Margaret Ward
@marg50.bsky.social
Feminist historian. Latest book ‘Rebel Women: Cumann na mBan in Belfast and the Glens of Antrim 1914-1924’ - contact publishers [email protected].
Reposted by Margaret Ward
The first terrorism act was introduced by the Labour government in 1974 with Temporary Provisions in the title. It was described by Roy Jenkins, SoS Home Dept, as ‘draconian’ and ‘unprecedented in peacetime’. How are we to describe Order 803 under the latest iteration?
December 7, 2025 at 3:30 PM
The first terrorism act was introduced by the Labour government in 1974 with Temporary Provisions in the title. It was described by Roy Jenkins, SoS Home Dept, as ‘draconian’ and ‘unprecedented in peacetime’. How are we to describe Order 803 under the latest iteration?
A totalitarian world is being constructed - the consequences of speaking against genocide and the vital necessity of giving support to those brave souls who do so. Very proud of our Sally Rooney.
Philippe Sands on the chilling effect of order 803:
"Readers, poets and writers who wish to protest, take note! Peaceful protest and expression should not ever be an act of terror or a crime."
"Readers, poets and writers who wish to protest, take note! Peaceful protest and expression should not ever be an act of terror or a crime."
December 7, 2025 at 3:44 PM
A totalitarian world is being constructed - the consequences of speaking against genocide and the vital necessity of giving support to those brave souls who do so. Very proud of our Sally Rooney.
Reposted by Margaret Ward
Today is two years since Israel murdered writer, educator and activist Professor Refaat Alareer in Gaza. In memory of him and the thousands of beautiful Palestinians whose lives were stolen by the apartheid state, we keep fighting for freedom, justice and equality for Palestine. Let's it be a tale..
December 6, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Today is two years since Israel murdered writer, educator and activist Professor Refaat Alareer in Gaza. In memory of him and the thousands of beautiful Palestinians whose lives were stolen by the apartheid state, we keep fighting for freedom, justice and equality for Palestine. Let's it be a tale..
Reposted by Margaret Ward
@reps-old.bsky.social @marycorcoran.bsky.social
I said that I would let you know about the following:
writingonthewall.org.uk/myevents/dec...
I said that I would let you know about the following:
writingonthewall.org.uk/myevents/dec...
Decades of Denial: Paddy Hillyard - Writing on the Wall
John Finucane MP, in conversation with Prof Paddy Hillyard to discuss the impact of MI5’s secret intelligence-led counter-insurgency strategy
writingonthewall.org.uk
April 16, 2025 at 8:00 PM
@reps-old.bsky.social @marycorcoran.bsky.social
I said that I would let you know about the following:
writingonthewall.org.uk/myevents/dec...
I said that I would let you know about the following:
writingonthewall.org.uk/myevents/dec...
Reposted by Margaret Ward
Councillors in Belfast have voted to raise the Palestinian flag over City Hall.
Palestinian flag to be raised over Belfast City Hall
Councillors in Belfast have voted to erect the Palestinian flag over City Hall.
www.rte.ie
December 2, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Councillors in Belfast have voted to raise the Palestinian flag over City Hall.
What is the point of planting tulip bulbs in the border? Despite laying down deterrents like branches from rose bush, the damned squirrel has sniffed them out, leaving me with the sad holes I had so happily dug 2 days ago 😫
December 2, 2025 at 3:35 PM
What is the point of planting tulip bulbs in the border? Despite laying down deterrents like branches from rose bush, the damned squirrel has sniffed them out, leaving me with the sad holes I had so happily dug 2 days ago 😫
Reposted by Margaret Ward
📚Book Launch: ‘And Flowers Grew Through The Concrete’ with Laurence McKeown
📆Thursday 4th December, 6:30pm
In this frank, revealing and deeply personal memoir, McKeown covers his time in the H-Blocks for the period 1981–1992.
Register > docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
📆Thursday 4th December, 6:30pm
In this frank, revealing and deeply personal memoir, McKeown covers his time in the H-Blocks for the period 1981–1992.
