problem since england and wales voted positively towards brexit, not educating themselves on what that would mean for the irish. we had a few peaceful years preceeding the troubles, and now it is genuinley TERRIFYING to see my country in flames again. there is blood on the hands of everyone who supported brexit

i'm not going to beg anyone to reblog it "cause if u don't, ur a bad person" even if only my mutuals and followers are aware.

the troubles were a real period of violent political conflict which lasted decades. it claimed 3,532 deaths and there were upwards of 50,000 total casualities.

to this day, the country faces the rippling effects of the trauma. many grew up during a time where armed men getting onto a school bus full of children was normal, many grew up learning to hate eachother because of "mammy says she's a prod" or "they're dirty catholics", many grew up standing outside of shops waiting to be checked before entering.

i know, personally, there were many times where MY OWN MOTHER AND FATHER had to nearly ram their car into the car in front of them to attempt to hide the registration. ive had my parents tell me if the time where they had passed through a town where the only reason they refrained from stopping was that THEY DIDN'T FEEL THE NEED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM, and a two mere hours later, a car bomb exploded.

my parents could've been among the 29 killed that day. they could have been in the approximated 300 injured. yet they weren't under sheer luck. and you want to know what the scary and horrifyingly true part of this is?

they talk about it as if this was normal. and to be honest, it was for them and the millions living in ireland and northen ireland during that time.

the troubles officially ended in only 1998 under the signing of the good friday agreement. the events of the troubles aren't old, the wounds are still fresh and they are opening once again.

to put this into perspective for y'all. i was already born and probably crawling or wobbling when the british army OFFICIALLY withdrew from northern ireland, i was ALREADY ALIVE AND BREATHING. this has been going on since the 1960s.

in 2019, a journalist was shot and killed in the crossfire at a riot in derry. a gunman had been aiming at the police and she got caught up and lost her life.

peace is a tenuous thing in northen ireland.

i'm tired of history here going in a fucking circle, over and over and over. maybe next time, my parents won't be so lucky, maybe next time i won't be so lucky.

i'm going to link a twt thread right here and here that keeps you updated as things go on. it would do u good to look through it and see what's happening.

also to anyone who may be following me, who is catholic and living in derry, please be careful. people are going around looking for y'all and allegedly setting fire to ur property.

we can't let this cycle continue repeating.

[tiocfaidharlulz]

full week of rioting, car jackings, petrol bombs and a bus being hijacked, petrol bombed and sent rolling into oncoming traffic courtesy of loyalists. last night they lobbed umpteen petrol bombs and bricks over the peace wall and they rammed and breached the gate. all of the above organised and encouraged by politicians and paramilitaries. but it’s NOW the water canons and threats of impact rounds come out... on the springfield road... against the handful of nationalist hoods, being confronted on the ground by community workers and locals and reigned in... you’d get it difficult to write that level of political policing, or that level of blatant organisation for sectarian violence

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1974 – Three car bombs in Dublin and a fourth in Monaghan exploded without warning, injuring almost 300 people and killing 34, the greatest loss of life on a single day during the Troubles.

#OTD in 1974 – Three car bombs in Dublin and a fourth in Monaghan exploded without warning, injuring almost 300 people and killing 34, the greatest loss of life on a single day during the Troubles.

On the morning of 17 May 1974, four cars are stolen in Belfast. That evening, they would explode without warning in Dublin and Monaghan resulting in the deaths of 34 civilians and injuries to more than 300. The bombings were the worst single atrocity in Ireland during the “Troubles.” The bombings were a Loyalist reaction to the Sunningdale Agreement and attempts to introduce power sharing between…

[mariacallous]

And here's the tea, Thatcher for sure had Girl Power, she's a woman who became a leader of a major party in the 1970s and PM in 1979, she's literally the 3rd woman to be the democratically elected head of a country

the whole criticism is the idea that women leaders are somehow not "real women" or something if they're not also progressive, like the only point to feminism, or gender equality is if it also furthers other left wing (mostly effective male) goals

also I think André was criticizing her on Northern Ireland? and Thatcher in fact floated the idea of giving away the Catholic parts a number of times so you know.

any ways you're Wine for sure.

