As well as teaching about Irish history, I teach English language and grammar, especially the written variety, which a lot of the time seems to mean teaching commas: where to put one, where not to put one, and why it…
Tag: British government
Book review: Acts of Union and Disunion, by Linda Colley
I bought this on a whim last week and have now almost finished reading it. It’s based on the BBC Radio 4 radio series of the same name, which dealt with the various acts and processes that have either bound…
1984: UK Government considered repartition of Northern Ireland
Every January the British National Archives prompt a flurry of historical recollections and reflections when they release a tranche of previoulsy confidential government documents under the “thirty-year rule”. This year, 1984 comes under the spotlight, a year in which the…
Treaty Port handover ‘just like yesterday’
Several of the Irish newspapers have been reporting another anniversary (though not a centenary, for once!): 75 years since the handing over to Irish control of what were referred to as “the Treaty Ports”. These were three deep-water navy bases…
The Good Friday Agreement
To mark Good Friday, here’s a piece on the build-up to the Belfast Agreement, better known as the Good Friday Agreement after the day it was concluded. Background Events that took place over a long period before 1994 had prepared…
The Re-Introduction of Direct Rule in Northern Ireland: 24 March 1972
Forty years ago on this day, the British government reassumed direct control of the province of Northern Ireland, thus ending one half of an early British experiment with devolution. (The other half, the establishment of a semi-independent ‘Dominion–style’ government in…