What do you know about Belfast?

[Nebu]

I need some help from those of you familiar.  A position opened at Queen's University, Belfast that I'm well qualified for.  I'm considering the position, but know almost nothing about the area, city, etc.  If you have some input or some good information links to recommend, I'd really appreciate it. 

Thanks.

[Ironwood]

Nice place.  Been twice.

You know it's in Northern Ireland, right ?

[Murgos]

All I know about Belfast is that is was the city that was mentioned when ever someone in Ireland blew up someone else in Ireland (as opposed to England when it was pretty much always London that someone would get blowed up in.)

If you move there it would probably be a good idea to remove all articles of green or orange hue from your wardrobe.

[Nebu]

You know it's in Northern Ireland, right ?

You mean it's not in the Czech Republic? 

Yes... I knew.

[pants]

Went there once as a tourist.  Nice town - it can get a bit cold and snowy in winter.  Nice people who (at least when I was there 10 years ago) were all bending over backwards to say 'Look, we're not all crazies trying to kill each other'. 

[Signe]

A lot of gingers there.

[Nebu]

A lot of gingers there.

I see what you did there.

[Ironwood]

You know it's in Northern Ireland, right ?

You mean it's not in the Czech Republic? 

Yes... I knew.

It's relevant.  You need to know what you're letting yourself in for.

Personally, I wouldn't live nor work there.  At All.

[Tebonas]

BBC gushes all the time about the peace process and that Catholics and Protestants don't kill each other there anymore, jointly ruling together and singing Kumbayah in raspy drunken voices.

[Simond]

The Belfast accent is one of the worst in the world, IMO.
Yep, that's my only contribution. Sorry.

[Ironwood]

BBC gushes all the time about the peace process and that Catholics and Protestants don't kill each other there anymore, jointly ruling together and singing Kumbayah in raspy drunken voices.

Aye, well, when you're getting chased down back streets because of one offhand comment while you were balls deep in some Protestant lassie, you come and tell me that.*



*Yes, this actually happened.  It was in 94 tho, so maybe things have moved on.

[DraconianOne]

Not knowing where you're from, what you do or what other alternatives are available, I'd say go for it.  If it doesn't pan out - so what?  It'll be an experience.  Plus if you haven't visited other parts of Ireland before, it'll be a good base to do that from - it's only 2.5 hours on the bus to Dublin for a start.  

Also, they have Pub Tours.

[Tebonas]

Thank god I have my own lapsed Catholic lassie with me on my Ireland trip. The locals sound dangerous!  :-D

[Tale]

My experience of Belfast, March 1997:

Catch bus from Glasgow to Stranraer. Catch ultra-commercial (McDonalds restaurant and casino) ferry from Stranraer to Belfast. Disembark evening 4.45pm after reading Lonely Planet guide to Belfast. Start walking towards central Belfast, following book map, wearing large blue backpack.

5pm: Realise that everyone else is catching a taxi and walking through the Belfast docklands at dusk is not the smartest decision you ever made. Read IRA graffiti on underpasses. Turn corner into street where British squaddies are dismantling a car and covering you with a sniper rifle pointed at your head, about to fire because you are wearing said large blue backpack. Keep walking down street, on other side from squaddies.

Turn corner into nightclub district. Rejoice as two attractive young women run up and say "hello, welcome to Belfast, where are you from?". Rejoice further at your Australian accent and ham it up, asking where you can taste Guinness. Attend pub with attractive young women.

Find out they were pub employees. Check into youth hostel, encountering helpless blonde Swedish backpacker girl instead. Help helpless blonde Swedish backpacker girl find pub. Lose her in crowd of ginger IRA operatives. Having read graffiti, decide to return to youth hostel. Wake early, travel to Dublin, begin again.

[Big Gulp]

A lot of gingers there.

You didn't even mention the daywalkers, who are almost as bad.

Bring a crucifix and a stake, just to be safe.

[bhodi]

You'll be fine, just get something from here. Make sure to watch the stroller video.

[Nebu]

Personally, I wouldn't live nor work there.  At All.

If you can add a layer of explanation, I'd be grateful.  You know the area far better than I do. 

[Ironwood]

Mate, I've only been twice in the 90's.

