Boris Johnson’s lie that there was no need for a border in the Irish Sea may be a chance, at last, for reconciliation
If I had lost a family member on Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland in 1972, I am sure I would want someone brought to justice. Nor would I care when. Indeed, though ardent about forgiveness and rehabilitation, in such a case I am sure I would want punishment. I am human, and revenge is a human emotion – though I would call it “justice”. But such justice must be subject to two limitations. One is that it should be blind and impartial; the other is that justice should to some degree be proportionate over time. Costs are relevant. Life must move on.
The government’s decision this week to declare an amnesty in Northern Ireland and close down charges against the soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday was driven by such limitations. Guilt may be clear to some, but half a century has passed. Unjustified killings are not uncommon in war, not least in so-called “wars among the peoples”; witness the continuing cases against British troops in Iraq. Here the accused are old men, and convictions in such cases are hard to achieve.
