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About Me
- belfast samizdat
- A half-breed from West Belfast who went to Sullivan Upper, Discovered Homelessness (and James Connolly),settled in the Holylands before it went shitfaced, Took up studying, and got his heart broke by Academia (And a few Women), Someone who knows he can survive even a near fatal beating, and has learned to face death with equanimity. Never forgets a bad turn. Stands by his Class and above all his friends.
13 comments:
The War is over, face it , you have lost, student have won!!!!
The Holyland was written off at least 15 years ago. The time to save it was then. It's been finished for at least 12 years. For the Universities to invent and sponsor a "Regeneration Association" with the stated objective of "redressing the balance within the area" is not a sick joke, although I can hear the cackle of Anne Monaghan's laughter as I write this. The objective was to set up a PR front run by useful fools who would also act as prison trustys. I sincerely doubt that attempted murder was part part of the plan. However Anne Monaghan, who invented the association when she worked for the university of ulster is now it's chair. She was not elected and does not live in the Holyland, but that did not stop her claiming to speak for me when I lived there and to still claim to speak for the neighbours I have left behind.
How'd your court date go Alan? Free the Holyland One!
Just out of interest, I'm wondering how many hits a week / month the site gets? Would be interesting to know how many people view the page?
As a past student at University of Ulster I am ashamed to say I went there.My heart goes out to the residents in this area. These inbred yokels talk a good one when they're up in the big city with it's flashy lights and have a belly full of beer. But when they go home to mammy and daddy's at the weekend they're treaded as pillars of society. The only people who can try to sort this out are the universities who seem quite happy to sit back and let the money roll in. Typical PSNI attitude -- if we ignore it maybe it will go away....
As someone who went to University of Ulster I couldn't help but notice that up on the Coleraine campus there isn't as much madness as there is in the Holylands. Why? Because the little culchies are so close to home. So close to mammy and daddy finding out what they get up to. The universities are the only ones who can remedy the situation but they seem content to sit back and watch the money roll in. I wouldn't even put my degree on a CV now. I'm ashamed of these 'students'. It's hilarious that they regard themselves as nationalists or republicans -- they couldn't dream of telling you a particle of Irish history. My heart goes out to the residents in the Holyland.
Ok,
first things first. Sorry for my brief absence. My trial was today and I won. All three charges were thrown out. I will discuss in more detail later.
I don't know how many hits I get. I don't think it's very many. However with the court case I think it will be noticed quite far and wide. I'm scared to use a hit counter. I might end up like a sad person watching it non stop to see if anyone has logged in. I do know how many people have looked at my profile. It is 1471, which is better than nothing.
I feel the same way about Queens as Jay and Bfs feel about UU. I'm ashamed to say they go there and would advise anyone thinking of doing so to run as fast as possible in the other direction.
The students in the Holylands are a f**king joke. Pathetic children. Act the hard lads during the week as long as their mummies and daddies don't find out. You can see why, it's their first time in an area where the people aren't outnumbered by the sheep and it's too much for their pea-sized brains to handle.
I've had student friends live on the edge of the Holylands (Wolsley St I think it was) who had their Windows put in and were robbed on more than one occasion in the short time they lived there (1 year I think). How fucking stupid do you have to be to rob a student? OK there are a few rich ones but I'm telling you now they don't live in the f**king Holylands!
Ban culchies from the city until they can learn to behave like human beings. A good place to start is to stop ALL bursaries. Give the students a loan to pay for their fees and a maximum of £2-3k for living expenses. They can work part-time to pay the rest (ok they'll not get to take their washing home to mummy every weekend but life's a bitch).
I know too many students who get bursaries and spend hundreds (or thousands in total) of pounds on flat screen TVs and trips to festivals (where the tickets alone are the guts of £150, before you even consider travel) and the like. It all contributes to the idea that university is a place to doss and do as little as possible and drink away free money.
I got no bursaries or grants and very little help from my parents and managed to spend 6 years in total at university (no I didn't fail, I realised the course was shite before I realised the whole place is a shithole sink university). Most degrees are only 3 years, or 4 with a paid placement in between. It's perfectly doable.
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE COURT CASE. I HEARD IT WAS THROWN OUT. HURRY UP AND GIVE US THE S.P. ON IT.
A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE MORE INTERESTED IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE GANG OF FOUR THAN THE STUDENTS.
CAN U NOT GET AN INVISIBLE COUNTER
FOR THIS BLOG?
I think it's more complicated than that. When I was in student politics those of us who cared (a tiny rearguard making a last stand) tried to stop fees and keep grants. We wanted working class people to have a chance. Now such students are saddled with a triple whammy. Work full-time, study full time and carry a mountain of debt.
The inbred creatures I see rampaging through the Holyland are oozing the contempt that only comes from unearned wealth. Look at the brand new cars their parents bought them and the very expensive SUV's Mercs and BMW's their parents drive while leaving them off on a Sunday night.
These people are the intellectual meltdown of a society. This story has to be told.
Actually you're probably right on that front. The money won't make any difference as long as their parents are prepared to front up for them instead.
Too many spoilt kids.
The "take away the grants and bursaries" thing won't effect these guys. Even when there were grants, these folks would likely have been too well off to be entitled to them. Nope, they're getting sponsored through the whole thing by their parents.
I'd like to see the Housing Executive buy up the Holy Lands below market value and renovate all the houses, turn the place into a decent community again. The university quarter of the city should be a vibrant and bustling place, not a place resembling the black hole of Calcutta.
A lot of people (guess who) were encouraged to believe that there would be a government intervention to slap compulsory purchase orders on those houses and put families in them. Being arrogant, stupid and obsequious to authority, they fell for it hook line and sinker. I recall Katrina O'Neill coming to my door some years ago to tell me that
"It's all gonna be sorted. Just Don't make a fuss"
Fast forward a couple of years and we're having a conversation in the street,
"Lord Rooker's told me they're gonna turn this place around"
Now I can say a lot about Geoff Rooker, but that's for another day. Suffice to say hopes were raised. It was all bollocks.
Is it an appropriate use of resources to buy up the Holyland with public money? New build will always be cheaper and better. We also have the energy equation to deal with. Skyrocketing fuel prices make it clear that we have a problem with home heating. Come December most of the population will be in serious fuel poverty. New builds, however, offer a solution, at least in the long term. There is a standard called "Carbon Neutral". In Germany it's called "Passivhaus". These houses heat themselves all year round by storing solar heat. They can also provide most of their own hot water. This is compulsory in Germany. If the Housing Executive were allowed to build again, and properly funded, it could address both the housing and energy crises. Such a process would take time and money, but one thing is for sure: you can never make the Holyland Carbon Neutral. The houses are poorly insulated, if at all, and cannot capture and store solar heat. It is impossible to upgrade them properly.
However, the Holyland had one house that was almost carbon neutral.Heating and copious hot water were achieved by the burning of waste wood. With all the house conversions there was a limitless supply. I'm proud to say that the resident of that house was a certain Alan Murray.
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