It was a nice enough place, but the atmosphere of dread and suspicion depressed the hell out of me.  The locals were real fun but it was the kind of hedonism that derives from your last meal.  The 'Police' presence at the time was monstrously horrid for someone not used to either soldiers or guns, though after the Glasgow Bomb Attempt, we're getting used to it these days.

I went to the Virgin Megastore to watch the Saw Doctors play live and it was fun, but watching a whole crowd of Irish people with sad eyes sing the same songs that they'd memorised by heart and feeling, REALLY feeling, like a stranger was enough for me.

Seriously.  2 Visits to the place.  It made me feel like that.

I wouldn't wanna work there.

Could be changed days.  Why not give it a try.  Couldn't hurt.

[Vedi]

I need some help from those of you familiar.  A position opened at Queen's University, Belfast that I'm well qualified for. 

I was there last week, actually. It was my first time there so I can't really say how it was before, but it seems like a normal enough city now. They are building everywhere, and the areas where the Troubles (as they apparently like to call it) are now tourist attractions. I myself snapped pictures of the Sinn Fein headquarters, the IRA memorial and the Unionist murals. People even come from Dublin just to shop, because it apparently has better stores.

A friend living there said that ten years ago, no one walked the streets after 6 PM in Belfast. It was a ghost town. This is no longer the case, and he describes it as a completely changed city. I've personally strolled around by myself in the city around midnight, and it felt as safe as any anywhere. That said, I'd not sing my praise to William of Orange on the open street outside the Sinn Fein office.

[Righ]

Turn corner into street where British squaddies are dismantling a car and covering you with a sniper rifle pointed at your head, about to fire because you are wearing said large blue backpack.

When I had that experience, I was in the company of a nerdy Dublin plonker who thought it was an opportune time to have a laugh. Pre-ceasefire.

We have a Belfast boy around here, don't we?

[Signe]

Isn't Arthur Parker in Belfast or from there?  Or did I accidentally make that up?  I don't see him around much anymore but I'm sure he's busy with his nearly new little tyke.  Teaching him Rugby or horse racing or sommat.

[Yegolev]

Arthur_Parker spends his time in the EVE subforum.  He's around.

[Miasma]

I don't know if this will help.  It's part of an article by someone from Belfast introducing the city.  It also makes fun of the school of architecture at Queen's university.

[Oban]

A 10:00 pm curfew was imposed in Belfast. Everybody had to be off the streets or risk being shot. However one citizen was shot at 9:45pm.

"Why did you do that?" the soldier was asked by his superior officer.

"I know where he lives," he replied, "and he wouldn't have made it."

[Arthur_Parker]

Belfast is great, the people are amazing and it's the capital city of the most wonderful country on planet earth.  If you are English you will get some good natured stick from both religions, just don't pretend to know anything about Northern Ireland politics or "the troubles".

I was over a few weeks ago and visit a few times a year as all my family is there, so don't give the bomb jokes a second thought.  I used to watch bomb explosions looking down onto Armagh city as a kid, I know plenty of people that have been killed or injured and Northern Ireland today is one of the safest places (excluding traffic accidents) in Europe.  I feel safer there than I do in England, England is weird, the police don't carry guns and their police cars actually say "police" on them, heck they aren't even bullet proof.  When I first moved to England I used to cross the street when I saw a car parked in a city centre with nobody in it, and they had this scary tv program called crime stoppers which showed people getting mugged.

Everyone always talks badly about the troubles, but at their height we still had the lowest crime rate and the highest church going percentage of the population in Europe.

We also have the best sense of humour in the world.  Do yourself a favour and live there, I wish I still did.

[Arthur_Parker]

Teaching him Rugby or horse racing or sommat.

The first thing her mother said after she was born was "she's going to learn ballet and we will get her a pony".

[Nebu]

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to respond.  Between these responses and some conversations, I have quite a lot to consider.  I'd really love to experience living in Europe, but I'm not sure this is the right jumping off point. 

Again, thanks!

[Signe]

Teaching him Rugby or horse racing or sommat.

The first thing her mother said after she was born was "she's going to learn ballet and we will get her a pony".