Register > docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
November 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM
📚Book Launch: ‘And Flowers Grew Through The Concrete’ with Laurence McKeown
📆Thursday 4th December, 6:30pm
In this frank, revealing and deeply personal memoir, McKeown covers his time in the H-Blocks for the period 1981–1992.
Register > docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
📆Thursday 4th December, 6:30pm
In this frank, revealing and deeply personal memoir, McKeown covers his time in the H-Blocks for the period 1981–1992.
Register > docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
Reposted by Margaret Ward
Committee for the Administration of Justice warned on the disproportionate policing of Palestine solidarity in N. Ireland. due to "a specific concentration of Palestinian solidarity activities within nationalist communities [PSNI enforcement] risked discriminatory impact against nationalists.” [1/n]
Belfast: Two arrests as loyalist and pro-Palestine rallies take place
Hundreds attended the demonstrations and a buffer zone was set up between them outside the front gate of the city hall.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Committee for the Administration of Justice warned on the disproportionate policing of Palestine solidarity in N. Ireland. due to "a specific concentration of Palestinian solidarity activities within nationalist communities [PSNI enforcement] risked discriminatory impact against nationalists.” [1/n]
Couldn’t agree more. Watching Ulster v Benetton and need this all to be decoded as can’t figure out what those piles of male bodies are about. How about getting rid of the massive guys and reverting to free play running around the pitch?
"General sports fans can happily go months without giving a second thought to what happens when eight big galoots bend at the waist and bate headfirst into eight other big galoots."
Magnificent, but a well-argued column. Scrums are absolutely a mystery to most of us.
Magnificent, but a well-argued column. Scrums are absolutely a mystery to most of us.
Malachy Clerkin: Scrums are like Finnegans Wake – you either haven’t a clue or you spoof that you do
November 28, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Couldn’t agree more. Watching Ulster v Benetton and need this all to be decoded as can’t figure out what those piles of male bodies are about. How about getting rid of the massive guys and reverting to free play running around the pitch?
Reposted by Margaret Ward
Every day, 137 women and girls are killed by intimate partners or family members internationally - one death every 10 minutes, according to the UN, who released their annual femicide report today.
Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women #speirgorm jrnl.ie/6884469
Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women #speirgorm jrnl.ie/6884469
One woman or girl killed every ten minutes by intimate partners or family members, UN says
Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, but according to the UN the number of women and girls killed intentionally remains unchanged.
jrnl.ie
November 25, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Every day, 137 women and girls are killed by intimate partners or family members internationally - one death every 10 minutes, according to the UN, who released their annual femicide report today.
Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women #speirgorm jrnl.ie/6884469
Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women #speirgorm jrnl.ie/6884469
Absolutely delighted to be invited to the portrait unveiling of Monica McWilliams at the Great Hall in Queen’s University. Well deserved tributes to Monica’s decades of campaigning for women & her peacebuilding work with the Women’s Coalition & after. Brilliant to see so many activist women again.
November 18, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Absolutely delighted to be invited to the portrait unveiling of Monica McWilliams at the Great Hall in Queen’s University. Well deserved tributes to Monica’s decades of campaigning for women & her peacebuilding work with the Women’s Coalition & after. Brilliant to see so many activist women again.
Reposted by Margaret Ward
President Catherine Connolly has called for action on war, genocide and climate change, saying the normalisation of war “has never been and will never be acceptable” to Ireland, a nation with a long tradition of neutrality and peacekeeping.
#VMNews
#VMNews
November 11, 2025 at 1:46 PM
President Catherine Connolly has called for action on war, genocide and climate change, saying the normalisation of war “has never been and will never be acceptable” to Ireland, a nation with a long tradition of neutrality and peacekeeping.
#VMNews
#VMNews
That is a terrible example to set. A highly sectarian decision which exacerbates the current delicate situation. I despair of this place. Bring on a new Ireland, united and shared by us all.
