BELFAST

I was watching the TV tonight (21/07/2006) and caught some of the Billy Connolly's tour of England, Ireland and Wales, tonight he is in Belfast and having been there last year on holiday I recognised not only some of the buildings but a lot of the murals on the buildings.

I didn't really know until I came back that the painting of these murals are illegal, the reason I didn't know? The murals are so beautiful so powerful and sometimes so angry. They convey the emotions of a community in struggle, a community who feels oppressed and feels that they have to fight back, I am speaking of course about both Catholics and Protestants. When my friends took me down the Shankhill Road I was not scared but amazed that the people here feel so strongly about their history, their ancestors and their struggle. I was never so touched as having seen the Holy Cross Primary and it's counterpart literally across a six foot wide road, the difference in the security of these buildings is chalk and cheese, the most touching part for me is the mural at the bottom of the road in which these two education establishments lie the mural depicts in black and white two scenes one where black children are being attacked for going to school in Alabamma and one where the children of Holy Cross are attacked for going to school.

Regardless of your political or religious affiliation, no one should think that attacking primary school children on their way to school! I have no doubt that the Protestant community could identify similar situations, and to me that it extremely sad.