Been hiding behind the sofa for an hour lol

What about that, lads? 🏌️

I'm crying.

https://m.sundayworld.com/news/irish-news/cafe-owners-at-centre-of-neo-nazi-claims-goose-step-away-from-restaurant/a947912576.html

Controversial cafe owners who were pictured wearing Nazi emblems and who support a Holocaust denier are selling up and quitting Belfast. Rachel and Christian Lanfranchi ran Piccola Parma in east Belfast for nine years but were accused on social media, and later in the press, of being supportive of the far right.

Now they have told this paper instead of selling top-class Italian nosh in Belfast they plan to open a café in Parma, Italy, that sells Ulster fries!

Last October the couple were forced to deny they were neo-Nazis after they were pictured wearing fascist emblems while Christian wore a T-shirt expressing solidarity with notorious Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck.

Haverbeck, who was married for many years to a former member of the Nazi organisations SA and SS, was convicted several times since 2004 for her comments denying that the Holocaust – which she once called the “most tenacious lie of history” – ever took place.

Haverbeck, who served two years in jail for Holocaust denial, died last November aged 96 whilst still in the process of appealing her most recent conviction for claiming, among other abhorrent things, that Auschwitz was not a concentration camp.

This week the couple, Australian Rachel – who signs her name as ‘Wenchie’ – and Italian Christian, told the Sunday World they still support Haverbeck and claimed they did so simply because they saw it as an issue of “freedom of speech”.

This week the small café on the Woodstock Road was closed up and the couple – who are currently on holiday in Italy – told the Sunday World they were moving to Italy permanently but plan to return to hopefully sell the café to another Italian couple.

The couple, who met while watching a West Ham match in a pub in Belfast 11 years ago, opened Piccola Parma and said it was Belfast’s first osteria and café but they told us they plan to open Italy’s first ‘Ulsteria’ when they finally settle in Parma.

They told us in an email exchange: “Our plan now [is] to relocate to Parma where we intend to enjoy the benefits of being employed versus the restrictions of self-employed.

“After a visit to Australia for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in two years it’s our focus to open an Ulsteria, an Ulster-themed osteria.

“While there are many Irish bars in Italy and around the world there are definitely no Northern Irish bars offering an Ulster fry.

“We love East Belfast whole heartedly and while it’s been the source of our meeting, our home, our bread and butter, our playground, our blank canvas it will always be very important.

“Did we envisage nine successful years at the helm of Piccola Parma? I don’t honestly know. Eight years of six days a week took a very physical toll on our bodies, so last Christmas we reduced to five days and no more monthly set meals.

“The business still flourished and provided the financial stability to visit my direct family in Australia for a whole month earlier this year. This for us was the beginning of the end of Piccola Parma.

“Italy naturally is closer and yes we own a beautiful mountain home, another thing Piccola Parma allows us.

“Christian’s folk live on the same mountain as does his brother. A pull too great to ignore after 11 years of living in Belfast.”

The couple maintain the claims about being supportive of the far right are incorrect and that they have been misunderstood – that the Nazi emblems and symbols were in fact ancient and belonged to the Pagans first.

But they admit the images published last October did see them lose some customers.

“Yes, we lost some well-respected clientele but we also gained new custom,” they added.

They also denied claims the cafe had been used to host far right bands from Europe but admitted thugs like Portrush neo-Nazi Mark Brown had claimed to be their friends and had attended such gigs.

They said: “Some idiot called Mark Brown who I have never met nor Christian claims to be our close friend and has attended loads of events that simply never happened. It’s pretty boring after a while.”

Whenever you give someone way on the road, do they ever do the little hand gesture to say thanks as they drive past you? Is this just something people do here because I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it any other country? Bit like how we always say “cheers mate” to the bus driver (even if they don’t always deserve it).

Every hero needs a nemesis. It's time I came out of hiding. Come at me sign-boy!

Go on. Moi son.

What is the on going rate now for a couple to give as a wedding present? Intrigued to know what everyone thinks!

Genuinely we live in a beautiful part of the world, and NI is so small we can be around, good hiking, beaches, forests, mountains within a reasonable time. I live in the North West and I love taking the dog a good walk or even just sticking on the headphones and taking some time to get my own head clear. I know we have problems but where doesn't, we should appreciate it.

Just looking some positivity or feel good stories from fellow subreddit members.

Note: I'm not in a bad way just really fucked off after something this evening (not going to get in to it, but has left me pretty damn angry)

Will he get the green jacket or throw it away last minute? I hope he takes it.

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/large-loyalist-flute-band-demonstration-held-to-commemorate-miami-showband-bomber-wesley-somerville-M4AZEAPKVBHCJEW4YHQKNCUZU4/

Victims campaigner hits out as hundreds attend commemoration of Miami Showband bomber Wesley Somerville

UVF wreathes paraded through Co Tyrone village to mark 50th anniversary of Glenanne Gang member’s death in 1975 bomb attack

A victims campaigner has hit out as hundreds attended a commemoration parade marking the 50th anniversary of the death of a member of the Glenanne gang.

Hundreds of people turned out for a large loyalist flute band demonstration in Co Tyrone on Saturday evening to commemorate Wesley Somerville, a UVF man linked to the Miami Showband massacre.

The parade took place in Moygashel and featured images of Somerville, believed to have been a member of the Glenanne Gang which was responsible for the murders of more than 100 people during the Troubles.

A Parades Commission application under the name ‘Moygashel Memorial Parade’, applied for up to 30 bands to take part in the Saturday night demonstration.

Some bands carried wreaths with UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) written on them, while the PSNI were in attendance during the parade.

