Léargas

  Dia daoibhse from London I’m writing this week’s column in London. Today, Monday, I’m in the Royal Courts of Justice in a civil case that has been brought against me by three claimants, innocent victims, who were injured in three IRA bomb attacks in 1973 and 1996. They are alleging that I was party to those attacks. There was a small crowd of former British soldiers outside the Court and some in the court room itself. There were also some people with tricolours showing their support. Today the legal teams for the claimants and for me made their opening submissions. My legal team set out logically and clearly my position. In summary, they said that I have consistently rejected claims that I was in the IRA. In this case I am also stating emphatically and unequivocally that I had no involvement in the three bomb attacks.  There will inevitably be a lot of media reporting of the case but it is important to point out that the case against me does not contain a single pi...

  War of Aggression in the Gulf As I write this, the war declared by President Trump last Saturday against Iran, and his avowed aim of regime change, is continuing as the death toll rises. The US and Israel had clearly been planning this attack for some time. The USA did this as negotiations involving it and Iran were, according to the Oman mediators, making progress. This war must be condemned. Diplomatic efforts had not ended. There was still hope. President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu broke international law, ignored Iran’s sovereignty, and destroyed that hope with bombs. Under the UN Charter, states are prohibited from using unilateral force, except in two cases: (1) when authorized by the UN Security Council or (2) in self-defence. The US and Israel did not go to the UN Security Council ahead of Saturday’s strikes. That only leaves self-defence and that is absent in this case. President Trump’s first year in this Presidency has been marked by separate attacks on seven countri...

  I am against Monarchies Currently, the British state is convulsed around allegations surrounding a member of its Royal family. Norway too is in the midst of a crisis around its monarchy. The law of both states will take their course, as is right. However, these controversies raise for me the very existence of monarchies. A family elite which through past colonial conquest and patronage, and in alliance with business and societal elites, continues to enjoy a place of wealth and privilege and influence. Given that the British state includes a part of Ireland, at least for the time being, this is more than an academic issue for those of us who are captives of this undemocratic system of privilege.  I am instinctively against monarchies. Of any kind. Constitutional or otherwise. Monarchies are bad. The late Tony Benn put it well when he said that  “ the existence of a hereditary monarchy helps to prop up all the privilege and patronage that corrupts our society; that is why...