Frodo holds “the one ring to rule them all” in a piece of Lords Of The Rings-inspired art by Jossie Pops (web) on the wall of Robinson’s Goldsmiths (web) in Prospect Road, Bangor.
These UVF and UDA board are on adjacent walls at the entrance to the Glen estate, Newtownards; above and directly below, a North Down UVF and graffiti, while directly above it (final image) two UDA hooded gunmen take aim at the viewer on the pavement.
Hamilton House in Joy Street, Belfast, (former) home of Hamilton Architects, has a small statue of Charlie Chaplin on its fourth floor parapet to commemorate the fact that he briefly lived in Joy Street while he appeared at the Palace Of Varieties (the Grand Opera House) in 1908.
There are also reliefs of four famous architects above the first-floor windows. The four are Alvar Aalto (perhaps shown with a folding screen), Frank Lloyd Wright (Guggenheim Museum), Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Glasgow Rose), and Carlo Scarpa (Brion Tomb). The four were created by Claire Sampson (web).
This scene from the story of Clann Lır (the Children Of Lear) appears to be the moment that Aoıfe casts a spell that turns her four step-children into swans on Loch Daırbhreach.
Painted by Loretta Lizzio (web) at the same time (2023-09) as her Dark Dreamer on the Oldpark Road, just below the first Cliftonville roundabout.
“Remembered with pride – Stevie McCrea, Village, south Belfast”. A plaque has been added below the large board describing Stevie McCrea’s life in Kilburn Street (seen in 2022’s Here Lies A Soldier, which includes the text on the board).
Also included below are close-ups of the plaques to McCrea and Sammy Mehaffy in Tavanagh Street, (seen together in Village UVF).
“We don’t just inherit, we lead across time and space.”
Here is the second half of the Ulster-Scots (Visual History) mural painted in North Howard Street and Fifth Street, continuing the work seen in Echoes Of The Ulster Scots, which took the Scotch-Irish from Ulster to the Appalachians.
The new panels bring us from the founding of the United States in 1776 to the space age. The panel above is a rendition of John Trumbull’s painting ‘Declaration Of Independence’ (image at WP) along with (below the “250”) the signature of “Cha[rles] Thomson”, who was born in Maghera, served as Secretary of the Continental Congress, designed the Great Seal Of The United States (which appears next to the right), and signed the Declaration (Ulster Scots Agency pdf).
The person third from the left is Robert R. Livingston, one of the Committee Of Five that prepared the Declaration; he also negotiated the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (Discover Ulster Scots).
The flag is a combination of a proposed Ulster Scots flag and the Stars And Stripes of the United States.
North Howard Street/Fifth Street, west Belfast
April 19th: Artist DMC at work on the second half of the mural.
The red squirrel is in a battle for survival on the island with the grey squirrel, which out-breeds it and is unaffected by the pox which kills red squirrels (DAERA). This red squirrel has broken through the pyramids and stone-work painted by previous artists and has metaphorically burst through the west Belfast “peace” line, though in fact on the other side is the CNR area of Clonard.
Below are two in-progress shots, of the artist flying low under the radar by painting early on a Sunday morning and using the transportation as a ladder.
Cupar Way section of the west Belfast “peace” line (Visual History)
“In memory of the lost, 15 April, 1912.” The majority lifeboats on the RMS (not “SS”) Titanic were made of wood, constructed at Harland & Wolff at the same time that Titanic was built. Of the 2,209 people on board the ship at the time of her collision with an iceberg late in the evening of April 14th, 706 people survived in lifeboats that could have carried 1,178 people. (WP)
This tribute to those who died in on a short section of pedestrian railings on the Cupar Way “peace” line (Visual History). In the background are the specially designated spots for tourists to sign the wall (see Collecting Signatures).
Until now, whenever the United States has been placed along side the Union Flag or the Flag Of Zion, is has been in the form of some sort of Confederate Flag (2014 | 2016 | 2025). This has indicated that the contemporary USA as a whole has not been perceived as a supporter of (Northern Irish) loyalism or in a similar position to loyalists, but that the spirit of the Confederate South is akin to that of loyalism: a once-dominant ethnos, which held its position by institutionalised violence, besieged by the forces of expanded suffrage and mediocrity (as they would see it).
Donald Trump’s rhetoric and agenda found favour with Northern Irish loyalists, and a few Trump flags and graffiti were seen previously – see Take America Back for an example and further references.
Trump’s victory in November, 2024, gave him a second term as President of the United States Of America. Freeing himself from anyone associated with the conservative/neoliberal Republican party that restrained him in his first term and instead installing (Trump) loyalists in the cabinet and other key positions, Trump has been able to erode the USA’s character as a liberal democracy and move it instead towards authoritarianism (Guardian).
Although Trump’s current term is only fifteen months old, the shift has been sufficiently profound that the USA is now seen as simpatico with (NI) loyalism, and the Flag Of The United States – not a Trump flag or a Confederate flag – now flies alongside the flags of the United Kingdom and Israel.
Saoradh describes itself as an all-Ireland, revolutionary, socialist, republican party (web) with the IRPWA (web) as its “prisoners’ welfare” department and Éıstıgí as its youth wing. The “revolutionary” is perhaps in reference to its (alleged) association with the New IRA.