Venue: Social & Political Sciences Seminar Room, Free School Lane (5 p.m.)

Mick Cunningham, esteemed academic from Washington University/Queen's University Belfast will feature in this seminar, co-organised by GENET, Cambridge and the Social and Political Sciences Deptartment. All Welcome.

Directions To Free School Lane

Venue: King's College, Keyne's Room (1 p.m.)

Peter Reid, a native of Northern Ireland, and esteemed adviser from the CU Careers Department, has kindly arranged to talk us about career prospects in Northern Ireland.

It will be a short 15 minute talk followed by Questions and Answers.

Mr Reid wishes to know in advance what are the likely interests of attenders.

Please contact Patrick Leonard (pkl24) for further details.

Directions To King's College

Venue: Pembroke College, Nihon Room (7.30 p.m.)

We are delighted that Baroness Blood will be the first of our speakers for the Northern Ireland Forum in Lent Term. May Blood was born in Belfast in 1938, and worked for many years at the Blackstaff Mill on the Springfield Road. She originally rose to prominence through the Trade Union Movement and later as a community worker in her native East Belfast. She was also a founding member of the Northern Ireland Women´s coalition. She has always stood firmly against the mainstream sectarian culture and, though not afraid of controversy, her vision of a more just and peaceful community has ensured her place among the most influential contributors to the peace process. A witty and feisty personality, she will be speaking to us about her varied and unique life in Ulster politics, and the political perspective from outside the mainstream. Education, social justice and women´s issues are sure to feature. May Blood was ennobled in 1998, and sits in the House of Lords on the Government Benches.

Directions To Pembroke College

Sam McAughtry: Where to start? The internationally-respected Sam McAughtry is best known for his prolific career as a writer. But the Second World War Veteran has also been a journalist, broadcaster, civil servant, Trade Unionist, peace campaigner, and politician.

Born to a working-class family in East Belfast’s Tiger’s Bay, Sam McAughtry was exposed to the city’s sectarian divisions at an early age, since they were responsible for distancing him from his Nationalist relatives. He left school at 14 and served in the RAF during World War II, and later became a Civil Servant in the Department of Agriculture.

During these years, Sam rose to prominence in the Trade Unions, and enjoyed a second career as a writer for local newspapers. But his life was not easy. He has written movingly and candidly about the struggle with alcoholism which nearly destroyed his life. By 1971, he had reached his nadir. However, after a brief stay in hospital, he was determined to turn his life around and started work on his first book The Sinking of the Kerbane Head, an account of the sea battle which killed his brother. This success of this book brought him to a wider audience; and he became a popular commentator on RTE’s Sunday Miscellany and an award-winning columnist for The Irish Times. In the 1980s, he published further novels, short stories and memoirs, and entered into the dangerous world of Ulster politics, becoming the founding Chairman of the Peace Train Organisation. In 1996, he confounded his critics and his support for the Union notwithstanding and was elected to the Senate of Ireland, becoming the first Northerner to be so. At the age of 84, Sam remains an active speaker and campaigner.

With his renowned independence of thought, his refreshing candour, celebrated wit and penetrating intelligence, Sam McAughtry is sure to fascinate, delight, entertain and provoke much thought and discussion. An unmissable event!