Ground Zero
Whilst waiting to go on Radio 5 Live (in a few minutes time, as I write) I strolled down to Ground Zero. Although I used to work in New York I left the city in the spring of 2001 and have never seen the site of the September 11th attacks. These days it's a massive building site full of cranes beavering away on the Freedom Tower and other planned developments.
After taking a look at the boarded off site, and a memorial to the hundreds of firefighters who lost their lives, I wandered over to Manhattan's "oldest public building in continuous use", St. Paul's played an extraordinary role as a place of comfort and rest for the relief workers toiling away in the days after September 11th.
These days it's a mixture of a church and a very moving interpretative centre, with many mementoes of the harrowing days back in 2001 on display, and video screens which play testimony from eyewitnesses.
All this got me thinking again about the need for "recognition" voiced by the Eames Bradley report. Now that the proposed £12,000 payments have been ruled out, I am strengthened in my view that centres like St. Paul's might be the best way of providing the recognition of troubles victims which is still lacking.
Clearly there would be major problems - not least that, unlike those who so carefully assembled the exhibits at St. Paul's, we don't all have a "shared narrative" of the troubles to present. Nevertheless I remain convinced that with professionalism and imagination there are many places in Northern Ireland which might match the emotional imoact of a visit to St. Paul's at Ground Zero.
I'm 
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