Owen Polley

The annual Twelfth of July celebrations are about to take place in Northern Ireland, over a long and hopefully sunny Bank Holiday weekend. In some loyalist areas on Sunday night, there will be raucous street parties that culminate in the lighting of bonfires, some of them towering over 200 feet tall and constructed intricately from up to 300 rows of wooden pallets. Then, on Monday, members of the Orange Order will march through towns and villages across the province, to remember King William III’s victory in 1690 over James II, at the Battle of the Boyne.

Former DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, was found guilty of eighteen counts of child sex abuse, including rape, at Newry Crown Court. The jury also found that his wife, Lady Eleanor Donaldson, aided and abetted his offences against the two victims. Due to problems with her mental health, though, she faced only a ‘trial of facts’, which tested the evidence but did not result in a criminal conviction. Whether voters punish the DUP for allowing a paedophile to influence its policies for two-and-a-half decades will become apparent next May It would be impossible to exaggerate how shocking this verdict is to the Ulster public. Donaldson has been a household name in Northern Ireland for the past three decades.

The County Antrim town of Ballymena endured a second night of rioting on Tuesday, as protestors aimed fireworks and missiles at the police. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) responded with water cannon and baton rounds. Thirty-two officers have been injured in the violence in Ballymena so far, and homes and businesses have been set alight. The PSNI described the attacks on properties as ‘racially motivated’, and the Police Federation claimed its members had ‘prevented a pogrom’. The North Antrim MP, Jim Allister, criticised ‘successive authorities’ for failing to ‘manage integration or address local concerns in the town.

Liam Gallagher, it is fair to say, is not renowned for thoughtfulness or tact, particularly on the platform formerly known as Twitter. Still, many fans will have been appalled to learn that the singer apparently wants the Irish republican band, the Wolfe Tones, to perform at Oasis’s shows in Dublin next year. In response to a suggestion that the ‘rebel’ group should be added to the bill at Croke Park, Liam tweeted, 'I’m up for it, let’s do it!’ The Wolfe Tones are best known for their song Celtic Symphony, which features the refrain, ‘Ooh, ahh, up the ‘Ra,’ in celebration of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.

For many years, republicans have clamoured for a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, who was gunned down in front of his wife and children by the loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA). This week, they finally got their way: in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Northern Ireland Secretary, Hilary Benn, announced an independent probe into the 1989 killing of the Belfast solicitor who frequently represented IRA men. While his loved ones are no doubt delighted, the relatives of other Troubles' victims are unhappy that this level of scrutiny will not be applied to the deaths of their family members.