Sean O'Callaghan

The ongoing argument about Jeremy Corbyn’s support for the ‘armed struggle’ of the Provisional IRA is vacuous and circular. Very few people endorse every single action of any group they support, but Corbyn and his circle were always there to lend their support, particularly when the Provisionals were in difficulty. There are thousands of Labour supporters, in both islands, who were involved in this area over many years, and who know that Corbyn and a small group of extreme leftists in Britain made common cause with the most extreme violent nationalists in Ireland, in order to advance what they saw as revolutionary struggle.

Jonathan Powell seems to be unavoidable at the moment. Having read his first two books a couple of times I felt a weary sense of resignation on news of the third. It wasn’t until I saw and heard him on channel 4 news that I felt serious irritation. We, whoever 'we' may be, should talk with everyone, everywhere, at any time, because we always do anyway - pretty much summed it up. Words are important - the more so when they are delivered by Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, who is much credited  with making a serious contribution to the Belfast Agreement. Jonathan Powell is a serious man, although one would be hard pushed to recognise that if you tuned into his Channel 4 performance.