Stephen O'Neill
@oneillsb
Irish Culture and Partition, 1920-1955 (Liverpool University Press, April 2026)
'embroiled in multiple lawsuits' is one way for the guardian to describe what Conor McGregor was 'up to' in the past five years
I sometimes wonder why discussions around censorship in Ireland often fail to include the special powers act (although I don't wonder for long). Just one case here of a boy sent down for 12 months hard labour in 1938 for having a book written by Mary McSwiney
for the 3 people who follow GAA on here, Tyrone were absolutely robbed yesterday by a shambolic refereeing performance. David Clifford has a decent future in the game. Analysis ends. For another year I have temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of GAA
Doing this talk, 'Writing Belfast in the Age of Partition', with my mate Michael Magee at Féile an Phobail on Tuesday 4th August at St Mary's, 5PM. Free and no booking needed. Lifetime ambition achieved!
After a tough couple of weeks for Belfast, glad to see my hometown in the news for the right reasons #LoveBelfast
it turns out that several of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence also discovered time travel
'All the Fascism that Ulster Wants' - James Craig, 1934, saying the quiet part out loud
Meanwhile a former RUC officer and PSNI head influenced this decision to exonerate all former servicemen - saying that families seeking justice were merely a vocal 'minority' - is claiming he can't remember what he said. A fairly familiar tactic for the security services
Had a great time at the Seamus Heaney Centre on Friday launching Irish Culture and Partition, 1920-1955. (Again). Thanks to them and everyone for coming.
Seán Ó Riain, illustration from Gearóid Ó Cuinneagáin, Dúnaois Dheimhnitheach nó Partition – A Positive Policy (Dublin: Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, 1946). Continuing the fascist theme, a poster of this one was on display in Mansion House when they had a fascist anti-partition exhibition in the 1940s.
King was a regular artist for the Capuchin Annual, and later provided the cover for its most prominent coverage of partition written by 'Ultach' [J.J. Campbell], 'The Real Case Against Partition' (1943). This was reprinted as a standalone publication 'Orange Terror', and banned by the unionist gov.
stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the GAA (1934) and Bunreacht na hÉireann (1937) by Richard King. These were in his files in Boston College.
I can't my own photo of this, but John Luke, 'The Founding of Belfast, 1613', 1951 - Belfast City Hall. Painting commissioned for the Festival of Britain and placed in a City Hall that had been rebuilt after the 1941 Blitz. A good example of state / unionism's fascination with past over present
The Empire Exhibition trophy, Celtic Park, 1938. The trophy is a scale model of the exhibition tower in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow - Celtic won the football competition. The wider exhibition featured both Irish 'states' at the same time. The link may be tenuous, but mon the hoops
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 'Les Parapluies' (c.1890-96). This only features obliquely, insofar as that a Belfast Newsletter columnist once claimed in the 1920s that Hugh Lane's real intended location for his disputed paintings (this being one) had been in Belfast all along
Bonus feature: story / cultural map of Ireland produced by A. H. Walker, of The Twelve Astrologies, Chicago, in 1935, found in TCD library with letter to Prof Edmund Curtis asking for information. Never got to the bottom of this, but few women featured.
Leonard Stanford Merrifield, statue of Edward Carson, 1928; Parliament Buildings, Stormont designed by Arnold Thornely and est. 1932. You know these ones.