Expert says Belfast paramilitaries forced children into pogroms to clear drug debts

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  • Post last modified:19 June 2026
Expert says Belfast paramilitaries forced children into pogroms to clear drug debts

Belfast — The Commissioner for Children and Young People in the north of Ireland has said loyalist paramilitaries pressured children to engage in violent racist pogroms, in return for writing off money owed to those same gangs. Chris Quinn was speaking to the Irish News. He said the money owed might be “drug debts” or “could be loans”. He gave examples of what he came across first hand when present at racist disorder in Glengormley. Quinn said: We have been informed by reliable people working with these young people, that some of those were brought there to clear debts. I heard an…

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Student loans inquiry into ‘mountain’ of degree debts begins

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  • Post last modified:9 June 2026
Student loans inquiry into ‘mountain’ of degree debts begins

Student organisations and experts are launching an inquiry into the defunct debt-bondage system of student loans across England. In particular, the National Union of Students (NUS) wants the inquiry to look at the interest rates. Additionally, it will examine threshold repayment mechanisms. The loans inquiry can’t come soon enough for many students or graduates on the sharp end of our privatised, financialised education model. Studies show that one in three people now think that a degree: just isn’t worth the amount of time and money. The structurally defunct student loans system Much of Europe and the developed world, more broadly, receives…

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