Category Archives: Belfast

Starmer welcomes Zelenskyy’s offer to work with Trump on Ukraine peace deal – as it happened

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PM says any deal must be ‘lasting and secure’ following fiery Trump-Zelenskyy meeting last week and UK weekend summit. This live blog is closed

Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s acting Ireland correspondent.

Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, has described a decision to build thousands of lightweight missiles for Ukraine in a Belfast factory as “incredulous”.

I find it really incredulous that at a time when public services are being cut left, right and centre.

At a time when we have endured 14 years of austerity ... I think at a time like that, rather than buying weapons of war, I would rather see the money invested in public services.

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Big shot: Belfast hotel launches ‘life-changing’ £1,000 cocktail

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A £750 mai tai previously earned the city centre bar the title of world’s most expensive cocktail

Spending a grand on an unforgettable experience might not feel extreme for people keen to shake up their routines. But what if it doesn’t involve falling through the skies, or even going outside at all?

“A life-changing experience” is the promise of one Belfast hotel’s £1,000-pound cocktail, launched as part of a new drinks menu.

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Irish-language cinema has bright future despite Oscars snub, says Kneecap director

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Comedy film loosely based on lives of Belfast hip-hop trio missed out on nominations for best international feature and original song

Hollywood may not have been quite ready to see Kneecap “walking down the red carpet smoking a joint” but the makers of the comedy biopic about the hip-hop trio say it has shown there is a “bright future” for Irish-language cinema and an indigenous industry in Belfast.

The producers of the film – which is named after the group – and their family and friends turned out to watch the Academy Awards nominations announcement in Madden’s bar in Belfast with the band tuning in on Zoom from London, where they are recording a new album.

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Spanish shipbuilder Navantia in exclusive talks to buy Harland & Wolff

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Deal to rescue owner of four UK shipyards, including Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, could save up to 1,000 jobs

Spanish shipbuilding firm Navantia is in exclusive negotiations to buy Harland & Wolff, the owner of the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, in a deal that could rescue up to 1,000 jobs.

It is understood the group could take control of the group’s four yards – in Belfast; Appledore, Devon; Arnish on the Isle of Lewis; and Methil, Fife – as early as next month.

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Stranded luxury cruise ship still stuck off coast of Northern Ireland

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Villa Vie Odyssey set sail on three-and-a-half-year voyage on Monday after repairs but departure delayed again

The luxury cruise liner stranded in Belfast for four months remains anchored off the coast of Northern Ireland after two failed attempts to finally set sail on a round-the-world voyage.

The Villa Vie Odyssey was originally due to embark on a “perpetual” three-and-a-half-year trip on 30 May but was marooned after requiring repairs, leaving passengers stranded in Belfast over summer.

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Cruise ship stuck in Belfast for four months to return hours after leaving

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Villa Vie Odyssey reportedly forced to sail back to Northern Ireland to complete paperwork

The luxury cruise liner stranded in Belfast for four months is reportedly to port only hours after it set sail to cheers and applause from the 125 passengers who thought when they departed on Monday they were finally on their way around the globe.

The Ville Vie Odyssey only made it a few miles out of Belfast lough, however, before it dropped anchor again for the night. Passengers were told it would finally depart at 11pm on Tuesday.

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‘Perpetual’ cruise to leave Belfast after passengers wait four months in port

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Travellers finally board Villa Vie Odyssey for three-and-a-half-year global circumnavigation

More than 100 passengers are due to finally leave Belfast on Monday on a three-year round-the-world “perpetual” cruise after being marooned unexpectedly in the city for four months.

They were supposed to have set sail from the legendary Harland and Wolff dockyards in Belfast, best known as the home of the Titanic, on 30 May.

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Belfast zoo inquiry after worker ‘locked in enclosure with lions’

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Council investigating after one worker apparently left enclosure and locked it leaving colleague trapped inside

Belfast city council has launched an investigation after a worker at the city’s zoo was allegedly locked in an enclosure with lions.

The incident happened last week when two workers entered the enclosure while the pride of Barbary lions were in their den. One worker left the enclosure and locked it, leaving the lions free to roam and the colleague with nowhere to go, the Belfast Telegraph reported on Thursday.

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Business secretary confident of ‘market-led solution’ for Harland & Wolff

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Jonathan Reynolds says he expects Royal Navy ships will continue to be built at the struggling Belfast yard

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has said he is confident that the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast will continue to build ships for the Royal Navy, despite ruling out government support for the struggling company.

Harland & Wolff is part of a consortium on a £1.6bn contract to build three naval fleet solid support ships to supply the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers. However, it has faced months of uncertainty over its future.

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Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom to stand down at general election

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Seventy-eight Tory MPs are quitting rather than standing, beating 1997’s record number

Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom have joined the now record-breaking exodus of Conservative MPs from the Commons, with the former saying it was time for a “new generation” to lead the party.

Gove’s announcement in a letter tweeted on Friday evening had been anticipated by some given the strong Liberal Democrat challenge he faces in his Surrey Heath constituency, but adds to the sense of Tories fleeing in the face of a likely general election loss.

