Stray Bullets
Having served over thirty years in the RUC / PSNI I was medically retired with CPTSD. Dissociative Identity Disorder also evolved in me as a residue of CPTSD. I wrote a novel, 'The Bitter End of Dreams', through which I hoped to reflect the experiences of working class folk caught in the grip of a sectarian conflict. I set my story in Belfast, but replaced the Judeo-Christian god with that of Mithras. I also gave Northern Ireland an extra county. Such counterfactual alterations opened up for me the opportunity to place my story deep within the NI Troubles without being shackled to specific timelines, events and real people - thus avoiding the risk of libelling anyone, while being able to write a story, familiar to many, and retaining a sense of place and the tragedy of the Troubles. I'm going to talk openly about elements of policing the Troubles, religion, politics, sectarianism and our toxic ideologies. I've explored these topics in my novel, as well as the placing of actual events and atrocities; albeit heavily disguised or deeply submerged in subtext.To better frame my thoughts I will, firstly, discuss each chapter in sequence before reading that chapter. In this way I should be able to complete a spoken word version of my novel while using the opportunity it provides to elaborate on its creation process in the context of the NI Troubles.Thank you.
Stray Bullets
The Royal Ulster Constabulary and Collusion. Part I: Personal Observations
Given the contentious nature of the subject topic discussed in this episode I've added some caveats which I've outlined at the beginning. I'd just have to reiterate that the episode just reflects my own personal observations plus awareness of incidents, and remain my own interpretations of such.
Having said that, I feel this subject will inevitably run into another episode. It's much too deep a topic to bottom out in under an hour.
Before I begin work on Part II then if there's anything you think I can answer - or even clarify or expand on from this episode - just click on the link below, or drop me a line on Twitter.
Given the state of my mind at the moment I think there may be some thoughts I've left out, and / or incidents I've forgot to mention. If so, I'll rectify this in Part II.
As ever, thank you very much for your time and continued support for this podcast.
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