SOME people tell me that as we get older, we get wiser, more understanding. I wish I could agree. Alas, I find I get uglier and stupider. But let’s park the uglier bit and concentrate on the stupider thing.

I’m definitely  getting stupider because I keep running into problems that don’t seem to be problems at all for other people. Like Jeffrey Donaldson and his victims.

There was a strict warning that the identity of Donaldson’s victims should not be revealed, and in fact one woman was given a sentence of three months for having made known their names. 

Three things baffle me.

Problem No.1: If the two women in the Donaldson case appeared in court, whether to give evidence or listen to the final verdict, wouldn’t that mean that their identities would be there for all to see? I’m sure there’s a simple explanation, but I can’t figure it out. 

Problem No.2: The Omagh bomb. Thirty-one human lives were taken that day – the main street was a nightmare of carnage. Not surprisingly, there was widespread revulsion at the explosion. But what puzzles me is this: Did the Real IRA really think that this slaughter would attract recruits to their side? Surely not. Then why did they do it?

I don’t recall any journalist asking this question. The commission investigating the affair has revealed suggestions of government double agents in the gang that transported the bomb. There is talk of a warning about the bomb given several days earlier, which was dismissed by the police. Why? I think if someone told me of plans to trigger a huge explosion where I live, rather than dismiss the warning, I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I felt that precautions had been taken to prevent it. 

So I’m left with two headscratchers on Omagh: Why did the police choose to ignore the warning days earlier, and did the Real IRA really think the explosion would win any support for their campaign?  

Are there matters around the Omagh bomb that we’re not being told about?

Problem No.3: Nidal Malik Hasan was a major in the US army, and is to be shot by firing squad in punishment for having shot and killed eleven army colleagues. There was much talk of streaming the event, so people worldwide could watch it live. That’s now been revoked; it's seen as an obscene notion that an execution should be available for viewing on TV or computer. 

The streaming of the event is cancelled, but the execution by firing squad will proceed as planned. So what baffles me is, how or why is indignation focused on the idea of ‘televising’ the event?  While rubber-necking to get a good view of a man dying is horrible, surely the greater horror is in the execution itself, not who gets to watch it?  If I were due for execution, my thoughts wouldn’t be who was watching me die, but on my execution itself. Surely that’s where the true barbarism lies. 

Maybe you, kind reader, can provide some answers. Maybe you are young and clever. Meanwhile I remain ugly and stupid.