A Strange Idea

A man whose mother was assassinated by "loyalist paramilitaries" (pro-British terrorists, in Standard English) has called for a general amnesty for everyone involved in the Irish Troubles. Jude Whyte believes his family was subject to a whispering campaign by public-spirited persons in the Ulster Defence Regiment, who doubtless thought that vigilance was the price of freedom and that the innocent had nothing to fear. Whyte's mother Peggy comforted a bomber who was fatally injured when his weapon went off prematurely outside her home; this was clearly not good enough, and a year later the Ulster Volunteer Force tried again with more success. Whyte believes that the present de facto amnesty for police and soldiers should be extended to all participants and that a non-adversarial approach should be taken so that the truth can come out. Some people have the strangest ideas about how and why governments operate.