Monday, February 21, 2005

'THE PRESS' Newspaper , October 1797 - March 1798 .
Too Radical for the Radicals .......

....... one of those opposed to taking immediate action against British mis-rule in Ireland was Thomas Addis Emmet , who believed that no such move should take place until such time as the French were willing to assist .......


Thomas Addis Emmet was born in Cork on 24th April 1764 ; when he was fourteen years young , his mother gave birth to another boy , Robert , who became more closely associated with the Emmet name than Thomas Addis .

He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and Edinburgh University in Scotland , following which he went abroad to study medicine and returned to Ireland in 1788 , to help his family cope with the death of his older brother , Christopher Temple Emmet (who was only 27 years young [and a practicing barrister] when he died in 1788) . Thomas Addis Emmet dropped medicine as a career that year , and studied law .

He was called to the Bar in 1790 , and specialised in dealing with prisoners charged with political offences . This work brought him into contact with the United Irishmen organisation , which he joined in 1795 at 31 years young - within two years (ie by 1797) he was on that organisations Executive Committee .

As with 'Lord' Edward Fitzgerald , Thomas Addis Emmet escaped capture by the British when Oliver Bond's house was raided on 12th March 1798 and , as with Fitzgerald , was forced to go 'on-the-run' .......

(MORE LATER).


LIGHTS , CAMERA , REAGAN .......!
By John Dean.
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , October 1980 , pages 30, 31, 35, and 37.
Re-published here in 20 parts .
(3 of 20).

Nancy Reagan is more than just a smiling lady in the pictures ; rather she is a true power and influence on her husband and his thinking . " Hell , Nancy's the one who brought him over to the right and made a conservative out of him ," a close friend of theirs told me . " She's strong and subtly pushes him , letting him think something was his own idea . But Ronnie would still be selling soap if it were'nt for Nancy , and I'll tell you this also : if he's elected President , she'll end up running the country . "

A bit of an overstatement , perhaps , but probably not much ; by all accounts Nancy Reagan is as sweet and charming as she appears . She is also intensely devoted to her husband and all that he stands for . So much so , in fact , that she has no qualms admitting - " Ronnie is my life ; my life began when we met ... " . Yet the line between fierce loyalty and overt control , whatever the degree , may be a fine one with the Reagans , be the issue large or small .......

(MORE LATER).


BIG BROTHER HAS ARRIVED .......
An investigation into the extent of telephone surveillance in Ireland shows that with the aid of new technology , telephone tapping has reached alarmimg proportions and most of it is done illegally .
By Frank Doherty .
First published in 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1980 , page 19.
(5 of 6).

'Official IRA' 'taps' even confirmed suspicions about an SAS presence in the North by providing a movement list ordering individual British soldiers and Officers on leave or to training camps for various courses . Almost all the messages were in plain language - a sign that even the British Army underestimated the ability of Irish tappers .

Walter Ellis , the 'Cork Examiner's ' sole employee in the North , was an east Belfast Protestant who had no connection with any Irish Republican group ; he left Belfast to report for 'The Irish Times' newspaper in Europe without ever discovering the story behind his office telex .......

(MORE LATER).