Gerry Adams a barrier to Sinn Féin normalisation

These days Adams looks like a man out of time, ghosts snapping at his heels, writes Michael Clifford

A FEW weeks back, I strayed across a copy of Ten Men Dead, the definitive book about the 1981 IRA hunger strikes. It’s a searing, harrowing read, well-written and researched by David Beresford, who was a reporter for The Guardian in the North at the time.

Apart from the 10 men who died in prison, 61 people were killed in the North during the seven months of the strike. Among these were 34 civilians, who had no role in the conflict, but had their lives snuffed out because the IRA and Margaret Thatcher refused to compromise with each other on how to run the prisons in the North.