Sandy Row Marching Band Supplies (Fb) has this Somme commemoration flag in a number of variations (“South Belfast”, “Loyal Carrick”, etc). Perhaps the “West Belfast” version has sold out, as this “North Belfast” flag is actually flying along Cupar Way in the middle Shankill.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Striped “No Irish Sea border” stickers on the Shankill Road, Belfast, protesting the NI Protocol that is part of the UK’s “Brexit” from the EU.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“A new Ireland will work for you”, whoever you are. The recent Sınn Féın advertising campaign features generic figures straight from central casting, perhaps designed to offend absolutely no one. The locations are in north and west Belfast.
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Copyright © 2021 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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Hagan Homes’s (web) advertising for its new “Thirty Eight North” development on Lawnbrook riffs on popular culture: below, a version of Donald Trump’s slogan; above, an (inadvertently political) homage to TV reality show Love Island.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Vintage graffiti in Elswick Street, west Belfast, commenting on the quality of matériel available to Óglaıgh na hÉıreann and perhaps a specific reference to the discovery of an arms dump in woods near Dunleer (Guardian). [Update: for context see GAABoard; hat tip to ejsalty] The group disbanded in 2018, with a new group – the Irish Republican Movement – vowing to fight on (Irish News).
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Shankill Somme association (Fb) uses the Ulster Tower in Thiepval, France, as its emblem. The association celebrated its 20th anniversary last February (2020) with a parade (gallery of images).
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Shankill Road pays to tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, who raised more than 30 million pounds for the NHS, after his death on February 2nd, with a tarpaulin on the fence of the community garden. The flowers are from current Belfast mayor, Frank McCoubrey of the DUP. Elsewhere, Sinn Féin members of Fermanagh & Omagh council did not join their colleagues in expressing condolences (Impartial Reporter).
See previously: Different Wars, Always Heroes | You’ll Never Walk Alone
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“PSNI Out” is the latest message on Slıabh Dubh from Gael Force Art, mounted in response to what it sees as disparate treatment of nationalists on the one hand (intruding, ostensibly on Covid-related grounds, interfering with a flower-laying ceremony in commemoration of the attack on the Sean Graham bookies shop on the Ormeau Road (Feb 5th, 1992) and arresting one of the victims, Mark Sykes (RTÉ)) and unionists on the other (PSNI monitoring but not confronting a UVF show of strength in Pitt Park (iTV)).
Michelle O’Neill called the Ormeau incident “a watershed moment for public confidence in policing” (Irish News); one officer has been suspended. The writing on the mountain is seen here over the Captain America panel of the wall of superheroes, enhanced versions of their human alter egos: Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Clark Kent, etc.
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Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“‘Anyone who goes to Mary and prays the Rosary cannot be touched by Satan’ – Fr. Gabriel Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican”. According to Wikipedia, Amorth performed “tens of thousands” of exorcisms during his lifetime, though notes that people can be possessed by more than one demon at a time, which inflates the numbers. His favorite film, naturally enough, was The Exorcist. (WP)
Previous calls to prayer in west Belfast during the year of the coronavirus: Rediscover The Power Of The Rosary | Prayer In The Time Of Coronavirus.
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Copyright © 2021 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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“Rangers ICF [Inter City Firm – football ultras] supports our troops, particularly those who might be accused of crimes on “Bloody Sunday 1972”. The flags are hanging outside Bar Berlin, home of the Berlin Loyal RSC (tw).
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 