In his journalistic career Rowan walked the thinnest of lines, where morals and principles were blurred, and as a result his mind became tortured. This is as close to the truth, to the real story of the corruption, vulgarities, horrors, and lies of the Kingdom and its current despot as we are likely to get. There is a comforting illusion shared by historians and political commentators from Fukuyama back to Macaulay, Mill and Marx, that history progresses in a nice straight line towards liberal democracy or socialism, despite the odd hiccup. In reality, every democracy, however sophisticated or stable it may look, has been attacked or actually destroyed by a would-be Caesar, from Ancient Greece to the present day.

It includes dramatic moments like Rowan’s transportation, with his eyes taped, to an IRA safe house to be briefed my men in balaclavas about the circumstances surrounding the murders of three men Rowan and his crew had reported on the previous evening, alleged security service informants whose naked bodies were discarded by roadsides in south Armagh. His story takes us beyond the often-strict boundaries of the news into the dilemmas, arguments and fears behind its scenes. I would be interested to discuss with him whether he "deserves" to be at peace, or whether, like many reflective former combatants, he carries thes memories with him penitentially like the chains on Marley's ghost.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. For many of us who have lived through the troubles, the past is something we’ve tried to forget, move on from, suppress. Living with Ghosts : The Inside Story from a 'Troubles' Mind by Brian Rowan ( large paperback Sept 2022) Rs.

His story takes us beyond the often strict boundaries of the news into the very real dilemmas and fears behind its scenes. He goes deep into his contacts with the IRA, the loyalist organisations, MI5, Special Branch, the army and the many other players in the conflict period.Thoughtful and melancholy … If this book helps to exorcise at least some of their demons, it will certainly have served a valuable purpose. He has remained a well-sourced commentator and occasional reporter on talks processes since leaving the BBC. The sense from reading Rowan’s memoir of reporting on the conflict, its resolution and aftermath is that it might never make sense. Through astonishing interviews with powerful insiders, Blood and Oil tells how MBS's cabal played the Saudi economy and capitalised on the omnipotence of feudal power while effectively stamping out dissent, before allegations of his extreme brutality and excess began to slip out. The final part of this book describes how and why would-be Caesars come to grief, from the Gunpowder Plot to Trump's march on the Capitol and the ejection of Boris Johnson by his own MPs, and ends with a defence of the grubby glories of parliamentary politics and a thought-provoking roadmap of the way back to constitutional government.