PANORAMA’S exposé of the British Army’s Military Reaction Force undercover death squad in west Belfast in the early 1970s shocked many viewers. What was really shocking was that it took the mainstream British media more than 40 years to uncover ‘what the dogs in the street’ had always known and what An Phoblacht/Republican News had reported from the 1970s. Free article

THE weapon used by the UVF to murder Roseanne Mallon and injure Bridget Mallon on 8 May 1994 was part of a consignment of weapons imported to Ireland in December 1987 by MI5/British Army agent Brian Nelson and distributed to loyalists. Free article

IN A BID to stimulate debate and progress on addressing legacy issues, contentious parades and flags, Sinn Féin published three discussion papers for everyone to consider ahead of meeting US diplomat Dr Richard Haass when the former US special envoy arrived back in Belfast on 18 November with his deputy, Dr Meghan O’Sullivan. Free article

CLONARD MONASTERY is a place of pilgrimage. They came in their hundreds to say a final goodbye to a good priest, a close friend, a gentle and kind-hearted man, and as courageous and humble a human being as you could ever hope to meet. Free article

NINE OUT OF TEN people voting in the ‘People’s Referendum on Irish Unity’ in the Tyrone and Donegal areas of Strabane and Lifford on Saturday 23 November said ‘Yes’ to Irish reunification. Free article

THE European Parliament is to investigate the “non-transparent” work of the EU Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund officials (commonly referred to as ‘The Troika’) overseeing spending cuts in the bail-out countries of Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus. Free article

‘The project of EU integration is all about bringing people together and breaking down borders’ Free article

THE Gas Regulation Bill 2013 now passing through the Dáil and the Seanad allows for the privatisation of Bord Gáis Energy and the risk of large price hikes with the added risk of increased fuel poverty. Free article

FIANNA FÁIL, Labour and Fine Gael MEPs have been criticised by Sinn Féin at a Dublin conference on ‘The EU – The Military Dimension’ for failing to stand up and defend the neutrality of the Irish state at European level. Free article

PEADAR WHELAN, a former political prisoner who learned much of his Irish in Long Kesh, opens up a challenging debate on the back of the recent publication of Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh’s new book, Language, Resistance and Revival: Republican Prisoners and the Irish Language in the North of Ireland. The subject of the book is the revival of the Irish language and the importance of the republican prisoners in that revival but, Peadar Whelan argues, it develops “a polemic around resistance and revival tied into our struggle against Britain’s rule in our country over the centuries”. Premium service article

THE ITALIAN translation of a biography of Bobby Sands for younger readers has been named as this year’s winner of the ‘Citta’ Di Cassino: Letterature Dal Fronte’ international award. Premium service article

TYPHOON HAIYAN – and the appalling devastation it has caused in the Philippines, laying waste to entire communities and leaving 4,000 people dead and more than 1,000 missing – has been attributed to climate change by the head of the United Nations, amongst others. Free article