Roy Foster

Blindness and betrayal still bedevil Britain’s policy in Ireland

Charles Townshend’s history of the Partition is a reminder that Westminster’s past empty promises are being shamelessly repeated today

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issue 22 May 2021

Charles Péguy’s adage that everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics is sharply illustrated by the development of the Irish Revolution. In his previous scintillating studies, Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion and The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence 1918–1923, Charles Townshend traced the progress of Ireland’s long-drawn-out severance from Britain.

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