This picture shows me, aged around 12 , standing behind my brother, Tadhg, who was about eight. I’m sporting a terrible haircut that is very evocative of Ireland in the 1970s.

My primary school – St Patrick’s National School in Celbridge, Co. Kildare – stood near the birthplace of Guinness, which is appropriate because I’m a very happy drinker of the black stuff.

When I was four, my Irish father, Tom – a writer – left home, leaving our American mother, a secondary school teacher, to bring up five young children under the age of nine. As well as myself, there was my twin brother Desmond; my sister, Deirdre; and my brothers, Darragh and Tadhg.

The loss of a parent at that age could have been the most traumatic event, but our mother provided a very loving home life. It also helped having a twin – Desmond and I lived in our own micro-world, insulated from family discord.

But all was not so rosy at St Patrick’s. Long before  this photograph was taken, our teacher was the late Tom Sands, who was renowned in the locality for physical abuse and violence. He would beat up the kids in his class on a daily basis. As children we accepted it as part of the curriculum.

And, in a crowd of 45 kids, my brother and I felt a certain safety in numbers – there was a chance of it not being our turn every day. The authorities knew what he was doing but allowed it to continue, believing that corporal punishment was a good thing.  I would have been about six going on seven.

Fortunately, by the time we went to secondary school, beating school children had been outlawed.

Not only did this man cane and punch pupils, but he put dusters in children’s mouths if they had a stutter. He used his six-foot-tall frame to throw kids out the window in scenes reminiscent of a saloon-bar brawl. I saw many children shaking with fear.

Worse than being attacked myself, was seeing my twin being punched, insulted, caned and humiliated in front of me.

Even though it was 1973, we still had to write with old-fashioned ink and quill pens, and if you spilled your ink, as kids do, you’d get beaten. Seeing my brother punished was horrendous, and I felt powerless to help. In retrospect, I think that has formed me more than anything else.

To spend two of my most formative years with a brutal monster who, on any one day, would commit up to ten assaults on children, has shaped the way I think. The sense of powerlessness and vulnerability in the face of oppressive power has left me with a great love for the underdog and a fury against injustice.

I used to wonder why people couldn’t leave their dysfunctional childhoods behind – I’d buried my own memories, or so I thought. Then, 30 years after I’d left that school, I went back home for a wedding. I was in a crowded bar, struggling to get a drink, when I saw the freckled hand of one of the nicest teachers in the school.

I thought, ‘My God, 30 years on, I can still recognise a kind man just from his hand!’ Then I realised what impact the hand of the brutal teacher must have had on who I am. That was a revelation.

I did see Tom Sands again once – across the road – when I was 26. I was petrified and took refuge with the local postmistress, Eileen. I’d been on dangerous investigations that had seen me parachuted into war zones and meeting hit men, and yet here I was rooted to the spot, terrified of an old man.

Our secondary school, Scoil Mhuire in Clane, Co. Kildare, was a much happier place. We were seen as different as we were the only family whose parents were separated, and it allowed us a certain leeway with the teachers, as they were afraid to intrude on what they saw as a tragic situation.

For example, Desmond and I would go off turkey-plucking for two weeks every December.

We told our teachers we needed the money for Christmas presents and we were allowed to go, but our mother thought we were at school the whole time. We kept under the radar because people were afraid to inquire too much. And I was mad about sport – I was good at athletics, football, boxing, rugby and canoeing, and lots of that took place outside class, which meant more skiving off.

My siblings and I all did well enough at school to go to university, but our real, wider education had little to do with anything we heard in the classroom. It came from within the family – from reading books and newspapers, and listening to Radio 4 and the World Service from morning to night. It was the soundtrack of my childhood, and the walls of every room in our house were covered in books.

I went to University  and got a poor B.A..

Then, aged 28, after six years as a journalist, I did a Masters in communication policy at London’s City University, taught and mentored by Professor Howard Tumber – a wonderful, encouraging man.

After spending 18 months undercover for a TV report, I was accepted to spend a year studying at the Reuters Institute at Oxford University.

I was sharing student digs with youngsters – just after coming off the front page of the Radio Times. As well as keeping my feet on the ground, it was great to re-engage with the energy, intellectual enthusiasm and hopeful exuberance of youth.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1253943/Me-school-photo–Donal-MacIntyre-abuse-suffered-school.html#ixzz0gm1k3fBT

”A potentially significant lead is being investigated; however, we are unable to give any further details at this stage due to operational reasons.”

