for the whole of Ireland was required to provide a clear and coherent line from the leadership and to counter what they regarded as any partitionist thinking which might flow from the Partition of Ireland. Accordingly, on 27 January 1979, the first 12-page issue of the merged publications, under the banner of An Phoblacht/Republican News (AP/RN), appeared under the editorship of Danny Morrison. In the final editorial of Republican News on 20 January 1979, the essential thinking behind the merger was outlined: "To improve on both our reporting and analysis of the war in the North and of popular economic and social struggles in the South... the absolute necessity of one single united paper providing a clear line of republican leadership... [and] the need to overcome any partitionist thinking which results from the British-enforced division of this country and of the Irish people." On 12 May 1979 An Phoblacht published extracts from a secret British Ministry of Defence intelligence document which contained a detailed analysis of the Provisional IRA and the situation in Northern Ireland. The document, written by Brigadier JM Glover, described the IRA as "highly-professional" and capable of sustaining their campaign for at least a further five years, and predicted increasing British military casualties. The publication caused considerable embarrassment to the incoming British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Humphrey Atkins with Danny Morrison, the paper's editor, forced into hiding for several months. A representative of the Press Association who was passed a copy of the document by AP/RN was also issued an arrest warrant by the British authorities and fled to the United States in response. During the 1980s An Phoblacht was to the fore in reporting many issues including allegations of abuse of prisoners in Castlereagh and Gough Barracks, the H-Block and Armagh Prison hunger strikes and also coverage of the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland. Miniature versions of the paper which were about a third of the size were also printed and smuggled into prisoners in Long Kesh, Portlaoise, Armagh and other prisons. During the 1981 hunger strike sales of the newspaper reached up to 60,000 copies per-week and some issues quadrupled in size resulting in some editions running to 48 pages long. During this period An Phoblacht also opened another office based in west Belfast. In October 1982 Morrison left the newspaper after being elected to the Northern Assembly for the Mid-Ulster constituency. He