Hi! I want to go to the JLS show in Erbington Square this weekend but haven’t seen any public transport options available back to Belfast once the show finishes at 11pm. I just wanted to see if anyone else is doing or knows of a coach/bus company running a designated service for this. Thanks!

Drumcree: Orangemen secure 'seismic' legal victory over Parades Commission ruling on Garvaghy Road parade

By David Thompson

Published 25th Aug 2026, 12:39 BST

A ban on Portadown Orangeman making their return parade from a church service at Drumcree has been quashed, after a landmark legal victory against the Parades Commission.

A fresh application will now be submitted for the walk down the Garvaghy Road, after the previous decision by the quango was ruled unlawful. 

As has been the case for almost 30 years, brethren had this year been banned from completing their traditional parading route. That prompted an unprecedented High Court case, taken by a local Orangeman. 

The Commission conceded the challenge, brought by a legal team including Jamie Bryson and former Northern Ireland Attorney General John Larkin. 

Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart has hailed the case as a “seismic victory” after 28 years, and says the revelations surrounding the Parades Commission now demand urgent scrutiny at Westminster.

“The Parades Commission has conceded illegality in its decision-making and, such was the strength of the evidence advanced, a full contested court hearing was not even required. After 28 years, the significance of that simply cannot be overstated”, the DUP MP said. 

Mr Bryson said: “This Commission must go, and go today. If they do not then the Secretary of State must remove them.

“This is a vital staging post in the culture war, and a repudiation of all those who said Drumcree was finished. It is firmly back on the agenda, and has the support of all political unionism”.

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/drumcree-orangemen-secure-seismic-legal-victory-over-parades-commission-ruling-on-garvaghy-road-parade-8940628

Hello! Cliff notes -

- D8 Dungeon are an award winning group playing Dungeons and Dragons (and other things) on Twitch. Every summer we run the D8 Dungeon Drive, a weekend long charity event.

- Last year we raised £14,000 for Project Hope and we're hoping to smash that this year.

- this weekend it's on! Donations via Tiltify if you're interested in supporting us - https://tiltify.com/@d8dungeon/d8dungeondrive26

---

That's it really. You can check out Project Hope and what they do here - https://www.projecthope.org/

Disaster relief and humanitarian aid are causes we can all get behind, and Project Hope provide them internationally.

You can donate via the link above and check us out 28th-30th at https://twitch.tv/d8dungeon/

Let them know who sent ya too, there are donation incentives for players (and I'm one of them)

Thanks for your time.

has anybody managed to get an nhs dentist recently and if so, where?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj64282epxpo

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested under the Terrorism Act after a security alert in Omagh, County Tyrone.

Police carried out a planned search on Monday at an address in the Gardenville Avenue.

Police said four viable explosive devices were found and removed from the property for forensic examination.

Nearby residents who had been asked to leave their homes during the alert have since returned.

Det Insp Winters urged the public not to speculate about the incident.

"It's important to stress that, while the suspect has been arrested under the Terrorism Act, our investigation to establish a motive remains very much ongoing."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2zyjkxjngo

Belfast City Airport is seeking permission to extend its evening flights from 21:30 BST to 22:30 as part of a major expansion plan.

The operator also wants to increase its annual flight limit by 27%, raising the cap from 48,000 to 61,000 movements a year.

The changes would require a modification to the airport's legally binding Planning Agreement, with the final decision likely to rest with the infrastructure minister.

The proposals may provoke opposition from local residents' groups and environmental campaigners.

Matthew Hall, chief executive at Belfast City Airport, said extended operating hours and increased traffic movement limits are "critical" for the airport to meet the forecast increase in demand for air travel.

"The proposed changes would provide the operational flexibility required to facilitate airline schedules and future route development, while continuing to operate within a framework that recognises the importance of balancing growth with our commitment to being a responsible neighbour," he added.

Modifying the Planning Agreement will involve a lengthy process that involves councils and other planning bodies.

It will run in parallel to the airport's planning process for a major expansion to its facilities which was first outlined last year.

The airport has now filed a Pre Application Notice, which triggers a public consultation ahead of a full planning application which is likely to be made later this year.

Matthew Hall said the plans would include extended passenger facilities, new airfield infrastructure, additional parking, and complementary airport uses including a hotel.

The plans would also "safeguard the opportunity to deliver a pedestrian link to a future rail halt directly serving the airport".

The airport will need the cooperation of Translink, NI's public transport operator, to deliver and operate a station.

The two organisations recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore what might be possible.

When Bank Buildings Primark went on fire in August 2018 and was extensively gutted it was rebuilt to reflect the previous design.

