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Tremendous article from the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society’s Rita Harkin in this morning’s News Letter as she railed against the ‘regeneration’ of our towns and cities and what she calls ‘these government-backed mammoth retail-led schemes which are supposed to signal the rebirth of urban areas…but more often than not stamp a clumsy big elephantine foot over any remaining fine grain, wiping out their essential character’.

Well said Rita! No one is against progress; times change and society moves on…but not progress at any price and certainly not with an insensitivity to, and lack of consideration of local culture and tradition or an appreciation and respect for the rich architectural heritage of many of our towns and cities.

Developers and planners beware, Rita is on the case and all power to her for speaking up.

Rita was inspired by the ‘Through the Viewfinder’ exhibition currently on display in Gallery 2 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, as part of the Trans Festival 2010. Local photographic artist John Baucher, aka Moochin Photoman has used the ‘Through the Viewfinder’ or TtV technique he picked up on Flickr to create a mosaic of 2,000 individual photographs celebrating the diversity of Belfast’s visitors and residents.

(TtV is defined as taking a photograph of any subject ‘Through the Viewfinder’ of one camera, using another camera). See below and you’ll get the picture hopefully!

No ‘fake, sales pitch pics of chardonnay-sipping couples here’, as Rita comments.

The exhibition runs until Saturday 24 July, so try to catch it before it closes, or go to John’s blog at http://moochinphotoman.tumblr.com/ or Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/23386031@N00/

In the meantime…

As Northern Ireland braces itself for another OrangeFest (and that’s not just because Holland are in the World Cup Final on Sunday!), it looks like proposals for new legislation to deal with contentious parades are in chaos after the Orange Order rejected them earlier this week.

Thirty-seven members of the Grand Lodge voted against the draft laws, saying they could not accept them ‘in their present form’, which apparently has made the DUP which negotiated the proposals in the wake of the Hillsborough Deal, ‘unhappy’…and their Sinn Fein partners in the six-strong group to work on the matter exasperatedly calling for the Grand Lodge to ‘wake up’!

A ‘senior political source’ told the BBC that if the proposals were withdrawn, the Order would effectively be stuck with the Parades Commission, a body it refuses to recognise.

Upholding the fundamental right to freedom of public assembly

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, the DUP members of the Parades Working Group, Jeffrey Donaldson, Nelson McCausland and Stephen Moutray said the party was committed to advancing the rights of the loyal orders.

‘We are the only party to have put proposals on the table to deal with issues surrounding parading and protests, based upon upholding the fundamental right to freedom of public assembly’.

The parties’ brief was to propose a new and improved framework to rule on controversial marches, including a focus on local solutions, mediation and adjudication and on dialogue and a code of conduct for both residents and marchers.

But according to Sinn Fein MLA John O’Dowd, the Grand Lodge’s vote showed the Orange Order needed to ‘wake up’.

‘The days of the Orange Order dictating policy are over. The days of the Orange State have gone.’

Hopefully all this won’t put a dampner on the upcoming celebrations of culture right across the province at various ‘Tourism Flagship’ events. Apparently there may be bonfires and barbecues the night before the Twelfth and there may also be fireworks in some places!

Still, always time to get a bit of retail therapy in while it’s quiet!

Just need to avoid the hoards of tourists and out of towners flocking to Belfast to do a bit of ‘Processions Shopping’.

OrangeFest? Processions Shopping? Tourism Flagships’ Whatever next…