DUP Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has turned down an invitation to attend Catherine Connolly’s inauguration as Irish president.
It will be the first time since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that a serving first or deputy first minister has not attended.
jrnl.ie/6867988
It will be the first time since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that a serving first or deputy first minister has not attended.
jrnl.ie/6867988
DUP's Deputy First Minister turns down invitation to attend Catherine Connolly's inauguration
NI’s first and deputy first ministers have attended all presidential inaugurations since the Good Friday Agreement.
jrnl.ie
November 7, 2025 at 5:22 PM
That is a terrible example to set. A highly sectarian decision which exacerbates the current delicate situation. I despair of this place. Bring on a new Ireland, united and shared by us all.
I’m enjoying Julie Andrew’s reading of Pride and Prejudice on @bbcsounds.bsky.social It is as fresh and challenging of women’s role in society as it ever was. The statue definitely captures the character of Jane Austen. Wonderful.
Love the new Jane Austen statue at Winchester. As commanding as a general and with a touch of defiance.
November 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I’m enjoying Julie Andrew’s reading of Pride and Prejudice on @bbcsounds.bsky.social It is as fresh and challenging of women’s role in society as it ever was. The statue definitely captures the character of Jane Austen. Wonderful.
Reposted by Margaret Ward
The Israeli UN rep called Francesca Albanese a witch & said her report on the ongoing genocide in Gaza was just ‘another page in her spell book’. Her brilliant response is that if she had spells (as a witch) she’d end their crimes. #endthegenocide
October 31, 2025 at 11:08 AM
The Israeli UN rep called Francesca Albanese a witch & said her report on the ongoing genocide in Gaza was just ‘another page in her spell book’. Her brilliant response is that if she had spells (as a witch) she’d end their crimes. #endthegenocide
Reposted by Margaret Ward
@mrjamesob.bsky.social you can speak to living victims of #Royal
sexual abuse. Look into #Kincora Boy's Home and Lord #Mountbatten. Open secret in Northern Ireland. Start here 🔽
sexual abuse. Look into #Kincora Boy's Home and Lord #Mountbatten. Open secret in Northern Ireland. Start here 🔽
October 31, 2025 at 10:14 AM
@mrjamesob.bsky.social you can speak to living victims of #Royal
sexual abuse. Look into #Kincora Boy's Home and Lord #Mountbatten. Open secret in Northern Ireland. Start here 🔽
sexual abuse. Look into #Kincora Boy's Home and Lord #Mountbatten. Open secret in Northern Ireland. Start here 🔽
Reposted by Margaret Ward
“For Ni Aolain, the response needs to ‘hold two things at the same time: we need to remember what was great about the radical peace that was achieved here in Northern Ireland – and we need to recall that a better peace is possible”.
rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2025/10/16/r...
rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2025/10/16/r...
How can we build on the ‘radical peace’ made in Northern Ireland?
Among the UK and Ireland’s greatest successes of the last century has been the achievement of peace in Northern Ireland. Almost three decades on, Larry Attree asked five key experts how peace and s…
rethinkingsecurity.org.uk
October 31, 2025 at 11:51 AM
“For Ni Aolain, the response needs to ‘hold two things at the same time: we need to remember what was great about the radical peace that was achieved here in Northern Ireland – and we need to recall that a better peace is possible”.
rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2025/10/16/r...
rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2025/10/16/r...
Maybe they should send this to Buck House - Mountbatten might be very apt for Andrew but maybe not the best of choices?
Anyone seeking more info on the Kincora scandal should check out Chris Moore's excellent book on the subject
www.amazon.co.uk/Kincora-Brit...
www.amazon.co.uk/Kincora-Brit...
Kincora: Britain's Shame: Mountbatten, MI5, the Belfast Boys’ Home Sex Abuse Scandal and the British Cover-Up
Buy Kincora: Britain's Shame: Mountbatten, MI5, the Belfast Boys’ Home Sex Abuse Scandal and the British Cover-Up by Moore, Chris (ISBN: 9781785375545) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk
October 30, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Maybe they should send this to Buck House - Mountbatten might be very apt for Andrew but maybe not the best of choices?