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Hundreds block off Westminster Bridge in call for Gaza ceasefire

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Protesters also call for UK to stop arms sales to Israel and end to Israeli occupation of Palestine

Hundreds of protesters in London have staged a sit-in on Westminster Bridge, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in the first big demonstration of the year.

Elsewhere on Saturday, there were protests in Belfast and Dublin.

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Blair was keen to relocate Wimbledon FC to Belfast in late 1990s, papers show

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Then PM thought move ‘would be excellent’ but Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam was sceptical

Newly released state papers show that the former prime minister Tony Blair backed proposals for Wimbledon FC to move to Belfast but his Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam was more sceptical.

Previously confidential state papers include a note from 1997 described as “following up earlier informal discussions about the possibility of an English Premier League football club relocating to Belfast”.

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Joe Biden to meet Rishi Sunak before keynote speech at Ulster University

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President expected to emphasise US’s commitment to ensuring peace in Northern Ireland as he begins visit to island of Ireland

Joe Biden will hold a meeting with Rishi Sunak in Belfast on Wednesday before a keynote speech in which he is expected to emphasise the US’s commitment to ensuring lasting peace and prosperity for Northern Ireland.

US officials said the president would be “underscoring the readiness of the United States to support Northern Ireland’s vast economic potential to the benefit of all communities” with the prospect of major investments if power-sharing is restored in Stormont.

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Biden confirms plan to mark Good Friday agreement anniversary in Belfast

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US president said he intended to visit Northern Ireland and Irish Republic in meeting with Rishi Sunak

Joe Biden has confirmed he plans to visit Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.

He was told by Rishi Sunak “we’d love to have you” when the pair held a face-to-face bilateral meeting on the fringes of the Aukus summit.

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MoD to revive Belfast shipbuilding with contract for three naval vessels

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Rishi Sunak announces £1.6bn contract led by shipyard Harland and Wolff that will create 900 jobs in Belfast

Shipbuilding is to be revived in Belfast after 20 years as part of a £1.6bn Ministry of Defence contract for three new naval vessels, Rishi Sunak has announced.

A consortium led by the shipyard Harland and Wolff has secured the preferred bidder status which will create 1,200 jobs across three companies, 900 of which will be in Belfast.

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‘I just cried’: film stirs memories on Belfast street Branagh left behind

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As director’s movie is nominated for seven Oscars, residents of Mountcollyer Street recall when the Troubles started

Little remains of the street where Kenneth Branagh was raised.

It is the day after the Oscar nominations and Branagh has professed he is “dazed and delighted” and in a “beautiful state of shock” over the seven Oscar nominations his film Belfast has received.

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Oscar nominations 2022: The Power of the Dog leads the pack

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Jane Campion’s repressed western up for 12 prizes at 94th Academy Awards, with Dune scoring 10 nominations and Belfast and West Side Story both bagging seven

The Power of the Dog, Jane Campion’s Montana-set drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a threatening rancher, has swept the board at the Oscar nominations.

The film is up for a dozen prizes, including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best actor for Cumberbatch, best supporting actress for Kirsten Dunst and best supporting actor for both Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons.

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‘I grew up with Branagh in Belfast: our childhoods haunt his new film’

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The director’s first cousin Martin Hamilton tells of family and the Troubles that went on to inspire an acclaimed memoir

There is one man with very personal reasons for finding the scenes of sectarian intimidation in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s film homage to his home city particularly haunting – his first cousin, Martin Hamilton.

Hamilton, who grew up with Branagh and his family in inner-city north Belfast, says the images of Catholic families being forced out of the mainly Protestant district brought back painful memories of his own fractured friendships that were lost in the Troubles.

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Golden Globes 2022 tries to do better as Lady Gaga brings the outrage

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After a year of criticism over diversity, the Golden Globes have come up with a decent slate of nominees, with Gaga surely the favourite for best actress

• Full list of 2020 nominations

The Golden Globes nomination list has been announced with a solemn introduction from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s president Helen Hoehne, to the effect that the Globes’ much-criticised controlling body was “trying to be better” and that its constituent membership was more diverse than at any other time in its history. Which is better, I suppose, than being less diverse than at any time in its history.

At any rate, leading the pack are Belfast, Kenneth Branagh’s unashamed heartwarmer about the home town of his early childhood, with seven nominations and Jane Campion’s stark, twisty western-Gothic psychodrama The Power of the Dog, set in 1920s Montana with Benedict Cumberbatch as the troubled, angry cattleman who begins a toxic duel with his new sister-in-law played by Kirsten Dunst and her sensitive teenage son, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee.

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Northern Ireland: bus hijacked and set alight on outskirts of Belfast

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Incident near Rathcoole in Newtownabbey sparks fresh fears of Brexit-related violence in region

A bus has been set on fire after it was hijacked by four masked men on the outskirts of Belfast.

The men boarded the double-decker bus in Church Road near Rathcoole in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, at about 7.45pm on Sunday, ordered passengers to get off and set it alight.

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