Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): Tonight is known as Eleventh Night in Northern Ireland, the evening before the Orange Order's traditional celebration of King William's victory at the Battle of the Boyne.
The occasion moved Patrick Corrigan to some reflections on a visit to his childhood hometown at Amnesty's Belfast and Beyond blog:
I left Ballycraigy estate in 1978 when I was nine years-old. I have never much wanted to go back. Reflecting this evening on my brief visit today made me think of how far Northern Ireland has come in the intervening years. We have travelled through vales of tears, but, eventually we have achieved relative peace and shared political structures.
But, more than anything, Ballycraigy today made me think of how far we still have to travel. Politicians can sign peace agreements, but, as WB Yeats noted, real "peace comes dropping slow".
