Many of the Palestine Action hunger strikers have called off their strikes, most recently Heba Muraisi, who resumed eating on the 14th (of January) after 72 days (BBC).
Umer Khalid stopped taking solids on January 9th (Al Jazeera) reduced has now begun refusing water. His life-expectancy is measured in days, if he does not reverse course (Guardian | Amnesty).
This washed-out banner is on the Antrim Road, north Belfast, on the railings of the Waterworks.
Smile … you’re on CCTV. A “peace line” or “war wall” divides the CNR Newington and PUL Tiger’s Bay along the top of Hallidays Road, and ends with an abandoned building at the junction with the Limestone Road. In 2002, in response to persistent rioting, rather than closing off the road, five cameras were installed on the Limestone Road at the point where the two areas meet (BBC | Community Relations pdf). Once installed, the range and power of the cameras were pre-emptively demonstrated to local youths (Guardian).
According to Forss 2018 (p. 53), the concrete bases were painted by a local youth-group (pdf) circa 2015. These jaunty images, and the mural in the background of the fifth image (When Young People Are United), attempt to present a different vision of the interface to young children going to Currie Primary and the Sunshine play-group.
On the anniversary of David Ervine’s death, January 8th, a new board was launched in his memory, with images of Ervine “yearning for peace” in the cages of Long Kesh, where he met Gusty Spence (the pair can be seen together in the middle of the first column of photographs).
After his release, Ervine turned to politics, running unsuccessfully as a PUP candidate for Pottinger in the Belfast City Council elections of 1985 (WP); he would eventually be successful in 1997. In 1998 he was returned by Belfast East in the Assembly election (ARK). He helped bring about the loyalist ceasefire in 1994 – which was read aloud by Spence (youtube) – and was pro-Agreement in 1998 (DIB | Guardian | Slugger).
The information about the Memory Chair sculpture makes mention of Ervine’s boots but it seems they have not survived the mothballing of the sculpture which was last seen on site – boots included – in 2014.
The Face was last seen on the Cupar Way war-wall in 2019 (see Please Respect Artwork). It was taken down (for reasons unknown) and put into storage in a works yard off Lanark Way, from where it was stolen it by thieves (perhaps thinking it might be valuable for its metal); it was found abandoned near the Slıabh Dubh car park (Belfast Live).
It has now found a home in a new coffee- and souvenir-shop (called Bean Around The World) that has been punched into the fencing at the top of Cupar Way in the shadow of a business park.
Next to The Face is a map of Ireland and Britain divided into regions, and a montage of black-and-white photographs from the Troubles (at least some of which come from the Belfast Archive Project).
The Face was created by Kevin Killen (web) and “the Students from Impact Training (NI) Ltd, Belfast To celebrate and commemorate the Industrial History and Heritage of Belfast City.”
This memorial for Glen “Spacer” Branagh, launched on the twentieth anniversary of his death in 2021, is at the junction of Canning Street and Orchard Street, north Belfast.
For information and the earlier plaque on N Queen St, see Forever Young.
“Titanic Gentlemen’s Club [Fb], every Wednesday 6pm – 8pm, Connswater Community Centre. Make mental health great again. Every man has an engine room – you don’t have to maintain it alone. Let’s break the silence and support men’s mental health.”
The green ribbon is the symbol of the campaign to release political prisoners, and “Make ___ great again” is the form of the slogan of the MAGA movement in the United States.
The board was officially launched July 9th (Fb) in Severn Street, east Belfast.
“”BreaktheStigma” for the men who rise, together: We are the voices once held back,/Taught to smile through every crack./But now we speak, we face the fight,/Together stepping into the light.//This is Break the Stigma, strong and true,/A brotherhood of me and you./Men alike, from every road,/Each carrying a silent load.//No shame in tears, no guilt in pain,/No more hiding hurt in vain./We rise as one, we make it known-/You don’t have to walk alone.//We’re not defined by past or scar,/By what we’ve lost or who we are./We’re here to talk, to heal, to grow,/To lift each other from below.//So here we stand, hearts open wide,/With honesty we will not hide./For every man who needs a sign-/Break the Stigma holds the line.”
The seventh anniversary of the murder of Ian Ogle is approaching: “Big O” was killed on the evening of January 27th, 2019. Five people received sentences in March 2025, having been found guilty of murder – see In Memory Of Ian Ogle.
Also included is a small memorial plaque to British forces, which seems to have been generated by AI.
These flags – one to the Ulster YCV (14th RIR) and two to the Blues And Royals flute band, Sydenham (Fb) – are on the fence below the Northern Ireland Centenary board in Mersey Street, at the junction of Parkgate Drive in east Belfast.
This mural in the lower Falls celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Frank Gillen Centre (Fb) and the 70th anniversary of Immaculata FC (Fb). The figure on the right is Cliftonville player Liam Boyce who grew up in the area and played for Immaculata as a youth. The team’s logo appears to the right of Boyce’s outstretched hand. (If you know the local player on the left, please leave a comment or send an e-mail.)
The piece was painted by Mickey Doherty and Lucas Quigley.
Gort Na Móna CLG was founded in 1974, developing out of the old Gort Na Móna secondary (before it became part of Corpus Christi). NVTv produced a programme to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary (youtube). These painted junction boxes are on Monagh Road and the Springfield Road.
Paddy Duffy Collection 