Christy Walsh ✍ For over 25 years, people in the 6 counties were told that the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement created a new human-rights architecture, one with safeguards, oversight, and independent bodies capable of holding the State to account. At the centre of this architecture sits the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), created to monitor discrimination, investigate abuses, and act whenever rights are threatened.
But in practice, the NIHRC has become something very different. It has evolved into a silent witness, a facilitator, of systemic discrimination against Nationalists. This article is an exposé of what it actually does behind closed doors; betrayal.
The Watchdog That Will Not Watch
Under the GFA, the NIHRC’s legal duty is clear: monitor human-rights compliance, investigate abuses, and intervene when rights are at risk. In reality, the Commission routinely refuses to act even when presented with:
Over the last three years, the Commission was repeatedly presented with evidence of serious institutional wrongdoing affecting Nationalist families. Each time, the response was refusal, indifference, and silence.
1. Prosecutorial Misconduct Ignored
The Department of Justice refused to exercise its statutory power of referral of indelible evidence of prosecutorial misconduct to the Criminal Justice Inspectorate. The NIHRC was told. It washed its hands and refused to act.
2. Judgments Obtained by Deceit
Courts accepted that State agents misled the court. But because the deceit was “directed at the court, not the victim,” the courts treated it as non-actionable. The NIHRC raised no concern.
3. Unlawful Closed Material Procedures
In the Frizzell and Lundy cases, the High Court secretly imposed Closed Material Procedures (CMPs) without legal authority. Hundreds of Nationalist Legacy Families may be affected. This isn't just my analysis. KRW Law quantified 'scores if not hundreds of cases.' I told the NIHRC. They still refused to investigate. When the Commission won't act even when mainstream lawyers quantify the potential number of case affected, you have to ask: what would it take?
4. Victims’ Pensions Board (VPB) Capture by the DoJ
The VPB doesn't just 'rely' on the Department of Justice, it is the Department of Justice. The Board has zero independent staff. No offices. No control over its own files. DOJ civil servants prepare the case summaries. DOJ contracts the medical assessor. And when you challenge them? DOJ lawyers appear for the Board. You're fighting the DOJ judged by the DOJ, in a system run by the DOJ. The NIHRC knows this. It just won't say it out loud.
The Email That Exposed the Problem
When the High Court imposed unlawful CMPs in the Frizzell and Lundy cases, excluding families from key evidence they should have been entitled to, the NIHRC was informed.
Its response: No interest. No intervention. No observation.
Without external monitoring, secret hearings become unchallengeable.
The Commission's own practices are so far from the Paris Principles that international bodies like the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) might reconsider whether the NIHRC still deserves its 'A' status accreditation.
- unlawful secret-evidence procedures
- judicial decisions obtained through deceit,· prosecutorial misconduct
- Department of Justice control over supposedly independent bodies
- And discrimination affecting potentially thousands of Nationalists
A Catalogue of Refusals
Over the last three years, the Commission was repeatedly presented with evidence of serious institutional wrongdoing affecting Nationalist families. Each time, the response was refusal, indifference, and silence.
1. Prosecutorial Misconduct Ignored
The Department of Justice refused to exercise its statutory power of referral of indelible evidence of prosecutorial misconduct to the Criminal Justice Inspectorate. The NIHRC was told. It washed its hands and refused to act.
2. Judgments Obtained by Deceit
Courts accepted that State agents misled the court. But because the deceit was “directed at the court, not the victim,” the courts treated it as non-actionable. The NIHRC raised no concern.
3. Unlawful Closed Material Procedures
In the Frizzell and Lundy cases, the High Court secretly imposed Closed Material Procedures (CMPs) without legal authority. Hundreds of Nationalist Legacy Families may be affected. This isn't just my analysis. KRW Law quantified 'scores if not hundreds of cases.' I told the NIHRC. They still refused to investigate. When the Commission won't act even when mainstream lawyers quantify the potential number of case affected, you have to ask: what would it take?
4. Victims’ Pensions Board (VPB) Capture by the DoJ
The VPB doesn't just 'rely' on the Department of Justice, it is the Department of Justice. The Board has zero independent staff. No offices. No control over its own files. DOJ civil servants prepare the case summaries. DOJ contracts the medical assessor. And when you challenge them? DOJ lawyers appear for the Board. You're fighting the DOJ judged by the DOJ, in a system run by the DOJ. The NIHRC knows this. It just won't say it out loud.
