A political veteran’s timely delve into identity politics
Memoir: First Confession: A Sort of Memoir, By Chris Patten, Allen Lane, €25
When Chris Patten was a junior minister for the North in the mid-1980s, he asked a Belfast nurse if she had recently dealt with any victims of the Troubles. “Oh yes,” she replied. “Two nights ago, we had to look after a couple of Catholic kneecappings.” The Englishman naively wondered how such things could have any religious distinction, and was informed: “Catholics use a shotgun, Protestants use a Black & Decker drill.”
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