Hello,
That's me back home. I'd rather be in Belfast, I have lots more investigating to do. I took a trip round the city and feel that some part of my brain may have exploded on the Shankill. Unless it isn't as poor and rundown as it looks then I'm at a loss as to what in God's name it is they feel loyal to. Unless it's the entirely understandable desire not to be a minority in a fundamentalist Catholic country, I'm truly baffled. If it is loyalty to Britain, they've been badly shortchanged, it's no secret that Glasgow has it's low spots but I've never seen the like of that place in my life! When the most pleasant looking thing on your street is a Rangers Supporters Club you're in trouble.
I should point out that the rest of Belfast is rather lovely, a feast for lovers of Victorian architecture, decent pubs and dry humour. Like Glasgow it's very handy for the countryside which due to my short time there I saw very little of. I did see a very large bull on my way to the airport though, well I say very large, what I mean is huge, a monster bull, easily the size of a thatched cottage. It was so big it had a whole field to itself -I'll bet no-one has ever taken a shortcut through that field!
Cheerio
4 comments:
I wonder who the lucky lady was..........
You think it's bad now, you should have seen it through from the early eighties and before.
I've spent a long time in NI with the forces in various capacities, in and around Belfast and mainly in Armagh/Keady/Middletown.
Yes, the Loyalists have been seriously shortchanged by THIS Government who got butt fucked, and liked it, by scum like Macguiness. In exchange for no more bombs, they gave them power, so they effectively saved them the bother and appeased terrorism; Bliar and Brown and Labour proved the point that terrorism does work.
Don't let Belfast fool you though, NI is predominantly protestant and has had regular referenda to see whether it wants to cede itself to the south, and never has.
Go on patrols in whatever capacity and you can always tell the catholic areas; they are rundown, even the new places, and a fucking shit-hole, and that is coming from a Scots catholic.
NI is a national disgrace of betrayal of people who fought terrorism, from Labour.
You are truly a wristwatch in a world of lumps.
Ill Man,
Don't be thinking about that. It's not nice.
Shotgun,
Well I'd argue that the Anglo-Irish agreement was a serious short-changing of the unionist/loyalist communities which obviously pre-dates this government but I take your point.
I have very mixed feeling about the release of prisoners. A blind eye is being turned to a lot of the mayhem they cause locally because it's nearer to 'normal' crime than terrorism. On the other hand it has stopped the wider terrorism. To be honest I think terrorism has been working since the Brighton Bombing.
Oddly enough and I come from a similar background to you and I thought The Falls was the better of the two areas simply because it showed more obvious signs of recent investment. The Shankill looked horribly neglected despite local efforts. It would be interesting to see compare what has been spent on both areas. Then again the Protestant community in N.I has always been horribly inept at presenting itself, Drumcree being a famous example.
My hope is one day to see a united Ireland but one worth uniting with and whilst the republic has improved considerably in recent years, I think that days is some way off yet.
Reginald,
You are a baw in a world of cocks.
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