The Email That Exposed the Problem
On 24th November 2025, the NIHRC finally responded to a request to observe the VPB judicial review. Its reply: “We are not in a position to observe the hearing… We will consider the implications of any judgment when handed down.”
This sentence reveals the real problem. The Commission is only watching after the court may have filtered, reframed, and sanitised the reality of the hearing—whether that judgment is legitimate or not. This is not monitoring. This is delegating oversight to the very institutions being monitored.
Internal Memos: The Smoking Gun
On 4 October 2006, an internal NIHRC memo, never intended for public view, revealed that the Commission held a “watching brief” over a wrongful-conviction case because it had concerns. Those concerns were never investigated. Never disclosed. Never acted on.
On 26 September 2008, another internal memo, the Commission became concerned the suppression of the same case might be exposed: “Damage limitations might be what we're facing here”.
The memos prove the Commission knew there were problems, chose institutional silence, and feared they might be exposed. The pattern remains unchanged today.
The Human Impact: Thousands of Nationalist Victims Exposed
This failure of oversight is not an abstract institutional problem. It has real human consequences. The VPB estimates about 50,000 people suffered conflict-related injuries. Nationalist victims with permanent conflict-related injuries caused by the state count in the thousands. The judicial review on 16 December 2025 will test whether this systemic bias can still be challenged, or if it has become permanent.
The Judgment Laundering Problem
The NIHRC’s (24 November 2025) practice of declining observation while stating that it will “consider the implications of any judgment” represents a structural departure from Paris Principles standards. The Paris Principles are the international rules that say a human rights commission must be independent. The NIHRC's own practices, refusing to observe hearings, only reading judgments, breach those rules. It's not just failing; it's failing to meet the basic standard for its own existence.
The Commission’s model replaces independent monitoring with reliance on judicial summaries of proceedings, producing a four-stage cycle:
Stage 1: Unobserved hearings: Procedural dynamics that reveal inequality of arms occur without independent scrutiny. Oral submissions, judicial questioning and institutional behaviour that may show structural bias remain undocumented except in the court’s own selective record.
Stage 2: Filtered records: Written judgments provide the court’s interpretation of proceedings, not a full transcript. Judgments summarise and frame issues through judicial priorities, omitting exchanges that may reveal procedural imbalance. This is normal legal practice but creates a filtered record.
Stage 3: Secondary reliance: NIHRC assessment focuses on the judgment rather than the underlying process. Treating the judgment as the authoritative record prevents identification of avoided arguments, downplayed evidence or procedural disparities that may have arisen.
Stage 4: Circular validation: Because NIHRC commentary relies exclusively on judgments, judicial reasoning becomes the sole measure of human-rights compliance. This eliminates external accountability and reinforces the perspectives of the institutions being monitored.
This is not oversight. It is judgment laundering. An oversight body that relies on judicial summaries becomes part of the system it is supposed to scrutinise.
Institutional Learning Through Suppression
This did not happen by accident. First, the system learned that it could rely on “transferred deceit”: wrongdoing directed at the court, not the victim, was treated as non-actionable. Then the Supreme Court confirmed this was “not a point of principle or practice of general public importance”. Think about that. The UK Supreme Court looked at prosecutorial misconduct and judgments obtained by deceit and said they weren't 'of public importance.' That's when the NIHRC should have roared. Instead, silence. And now we have secret hearings in criminal cases.
Next, institutions learned they could use unlawful secret hearings, because no one would intervene. Finally, they learned they could capture the VPB entirely.
At every stage, the NIHRC watched, did nothing, and the system adapted. It did not just fail to prevent discrimination — it facilitated the conditions in which discrimination could evolve. That is not oversight. That is institutional R&D for inequality.
Internal Memos: The Smoking Gun
On 4 October 2006, an internal NIHRC memo, never intended for public view, revealed that the Commission held a “watching brief” over a wrongful-conviction case because it had concerns. Those concerns were never investigated. Never disclosed. Never acted on.
On 26 September 2008, another internal memo, the Commission became concerned the suppression of the same case might be exposed: “Damage limitations might be what we're facing here”.
The memos prove the Commission knew there were problems, chose institutional silence, and feared they might be exposed. The pattern remains unchanged today.
