The concluding episode of Subtle Alchemies. Herein, I discuss the ideal / innocent victim / victim-perpetrator paradigm as well as looking at the cowardly murders of Edgar Graham and Sean Brown. Killed for who they were perceived to be representative of. Also, the murder of RUC officer Jonathan (Jon) Reid.

An in-depth series of episodes revisiting subjects such as asset-handling, intelligence streams, RUC SB, MI5 et al, are planned for the new year.

Works cited

McKittrick, D., Kelters, S., Feeney, B., Thornton, C., and McVea, D., (eds), Lost Lives (updated and revised), Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh and London, 2007

Orwell, G., Homage to Catalonia, Penguin Classic, 2000

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A somewhat disjointed episode, unplanned and unscripted. Nevertheless, I felt necessary, as such, to get me back into producing an episode following a sharp dip along my mental road. Anyway, in this episode I talk about some of our politicians jetting off to Israel, the Palestinian flag at Belfast City Hall, the film Black '47, victimhood as agency, cognitive dissonance and extreme sensibilities among a myriad of other things!

In the next episode I will, finally, conclude my look at victims, collective memory and forgiveness in our post-conflict society.

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In this episode I look at the construction of victimology in the context of Bloody Sunday as well as that of 'Soldier F'. Also, I consider Organisational Memory, Myth-Making, Blamelessness and Out Group / In Group dynamics.

Cohen, S., States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2001

Eveleigh, R., Peace-Keeping in a Democratic Society. The Lessons of Northern Ireland, C. Hurst and Company, London, 1978

Halbwachs, M., On Collective Memory, University of Chicago Press, 1992

Lundy, P. and McGovern M., The Politics of Memory in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland, Peace Review 13, 2001

Morrissey, M. and Smyth, M., Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement: Victims, Grievance and Blame, Pluto Press, London, 2002

Sykes, G. M. and Matza, D., Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency, American Sociological Review 22, 1957

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In this episode I move on to discuss the terms 'victim' and 'perpetrator' and that in post-conflict societies these terms are seldom mutually exclusive of one another.

Are we much too early, in terms of reconciliation, to even begin to think about determining ideal constructs of both 'victim' and 'perpetrator' in Northern Ireland?

Never mind 'Hierarchies of Victims', were there 'Hierarchies of Righteous Violence'?

Lots to discuss...

Works cited:

Borer, T. A., A Taxonomy of Victims and Perpetrators: Human Rights and Reconciliation in South Africa. Human Rights Quarterly 25, 2003

Brewer, J., Peace Processes: A Sociological Approach, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2010

Huyse, L., Victims. In Reconciliation After Violent Conflict: A Handbook, Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm, 2003

Moon C., Narrating Political Reconciliation: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Lexington Books, Plymouth, 2008

The Four of Us: Mary (The Four of Us were part of the soundtrack to my Border career.)

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An brief interlude before I get to Part Two of Subtle Alchemies.

Also, please check out the very talented, very brilliant, Emer Maguire who appeared at the Stand Up for Integrated Education Comedy Night at the Ulster Hall.

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This is the first episode of a series in which I discuss not only the definition of a 'victim' in the context of the Troubles, but also perceptions of victimhood, either justified or unjustified, as well as 'complex victims'.

Works cited:

Bar-Tal, Daniel, Lily Chernyak-Hai, Noa Schori, and Ayelet Gundar, A Sense of Self-Perceived Collective Victimhood in Intractable Conflicts, International Review of the Red Cross 91, 2009

Bouris, Erica, Complex Political Victims, Kumarian Press Inc., Bloomfield CT, 2007

Christie, Nils, The Ideal Victim, in From Crime Policy to Victim Policy: Reorienting the Justice System, Macmillan Press, London, 1986

Lawther, Cheryl, The Construction and Politicisation of Victimhood, in Victims of Terrorism: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Study, Taylor and Francis, London, 2014

Ní Chuinn, Liadan, Every One Still Here, The Stinging Fly Press, Dublin, 2025

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Some points in response to a number of queries / comments about police management of sexual offenders. I've spoke about this subject over a number of proceeding episodes, so I'll keep it as succinct as I can and try not to repeat anything (not easy, but …).

Also in this episode I'm only touching very, very, briefly upon a very current issue which has yet again brought the PSNI (and British Intelligence) under the spotlight, that of the illegal surveillance of Barry McCaffrey's and Trevor Birney's communications, amongst others. Thankfully a PSNI CC, namely John Boucher, has once again shown integrity and professionalism (sadly lacking in a number of previous CC's (both PSNI and RUC) under whose watch such systems of incompetence and autonomy were allowed to take root and infect procedural mechanisms. I've a feeling there's more to come from 4QE!

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