By David McCullagh and Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
The previously confidential government files released this week to the National Archives cover a huge array of subjects, from the serious to the plain bizarre.
Take the strange tale of a plot to poison English drinking water supplies, unless the British withdrew from Northern Ireland within 48 hours. Or the concern within government at the prospect of ‘Sir’ Oliver J Flanagan.
Governments have to concern themselves with all sorts of things, from getting visas for travelling soccer fans to the implications of how paramilitaries are treated in prison.
