The “Ulster” street sign is partially obscured by all of the streamers but the decorations leave no doubt as to the allegiance of this householder to the UK.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Morpeth Street, Ulster
political
Pinky And The Brain Share A New Domain
Arlene Foster (Pinky) and Michelle O’Neill (The Brain) in the grasp of Theresa May (Elmyra Duff). The two genetically modifed mice are hell-bent on world domination but being only mice lack the power to implement their plans. Elmyra is obsessed with pets while being oblivious to their needs (WP), an allegory for what Brexit is doing to Northern Ireland politics. Mural by Paul Doran, Mark Ervine, and Naomi Ervine in the no man’s land between the security gates on Northumberland Street. With sponsorship from Springboard Opportunities (tw | Fb).
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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It’s Fun In The Sun
Ian Paisley Jr’s foreign trips were back in the limelight in June with a new Spotlight investigation into their funding (BBC iPlayer). This time, the allegation is that a government minister from the Maldives paid for a family holiday; last year, he was suspended from parliament over two trips funded by the Sri Lankan government. He is shown here taking video of Tamils killed (perhaps in 2009) by government forces, laid out on a beach in a row (the image of Paisley is in fact from 2007, at Stormont). Work (presumably) by TLO (web) in Garfield Street, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Same Difference
Photographer Stephen Wilson’s exhibition ‘Same Difference’ shows images from two churches only 100 metres apart on the Donegall Street – the Catholic St Patrick’s (web) and the Protestant Redeemer Central (web).
The photographs, and images of them on display in the two churches, can be seen at the exhibition’s web page.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Another Hole In The Wall
The solid gates at the eastern (city centre) end of the west Belfast “peace” line have been replaced with see-through gates. The plans were released back in February (Belfast Live). Most of the Mickey Marley mural on the left (from the nationalist side) remains. According to the PA, the gates dated to 1992. Other gates have been similarly upgraded: see the gates in Workman Avenue (See-Through Sectarianism) and Howard Street (Belfast Lock-Up). Here is the list of DOJ-owned “interface structures”.
For images from Townsend St Presbyterian, see On The Other Side.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Resolve
The Bunch Of Grapes in east Belfast was an infamous UDA bar known in particular for the
torture and killing of Georgie Legge in 2001 (Irish Times). The east Belfast Resolve NI (Fb | tw) office – formerly a DUP advice centre – sits across from it at the junction of Beersbridge and Castlereagh roads. The pub has been derelict for 5 years or more and an apartment building is to be developed on the site (BelTel). Demolition would also remove Friz’s Hope, Life.
For a short time (2006-2008?) the pub was called the Ibrox Bar and, when this proved controversial with Rangers FC, the Eye-Brox Bar.
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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Still The People Spoke
The first Dáıl Éıreann met in 1919 in the wake of a Sınn Féın sweep of the elections of 1918. Current leader Mary Lou McDonald addressed her deputies at a centenary commemoration, recounting the rise of the party: “They banished us, imprisoned us and bereaved us. But still the people spoke.” The mural above presents a montage of historical images, from the women of Wicklow (Barton) and Dublin (Mulcahy) being urged to exercise their new right to vote (also Arthur Griffith in East Cavan), to Bobby Sands and Owen Carron, to Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. (Cormac’s Fight Back was turned into a mural on the Springfield Road.)
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Nailed To The Mast
“For what died the sons of Roısín?” The Dogs of IRA D Company [second battalion, Belfast brigade] move around the corner from Northumberland Street (see Our Struggle Continues) onto the International Wall and encroaches onto the mural of native son and first blanket man, Kieran Nugent: Nugent is reported to have said to his mother, “If they want me to wear a uniform they’ll have to nail it to my back.”
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Tears Of A Clown
Arlene Foster as a cross-eyed clown. Contemporary commentary on the current impasse in Brexit negotiations and the local executive (and perhaps the funeral of Lyra McKee) from TLO (web | previously on ExtrAct).
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Ireland Out Of Britain
Sınn Féın leader Mary Lou McDonald drew criticism for appearing behind an “England get out of Ireland” banner at the St Patrick’s day parade in New York city (BBC-NI). This Shankill Road graffiti reverses the sentiment (replacing “Britain” with “England”), commenting perhaps on the difficulty the Northern Ireland border poses for the UK’s attempt to exit the European Union.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 