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A UK PARLIAMENTARY committee report into the ‘On The Run’ letters issued by the British government was published today, and its findings are damning of the ‘administrative system’ that had been in place.
The Committee for Northern Irish Affairs had been investigating the 187 ‘comfort letters’ sent to suspected Republicans since April 2014. Its conclusion? That the lawfulness of the letters was ‘questionable’, but also that the system involved ‘should never have taken place’.
Other findings of today’s report include:
Laurence Robertson MP, Chair of the Committee stated that the committee’s responsibility was to ‘serve the victims and their relatives’.
“If any scheme had been put in place at all, which is questionable, it should have been properly introduced and correctly administered,” he said.
Regardless of the intentions, this scheme has caused further hurt to people who have suffered far too much already, and has led to further suspicions being raised.
The ‘On The Runs’ were Republicans in Northern Ireland who were suspected of terrorist crimes committed between 1967 and 1998 but who had never actually been charged.
The letters were issued subsequent to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which allowed for anyone convicted of a paramilitary crime in the North to be granted early release.
As the Agreement didn’t apply to those suspects who were never charged, the letters were issued to provide ‘comfort’ to the people in question that they weren’t wanted by security forces in any way.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was among those who gave evidence to the inquiry. He rejected claims that the letters were unlawful and said the scheme was essential for the success of the peace process.
The letters first came to light when they were used successfully by Republican John Downey to collapse his trial for the 1982 Hyde Park bombing in London in February of last year.
Downey had been issued an ‘on the run’ letter in error in 2007 assuring him that he would never be tried for the crime.
The PSNI, who were involved in checking the letters but claim they knew nothing of their content before 2011, come in for some strong criticism in the report, not least in that the role they performed in the process was a ‘political, not a policing one’.
Responding to the report’s findings, PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said “It is important to remember that the police played a crucial role but did not have an overview of the administrative scheme.”
I want to repeat our commitment to dealing with the past professionally and comprehensively
But I have to balance this responsibility with my requirement to keep people safe in the present day.
As I have said before, this process goes far beyond policing.
We will continue to play our part and continue to encourage others to play theirs.
The full 111-page report can be found here.
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Also, if you are storing the laptop in a bag or case, shut it down fully.
Sleep mode generates quite a bit of heat, and bags and cases designed to protect a laptop will also insulate them, meaning heat will build up and damage components.
That, and security. Unless you have set up a password to restart after sleep, it’s safer to shut it down.
never mind the laptop, I’m always wondering which to do myself.
I pretty much always just put it to sleep, and then just restart it every week or 2, I know it’s not the best, but I hate waiting for it to start up.
Haha me too. And usually the only reason I restart it every week is because it won’t stop nagging me to do it! Not restarting it for ages really slows the laptop down though so it is best to do it at least once a week.
Yes I would imagine it is always best to shut down a laptop and return to the real world..
And sure you’ve got your phone on you anyway so you’re not disconnected or anything mad like that.
it’s best to put a laptop in ‘sleep’ mode when it is in the bed. It uses less power and has a better dream cycle, which improves performance.
If you have an SSD installed, I would always recommend Shut Down for anything more than a few hours.
If the SSD is installed properly, ‘Hibernate’ shouldn’t be an option.
Using’Sleep’ with an SSD is fine.
If it’s not a Mac I would just bin it ….. Lol
If my laptop is left for short period – the screen/ laptop goes into sleep mode itself. The only way to restart is to turn off with power button &an error message appears. Why?
you can change how long it takes for the computer to go to sleep after being left idle if it bothers you. if you’re on windows find ‘power options’ in the control panel or right click the little battery icon on the taskbar.
as for the error message, show it to a computer savvy friend or take it to a professional. there’s only so much tech support that can be delivered through the journal’s comments section.
Use autosave, disconnect the power supply and let it make its own mind up.
For those with slow laptops, get a geeky friend to stick in an SSD.
Tell them I sent you. You can thank us both later!
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