I do think it's remarkable and noteworthy that Thatcher was able to become the leader of one of the major political parties in a prominent Western European country in the 1970s and one of the few female heads of government in the world in 1979, because of how comparatively early that is compared to so many other countries and for the fact that she is one of the first women elected to lead her country.

At the same time, she was a notoriously regressive leader who openly said she owed nothing to women's lib (which is at the very least partially incorrect depending on a variety of factors) and who actively opposed most policies or ideas that might specifically benefit and advance women.

It is possible for both things to be true and people refuse to accept that.

The specific thing Eric Andre brought up, about Thatcher funneling money to illegal paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, is murky at best - there has been several investigations and reviews which pretty conclusively proved that the British state, more specifically the military and security forces and intelligence agencies, actively shared information and analysis and weapons and other resources with the Loyalist paramilitary groups fighting. But there has never been any proof that Thatcher directly was involved with or knew about or supported these actions, and British military and intelligence are notorious for not fully briefing or involving political leadership unless and until things go pear-shaped and they need cover or to stave off issues down the road.

You can absolutely make an argument that Thatcher implicitly and indirectly promoted or supported these actions with how she approached and discussed most issues but especially Northern Ireland and security matters, and especially after she herself was almost killed in the Brighton Hotel bombing. Her premiership was bookmarked with Northern Irish violence - her Northern Ireland advisor and one of the men who helped her become Tory Party Leader, Airey Neave, was killed in a car bombing shortly before the 1979 election while Ian Gow, who had been one of her closest political advisors who resigned his ministerial position in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement that Thatcher negotiated which saw a significant shift (and more flexibility) in British government policy towards North Ireland, was killed in a car bombing a few months before Thatcher resigned in 1990. Both of these assassinations had a fairly large impact on Thatcher, especially when combined with the 1984 hotel bombing (which killed several Tories and seriously wounded key ministers and officials).

[thecrownnet]

The Crown arrived on Netflix five years ago, and since then the royal drama has become a huge title for the platform, with award-winning stars Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and now Imelda Staunton taking on Queen Elizabeth II.

Season four was the last instalment of Peter Morgan’s dramatisation, with Princess Diana (Emma Corrin) and Margaret Thatcher (Gillian Anderson) entering the scene – however, all eyes are on season five and incoming members of The Crown cast, who are due to begin filming this summer.

With Jonathan Pryce, Lesley Manville and Elizabeth Debicki inheriting the iconic royal characters for The Crown’s next two series – and rumours of Fleabag’s Andrew Scott being considered for Prime Minister Tony Blair – there’s a lot to get excited about when it comes to  the show’s future.

Here’s everything we know so far about The Crown’s fifth season.[link above]

[...]

What period will The Crown season 5 cover?

Every season of The Crown so far has covered roughly a 10-year period so, following that pattern, we should expect season five to cover 1990 up to 2000.

However, Peter Morgan has confirmed that The Crown will end after its sixth season and has previously said that he has a “20-year-rule”, which means he doesn’t like to write about events or relationships that have happened within the past 20 years. Therefore, if season six is expected to air in 2023, then The Crown may finish around 2003/the mid-noughties, and season five would need to be shorter – from 1990 until 1997, perhaps.

If we’re correct, then these are the potential events in Royal history that season five could cover:

[Spoilers Alert]

November 1990 – John Major is officially appointed Prime Minister by the Queen following Margaret Thatcher’s resignation.

December 1990 – Princess Eugenie is christened.

January 1991 – The Gulf War begins.

February 1991 – Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombs explode at London’s Paddington and Victoria stations.

February 1992 – The Queen commemorates her Ruby Jubilee.

March 1992 – The Duke and Duchess of York (Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson) announce they are to separate after six years of marriage.

March 1992 – Princess Diana’s father – John Spencer, 8th Early Spencer, dies from pneumonia at the age of 68.

April 1992 – Princess Anne announces her divorce from Captain Mark Phillips.

June 1992 – Princess Diana’s controversial biography, Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton, is published.

August 1992 – The Daily Mirror publishes intimate photographs of the Duchess of York (Sarah Ferguson) and Texan businessman John Bryan.

