Extramural Activity

Ulster Welcomes Her King & Queen

2022-10-272025-01-07Extramural Activity2 Comments

… to the state opening of the first parliament of Northern Ireland – with new prime minister James Craig – at Belfast City Hall on June 22nd, 1921. The monarchs in question are King George V and Queen Mary. Pathé has video of the royal arrival and travel to City Hall. In his speech, George appealed “to all Irishmen to pause, to stretch out the hand of forbearance and conciliation, to forgive and to forget, and to join in making for the land which they love a new era of peace, contentment, and goodwill.”

For the coat of arms, see previously The Lion And The Elk. It is not clear whom the twelve framed portraits depict. The six gentlemen in the background are the members of the original Executive Committee, which served as a cabinet to the Commons and Senate – for a full list, with offices, and the original photograph, see WP. Carson’s statue at the entrance to Stormont is on the left. The photograph of spectators at the parade (on the far left) can be seen in this News Letter article. The photograph of the royals in their carriage can be seen here and of the King inspecting the guard here.

The project was undertaken by Rathcoole Friends of the Somme (Fb), with support from the Housing Executive’s Community Cohesion unit.

See also Floreat Ultona in south Belfast.

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Hurricane Higgins

2022-10-262025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Higgy – simply the best.” 2022 is the 50th anniversary of Alex “Hurricane” Higgins’s first World snooker title as a 22-year-old qualifier, and the 40th anniversary of his second World title in 1982, watched by a television audience of almost 11 million people (WP). You can relive the 1982 world championship on youtube.

This mural is outside the Royal Bar on Donegall Road in Sandy Row, where Higgins grew up. “A true legend of Belfast.”

Seen previously in 2010.

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Now Is The Time To Kneel

2022-10-242025-01-07Extramural Activity2 Comments

The “now” in “now is the time to kneel” would seem to suggest that there is some inappropriate kneeling going on at some other time, besides as a mark of respect to the patriotic dead (in this case, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8th) – perhaps the kneeling prior to Premier League soccer matches as a protest against racism (World Soccer Talk).

The UVF board to the left of the wide shot can be seen in Our British Identity.

Replaces Clonduff Youth on Clonduff Drive in Castlereagh.

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A Perennial War

2022-10-232025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is the scene at Kells Walk/Rossville St in the Bogside.

From left to right:

O’Hara-Devine mural

No Amnesty For British State Forces: “Democide is the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide and mass murder. Democide is not necessarily the elimination of entire cultural groups but rather groups within the country that the government feels needs to be eradicated for political reasons and due to claimed future threats. – No amnesty for British state forces”

End British Political Policing (Saoradh (web))

Bobby Sands/IRPWA: “I’ll wear no convict’s uniform/Nor meekly serve my time/That Britain might brand Ireland’s fight/800 years of crime” [Francie Brolly song] (IRPWA (web))

Free All Political Prisoners! (IRPWA)

1981: 1981: “I am a political prisoner. I am a political prisoner because I am a casualty of a perennial war that is being fought between the oppressed Irish people and an alien, oppressive, unwanted regime that refuses to withdraw from our land.” [Bobby Sands’s diary, day 1] (IRPWA)

Unity Referendum Now!: “British occupation has been a disaster for the people of Ireland. A united Ireland is the way forward for all the people of Ireland.” (IRSP.ie)

40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike: described previously in For A Socialist Republic (IRSM/IRSP)

“Peace” mural (with cross) from the Bogside Artists

In the shot above, our photographer has intervened and stood up the last panel of the “1981” board.

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Broken Promises

2022-10-212025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The newspaper front pages reporting the “90-minute shouting match” between the resigning UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Prime Minister Liz Truss (third image, below) were barely dry when Truss herself resigned yesterday. The main cause was the September 23rd “mini-budget” that promised to scrap the 45% personal tax rate entirely, lower the 20% to 19%, and keep the corporate rate at 19% instead of having it increase to 25% in April 2023 – these numbers are seen on the pages falling from Truss’s hands, above – without explaining how the reductions would be funded. Over the next three weeks these positions were reversed – “volte face”, Truss’s flip-flops, and the two-headed Truss; all part of a pattern, artist Ciaran Gallagher (web) suggests with Truss’s clothing: she was originally in the Lib Dems before joining the Conservatives in 1996 and supported ‘remain’ in the Brexit vote (WP).

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng went on the 14th. Braverman resigned over a breach of the Ministerial Code – sharing an official document on migration from her personal e-mail account – but got in a few digs at the Truss government as she left. (WP)

The Tories hope to put a new leader and PM in place within a week. Rishi Sunak, Terminator-style, says “I’ll be back!” and is – as of today, at least – the bookies’ favourite (BBC).

For Larry the cat – who was previously pictured sitting on the steps outside Number 10 but has gone from the mural – next week’s prime minister will be his fifth.

Previous versions of this mural: And In The Blue Corner … (from the Truss vs. Sunak leadership contest) | It’s A Knockout! (when Truss won)

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Grief Is The Price We Pay For Love

2022-10-202025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Elizabeth II, queen of the United Kingdom, passed away on September 8th, at the age of 96, in the same year of her platinum jubilee, the 70th anniversary of her accession. The phrase “grief is the price we pay for love” comes from a message from Elizabeth in consolation with the relatives of those killed in the “9-11” attacks in 2001 (text at The Guardian).

“In everlasting memory – her majesty Queen Elizabeth II – 1926-2022.” “Long live the King”

The Stolen Child

2022-10-192025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The re-painted mural to plastic-bullet victim Julie Livingstone was rededicated this past Saturday (October 15th). For the previous mural, see 2010. “The Stolen Child – Come away, O human child/To the waters and the wild/With a faery hand in hand/For the world’s more full of weeping/Than you can understand… – WB Yeats.”

Believe In Your Dreams

2022-10-182025-01-07Extramural Activity1 Comment

Here is a complete set of images from the Bogside end of the Brandywell. From left to right: “Nasc” by NOYS (ig) for Gasyard Féıle 2022, Long Tower Community Centre (see Brandywell Past And Present), a new “Brandywell” stencil by Peaball (ig), the Ryan McBride Foundation (tw), a new version of the Derry Brigade IRA mural (see previously Brıogáıd Dhoıre), Peaball and local youth at work, various pieces of wild-style writing and graffiti in support of Jason Ceulemans.