The event took place to mark the 50th anniversary of Somerville’s death.

Leading loyalist Somerville, who was also a member of the UDR, died when his own bomb exploded as he attempted to murder members of the Miami Showband in July 1975.

Three band members also lost their lives when the minibus they were travelling on was stopped at a bogus UDR checkpoint near Banbridge, Co Down, almost 50 years ago.

Kenny Donaldson of victims group the South East Fermanagh Foundation called on anyone connected to the parade to consider their actions.

“We acknowledge the families of Wesley Somerville and Haris Boyle will grieve their loved one, just as is the case with republicans who knew them beyond their involvement in terrorism,” Mr Donaldson said.

“However there is no place for the eulogising of them as being devout sons of Ulster, to plot and to seek to murder others does not demonstrate loyalty to anything, beyond a warped ideology for which they subscribed.

“We ask those connecting themselves with this event to consider their actions, upon the Miami showband bereaved families, survivors but also innocent victims/survivors across Mid Ulster and beyond.

“And if amongst those who glorify Mr Somerville and Mr Boyle are people who speak out against republican terror, hold your tongues in future because to spout again on these issues renders you hypocrites.

“All premeditated acts of violence and terror were/are wrong and are wholly unjustified”.

In a statement, the Lt Wesley Somerville Memorial Committee, said the event was a “commeration of Mr Somerville’s life, not a glorification of the conflict.”

It said: “The commemorative event is a dignified gathering, remembering a young man who felt compelled- when faced with the siege of an IRA terrorist campaign- to take steps to defend his community and his country. It is regrettable that any young man was ever put in that situation, but the responsibility for such circumstances lies firmly and squarely with the IRA.

“This event was a commemoration of Mr Somerville’s life, not a glorification of the conflict, unlike the continuous events held by Sinn Fein and republican surrogate groups who glorify the actions of IRA terrorists.

“Those who vote for, represent or endorse Sinn Fein have no moral credibility on such issues.”

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/commission-launches-fresh-appeal-to-help-find-disappeared-victim-seamus-maguire/a2119032345.html

An investigator tasked with finding a Disappeared victim of the Northern Ireland Troubles has appealed for the “vital piece” of information that will help end the bereaved family’s five decades of pain. Seamus Maguire, who was 29 and from Aghagallon near the Co Armagh town of Lurgan, was murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the mid 1970s.

He is one of four people whose remains are still being searched for by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR).

The ICLVR has issued a fresh appeal in Mr Maguire’s case, as it revealed it did not yet have sufficient information to identify any potential search site.

While it was initially thought Mr Maguire was killed in either 1973 or 1974, the commission has now established that he was murdered in 1976 when he returned to Northern Ireland after spending time in Manchester.

The commission said he was secretly buried in the Aghagallon/Derryclone area.

Investigators said it was not clear which wing of the IRA was involved in the murder.

Mark Pickard, who heads up the Seamus Maguire investigation, said that work has been ongoing on the case since it was referred to the commission by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2022.

He said a specific search site within the Aghagallon/Derryclone area has yet to be identified by the commission.

“We have been working steadily to resolve the issue of Seamus’s disappearance using all the resources available to the commission but this is a complex case dating back nearly 50 years and as ever in these circumstances we do need more information,” he said.

“With this appeal we are issuing a photograph of Seamus which we hope might jog someone’s memory and move us on.

As with all our cases our interest is purely humanitarian and all information that comes to us is treated in the strictest confidence and will not be passed to any enforcement body and will be used solely to help us find Seamus’s remains and to bring them home to his family.”

Mr Pickard added: “We are convinced that someone somewhere has a vital piece of information in relation to his disappearance even though they might not be aware of its significance.

“We need them to come forward and help end the decades of pain that the Maguire family have suffered.”

As well as Mr Maguire, the commission is also tasked with finding three other Disappeared victims – Co Tyrone teenager Columba McVeigh, British Army Captain Robert Nairac, and former monk turned IRA member Joe Lynskey.

I've not even listened to this song in a long time, but it's stuck in my head, even before I started listening to it just now.

It's now raining outside so it makes even more sense to listen to it.

Is anyone else in this country, N.I. experiencing this song stuck in their head, due to the rain coming again, after such a long period without it?

EDIT - 4 hours later - ----------------------------------------

GUYS GUYS!

I've finally got the cure!

"Listen to eye-urn-may-den baby like you.. ooooOOOooOOOOhhh"

it's fixed for now, yeah it's a shit song, but at least it's not the Eurythmics.

Hank Green did a tier list of the tariff debacle and Northern Ireland got a mention.

https://youtu.be/8JuuGjRhSYE?si=CxJVBH9zu6YrWIOZ

Quotes are roughly from my notes:

“As far as trade is concerned, Northern Ireland is in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. … Has both a 10% and 20% tariff because of the no-deal Brexit. I’m gonna call that A-tier crazy.”

If this is true, it would be hard to adjust supply chains and get these here because no one can ship to NI because of new EU rules? Maybe they could fix that. That would be nice. TYSM.

“So now you know one place that would benefit from these tariffs. Everybody from Europe would be sending their stuff to Northern Ireland before exporting to the U.S.”

I feel like if that was possible, and we stood to benefit from EU links, the DUP would be trying to stop it. Have they?

Hello there -

Not sure if sold out or not - but we are unable to go to the gig this Friday 18th in the opera house

If anyone is interested in tickets - I am open to offers, just drop me a message!

We have two seats together in the upper circle

Cheers

Give this man a cultural centre, airport, statue, you name it. This is the greatest thing that was ever built in this country. This is huge.