As a journalist, it's always easy to inhabit the middle-of-the-road. Writing about respectable, mainstream organizations and individuals is safe ground.
You say nice things about David Trimble, the SDLP, and the business and clerical establishments. You help the peace process whenever you can. You don't ask awkward questions. You always trust the NIO line.
And nowadays you can be much nicer than ever before about Sinn Féin, the Provos and the UVF. Wandering away from the middle ground and towards the extremes might be more interesting but it's dangerous.
You are often on a collision course with powerful interests. People query your motives and can attempt to blacken your name.
Raising questions about Billy Wright's murder isn't popular. Journalist Chris Anderson has done that in his book, 'The Billy Boy'. He accuses the British authorities of colluding with the INLA to kill the LVF leader because he was a threat to the peace process.
Wright was shot dead in the back of a prison van as he was heading for a visit in December 1997. Anderson's suspicions have been fuelled by a series of 'coincidences'.
The night before the murder, the prison authorities gave the INLA a copy of the LVF visit list for the following day - the first and only recorded instance of such a 'mistake'. A crucial security camera used to scan the roof of the H-Blocks was out of action on the day of the killing.
A prison officer on duty in the watch-tower overlooking the murder scene was removed from his post twice that morning. Anderson presents a convincing case for a public inquiry.
Now the rumours have started. The LVF are said to be receiving £5 from the sale of every copy of the £15.99 book. Mainstream Publishers, a respectable Edinburgh firm, says that's nonsense. Anderson says the "totally false" rumours are endangering him and his family.
If the LVF was receiving £5 from every book, they would be securing 30 per cent of sales. Anyone who knows about publishing will realize that's nonsense. Even the author doesn't get that. Most writers are usually on a 10-15 per cent rate.
The rumours are aimed at discrediting the author. I don't recall similar allegations being made about those who have written books on the Provos or UVF.
Strange things happened in Anderson's home during the writing of the book. Computers suddenly connected up to the telephone system without being prompted to do so. Telephone lines were inoperative for protracted periods without apparent cause or explanation.
His computer systems were twice stripped of their contents. Then, a caller with an English accent claiming to be from the Post Office phoned his wife, asking when exactly Anderson would be home to receive a registered package.
Anderson was suspicious. Subsequent enquiries to the Post Office, Parcel Force and other local carriers failed to uncover any such package.
Unsurprisingly, Billy Wright wasn't mourned by nationalists. His Mid-Ulster UVF committed gruesome murders. Contrary to what Wright and his apologists claimed, the victims were mainly ordinary Catholics, not IRA activists.
Denis Carville's only 'crime' was to be able to name the local priest when a gunman asked him to as he sat with his girlfriend in his car. The two teenage girls and young male customer shot dead in a mobile shop weren't Provos.
Still, Wright's murder deserves a public inquiry just as much as that of anyone else who died in controversial circumstances be they IRA members or uninvolved citizens. Only cowards are frightened of the truth.