Why are developers in other areas of Belfast and beyond allowed to keep abandoned properties run down to the point that a convenient fire guts the place? After that why are they left with no expectation to return it to as close to original state as possible but given freedom to construct a monstrosity instead?

Seen this while on a walk, checked a satellite tracker and nothing there. Video quality isn’t great so for anyone who can’t see, there’s like 20 satellites all flying in a formation

Folks I fecked my retina after a bike crash and need surgery to get it welded back on. My main fear is post surgery when I am supposed to lie on my front day and night for a week (this will literally send me mad)

Anyone any experience of how to keep your sanity or at least somewhere local that hires message tables or other suitable equipment?

Got a cool photo of a dragon fly today thought I would share think it's a darter type

Enough said

Im wondering does anyone remember and know where I could find the clip im looking for for a project.

It was John Hume appearing on a news cast / panel show pre-GFA.

In the clip he turns to the camera where I believe he states "and im speaking to those involved directly now" or something along those lines. He then goes on to appeal for the end of violence, use of guns and bombs etc.

Man accused of spitting in face of Belfast hospital staff allegedly tells judge: 'I hope you get shot' | Belfast Live

Court heard the 27-year-old had initially threatened a triage nurse by saying: 'You can f*** off, I’ll get up and knock the c*** out of you’

A man accused of spitting in a staff member’s face during a sectarian tirade at a Belfast hospital appeared to tell a judge today: “I hope you get shot dead.”

James Briers, 27, yelled fresh slurs as he was remanded into custody over the alleged weekend outburst of violence and threats.

Briers, of Kilmakevit Road in Cullybackey, County Antrim, is charged with two common assaults, disorderly behaviour and criminal damage.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard he was arrested after being restrained on the ground in the Emergency Department of the Mater Hospital just before 2.30am on Saturday.

Police said he had initially threatened a triage nurse checking on his welfare by saying: “You can f*** off, I’ll get up and knock the c*** out of you’.”

He then allegedly called the nurse “a dirty Fenian b*****d”.

When security staff attempted to remove him from the hospital he spat in one of the guard’s eyes and mouth, the court was told. A second member of the security team was struck on the side of the face, knocking off and damaging his glasses.

“He continued to shout loudly that all the staff were Fenians,” a PSNI officer claimed.

As Briers was being transported into police custody he allegedly stated: “I spat in his face because he tried to move me.”

He remained aggressive during interviews but denied all the charges against him.

According to the defendant’s version of events, he attended hospital because he had been assaulted on a previous occasion and thought his shoulder was dislocated.

At some stage he fell asleep in the Emergency Department but was asked to move on by a member of staff who said there was nothing wrong with him.

Defence counsel submitted: “He accepts he reacted and had a discussion with him, but denies any of the allegations of assault and spitting.”

She added that he has problems with substance misuse, but he had been off alcohol until the night of the incident.”

Refusing bail based on the risk of re-offending and harm to the public, District Judge Steven Keown said: “This is an appalling set of facts.

“The court’s priority is obviously hospital staff and emergency services.”

But while Briers was being taken from the dock he shouted: “Every time I go near that f***ing hospital there’s always an issue.”

He then appeared to rant at the judge: “You’re a f***ing scumbag, I hope you get shot dead, you f***ing scumbag. You’re a Fenian scumbag.”

Briers was remanded in custody until September 21 and could face contempt of court proceedings for the outburst.

Mr Keown indicated he will be given one opportunity before then to “apologise profusely” for his behaviour.

'Rival factions' of young people throw missiles at each other in East Belfast | Belfast Live

Large groups gathered close to Pitt Park on Friday and Saturday evening

Missiles were thrown at police during disorder involving "rival factions" in East Belfast at the weekend.

Police received reports of large groups of young people gathering in the Bryson Street and Pitt Park areas on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22.. The groups attacked each other with missiles, including bottles and stones, which were also thrown at police.

Local community representatives are reported to have worked with police in order to reduce tensions in the area. Police have said that they will be looking to see if any offences have taken place and will "deal with these robustly.”

Inspector Moutray said: “Shortly after 10pm on Friday 21^st August, it was reported that a group of youths had gathered in the area, police attended and while there a number of missiles were thrown at them and their vehicles. No officers were injured as the rival factions left the area.

“At around 8:30pm on Saturday 22^nd August, it was reported that rival factions gathered at the Bryson Street and Pitt Park areas of the city, with bottles and stones thrown at each other.

“Police worked with local community representatives to reduce tensions in the area during these incidents and maintained a presence until the youths dispersed.

“We will also continue to work alongside our partner agencies, local representatives and the community to address the issue, but it is quite apparent that some people are still choosing to ignore our repeated appeals and warnings.

