Our friends in the North get a bad rap despite their progress
The 50th anniversary of the deployment of British troops is a reminder of how key advances made in the North since 1969 are still intact
Former SDLP leader and political pioneer John Hume had a habit during interviews which journalists often found trying. After a particularly horrific attack during the Troubles, or faced with yet another crisis in Northern politics or Anglo-Irish relations, he would ask people not to forget progress already made, which he usually itemised at some length. No matter how grim the situation was, he would add, the steps forward from the even grimmer past ...