The Human Impact: Thousands of Nationalist Victims Exposed
This failure of oversight is not an abstract institutional problem. It has real human consequences. The VPB estimates about 50,000 people suffered conflict-related injuries. Nationalist victims with permanent conflict-related injuries caused by the state count in the thousands. The judicial review on 16 December 2025 will test whether this systemic bias can still be challenged, or if it has become permanent.
When the High Court imposed unlawful CMPs in the Frizzell and Lundy cases, excluding families from key evidence they should have been entitled to, the NIHRC was informed.
Its response: No interest. No intervention. No observation.
Without external monitoring, secret hearings become unchallengeable.
The Result: A Human-Rights System that Works Only for the State
The NIHRC’s refusal to:
· investigate,
· intervene,
· observe, or
· monitor
means the entire human-rights architecture created by the Good Friday Agreement has been hollowed out. Systemic discrimination becomes more embedded and harder to fix. Nationalists are left with:
· no oversight,
· no watchdog,
· no accountability mechanism,
· and no institutional support when the State acts improperly.
This is not a failure of one case or one person. This is structural, systemic, and deeply political.
What Comes Next
So what now? First, the NIHRC must attend the 16 December hearing, not to 'consider the judgment' later, but to fulfill its statutory duty of independent monitoring in real time. Second, the Commission must explain why it ignored prosecutorial misconduct, transferred deceit, CMPs and VPB capture. Third, we need to ask whether a body that has learned to be silent can ever learn to speak for us again. If not, it's time to ask what comes after the NIHRC, because the NIHRC is not fit for purpose.
The Commission's own practices are so far from the Paris Principles that international bodies like the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) and European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) might reconsider whether the NIHRC still deserves its 'A' status accreditation.
⏩ Christy Walsh was stitched up by the British Ministry of Defence in a no jury trial and spent many years in prison as a result.
Frankie Quinn with a poem from his expansive body of work.
Heroin
Ghosts tiptoe through fields of upturned needles
Avoid wounds injected nagging emptiness
Fettered sockets priced blindness around reddened
Sores vampires entice entry to where pain dissolves
On a teaspoon, it spits lightning boiling through veins of
Ridding skulled torturer to unchartered sterile place
Excited, money sweats on trembling palms
Given by do-gooders on an altar growls rumble through
Pitiless dealer with speed of hand magic happens
Tourniquet arrests blood on an endless carnival of pain
Drops escape to hidden feet left unwrapped and vile
At last sleep thumps at leaden lids numbness holds her
Crushes her longing unrelenting terror what soul
Should endure this childish cry while condemned mother
Allows headlice to consume her.
⏩ Frankie Quinn is a former republican prisoner who is now a community activist. He is the author of Open Gates, a book of poetry.
In this week’s bulletin
⬤ Responses to Trump plan from Sloviansk residents, Ukrainian MP and Ukrainian and Russian media.
Kyiv corruption scandal.
Ukraine unions.
UN slams air raids.
Voices against war book launch.
Russian bribes: ‘what about Farage?’
