In a week that saw much of the North disrupted by UDA hoax bomb warnings, an action ignored by unionist politicians, normally so quick to hand out condemnations, it was nevertheless clear that the target for Tony Blair remains republicans. Free article

One hundred relatives of people killed by loyalists in collusion with British crown forces are to travel to London to stage a mass picket outside agencies directly involved in the state-sponsored killing of members of their family. Free article

A sorry but familiar tale of RUC incompetence, corruption and wilful neglect unfolded on Monday as the true extent of the failure of the police investigation into the sectarian killing of Seán Brown was made public by the Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan. The murder, almost certainly by the LVF, of 61-year-old Seán Brown, abducted as he locked up the GAA club in Bellaghy on the night of 12 May 1997, bundled into the boot of his own car and driven to nearby farmland before being shot six times, caused outrage, both in his local community, where he was a well-known and highly-respected figure, and throughout the Six Counties. Free article

A Sinn Féin delegation met with the British Secretary of State Paul Murphy at Hillsborough on Wednesday. Speaking after the meeting, Sinn Féin Assembly member Bairbre de Brún said the delegation had raised the conduct of the forthcoming Review, due to start on 3 February, the continuing failure of the British Government to publish or act upon the Cory Report and the report published this week by the Police Ombudsman into the murder of Seán Brown. Free article

There were two Blairs in the media headlines this week. Tony, of course, the British Prime Minister, declaring that no political party with links to active paramilitary organisations can have any future role in the Northern executive. Then there was the lesser-known Gary Blair, a loyalist ex-prisoner, jailed for life for aiding and abetting in the murder of a Sinn Féin electoral candidate and recently selected as a party officer for the DUP. Free article

Ógra Shinn Féin held its annual Congress in Dublin last Saturday. Well over 100 delegates attended a very lively gathering of young people from across the country, all engaged in developing Ógra. It was fast moving, with much politics, and an inspiration for young republicans from different areas, who had the opportunity to meet each other and discuss issues relevant to their lives. Free article

A major all-Ireland initiative - a campaign across the island to build active support for everyone in the country to be included in the election of the President of Ireland, was launched at Saturday's National Congress of Ógra Shinn Féin. Gerry Kelly, Sinn Féin MLA and spokesperson on Justice and Policing, launched the campaign, which is to be spearheaded and led by the young people in Sinn Féin. Free article