The Malone House Group could bring much needed balance to media discussions around legacy

Not only has the legacy of the Troubles been approached in a way that is seriously imbalanced against the UK state and its forces, but the discourse around it is distorted too.

Broadcast discussions typically include representatives from a range of different groups, including Relatives for Justice, Wave, the Committee for the Administration and others. But often most or all of the participants in a panel end up in agreement that the Stormont House Agreement was the template for tackling legacy.

It is left to the relentless Kenny Donaldson of Innocent Victims United to point out why many victims of terror have lost faith in that 2014 deal.

Thus, legacy discussions are dominated by voices or organisations that are pro Stormont House, or latterly by voices or organisations that are opposed to an amnesty.

However, as Jeff Dudgeon says in our report on page 14 (see link below), about an intervention over NI legacy by a number of Washington politicians, this too is highly misleading, because it implies, for example, that Sinn Fein and victims of terror oppose an amnesty for the same reason, and that veterans do too.

In fact they are often opposing it for quite different reasons, and they might even have opposite goals on legacy.

In other words, broadcast discussions on legacy not infrequently end up in bogus consensus that is in fact an opportunity for a shared attack on London.

If there is to be proper balance on the vital topic of legacy, a good starting point would be to invite Mr Dudgeon, a long-standing gay rights campaigner and a former Ulster Unionist councillor, on to the airwaves, and other members of his Malone House Group.

They spotted early how legacy was being twisted to vindicate a subtly pro terrorist narrative.

As ever, Mr Dudgeon’s analysis of the letter from US politicians is spot on. The Americans, many of them of Irish descent, imply that the UK is a gangster state when in truth the British response to Irish terrorists was one of decades of restraint — restraint the US certainly does not show to terror.

The letter from US politicians attacking UK legacy plan ‘is co-ordinated with academics and Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs’

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Ben Lowry

Acting Editor