News from the territories occupied by Russia
FSB targets Crimean Tatar father and son (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 21 November)
Melitopol man sentenced to 14 years for protesting and writing on social media (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 18 November)
Dangerously ill Crimean Tatar political prisoner denied life-saving medication (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 17 November)
News from the front and ‘peace’ negotiations
Ukrainian parliamentarian Kira Rudik’s response to Trump plan (CNN, 22 November)
Members of US Congress criticise Trump plan (Ukrainska Pravda, 22 November)
Steve Witkoff pushed pro-Ukraine officials out of White House (Kyiv Independent, 22 November)
A view from Kyiv: the latest on Trump’s 28-point plan (Kyiv Independent, 22 November)
Sloviansk residents who faced occupation before say: ‘Insane nonsense to hand Donbas over to Russia’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 21 November)
How a Russian operative used the American media on risible ‘peace deal’ (The Insider, 21 November)
Trump wants Russia to surrender its frozen assets (Meduza, 21 November)
Four years of ‘peace’ initiatives listed (Meduza, 20 November)
‘Outright capitulation’: responses to Trump’s new plan listed (Meduza, 20 November)
Rescue work: the heroic exploits of the Maul robot (Ukrainska Pravda, 17 November)
News from Ukraine
Notes on how to survive a war (Open Democracy, 21 November)
Trade unions fighting for Ukraine’s future (Open Democracy, 20 November)
‘I’ll die as a gay man’: LGBTQ+ rights in wartime (Open Democracy, 20 November)
This should have come much earlier: Ukrainian appeal court decision to free Viktor Sleptsov (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 18 November)
Mindichgate: Ukraine’s corruption scandal (Ukrainska Pravda, 18 November)
Soldiers’ democracy powers Ukrainian resistance (Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres, 15 November)
War-related news from Russia
Reports say pro-Ukrainian partisans set locomotive ablaze (Kyiv Independent, 23 November)
Revenge on Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol: two fake trials and massive sentences (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 20 November)
Fantasy maps and real losses: why a Russian military draftsman deserted (Mediazona, 20 November)
Patriarchy in education: Lessons in childbirth (Posle.Media, 19 November)
Reclaiming whiteness: in search of the ‘good Russians’ (The Russian Reader, 18 November)
Analysis and comment
Russian losses: Mediazona’s count updated (Mediazona, 21 November)
Russia refracted: attitudes to the war (Open Democracy, 21 November)
UN resolution on human rights in Crimea (Crimea Platform, 20 November)
One in ten rescued Ukrainian children sexually abused (Open Democracy, 20 November)
No place of refuge: Germany’s tougher migration policy hits Russian and Belarusian dissidents (The Insider, 19 November)
Yulii Daniel: civil responsibility vs unfreedom (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 15 Nov)
UN human rights chief ‘appalled’ by rise in long-range missile attacks (UN high commissioner for human rights, 19 November)
International solidarity
Global call: Ukraine must receive all it needs to win a just peace (petition, 22 November)
Nathan Gill jailed over Russian bribes: ‘What about Farage?’ (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, 21 Nov)
Try Me For Treason: watch the livestream of this launch event for the book Voices Against Putin’s War, in London on 20 November (Ukraine Information Group)
Solidarity Collectives supports new fighters (Solidarity Collectives on facebook, 18 November)
2000 miles to Kharkiv: Ukraine Solidarity Campaign delivers aid to front lines (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, 17 November)
Upcoming events
Wednesday 26 November, 6.0pm UK time: What should trade unions do for Ukraine? International public meeting Register here.
Saturday 6 December: Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Annual General Meeting
News from the territories occupied by Russia
FSB targets Crimean Tatar father and son (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 21 November)
Melitopol man sentenced to 14 years for protesting and writing on social media (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 18 November)
Dangerously ill Crimean Tatar political prisoner denied life-saving medication (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 17 November)
News from the front and ‘peace’ negotiations
Ukrainian parliamentarian Kira Rudik’s response to Trump plan (CNN, 22 November)
Members of US Congress criticise Trump plan (Ukrainska Pravda, 22 November)
Steve Witkoff pushed pro-Ukraine officials out of White House (Kyiv Independent, 22 November)
A view from Kyiv: the latest on Trump’s 28-point plan (Kyiv Independent, 22 November)
Sloviansk residents who faced occupation before say: ‘Insane nonsense to hand Donbas over to Russia’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 21 November)
How a Russian operative used the American media on risible ‘peace deal’ (The Insider, 21 November)
Trump wants Russia to surrender its frozen assets (Meduza, 21 November)
Four years of ‘peace’ initiatives listed (Meduza, 20 November)
‘Outright capitulation’: responses to Trump’s new plan listed (Meduza, 20 November)
Rescue work: the heroic exploits of the Maul robot (Ukrainska Pravda, 17 November)
News from Ukraine
Notes on how to survive a war (Open Democracy, 21 November)
Trade unions fighting for Ukraine’s future (Open Democracy, 20 November)
‘I’ll die as a gay man’: LGBTQ+ rights in wartime (Open Democracy, 20 November)
This should have come much earlier: Ukrainian appeal court decision to free Viktor Sleptsov (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 18 November)
Mindichgate: Ukraine’s corruption scandal (Ukrainska Pravda, 18 November)
Soldiers’ democracy powers Ukrainian resistance (Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres, 15 November)
