Back in the eighties, Pat Finucane was the sort of solicitor you hoped would be around at the Belfast magistrates’ court when you had turned up late as a reporter and missed the details of a case, with a deadline pressing.
Despite always being in a rush to be somewhere else, he would stop and courteously give you the details of the case that you’d missed.
Now, 35 years after his brutal murder, it is not before time that a British government has agreed to an independent public inquiry into the circumstances of his death.
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As soon as it was announced by secretary of state Hilary Benn, along came the inevitable chorus from unionist politicians about “preferential treatment” for the Finucane family and a “hierarchy of victims”, all echoed, equally predictably on local radio talk shows.
Why is it so impossible for them to acknowledge that the Pat Finucane case is different because it has already been established, in a report by Desmond de Silva, that there was collusion by the state in the murder? And that previous British governments had twice pledged to open an inquiry, yet failed to do so.
That it is happening at all is entirely down to the tireless campaigning by the Finucane family, especially his widow, Geraldine, who was injured in the shooting in 1989.
But the spotlight of a public inquiry has been resisted by successive governments, until now. And it is no coincidence that just days later, Benn ruled out an inquiry into the equally iniquitous murder of GAA official Sean Brown in 1997.
An inquest had already revealed that more than 25 people, including state agents, had been linked by intelligence to the killing. And it is this involvement by those who are meant to uphold law and order which makes these murders different to those perpetrated by the IRA, which are equally unjustifiable.
It is collusion - the involvement of those who are meant to uphold law and order - which makes the murder of Pat Finucane different to those perpetrated by the IRA, which are equally unjustifiable
The discredited Legacy Act introduced by Rishi Sunak last year, with Labour opposition, has already forced an end to all civil cases and inquests into a series of disputed killings. Mr Benn’s avowed confidence in the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery to carry out its own investigations is not shared by many victims and survivors.
The Finucane family won’t be the last to demand a spotlight to be shone on the terrible events of our past. If they believe in the rule of law, unionists should support that quest too.
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Whatever is behind the latest apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, it’s clear that it will help his campaign in a way last week’s debate with Kamala Harris was never going to do. He is certainly better at dodging bullets than making sense, but Americans still have to ask themselves the obvious question about his fitness to govern.
How can they hear their erstwhile leader talk about illegal Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, claim doctors in some states are “executing babies” , and can’t even say he wants Ukraine to win against Russia, and still think – yes, he should be back in the White House?
This is not to say Kamala Harris is a great candidate. She needs to make her actual policies clearer. But she put up such a good show against Trump that the Maga cult have accused ABC of rigging the debate and claimed she wore “microphone earrings” to get the answers fed to her.
They’re now trying to discredit Taylor Swift, after she announced her support for Harris, and suggested her ‘Swiftie’ followers should also do their research before voting.
Before you wonder if a celebrity endorsement can really influence an election, it’s worth noting that the support of Oprah Winfrey for Obama versus Hillary for the Democratic nomination in 2008 was later estimated to be worth over a million votes.
Swift has some 283 million followers on Instagram and they aren’t all non-voting teens. Her fanbase includes 45% of 30-40 year olds, 52% are women and she is from Pennsylvania – one of the crucial battleground states.
Trump later blustered that her record sales will drop. That’s as likely as cats on the menu.