Friends and family of Miss Lawrence were gathering in the centre of York today for a special ”awareness day” on the eve of her 36th birthda

Here is what one patient told us:  I don’t think it’s right that these people should send literature of this sort of material through the post. For instance, who gets hold of this material? The grandchildren say: what’s this granddad? Have you got cancer? And all this sort of thing. I think it’s an infringement of privacy that they can send that to a private address full stop..  Email donal@bbc.co.uk

I do think you could make a good report on the way that A4E is operating, in the delivery of the New Deal Scheme. To date I have been on this since 30/10/2009 and have witnessed staff ranting at all. In one A&E I have seen one male staff member F-ing & blinding about the state of the Gents. All in front of ladies too. THIS IS GOOD – ANY MORE CASES ANYONE? THANKS DONAL

PLEASE DONATE TO HAITI The country of Haiti is in turmoil. We can all help. Common people & businesses from around the world are helping to provide financial assistance.

According to Matt Fleeger, an oil executive who donated over 7 million USD to the relief mission, “whatever bad situation you may have ever endured, it’s nothing compared to the death, disease and damage in Haiti”.

Donate Directly via Google http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/

Hi I am just watching “worlds most dangerous cities” I have lived in Cape Town most of my life. My husband is a drug counselor and has been working with addicts in Cape Town and we have just recently moved onto a farm outside of Cape Town and are now running a halfway house for ex prisoners. I have to be honest and say that even though we have been into some of the cities worst places and live with murders, rapists etc I have never been worried about my safety. My husband is a pastor and for some reason the  people here have great respect for pastors and maybe that is what has protected us. Cape Town needs your kind of programe to hopefully make a difference. For all our problems we still live in one of the most beautiful places in the world and after all it is home. Keep up the good work!

Please feel free to sign this Petition to support the work to get Truth&Justice4All!

Please also forward this email to all of your friends, and contacts that supports
the aim to get the truth out in the open, so that true Justice can and will be done!

In cases when the Murderer/s are still walking free we must all help so that the case will be
reopen and thoroughly investigated, based upon the evidence there are , and the lack
of evidence.

Right now there are several people that is devastated, both the family and friends of the murdered
woman Margaret Irvine, who needs to know the truth so that true justice will be done!

The family and friends of Brendan Dixon, who has fought for years to find the truth so that
they can clear Brendans name, and for Brendan that is living in a nightmare, only with the
hope that his dedicated family, supporters and friends can find the truth so that real justice
can be done.

All the best, keep up the great work.

Kevin

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/justice-4-brendan-dixon.html

I watch staggered as she took to the ice on week one and stunned everyone with her ability to skate. There is no hiding place on the tiny ice rink in the TV studio, and as a test of character and physical endurance there are few tougher.  “Oh my God the woman can skate and bloody hell she is better than most of the others” I thought. I know the pain of this sport and just how excruciating it is and I have seen plenty of action and face quite a few challenges of my own – but on one leg – that is simply remarkable.

Few gave Heather a hope in hell  of surviving even week one among the 13 eclectic stars of stage and screen and yet against all the odds and even her most optimistic ambitions – she is still there and hanging on.

Behind the scenes hardened cameramen have had tears in their eyes as they witnessed the struggles she undergoes in practice. These are a crusty lot but they have come over “all emotional” while seeing her struggle and suffer mostly while the cameras are off.

In the bar, after the show, the  technicians, soundmen and producers gather for drinks with the celebrity contestants and their guests and  are quietly moved by what they witnessing.

“You got to give it to the girl she is made of steel” one told me. Another said, “ We seen it all but to watch her handle the training and the stress without complaint is a very humbling experience.”

I know over the years this show has had their fair share of difficult divas of both sexes who could pull a tantrum at the drop of a sequin but that is not what the ‘back stage’ boys are saying about Heather Mills.

Countless times on the street people stop me to say how bemused they are about her performance and progress. “ To be frank I was not a fan but she has grown on me and you can’t help but being impressed”, one told me. Another   said ‘its all about the journey and no one has a better story to tell than Heather. She is an inspiration to me’, I was told. In the sixty of so celebs who have signed on the show – hers is the most extraordinary.

I met Heather for the first time after her debut performance on the ice. And she looked tired. That nervous energy had evaporated and now she was only on adrenalin. “I am just working hard and want to enjoy it as much as I can week to week”. There was no outward ambition just  a quiet determination. This was a different person from the one I had read about.

This week I talked to her about this. “In all the hubris about the split Joe public was only ever very polite and supportive to me.” But the funny thing is about this show that she has discovered  is that you may have been married to a Beetle or helped over 400,000 amputees and landmine victims but “all anyone wants to talk  to me about is the ice skating.”

Make no mistake this is a hard sport to learn with two legs. It is inconceivable that someone could embark upon this adventure on one and still do so with such skill.

Privately she admits to great discomfort and pain with her prosthetic leg “I don’t want any sympathy for my situation but I want to  people who have lost a limb like me to know that  life doesn’t stop it just changes”.  It is perverse that some commentators might think a lost limb is an advantage in a ice dance/popularity contest but that is the odd place where Heather Mills finds herself. “ I can only do what I do. I get up every morning at five. Do my paperwork, the emails and then drive two hours to training. I do two or three hours on the ice and then I rest. I want to do more but they wont let me”, she told me.

