The Spectator, February 18th, 2006
Belfast resembles many postindustrial cities in New Labour Britain. The linen mills are long gone and the huge yellowpainted Krupps cranes at Harland and Wolff are gracefully immobile.
Away from the Victorian city centre hooded feral youths with vicious dogs and older men with shaven heads and earrings are as frequent a sight as in Cardiff or Scunthorpe.
The menace and squalor of Belfast extend to the far-flung public housing estates. On a visit last month I spent some time at the home of a former RUC Federation chief, a rather sad-eyed man called Sam Beattie. He told me that a colleague and...
HighBeam Research, Free Preview: 'Sinister mutations'... Full Membership required for unlimited access. Free 7-day trial.
Subscribers: HighBeam content is only available to HighBeam subscribers. Click the link above for more information.