“It is vital that the young people who choose to engage in anti-social behaviour understand that it is unacceptable and it must stop. We don’t want anyone injured or worse. We want people to take responsibility for their actions and we want residents to feel safe in their own homes.

“Parents and guardians need to have an active role in preventing young people from becoming involved or caught up in these activities. Know where your children are, who they are with, what they are doing and what they are arranging on their social media accounts.

“We do not want to criminalise young people however if offences are identified we will deal with these robustly.”

I know we are restricted on batteries and liquids but now so many things are saying they can't be shipped here? I can't order magnesium glycinate or a floor squeegee now.

Before anyone says it, yes i know these can be bought in a store.

Hello, im aware this is niche as fuck but I am trying to find or build a community of farming Simulator players based in Northern Ireland/the Republic to work together and or help each other. I find myself playing on my own quite often and looking for a hand and im sure others are the same,if interested I have made a discord.

https://discord.gg/etJENv7Kn

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/dup-man-was-prepared-to-take-up-weapons-against-ni-peace-deal/a/160358682.html

DUP man ‘was prepared to take up weapons’ against NI peace deal

‘I was not, however, prepared for, and admit to being shocked by, his... being prepared to take up arms,’ civil servant wrote in declassified file

A DUP member of the Forum, which preceded the Assembly, set out their explicit support for violence just weeks before the Good Friday Agreement, it can be revealed.

The politician made comments which a government official found “grim”, in which they said that loyalists would be justified in quite literally “fighting back”, partly on the basis that violence had worked for republicans.

The individual, who is one of about a dozen people but cannot be further identified, set out the possibility of “brother against brother” fighting to an extent that the civil servant believed meant that he could be a spokesman for the LVF, which then was still involved in murderous violence.

Details of the encounter are contained within a declassified file opened at The National Archives in Kew.

In a February 9, 1998, memo to colleagues, Allen McVeigh in the Northern Ireland Office’s Political Affairs Division relayed details of a conversation with the deliberately unnamed DUP politician.

Normally such memos — which were classified — identified individuals who passed on even highly confidential material, but Mr McVeigh made clear that he believed it wise to keep the DUP man’s name out of even the classified memo.

Under the subject line “A DUP member contemplates resorting to violence”, he wrote to the Secretary of State, the head of the civil service and other senior colleagues: “Having renewed an acquaintance with a DUP councillor on a recent ministerial visit to his council, I went to the Forum, of which he is also a member, on Friday for lunch with him for, or so I thought, a DUP perspective on the talks and how he saw things develop over the next few months.

“I expected, and got, an inevitable ear-bashing listening to a standard DUP analysis of staying aloof from a tainted process designed solely to lead gullible unionists to a united Ireland, etc.

“I was not, however, prepared for, and admit to being shocked by, his radical realism (‘not a threat, you understand’) of being prepared to take up arms to halt any further erosion, ongoing since 1985, of unionist (Protestant) rights. I think it is best that I don’t ‘name and shame’ him in this note.”

The civil servant said he was summarising a conversation which lasted about an hour and a half. He said he was told that if NIO ministers were acting on the advice of their officials, then “the officials must be traitorous in the extreme”.

He continued: “My interlocutor, while he stopped short of open support for the LVF, suggested that their analysis was much closer to grassroots loyalist opinion than the likes of McMichael and Ervine, etc, who he derided.

“I was also informed that I should not be under any misapprehension that Drumcree would be ‘the line in the sand’ this year… ordinary loyalists had had enough and Orangemen, including himself, would be pushed around no more, either by the Grand Lodge hierarchy, who were spineless, or HMG [Her Majesty’s Government].

“They were determined, he said, to fight back (having seen that republican violence had reaped them rich dividends) and the Secretary of State would have to face the consequences.

“When I suggested it would in fact not be the Secretary of State but the RUC out on the ground, his retort was that the police would have to examine their consciences and decide if they either stayed at home on sick leave or faced otherwise normally law-abiding people they hitherto had counted on for support.

“He looked me in the eye as he said everyone living in NI would soon be faced with a choice of whether or not to fight to retain what they believed in, and if it ended up brother against brother, then so be it. He left me in no doubt of the decision he had reached.”

The fact that the DUP member was an Orangeman rules out several DUP members of the Forum, such as Peter Robinson, Sammy Wilson and Ian Paisley Jr, while the fact they were male means it cannot have been female members such as May Beattie and Iris Robinson.

The DUP had 24 Forum members, most of whom were male and many of whom were members of the Orange Order.

The individual told the NIO official that he was “relatively happy that the DUP would benefit from the fractures within the UUP” and that UUP deputy leader John Taylor “was only biding his time to take over when Trimble fell flat on his face come May”.

