Letters: Conversing in the world of the futurists

Frances Black at the Ireland’s Future event in the Ulster Hall last week told us that she believes in ‘the imperative of conversation’. I don’t mind a good conversation myself.

One of her leading futurist colleagues is Colin Harvey. More than a year ago I invited him for a cup of coffee and conversation. No reply.

At a seminar on constitutional change in Ireland, held at Queen’s University Belfast in December of last year, I twice asked Professor Harvey the question: Was the IRA’s armed struggle justified?

No direct answer was forthcoming.

I didn’t want to burden unduly a busy colleague, and a professor of human rights law to boot, so I let it lie.

Almost a year elapsed and I broached the question again, by email. Still no reply.

I then suggested we discuss over a cup of coffee.

Borrowing a phrase from the vocabulary of Ireland’s Future, I indicated it would be a ‘respectful conversation’ and helpfully noted our offices were less than a hundred metres apart.

But no reply. Not even a shout across the street.

Left me wondering what a ‘conversation’ might mean in the world of the futurists and indeed what the answer to my question might be.

Liam Kennedy, Emeritus Professor of History Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University Belfast