War-related news from Russia
Reports say pro-Ukrainian partisans set locomotive ablaze (Kyiv Independent, 23 November)
Revenge on Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol: two fake trials and massive sentences (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 20 November)
Fantasy maps and real losses: why a Russian military draftsman deserted (Mediazona, 20 November)
Patriarchy in education: Lessons in childbirth (Posle.Media, 19 November)
Reclaiming whiteness: in search of the ‘good Russians’ (The Russian Reader, 18 November)
Analysis and comment
Russian losses: Mediazona’s count updated (Mediazona, 21 November)
Russia refracted: attitudes to the war (Open Democracy, 21 November)
UN resolution on human rights in Crimea (Crimea Platform, 20 November)
One in ten rescued Ukrainian children sexually abused (Open Democracy, 20 November)
No place of refuge: Germany’s tougher migration policy hits Russian and Belarusian dissidents (The Insider, 19 November)
Yulii Daniel: civil responsibility vs unfreedom (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 15 Nov)
UN human rights chief ‘appalled’ by rise in long-range missile attacks (UN high commissioner for human rights, 19 November)
International solidarity
Global call: Ukraine must receive all it needs to win a just peace (petition, 22 November)
Nathan Gill jailed over Russian bribes: ‘What about Farage?’ (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, 21 Nov)
Try Me For Treason: watch the livestream of this launch event for the book Voices Against Putin’s War, in London on 20 November (Ukraine Information Group)
Solidarity Collectives supports new fighters (Solidarity Collectives on facebook, 18 November)
2000 miles to Kharkiv: Ukraine Solidarity Campaign delivers aid to front lines (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, 17 November)
Upcoming events
Wednesday 26 November, 6.0pm UK time: What should trade unions do for Ukraine? International public meeting Register here.
Saturday 6 December: Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Annual General Meeting
🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.
We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.The bulletin is also stored on line here.
To receive the bulletin regularly, send your email to:
2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
To stop it, please reply with the word “STOP” in the subject field.
We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.
The bulletin is also stored on line here.
To receive the bulletin regularly, send your email to:
2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
To stop it, please reply with the word “STOP” in the subject field.
Ten links to a diverse range of opinion that might be of interest to TPQ readers. They are selected not to invite agreement but curiosity. Readers can submit links to pieces they find thought provoking.
Before We Conform, Or Condemn, Let Us At Least Be Curious
♜One recognizes one's course by discovering the paths that stray from it - Albert Camus♞
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| Photo: Dr Rahmeh Aladwan |
Dr Rahmeh Aladwan is a British NHS doctor of Palestinian origin. She came to prominence after her supposedly antisemitic comments. Her comments were related to October 7th and also her statements on the existence of the Israeli state. These were hardly problematic statements. Her basic position is similar to that of people like Max Blumenthal who debunked the false claims about October 7th made by the Israeli government. She also doesn’t think that there should be a Zionist state, something I myself have argued.[1]
However, due to her comments, this doctor who is training to be an orthopaedic and trauma surgeon faced calls for her studies to be cancelled and she faced an online campaign of hate and defamation led by Zionists and also the Daily Mail who accused her of antisemitism.[2] She responded to the defamatory accusations from the Daily Mail with a video published on her twitter account.[3] That did not stop the attempts by Zionists to silence her and ruin her career. Their loathing for medical professionals is not limited to the ones they bomb in Gaza. She was arrested by the British police in October and risked losing her medical licence, not over malpractice, as you can get away with that if you are powerful enough (more on that), but because of her views on Palestine. She is not the only doctor this has happened to, but no Zionist doctors are being processed in this manner, despite the Hippocratic Oath clearly stating:
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
All my fellow human beings includes Palestinians. She had also previously been arrested for her role in a protest outside the Israeli arms manufacture Elbit. Preventative medicine if you will.
She won her case and they have refused to suspend her medical licence arguing that her medical record was unblemished and that she was entitled to freedom of expression. Aladwan in a similar vein stated that:
This is a victory not just for me, but for all those who believe in the right to speak out against injustice. As a Palestinian, I have lost dozens of friends and family members in Gaza. I will not be silenced for expressing my grief and my opposition to war crimes. Today’s decision is a reminder that doctors, like all citizens, are entitled to freedom of conscience and freedom of speech.[4]
Her problems have not ended there. Now some liberals are turning on her. Not over Palestine though. She is a Muslim, and she is also a medical professional, so it should come as no surprise that she has opinions on medical matters. In our modern woke world of the liberals this does not matter. No woke types are actually leftwing, they are at best liberal despite quoting everyone from Trotsky to Mao. As a doctor they would scream at her that their identity politics trumps, science & medicine. I am sure the reader can guess by now, that she said something they didn’t like about so-called trans.
