I was in school in inner city Dublin when Bobby Sands died. I remember the black flags flying for the period of the hunger strikes, I remember a lot of the news footage and papers of the riots North and South that followed his and others deaths.

I also remember the coal miners strike in England !

What have they in common ? News media !

A documentary on ITV showed the news footage of the riots at the coalminers strike where the miners battled the police which forced the police to charge into the crowds on horseback.The documentary then went on to show the "unedited" footage - where the police charged on horseback into the peaceful miners strikers, which then caused the miners to riot !

Propoganda !

What we see and hear of, especially in relation to Government agencies - and doubly so in conflict zones such as NI, must always be balanced in the light of the 'normal' activities in the same area. Would it hurt people to know that some of the Northern victims were killed by their own side, that security forces when threatened with cost-cutting measures from Government, collude to blow up bombs or shoot innocents so as to 'create' an environment where to withdraw or scale down is harder.

I have worked with English colleagues (and still do !) and am still amazed how little those on mainland England know of what their armed forces are doing. But still compared to those who live in Northern Ireland - from either side of the divide - I am ignorant.

Why did Bobby Sands and others - 3000+ others die ? I can't answer that - maybe Margaret Thatcher can answer the first part - Her predecessors and successors the second part !

I just hope there shall be no more .......

Diesel