PRESS REVIEW – Monday, September 28: Papers discuss the Orange Order parade standoff in Northern Ireland. Also, who are the suspects in the RAF base terror plot? Finally, we look at some of the latest data on relationships.
Amid a standoff in Northern Ireland over a Protestant parade, the headline of **The Irish News** reads "We don't want this. We just want to live in peace". It's a quote by a mother of a Catholic child who died during the Drumcree parading dispute 30 years ago.The height of that dispute came in the 1990s, when several Catholic children died in a petrol bomb attack on their home by the Ulster Volunteer Force.The mother says she feels "traumatised" and as if history is repeating itself.
The **BBC** explains that the "Orange Order march row goes to the heart of the ongoing divisions in Northern Ireland". The article says that chamber disputes between unionists and nationalists happen almost every week. But ground-level arguments like this one are rare.
The Orange Order is a Protestant, pro-British organisation and the area where it wants to march is mostly Catholic and has pro-Irish nationalists.The article reminds us that in the 1990s, the dispute spread to other places and "almost derailed the peace process". But while it was never resolved, it slowly faded. But **The Guardian** writes that the "Drumcree stand-off shows Northern Ireland's troubled past still threatens its peace".
The paper says the conflict reminds us "how easily history can undermine the present– if imperfect– peace and stability". The Guardian says that today's Northern Ireland is very different from that of three decades ago: there is no longer a unionist majority and First Minister Michelle O'Neill is from Sinn Féin, a party focused on achieving a united Ireland. Next, an analysis piece in **The Times** says that the "RAF bases have long been targets of terror attacks".
Counterterrorism police haven't ruled out the possibility that Islamists are behind Sunday's foiled plot.But British bases have also been on alert since this summer, when Iran said that anyone assisting the United States air strikes in the Middle East was a "legitimate target".This means that Iran is a suspect. The Times concludes that "any involvement of Tehran would prove a major escalation". Finally, we look at articles discussing some new relationship data.**The Guardian** explains that marriages that end in divorce today last longer than at any point since records began.One hypothesis says that couples may be delaying the legal end until they can afford what comes next.
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