A UVF board covers up the diamond tiling in the gable wall of the ViVO supermarket in the Glen Estate, Newtownards.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06048
Today’s Local
Porta-Potty
A simple commode stands in the Glen Estate, Newtownards, below rival UDA and UVF graffiti.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06058
Ulster Defence Unions
The UDA/UFF in North Down is divided into two factions, led by Dicky Barry in Newtownards and Dee Stitt in Bangor. Barry’s group is affiliated with the Shankill (west Belfast) UDA and Stitt’s with the East Belfast UDA. According to this BelTel article, their respective numbers are 600 to 150, respectively. The Peter Moloney Collection of murals has a 2007 image of a ‘west Belfast’ board in Bangor. For the UDU reference see UDU-UFF-UDF.
2024 Update: Barry is stood down (BelTel).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06044 X06045 Glenbrook Rd
Digital Eddie
As a zombie skeleton, Eddie The Head (here in his guise as a Light Brigade ‘Trooper’) lived long enough to enter the digital age of muraling, with a cartoon-style version added at the site of the original Eddie mural – Ebrington Terrace, Londonderry, which can be seen on Eddie’s own Visual History page – in 2016. The mural, however, started falling apart immediately and is now entirely removed.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X05365 X05364 [X05366] X03800
An Ní Is Áılle
“Níl an ní is áılle – súıl ghléıgheal [sic] an lınbh – slán faoınár gcúram níos mó!” [The most beautiful thing – the sparkling eye of a child/the bright hope of a child – is no longer safe in our care!] This Bóthar Chluanaí/Springfield Road graffiti seems to be a response to the recent vote in the Republic Of Ireland removing the constitutional protection of unborn children (see Yes & No). There has previously been Irish-language graffiti in favour of abortion: Ceart Gınmhıllte Anoıs!
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06025 X06026 Buíochas le Mícheál agus Seosamh.
The Crawler
Adolphe Smith accompanied John Thomson as he travelled around Victorian London in the 1870s, interviewing the subjects in order to provide background for Thomson’s photographs, their combined efforts published as Street Life In London (pdf from LSE). The entry accompanying this image (in unmodified form) is entitled “The Crawlers“; Smith describes them as “old women reduced by vice and poverty to that degree of wretchedness which destroys even the energy to beg”. The DUP’s Ian Paisley Jr. was recently seen in the House Of Commons apologising for failing to disclose two all-expenses-paid holidays for him and his family to Sri Lanka (Irish Times). His colleagues suspended him for 30 days and withdrew his salary for a month for this failure and for acting as a paid advocate for Sri Lanka’s human rights record (Colombo Telegraph). If 7,543 of his constituents sign a recall petition, he will face re-election. The election poster combining the two is (presumably) by TLO.
Update: “That’s not funny!” above a vandalised version of the poster at the end of August.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06022 X06096
Loyalist Ballymacash
Ballymacash estate, now part of Lisburn, was once a village around the location of Drayne’s Farm, with a school at the junction of Glenavy, Brokerstown, Ballymacash, and Nettlehill roads. Lisburn.com has a history of the area. Today it is famous for its enormous 11th night bonfire (see Ballymacash Bonfire, as well as Skull & Crossbones | Death & Life).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X05000
Bad Road Transport
“Sub-standard BRT discriminates against residents, traders, the disabled and their carers.” The new Belfast Rapid Transport has begun testing (BelfastLive | BelTel) in preparation for the official launch on September 3rd, with routes from the city centre to east and west Belfast and a “Citi” loop. To facilitate the new “Gliders”, a lane of traffic is being dedicated to the service from 7 am to 7 pm (also open to other public transport, cyclists, and taxis). Some are worried about traffic congestion (Talking Retail) and one business in west Belfast has closed because of the loss of street parking (Irish News). Another concern is that the new transport hub is not integrated with BRT – its stops for the West and East routes will be 380 and 500 meters away (BelTel).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06021 Falls Road
Ulster First Flute
This vintage piece is next to Linfield Gardens, off Sandy Row. (For the mural all the way back in 1997, see M01330.) Ulster First Flute (Fb) shares the emblem of the other UFF – the Ulster Freedom Fighters – a red first (with or without the drops of blood). See also: Gareth ‘Big Henry’ Morrison on Loyalist Avenue.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04856
The Blind Eye Sees All!
A poetic allusion to the blind prophet Tiresias (from Oedipus Rex) or to security cameras? This graffiti is in the tunnel under the (recently repainted) Harkness Parade shipyard workers.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04909
Extramural Activity 