Rupert Lowe, an MP for the right-wing Reform party, issued a public call to oppose a clinical trial that had been authorised to administer puberty blockers to children as young as eleven.[5] This issue is controversial; many people rightly oppose the attempts to medicalise and transition children suffering from dysphoria. It turns out this doctor is not only brave enough to speak out on genocide but that she pulls no punches in an area she has some knowledge of: medicine. On her twitter account she called on Muslim MPs to back this call. She was questioned as to why just Muslims. Perhaps it is because most Muslim MPs would steer clear of anything to do with Reform. She was pointing out that despite this, opposing medical trials for puberty blockers on children is ethical.[6] She then suffered a pile on. Lots of supposed pro-Palestinian trans supporters called her a bigot and unfollowed her. The right of a man to put on a skirt and go into women’s spaces trumps genocide and the medical malpractice of administering puberty blockers to children for conditions that do not require them is the type of medical malpractice that not only can you get away with, it is handsomely rewarded. To be clear, there are conditions such as precocious puberty in very young children, before the age of eight for girls and nine for boys, for which such medication is administered. Dysphoria does not meet the criteria and this doctor knows it.
She responded to the trans allies and those who withdrew their support for her by saying:
You were likely following me because I am against genocide and ‘israel’. I had not disclosed my stance against involving children in non-life saving/gender trials. Now that you realise I hold this position, you have withdrawn your support. This reveals more about you than me.[7]
I have some personal experience on this issue. I interviewed László Molnárfi, the student union leader at Trinity College Dublin, whose protests successfully forced Trinity to divest from Israel. Shortly after the interview he withdrew permission to use it because of my position on trans, which to be clear is if you want to wear a skirt and call yourself Mary instead of Mark, then enjoy your life, live it to the full, but none of this makes you a woman nor does it give you the right to participate in women’s spaces. He had prior to my interview given two interviews to the right-wing mainstream newspaper The Irish Independent[10] and even wrote an article for them.[11] This rag is also critical of trans and is rabidly pro-Zionist. He then went on to write an article for the avowedly right-wing student magazine The Burkean,[12] but would have no truck with leftists who ran afoul of his trans redline. His article was titled For a sovereign Ireland, the Left and the Right must unite against Israel. He is like all trans activists given to magical thinking and the idea that Israel is something separate from capitalism is just that. I do wonder though, whether in his zeal to seek an alliance with the Right whether he is dropping his redlines.
Those who rail against Dr Aladwan are useless. They priortise Cocks in Frocks over what the Israelis do with Glocks.[13] Genocide is a secondary issue for them. Not only are they misogynists who side with a men’s rights movement (the trans movement is just that), they prioritise this issue over all others and would prefer to be beaten on the issue of genocide if they can virtue signal on the trans issue to their hearts content. As Dr Aladwan points out.
Conditional support is never support. People will never agree on everything. The Left purity testing is disingenuous and why it’s so fractured.[14]
But the Left is willing to forgive people on the right for major fundamental disagreements, but not deal with other Leftists who defend women’s spaces. Useless and reactionary. They deserve our utter contempt and Dr Aladwan, now more than ever deserves our support.
References
[1] Ó Loingsigh, G. (06/04/2025) Should Israel be wiped off the face of the Earth?
[2] 5 Pillars (20/02/2025) British-Palestinian under ‘police protection’ after online threats. Rob Carter.
[3] See .
[1] Ó Loingsigh, G. (06/04/2025) Should Israel be wiped off the face of the Earth?
[2] 5 Pillars (20/02/2025) British-Palestinian under ‘police protection’ after online threats. Rob Carter.
[3] See .
[4] Statement from Rohman Lowe Solicitors (n/d)
[5] See.
[6] See.
[7] See.
[8] The Telegraph (10/11/2025) Gender-critical MPs ‘have no place in Corbyn’s new party. Ruby Cline & Dominic Penna.
[9] Ó Loingsigh, G. (23/01/2024) Palestine, gender ideology and censorship.
