The Kennedys on CIA director John McCone, Oval Office, October 3rd, 1962. JFK: l”He's a real bastard, that John McCone.” RFK: “Everybody's saying he's a horse's ass.” static.jfklibrary.org/yb764g2q2ge6qm…

Former-President Harry Truman, who set up CIA in 1947, reflecting in 1962: “I think it was a mistake…it got out of hand…those fellows in the CIA don’t just report on wars & the like, they go out & make their own…The people have got a right to know what those birds are up to.”

“Finally, please try not to fear death so much. We hide and run from it; we follow joyless diets, or subscribe to transactional belief systems, or try to drown it out with pleasures and purchases. We change the subject. But without death we are not human.” jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2024/05/1…

“There are too many hours and definitely not enough.” A magnificent, intensely painful pseudonymous read from ⁦The Cut. Every sentence hits home. ⁩ thecut.com/article/mom-he…

Nice!

Thank you so much John

Love it

.Amazon delivery person captured this perfect image of my dog going bananas as they left a package on my doorstep

Exciting to see new edition of “Bandit Country” hitting streets (& country lanes). Cover shows the May 1981 funeral of Raymond McCreesh, an IRA volunteer from Camlough who died after 61 days on hunger strike. 4 days earlier, 5 British soldiers had been killed by IED at Bessbrook.

Bandit Country by Toby Harnden is one of the most celebrated books on the Troubles.

Get your copy of the new edition today, updated with a new foreword and preface: bitebackpublishing.com/books/bandit-c…

Excited that today is (Re)publication day for “Bandit Country: The IRA & South Armagh” almost 25 years after it first hit the bookstores. This latest edition is updated with a new preface from me, & a foreword by Suzanne Breen + a number of names revealed for the first time.

I’m delighted that a new edition of “Bandit Country” will hit the streets next Thursday. Hard to believe it was written 25 years ago. The dead can’t sue, so this edition names a few more names…

“In newspapers, you need all the friendly pairs of eyes you can get.” pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/obitu…

“If our brains are foundries, they are also warehouses, crammed full of clichés, advertising slogans, movie catchphrases, song lyrics, garbled proverbs and jokes we heard on the playground at recess in third grade.” - 32 across nytimes.com/2024/03/28/boo…

Thanks Marc - it was a pleasure and a privilege to share a platform with you for this outstanding event

RIP Maj. Michael “Bronco” Lane, SAS. Belfast, 1978. 2 IRA gunmen opened fire. Tho’ badly wounded, Lane returned fire & hit one of them b4 collapsing. 2 yrs earlier, Lane had lost forefingers of right hand, top half of thumb & all his toes on Mount Everest thetimes.co.uk/article/major-…

Not Special Forces (apart from Capt. Justin Sapp, bottom right, who was on secondment) - this is CIA Team Alpha in October 2001 just before inserting into Afghanistan

The whole story of JR and Team Alpha is in First Casualty