Queens have renamed the area. The word Holylands has obvious embarrassing connotations.
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From now on the area previously known as the Holylands will be known as Queens' Quarter
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The Belfast Holyland Regeneration Association has been so successful that the handwriting's on the wall.
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I thought I'd give you a guided tour through the new Queens' Quarter.
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As you can see, the "students" have got their priorities straight.
Because their tenants are "students", the landlords do not have to pay rates on their properties. This is one of a number of massive redistributions of wealth from you, the public, into the pockets of the super-rich. Let's look at the service provided by Belfast City Council with your money.
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The landlords refuse to buy wheelie bins, so your rates are paying for these industrial Eurobins. At one point the council took them out, so you can imagine what things were like without them.
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You may have noticed that we are in the middle of a housing crisis. Over the last ten years homelessness has trebled from 7,000 to 20,000. Someone somewhere is proud of this achievement. The reasons behind it merit investigation. Ten years ago, in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, a hidden agenda began to unfold. The Housing Executive was prohibited from building houses. The funds were redirected elsewhere. The official responsible for doling out conversion grants to landlords revealed at a residents' meeting that the average grant per property was £24,000 and could go up to £36,000. It appears that the entire housing budget, untold tens of millions of pounds, has been doled out to property developers and has financed the rape of communities all over South Belfast and the rest of the province. The application of simple mathematics suggests a truly shocking figure. 10,000 HMO's in Northern Ireland multiplied by £24,000 per property equals £240 million, of which £120 million would have been doled out in South Belfast alone. This is an enormous redistribution of wealth from the public to the Rentier Class. I feel a James Connolly quote coming on, but will refrain lest I offend those who desecrate his name by hanging it on the front door of their head office.
Let's see what the modern day Rachmans have got for your money.
Families used to live here
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And here
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and here
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and here
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Another one bites the dust......
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As you're probably aware, the cops have a crisis of credibility when it comes to community relations.
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That completes this tour of the new Queens' Quarter. Those of us who remember when the Holyland was a cultured, Bohemian, tolerant place where we were free to be ourselves and not some sectarian stereotype will forever mourn it's passing.