[10] See Irish Independent (04/05/2024) Trinity student: Why I’m risking my €20,000-a-year education to protest as Book of Kells is barricaded ‘indefinely’. Niamh Horan.
[11] See Irish Independent (16/05/2024) László Molnárfi: Trinity students stood up and won – the Palestinian solidarity movement must now escalate its actions. László Molnárfi.
[12] The Burkean (05/11/2025) For a sovereign Ireland, the Left and the Right must unite against Israel. László Molnárfi.
[13] The Glock 19 is the standard issue pistol for the Israeli military.
[14] See.
⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.
Should migrants be “blamed” for rising house prices? Or should we set aside blame and acknowledge that population growth, whatever the source, has some negative impacts?
I recently had the good fortune of visiting Vancouver, a city where I used to live a long time ago. While still beautiful, it appeared to me almost unrecognisable: everywhere, high-rise buildings, each more futuristic and imposing than the next, were rapidly replacing the pretty wooden houses I remembered, and swallowing green spaces. In spite of this building frenzy, real estate prices in Vancouver have risen madly; houses now sell for about 1,000 Canadian dollars per square foot, making it one of the most expensive cities in the world to buy a property.
Looking at the data, it appears that the metropolitan area of Vancouver has gained over 650,000 more people compared to when I last was there two decades ago. It’s not just this particularly desirable city: the country itself gains hundreds of thousands of new residents every year. In Canada as in most other wealthy countries, after decades of below-replacement birth rates, the only reason the population is growing is international migration.
Continue @ Church And State.
“See there run away you said. To go you were it, you were it. To lay underneath the red sky there. To lay under her, I want her there.” - My Bloody Valentine
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| Horns up |
New Horizons
Thee Headcoats - The Sherlock Holmes Rhythm 'n' Beat Vernacular
One of many bands garage rock/DIY legend Billy Childish has had over the years, this release is exactly what you’ve come to expect and love from the Medway miscreant: plummeting raw garage riffing, humourous but pointed lyrics and a bare bones production that’s much fuller sounding than any ProTooled records. Check out ‘The Devil and God Entwined’ as proof.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Agnostic Front – Echoes in Eternity
Over five years since the return to form that was ‘Get Loud’, NYC’s finest have delivered again. Blending speedy old school hardcore punk, mid-tempo NYHC, Oi style singalongs and thrash in a way that is classic Agnostic Front, this is the sort of pick me up that one needs on the way to work in the morning. 15 songs in 27 minutes, gotta love it. ‘Tears For Everyone’ is a belter.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Drain - …Is Your Friend
The third album from the Santa Cruz crossover thrashers ups the ante from the previous two records: the riffs are faster; the vocals are more pissed off and the drums groove in a way that they previously haven’t. Despite the colourful cover, this is an angry LP that takes aim at the rat race, former friends and critics. ‘Nothing But Love’ is the daddy of the record.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Hateful Abandon – Threat
Over a decade on from the highly underrated Liars/Bastards, this new release has a darker, murkier sound that is much more akin to the anarcho punk/early industrial end of things (no bad thing of course!) and it makes for a suffocating listen. ‘Scavenger’ is a blatant nod to ‘Holy Money’ era Swans and yet manages to still be its own thing. An impressive feat.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Golden Oldies
KMFDM – Don’t Blow Your Top
While this second album sees KMFDM define the Ultra Heavy Beat in glorious fashion (take the thumping title track as one example), the lack of overpowering riffage as heard on later records make this one for purists. But for those who love that period before metal and techno infected the souls of manys an EBM act, there is much to cherish.
The Revillos – Rev Up
One of Edinburgh’s many fine bands, the Rezillos saw punk as a way to indulge in their love for 50’s sci-fi, comics and rock n roll. This, the debut album from the Revillos (what was left of the Rezillos after Jo Callis left to join the Human League) is more of the same but the less than glossy production gives songs like ‘Motorbike Beat’ a gritty sound that the Rezillos lacked.
Monster Magnet – Spine of God
Although not discussed in the way it should be, this debut LP from New Jersey’s finest psychedelic noiseniks connects the dots with 60’s psych, 70’s rock and 80’s noise, thus producing a raddled, drugged out slab of metal that still sounds unique. Although later releases would see the band downplay the psych/noise in favour of arena rock, this LP rules.
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist.
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