THE FIRE began on the roof, working on a £ 30m renovation of the 231-year-old building, which has been home to Great Britain and the largest Primark stores in the north for decades.
I have heard that some suggest that the fire was retribution from above, after Primark had decorated one of its windows in Pride colors.
Yes, well: if you believe in a god who will burn a building in Belfast for supporting pride while ignoring wars around the world, I would suggest that your god should seriously reassess his priorities.
A picture of the famous clock on top of the building that went up in flames seemed a sign, because Tuesday also marked Northern Ireland that Belgium passed the longest without a peacetime government.
Regardless of whether you call it 589 days or 19 months, it is a shame that we have been abandoned by our politicians for this time, especially because they remain at full pay.
Those who follow me on social media will know that I have marked this shameful reality with a daily reminder that your MLA has pocketed £ 131 today.
I have not been misled because my little protest in any case affects shameless politicians who are avoiding the public wallet. The rallies in Northern Ireland under the campaign We deserve better & # 39; will also not affect.
While organizer, Fermanagh man Dylan Quinn, must be congratulated, he will find his efforts disdainfully ignored by the fools who are not on the hill.
Our politicians believe that they are above the social norms that apply to our lesser mortals, such as a day's work for a fair daily wage.
Last December, an independent report from former head of the meeting, Trevor Reaney, recommended a pay cut for MLAs of £ 13,612. Nothing has been done.
In March of this year, Secretary of State Karen Bradley announced that she & # 39; was planning & # 39; to reduce MLA reimbursement. Nothing has been done.
When I am criticized for having placed all NI politicians in the same boat on this subject, I remind people that not one of the 90 MLAs who received a £ 50k salary has taken the step to the undeserved £ 13,612 to pay back.
Some MLAs claim that a facility for such a refund does not exist: let me suggest an alternative – donate the £ 13,612 to the charity. I can even propose a valuable goal, the NI Marriage Equality Fund, which can be found at Crowdjustice.com/case/silc-nimarriageequalityfund.
What was even more scary last Tuesday was the sight of health workers protesting outside hospitals after discovering crippling pension deductions from their pay packages.
Which society takes money from hard-working health workers and wastes millions to non-working politicians?
Few were surprised about how those politicians marked their libelous performance on Tuesday. Arlene Foster, who gave birth for the first time since the papal visit, first received her retribution. Surrounded by giggling followers, she deployed a banner on the steps of the meeting blaming Sinn Féin.
Conor Murphy of Sinn Féin, surrounded by serious minions, immediately put the blame back to the DUP. I watched this incessant spectacle and thought it was the essence of playground politics, and a playground at school.
That our political class does not seem to contain the depth of contempt in which the wider society shows them, shows either an arrogance of pathological dimensions or a barely comprehensible stupidity.
How they will get the cheek to knock on doors aiming for re-election will make me feel bad – but what is really disheartening is the fact that they will be re-elected.
And this is the core of the problem: our politicians know that they can enjoy their
laziness because they do not pose a serious threat.
They do not realize that a scandal, whether sexual or financial, will jeopardize their position as long as they point a finger to "the other side" and ask, "Would you rather have them?", Knowing that their gullible , terrified electorate immediately falls back into line.
It is hard to imagine that something positive is coming from the collapse of the meeting, but I think I found something: essential repairs to the roof of the building have been completed during the 19-month closure.
I can not be the only one who thinks that if God wanted to intervene in a positive way, he should have focused his attention on Stormont's roof and not on Primark's.
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