Dear Bernard, I remember reading how you had worked as a journalist in Northern Ireland, and I can imagine how dark the situation must have been in those days, for all involved. I don’t know if you still follow developments there, from the States. But if you do, I was wondering what you made of this week’s announcement that the IRA had decommissioned all its weaponry. You must have a better feel for these things, borne out of your experience. Is it, as the Irish and British Prime Ministers are declaring, a new dawn in the troubled history of these islands? I am an Irishman myself, and I dearly hope so. But I have never worked in Northern Ireland, and I am too young to remember most of its horrors. I would sincerely value your opinion on this new development, because you at least ‘were there’ and you’ve known that province of Ulster in person. Thanks a lot.
Paul Reid