City/Town

Ulster Defence Unions

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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).

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06044 X06045 Glenbrook Rd

Digital Eddie

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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.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Crawler

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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.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Head Examined

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A crude anatomy of the loyalist brain by TLO, with modules dedicated to Buckfast (tonic wine), flying our flag, The Sash, 1690, killing all taigs, and Saving Ulster From Sodomy. DUP councillor called the poster “a hate crime” (Guardian).

Side-by-side with: Ian Paisley Jr as The Crawler.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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An Ní Is Áılle

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“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!

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06025 X06026 Buíochas le Mícheál agus Seosamh.

Bad Road Transport

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“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).

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06021 Falls Road

Run-DMC

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Run-DMC took hip hop into the mainstream in 1984 and were eventually declared the greatest hip hop artist/group by both MTV and VH1. The trio are Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darrell “DMC” McDaniels and “Jam Master Jay” Mizell (who was shot and killed in 2002). Street art by Glen Molloy (previous work including Beastie Boys) in Pattersons Place.

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Copyright © 2018 Cathal Woods
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We Will Remember Them

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Dozens of boards to local soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Division (by the 2016 Committee) have been added to the Mount Vernon memorial garden to the soldiers of the Great War (the mural) and contemporary UVF volunteers (the garden). For the mural, memorial stones, and outside plaque, see At Home And On The Mainland.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06016

Pride Of Ballymacash

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The Pride Of Ballymacash flute band, formed in 2011 from the Pride Of Prince William (bottom left) and Ballymacash Young Conquerors (bottom right), uses the emblem of the 36th (Ulster) Division, in the centre of the mural. In the background on the left is the Thiepval Memorial and, on the right, the UDR memorial statue in Market Square, Lisburn. To the left (in the second image) is a UDA plaque “In memory of fallen comrades Ballymacash B coy D battaltion, South Belfast Brigade. Quis separabit.” For a close-up of the memorial on the ground, see Death & Life.

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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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