Update: Henry McDonald writes a good article on collusion and the Guardian pulls it
Cic Saor readers are well aware that I've been a fierce critic of the Guardian's Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald over the last few years, but its only fair that he should be praised and defended when he gets it right, which he did do with a strong piece he wrote yesterday on the book Lethal Allies (see yesterday's blog).Unfortunately for Henry and his readership, the Guardian made the crass and inexplicable decision to pull his article from the print edition of the newspaper. The on-line version can be read here:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/23/ruc-cover-up-inquiry-documents-book
One of the Guardian's media commentators, Roy Greenslade, (again not a natural ally of Henry McDonald's) effectively criticises his own newspaper for this decision and the wider reaction of the quality press and media to this explosive book that exposes just how endemic state collusion with pro British death squads really was. Greenslade's article is here and explains why its still important to get articles onto the printed page:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/oct/25/northernireland-pat-finucane
For the record, I applaud Henry McDonald for recognising the importance of Anne Cadwallader's book and also the crucial material that has been unearthed from cold case reviews by the Historical Enquiries Team. Essentially they have discovered that RUC Special Branch covered for and protected the death squads.
This marks something of a sea change for Henry McDonald and I for one would be the first to congratulate him were he to put his hands up and say he got it wrong on collusion. No journalist or writer (unfortunately your author included) can get it right all the time and things like personal political views and motivations will sometimes cloud that writer's judgement.
@Paul Larkin
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Mí Deireadh Fómhair 2013