Reposted by Margaret Ward
RIP - a great woman whose courageous challenge in the courts gave to Irish women the first steps towards control of their own reproductive bodies. Rest in power, Mrs McGee #speirgorm
Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Irish Supreme Court contraception case
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Supreme Court contraception case
Landmark 1973 case found married couples had right to make private decisions on family planning
www.irishtimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:29 AM
RIP - a great woman whose courageous challenge in the courts gave to Irish women the first steps towards control of their own reproductive bodies. Rest in power, Mrs McGee #speirgorm
Such a dreadfully sad story. The lives of two women ruined by the actions of Figgis would be a more fitting tribute than the headline of ‘personal tragedies’.
October 28, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Such a dreadfully sad story. The lives of two women ruined by the actions of Figgis would be a more fitting tribute than the headline of ‘personal tragedies’.
This has become a great Christmas tradition. Order your cards here 👎
Because the Millie character is a homage to our grannies, aunties, mas, generations of Mná Ultach maybe no longer with us, it feels like it’s their support, strength, community reaching back to support women today who need it, through my aul pencils & @womensaidni.bsky.social 💚#UppaMillies
When I started this Christmas card project in 2022 never did I think it would raise £50,000 for @womensaidni.bsky.social in just a couple of years but with your support that’s what we’ve done to this point. Looking forward to seeing what we add to that this year.
Pre-orders are open… 1/
Pre-orders are open… 1/
October 27, 2025 at 8:20 AM
This has become a great Christmas tradition. Order your cards here 👎
Reposted by Margaret Ward
Soldier F found not guilty in Bloody Sunday murder trial.
So no convictions for the murder of 13 people during an anti-internment March in Derry in 1972. So much for the rule of law in the UK?
‘And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in winter.’
The Road to Derry, Séamus Heaney, 1972.
So no convictions for the murder of 13 people during an anti-internment March in Derry in 1972. So much for the rule of law in the UK?
‘And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in winter.’
The Road to Derry, Séamus Heaney, 1972.
Bloody Sunday: Soldier F found not guilty of all charges in Bloody Sunday murder trial
Soldier F - who cannot be named - was accused of murdering two people in Londonderry in 1972, plus five counts of attempted murder.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Soldier F found not guilty in Bloody Sunday murder trial.
So no convictions for the murder of 13 people during an anti-internment March in Derry in 1972. So much for the rule of law in the UK?
‘And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in winter.’
The Road to Derry, Séamus Heaney, 1972.
So no convictions for the murder of 13 people during an anti-internment March in Derry in 1972. So much for the rule of law in the UK?
‘And in the dirt lay justice like an acorn in winter.’
The Road to Derry, Séamus Heaney, 1972.
Reposted by Margaret Ward
This closes tomorrow at 5pm - please give it one last share if you can!
🚨 Final chance to take part: Exploring the Role of Firearms in Violence Against Women & Girls
WRDA is exploring the role of firearms in domestic abuse & VAWG. Survey deadline 20 Oct. Your anonymous input could help protect women & children.
Find out more buff.ly/FfIcgoc
WRDA is exploring the role of firearms in domestic abuse & VAWG. Survey deadline 20 Oct. Your anonymous input could help protect women & children.
Find out more buff.ly/FfIcgoc
October 19, 2025 at 10:48 AM
This closes tomorrow at 5pm - please give it one last share if you can!
Never too late to do the right thing…
The British Library has reissued Oscar Wilde’s Reader Pass 130 years after it was revoked following his conviction for “gross indecency”.
In 1895, Wilde was convicted of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.
jrnl.ie/6846388
In 1895, Wilde was convicted of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.
jrnl.ie/6846388
British Library reissues Oscar Wilde’s pass 130 years after it was revoked over gay conviction
Wilde was convicted in England of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.
jrnl.ie
October 16, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Never too late to do the right thing…