November 1992 – Windsor Castle is damaged in a fire, causing millions of pounds worth of damage, shortly after which the Queen describes the year as an Annus Horribilis.

November 1992 – Prime Minister John Major announces that the Queen is to be taxed from 1993 onwards, marking the end of 60 tax-free years for the monarchy.

December 1992 – Princes Charles and Princess Diana announce their plans to separate.

December 1992 – Princess Anne marries Timothy Lawrence.

April 1993 – Stephen Lawrence is killed in South London.

April 1993 – The Queen announces that Buckingham Palace will open to the public for the first time.

November 1993 – Princess Diana sues the Daily Mirror over photographs taken of her whilst at a gym.

December 1993 – Princess Diana announces her withdrawal from public life and the Queen speaks of her hopes for peace in Northern Ireland.

January 1994 – Princes Charles retires from competitive polo.

July 1994 – Tony Blair wins the Labour Party leadership election.

October 1994 – Prince Philip attends a ceremony in Israel where his late mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is honoured for sheltering Jewish families from the Nazis during World War II.

March 1995 – The Queen and Prince Philip visit Norther Ireland for the first time since the IRA and Loyalist ceasefire, before the Queen arrives in Cape Town for the first royal visit to South Africa in 50 years.

May 1995 – Britain celebrates the 50th anniversary of VE Day.

June 1995 – John Major resigns as leader of the Conservative Party to reassert his authority, and wins the leadership election a month later.

November 1995 – The Queen Mother has a hip replacement operation, becoming the oldest patient to undergo such surgery at the age of 95.

November 1995 – A Panorama interview with Princess Diana airs on BBC One, in which the Princess of Wales addresses Prince Charles’ affair, her own adultery, her depression and bulimia and the future of the monarchy.

December 1995 – The Queen writes to Charles and Diana, urging them to divorce as soon as possible.

April 1996 – Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorce.

August 1996 – Prince Charles and Princess Diana complete their divorce proceedings.

May 1997 – Labour Party leader Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister, beating incumbent John Major.

June 1997 – The auction of dresses owned by Princess Diana raise over £2 million for charity.

July 1997 – The IRA declares a ceasefire.

August 1997 – Princess Diana dies in a car crash in Paris.

September 1997 – The Queen makes a nationwide broadcast tribute to Diana the day before her funeral is held at Westminster Abbey.

November 1997 – The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

[helloyesimrhys]

Mallory Keen

Is problematic.

I know she’s not as bad as a lot of RR’s other characters but there are some things that make me, as an Irish person, uncomfortable.

We’ll start with the obvious: she’s a redhead with green eyes and a fiery temper. Ring any bells? So many Irish characters are stereotyped like this and it’s actually really annoying. It feels like Rick Riordan threw her into the story for no reason. She insults people, has a berserker boyfriend and has knives. Other than that she doesn’t have much of a personality, which just adds to my feeling that she literally only exists to be a stereotype. But don’t worry, it gets worse.

Riordan says that Mallory “curses in Gaelic” a few times. However if he’d done even the tiniest smidge of research he’d know that she’d be cursing in Gaeilge, which is the Irish word for Irish. Yes, the word Gaelic is derived from Gaeilge but you wouldn’t say “curses in Gaelic”, you’d say “curses in Irish”. Gaelic would refer to Scottish Gaelic or Gaelic football, not Irish.

But the worst thing about Mallory is her death. Disarming a car bomb that she and her friends set up? Of all things. There were so many other causes of death that Rick Riordan could have chosen but he picked a car bomb.

Quick history lesson: Mallory died during The Troubles, an “irregular” or “low-intensity” civil war in Ireland. The two sides were the Nationalists and the Loyalists. Loyalists wished for Northen Ireland to remain a part of Great Britain whereas the Nationalists wanted Northern Ireland to rejoin the Republic.

The Troubles were a very political and bloody time in Ireland’s <recent> history and a lot of people in Ireland still remember it. It was wildly insensitive of Riordan to have the one Irish character in his series not only be a gross stereotype but also set up a car bomb? What the fuck?