Bonfires – Slugger O'Toole

Loyalists assert themselves through controversial bonfires…

Soapbox on July 5, 2022, 9:36 am | Readers 6299

Night photo of a bonfire with sparks. Bright flame against a dark background. High resolution photo of a bonfire.

Dr Amanda Hall is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Reading. You can follow her on Twitter. Each year, hundreds of bonfires are lit across Northern Ireland on 11 July – Eleventh Night – by Protestants, Unionists, and Loyalists commemorating the Battle of the Boyne. The vast majority pass without incident, drawing only curious attention about the reasons for the celebration or due to some unique qualities. This year’s castle-shaped structure in Portadown is drawing …

The Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition report now available…

Brian O'Neill on December 1, 2021, 6:32 pm | Readers 3794

Commissions have a formula in Northern Ireland. They gather together the great and the good to analyse a problem in great detail. The commission spends several years and lots of cash engaging with all the key stakeholders, a final report is created and a series of recommendations are given, the report is discussed in-depth on the Nolan Show and Talkback before being ignored by the politicians. A few years go by and some crisis emerges. The solution proposed by politicians …

Teenager critically ill with 40% burns to his body after being engulfed in flames at Eleventh Night bonfire…

Brian O'Neill on July 13, 2021, 10:00 am | Readers 5445

If anything is it surprising that more people were not injured or killed over the weekend. From Allison Morris in the Belfast Telegraph: A teenager is in hospital with burns to 40% of his body and face on Monday night after catching fire at a north Belfast bonfire. Eyewitnesses say the 17-year-old, who is from the Ballysillan area, lifted a canister of petrol to throw at the already ignited bonfire when the flames caught the accelerant dousing him in burning …

The hedonic treadmill of bonfires…

Brian O'Neill on July 12, 2021, 7:44 am | Readers 5770

One of the more enlightening moments in life is when you discover the concept of the hedonic treadmill. In simple terms, it is the tendency of a person to remain at a relatively stable level of happiness despite a change in fortune or the achievement of major goals. We see this effect when we buy a new smartphone. For a few weeks, it is the bee’s knees and we marvel at how fast it is and what lovely photos it …

We Didn’t Start the Fire – The Ongoing Problems with Bonfires…

Choyaa on July 5, 2021, 8:08 am | Readers 11448

Inevitably as we enter July in Northern Ireland, there is much talk about the parading season. With that, I thought it would be a good time to discuss one of the most controversial elements that accompany the parading season, namely bonfires and, specifically, Eleventh-night bonfires. Bonfires are a difficult subject; even within the Unionist community, there is not widespread support for them, and many Unionists are dismayed by the negative trappings associated with some bonfires. Bonfires are legitimate expressions of …

The Ghosts of Bonfires past…

Samuel Thompson on May 11, 2018, 3:11 pm | Readers 3140

I remember back in the day, probably around Easter 1971, my pal and I threw down two sticks on an area of open ground in Tyndale Gardens in Belfast and said ‘That’s the boney started.’ Other kids probably do the same thing around the same time of year to this day. There were no pallets then and no tyres. We collected waste wood and the ‘big lads’ cut branches off trees in neighbouring Carrs Glen. I often think about that …

Towards a Respectful Future report launched

David McCann on March 16, 2018, 6:06 pm | Readers 2117

The DUP, UUP and PUP groups on Belfast City Council launched the Towards a Respectful Future document this morning in Belfast City Hall. The Councillors present were Lee Reynolds, John Kyle, Billy Hutchinson, George Dorrian and Jim Rodgers. The full report is available here but some of the key findings were •The vast majority of bonfires and associated activities are well organised and managed. These include events which are part of and separate from the Belfast City Council Bonfire and …

You know things are bad when Stacey Dooley comes to town…

Brian O'Neill on August 9, 2017, 12:43 pm | Readers 9482

You get the feeling they must be tripping over camera crews in loyalist areas. The recent DUP/Conservative deal has turned the eyes of the UK media towards Northern Ireland. A steady stream of film crews has been making the trip recently. You know the format by now: lots of footage of explosions, the obligatory standing in front of a peace wall, marveling at bonfires, the arty shot at the end as flames leap into the sky. The latest documentary is …

The DUP heartland: who are the supporters? – Video from The Guardian…

Brian O'Neill on August 4, 2017, 4:54 pm | Readers 4436

Very slick video from The Guardian, well worth a watch. From The Guardian post: East Belfast is the heartland of Protestant, unionist politics and therefore, one would believe, the natural support for Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party. The Guardian travelled to East Belfast to meet the core support for the party – which has just completed £1bn deal to prop up Theresa May’s government – and ask what they truly believe and what they want from the DUP whose main …

Belfast City Council to discuss bonfire motion

David McCann on August 2, 2017, 3:17 pm | Readers 1035

Belfast City Council will hold a special meeting tonight at 6:30pm to discuss a motion on bonfires brought by Sinn Fein. The text of the motion is as follows; “This Council is opposed to rogue bonfires where they present a threat to life, to property, to the environment, where they cause damage to public amenities and where they facilitate hate crime activities. “On the basis of these concerns this Council gives permission to our Council officers to remove bonfire materials or …

Boys and young men who would once be proud builders of World-class Ocean liners are now relegated to building bonfires…

Terry Maguire on July 29, 2017, 9:04 am | Readers 4022

We all felt sorry for the articulate young man whose apartment near Sandyrow was damaged by an 11th Night bonfire. He, sensibly, didn’t want to be recognised so the interview was done off camera. He wanted to live in safety, he wanted compensation for the damage but above all he didn’t want to annoy anyone or interfere with “cultural expression”. These seem reasonable middle-class values and who could argue with them? His neighbour, a thirty-something woman, equally articulate, praised the …

Another 12th July passes peacefully, but other conversations are still needed.