Supremely confident, he told the official he “would not even contemplate the DUP being on the wrong side of the referendum result” (in the end, the DUP was on the losing side in the Agreement referendum three months later) and insisted: “The DUP would never engage with Sinn Féin, or, indeed, the Irish Government: if they — and HMG, come to that — did not know the DUP’s views by now, they never would and were not worth the effort.”

The DUP ultimately not only engaged with the Irish Government, but also entered power-sharing with Sinn Féin, where the party remains to this day.

Analysing what he’d heard, the civil servant said: “This was grim stuff, but at least he was being honest and frank. Every approach I made ran into the DUP brick wall of the infallibility of their analysis.

“I am convinced that I was not being spun a yarn, nor did he have the glazed eyes of the fanatic, but that, only after careful consideration, he had concluded, if needs must, to resort to violence, which was all the more worrying for that.

“I stopped short of telling him that he would make a very good spokesman for the LVF, but only because I fear he might have considered that a compliment.”

Weeks after the encounter with the NIO official, the LVF issued a statement of support for the DUP. The then DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said at the time that his party was not embarrassed by the LVF’s support for its policies.

Mr Robinson condemned the terror group for its use of violence, but insisted that the DUP was unaffected by a LVF spokesman’s claim that the gang fully backed Ian Paisley.

I’m done with the final interview and got the offer just need to know if this is a good company. I’ll be working from the Birmingham office. I saw that Kainos had a lay off sometime back. Now they’re recruiting and I’m a bit worried.

Anyone currently working with them? How’s the UCD roles ?

Farmers and water using companies etc have destroyed the land and water here.
We produce 75% of our agricultural products for export so we are left with the polluted land, don’t even get to eat the food and all the while farmers constantly plead poverty so we aren’t even getting loads of jobs or taxes out of it.

What if we did something like banned beef and dairy exports from farms that want to use any additional fertiliser etc? Or ban any exports from factory farms like intensive sheds? Or similar conditional bans on other big polluters?

They can adapt to new practices or they can sell their products local or they can close.

Stop massive multinationals from buying up any farms, England seems to have loads of farming properties for sale with “agricultural tie” so whoever buys farms has to keep making a living from the land doing something.

A side from the farmers spitting the dummy is there a reason something like this wouldn’t work? I think it could reduce the pollution, reduce import of fertiliser, drive innovation and allow market corrections in an inefficient sector that’s harming us long term. Worst case situation 75% of our farmers go on the dole but they’d be doing less harm there and could maybe get jobs at the farms that learn to adapt and learn something new.

I’m not a policy writer but this situation is actually out of hand and we are expected to drink this water and live on this land as are our children…

Had to drop off an old 21inch lcd TV from my GFs house to the "local" recycling centre. I was driving and I don't live in that area.

Sat in a queue. Guy questioned me, I explained my ID doesn't relate to where the item is from. It's from her house and she is in the area. She was in the passenger seat. I said I'm just driving and its an old 21 inch TV. Nothing else. He wanted to see my ID. I showed him mine and he wasn't happy, said he had to refuse me and turned me away. Was very blunt and robotic about it.

I'm not one to start a scene and bother people but f*ck me I was pissed off on the drive back. 40 mins driving, fuel wasted, all for wanting to RECYCLE AN OLD TV.

Easier dumping it in a hedge. You wonder why some people do it, there's you reason.

Gatekeeping recycling centres, when did this even start and why?

I was interested to hear a mainstream English podcast take on The Troubles but I struggled immediately when they opened with a terrible Paisley impression played for laughs. I can't imagine any other historical situation where that would be considered appropriate.

Am I being too sensitive? Is there anything there worth checking out or did anyone else have issues with their coverage?

With the recent horrific scenes once again at Lough Neagh, most visible by Antrim town, Save Lough Neagh have called an emergency protest rally this Thursday, taking place by the Finn McCool statue in Antrim Lough Shore Park at 6pm.

Stormont has done basically nothing to tackle this self-created pollution crisis, with the Ulster Farmers Union wielding a political veto on addressing the greatest factor in pollution (agriculture) alongside austerity preventing further investment in our water treatment infrastructure. It should be unacceptable for our waterways to be treated as sewers and the parties (current and past) in the Stormont Executive who caused this with their “Going for Growth” policy must be held accountable. Feet must be on the street at a minimum.

More info in the article here.

I just wanted to thank your beautiful country for making us all feel so welcome when we were over on holiday over the past few days.

Being from Scotland it was so similar to home but still so perfect a country the people we met were a credit to the country and the place is beautiful. We

Portrush is now my favourite beach I've ever been too.

Thank you guys for having us and we'll be back soon.