We look at the stories that were making the headlines this week in the Andersonstown News in 1984

Paddy Brady was well-known and respected all over West Belfast 

LOYALIST murder victim Paddy Brady was well-known and respected throughout West Belfast, and was deeply involved in a wide range of community projects.

A treasurer with the Crescent Community Centre in St James' and a member of the Falls Community Council, he spent much of his free time organising activities for local youth. 

Within the last few years he had organised a series of festivals for the children of St James'. His picture appeared regularly in this newspaper, either in fancy dress or in the Santa outfit he had bought so that he could fulfill the flood of requests for him to play Santa Claus at children's parties.

Paddy had a tremendous interest in video work and photography. Only two weeks ago, he had advertised a video course for learners based at the Crescent Community Centre, in these pages. A member of Sinn Féin, he was particularly concerned about the plight of Irish prisoners in English jails. 

Several times a year, the Brady family travelled to England to visit Paddy's brother Martin, who has now served 11 years of a 25 year sentence. Paddy would remind friends of the plight of the "forgotten prisoners". Last year, he himself was moved to tears as he gave a moving talk in West Belfast on the suffering of Irish prisoners in England. 

Paddy also worked with St Louise's community school and last June held a meeting for city councillors to try and raise money to fix up the Crescent Centre.

EDITORIAL: Forum flop

IT is quite a while since we have witnessed anything as pathetic as Garret Fitzgerald at the press conference following the Anglo-Irish Summit.

As he mumbled his way through the questions, we were reminded of the old saying: 'That in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King." If Garret Fitzgerald is the only person that the people of the 26 Counties can get to represent them at a major international conference then, not only would we despair of any help in resolving our British problem, but we would even fear for the sovereignty of the 26 County State itself under the leadership of such an inept and inadequate individual.

Having said that much, we must admit that Mrs Thatcher had a head start at the conference. As the leader of the British Conservative and Unionist Association, she is not only the de facto ruler of the territory in question, but members of her own party have ruled the area for over sixty years. We wonder if she asked Fitzgerald just how many branches of his own party there are in the Six Counties.

It is in this area that the hypocrisy of both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail's commitment to Irish unity is most evident. If any of the major parties in the 26 Counties was really interested in the reunification of Ireland they would have long ago organised on an All-Ireland basis. The bona fides of Garret Fitzgerald, Charlie Haughey or even John Hume on the unification of Ireland are of such a low quality that Mrs  Thatcher has no difficulty in meeting any of them at any time and treating them with the contempt they deserve. She recognises only too well that the three party leaders are pro-partitionist in their own right as long as they refuse to organise across the border.

There are a hundred ways that the 26 County Government could show their eagerness for Irish unity without asking for any concessions from Margaret Thatcher, any more than the Nationalists of the Six Counties need a proclamation from Westminster in order to obtain recognition for their Irish identity.

The New Ireland Forum has been a flop, not because of Margaret Thatcher's intransigence, but because of the hypocrisy of the participating parties.