David McCann on July 12, 2017, 10:22 pm | Readers 1475

Another 12th July passes and for the second year in a row it has been peaceful. The PSNI have issued this statement on the events of the day; “We have dealt with a number of minor incidents throughout the day and have made a small number of arrests but these were very much in the margins of what has been widely described as the most peaceful Twelfth of July for some years and a model for years to come. “It …

Presbyterian Moderator ignites debate on bonfires

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 11, 2016, 7:25 pm | Readers 1695

The Presbyterian Moderator, Rt Rev Dr Frank Sellar, delivered the 2016 Ulster University Chaplaincy lecture last night. Speaking under the title of “A City of Hope, Leadership and Compassion”, his comments on bonfires attracted a lot of attention this morning.

Bonfire Porn and Our Contempt of the Working Class…

David on July 12, 2016, 1:53 pm | Readers 8038

While the last pallets were gathered and stacked in estates around the country yesterday, moralising social media pundits were already unleashing patronising vitriol. It grows in vigour as the sky-scraping pyres rise ever higher across the province, the self-assertion of Northern Ireland’s armchair intelligentsia whose smug classist intolerance is as easy and cheap as the ignorance they supposedly are criticising. There are, of course, unsavoury and deeply rooted elements of this celebration that are commandeered for sectarian purpose and are …

Should bonfires be licensed or negotiated with individual communities?

Mick Fealty on February 9, 2016, 1:52 pm | Readers 1131

BONFIRES OR VANITIES: Claire Hanna of the SDLP contextualises the party’s Environment Minister’s proposals to licence bonfires (any and all of them). Her key point is that compliance with the law as it is currently practised cannot rely on negotiated outcomes in which ‘the community’ decides what’s fair.

Protestant Identity, Vulnerability and Bonfires.

Soapbox on January 12, 2016, 4:58 pm | Readers 2787

Chris Jenkins writes for us about his experiences touring some bonfires last summer…. The cameraman runs up towards the bonfire. The wooden pallets tower over him. Teenagers begin to light the colossal structure with flaming torches. “He’s gone too close”, I think straight away. The fire started to move quickly, and the young men lighting it stayed a step ahead, using their torches to light the petrol in the middle of the wooden structure. One of the teenagers who we …

Gavin Robinson: “I don’t think we can leave it for another year … to make sure we manage all of the bonfires in a much better way” … but what can be done?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on July 13, 2015, 11:27 pm | Readers 3586

Six fire engines and 35 fire crew sprayed cold water on houses and trees facing the East Belfast Chobham Street bonfire to keep them safe from the savage heat and flames on the Eleventh night. Speaking to the BBC today, local MP Gavin Robinson said: Elected representatives, community representatives, statutory agencies, the police and those of influence with the community – they were all ignored and I think that’s greatly regrettable. … I don’t think we can leave it for …

If progress is to be made on dangerous bonfires, the political footballs need to be kept firmly in the bag

Darren Litter on July 13, 2015, 12:20 pm | Readers 1557

The bonfire is not, as you would think from all the commentary, an exclusive feature of July Orangeism. In my own Tyrone village for instance – which is predominantly Catholic in population, but broadly quite apolitical in attitude – various housing estates would traditionally compete at Halloween time to see who could build the biggest bonfire. Yes, there were even incarnations of those bonfires that were situated rather recklessly. Fundamentally, the concept of the bonfire is something which working classes …

“Mammy, why do we not have a flag on our house?”

Soapbox on July 11, 2015, 12:01 pm | Readers 24513

Mairia Cahill writes on her impressions of visiting a bonfire site on the lower Shankill yesterday, and how a child’s eye view, unencumbered by the narrative framing of cultural matters, helped her see another side to the celebrations of The Twelfth. A week ago, I caused consternation amongst some of the hardline Loyalist community for raising the issue of flags flying from lampposts. I asked was there any “need” to fly large Union Jacks from in an effort to understand …

Would you mind moving out of your home we would like to risk burning down our whole neighbourhood?

Mick Fealty on July 10, 2015, 1:16 pm | Readers 3750

I blame the pallets. Back the olden days, when I was young, there was no way of building 11th Night bonfires high enough to scare the neighbours out of their homes. Pallets are eminently combustible, readily available and endlessly (it seems) stackable. And now, no one in authority knows what to do other than tell people whose homes might burn down to get out of them. Veteran local councillor Jim Rogers is still trying to use the gently gently approach… …