Rarely does anyone ,outside the Physiotherapist, Sharon, see her stump without its sock. But this week one coach saw it and was very upset. Her leg stump is bruised and red raw from the exertions on the ice.  “I never knew”, the coach said.

This is a sight and side that no one at home sees but which is the spit and sawdust of Paralympics Sports and her everyday life for Heather as a novice ice-skater. Make no mistake there have been plenty of crying prima donna and  moaning prima donal’s on this show – but Mills is not one of those. She is a one off and on the ice you simply cannot take your eyes off her.

She has underplayed her enormous disability and in a show where even a bruise is celebrated as a hindrance to performance ( I once sported the biggest bruise ever seen on Dancing On Ice) it is beyond belief that she is managing so well. Her partner Matt Evers told me ‘ this girl does not stop. She simply never says no. She may not be able to do it but will say lets try this way.  And that is remarkable”, he says.  Matt, a part-time actor ( he appeared the ‘greatest sporting movie ever – ‘Blades of Glory’ with Will Ferral) told me “ this woman is going to surprise a lot of people. She may not win the competition but she will win their respect. She has mine, completely.”

Heather lost part of her left leg after being hit by a Police motorbike in 1993.

“”I just am doing this as a challenge. I am doing it for my daughter (Beatrice) to make her proud” Heather told me.”. This morning “, she said , I was talking to a little girl who lost her leg to meningitis and she asked me, if  I could do Dancing On Ice when I grow up” why not I said”.  Why not indeed. That was Thursday evening. I had left a message for Heather to phone me about this piece. I was at a tap dancing class with my eldest Allegra (7) and watched her dance while on the phone. While chatting I thought I would be proud to have my daughter take inspiration from Heather. This is a story that should be told and celebrated.

I hugely admire her and I recognize from the inside out exactly how brutal her journey must be and mine was on two legs. From beginner to Olympic Trainer camp, from zero  to hero – can we be witnessing the re-invention of Heather Mills.

There is no PR guru or management team at work here just one woman, one leg and her blades of Glory and that may be all she needs. Good on you girl!

And don’t foget I am still trawling for suggestions on how to beat online fraud. So let me know about all your fixes, band-aids and tricks to fool the frausters and to protect you the consumer.his is a huge problem costing consumers billions every year. What are your stories of being ripped off – online. Do let me know? A lot of the scams are coming from Russia and we look at the problems of investigating the master hackers there.The scale  of the problem is simply huge and this is threatening the very integrity and security of ecommerce –  These are the very real concerns – we want your stories and suggestions for solving the internet security crisis! Do let us know your thoughts – just email donal@bbc.co.uk. Catch the stories that matter to you at 7.30pm onBBC Radio Five Live this Sunday.

Describing the allegations of abuse the former RMP investigator says: “I’ve seen documentary evidence that there were incidents running into the hundreds involving death and serious injury to Iraqis where the chain of command of the army had decided that the circumstances did not warrant a Royal Military Police investigation… and it’s of great concern that amongst those there will have been undoubtedly some very suspicious deaths and serious injuries that were never properly investigated.” He also says: “the interests of justice [are] being pushed to one side in order to serve the interests of the chain of command of the Royal Military Police and the wider army.”

He adds the military chain of command make it difficult for the RMP to operate independently by not providing resources or denying access to prevent investigations; claiming investigators who don’t toe the party line would be overlooked for promotion and receive an “adverse report”.

Talking about the Baha Mousa case, an Iraqi civilian whose death in British custody is currently the subject of a public enquiry, he says: “[it] was a murder investigation on a plate… and amazingly this investigation was closed down or put in the waiting tray for a whole year.”

He says: “the whole system of military justice is flawed… and there is a very high risk that there are other Baha Mousa’s out there because of the number of incidents that were not investigated… at all by the Royal Military Police, let alone an ineffective investigation.”

When asked about his reasons for speaking out about alleged malpractice and why he left the Military Police, he replies: “I feel that I belonged for too long to an organisation that wasn’t seeking out the truth… I believe that I was serving in something that was party to covering up quite serious allegations of torture and murder… and other investigations where the consequences could have been quite serious for the suspects, and where there are large numbers of victims, who have not received justice either.”

In a statement responding to the allegations, the Ministry of Defence denied that there is evidence of systemic failure or interference within the RMP: “The RMP is subject to regular and exhaustive inspection by national bodies such as the Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary. This provides the assurance that the RMP has the capability, capacity and competence to conduct investigations into serious crime. We must also remember that over a hundred thousand of our personnel served in Iraq and, with the exception of a few individuals, they have performed to the highest standards under extraordinarily testing conditions there.”