HER!  Sorry... I didn't remember.  I bet she's adorable.  All you crusty old tossers seem to have the most adorable sprogs.  I don't understand. 

[Tebonas]

Belfast is great, the people are amazing and it's the capital city of the most wonderful country on planet earth. 

So you are telling me I should have planned my trip to Northern Ireland instead of to the west and southwest?

Everyone always talks badly about the troubles, but at their height we still had the lowest crime rate and the highest church going percentage of the population in Europe.

Church going perchentage has nothing to do with crime rate. That antiquated sense of Religion=Morality should really be a thing of the past by now. And if Belfast really has the highest church going perchentage they are living proof.

You sound sincere, but I do my research before going abroad on a holiday. If your perception ever was true, it isn't anymore.

According to the European Crime and Safety survey. Belfast is rated as the fourth worst capital in Europe with 26% (same as Dublin) of the population saying the have been victims of a crime the last year. With only London, Tallin and Amsterdam before them. (32%, 30% and 27%).

Don't get me wrong, I love Ireland. In three weeks I will be running around there, driving on their roads, watching their sights, and having a damn good time surely. But you have a serious case of pink colored eyeglasses.

[Arthur_Parker]

Church going perchentage has nothing to do with crime rate. That antiquated sense of Religion=Morality should really be a thing of the past by now. And if Belfast really has the highest church going perchentage they are living proof.

You sound sincere, but I do my research before going abroad on a holiday. If your perception ever was true, it isn't anymore.

According to the European Crime and Safety survey. Belfast is rated as the fourth worst capital in Europe with 26% (same as Dublin) of the population saying the have been victims of a crime the last year. With only London, Tallin and Amsterdam before them. (32%, 30% and 27%).

Don't get me wrong, I love Ireland. In three weeks I will be running around there, driving on their roads, watching their sights, and having a damn good time surely. But you have a serious case of pink colored eyeglasses.

That's a bit harsh, at the height of the troubles we did have the lowest crime rate in Europe, most crime was generally related to the troubles.  Anti social crimes were harshly discouraged by the hard line elements on both sides. I'd agree Religion does not always equal Morality, but Religion in Northern Ireland has very little to do with a belief in a supreme being and everything to do with a strong sense of belonging to one of the two communities. So I'd argue that people with a strong community identity are less likely to commit a crimes in their own areas.

http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/investinbelfastguide/lifequality.asp?menuitem=lifequality

Belfast is one of the safest cities in the UK and crime rates are low in comparison with other UK cities. In the year up to the 2005/2006 period the crime rate decreased by 1.23%.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.UK/news/local-national/article2773935.ece

Monday, July 16, 2007
Ireland is the least violent country in Europe, according to a new study by the World Health Organisation.
The WHO compared homicide and assault rates across 27 European countries.
The Irish rate, 0.32 killings per 100,000 people, contrasted with that of Finland (1.96) and Scotland (1.75) which topped western Europe's violence blacklist.
Malta, with a rate of 0.48, was almost as peaceful as Ireland.
The WHO figures, being released at the Milestones 2007 conference this week, show that Ireland's homicide and assault rates have dropped sharply.
This is despite a study released earlier this year showing Dublin's murder rate is increasing faster than that of any other European capital city.
At the last WHO conference on violence five years ago, Ireland's murder and assault rate was recorded at 1.13 per 100,000 population.
Irish rates have dropped in each subsequent year, culminating in the low of 0.32 recorded in 2005, the last year for which Europe-wide figures are available.

http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/research/esrc7.htm

Crime statistics in Northern Ireland are notable for several reasons. Firstly, contrary to the media image, the province suffers from very low levels of crime. According to both recorded crime figures and victim surveys Northern Ireland has one of the lowest levels of crime in Western Europe. For example, recorded crimes for 1990 showed that it had the lowest rate of recorded crime per 1,000 of the population compared with all 43 police constabulary areas in England and Wales. While the 1989 International Crime Survey (van Dijk, Mayhew and Killias, 1991) found that it had the lowest rates of victimisations for all the fourteen countries surveyed.

Secondly, although the overall crime rates are low it has a high rate of serious crime, such as homicide and robbery. These crimes are almost exclusively associated with terrorism and the "troubles". Similarly there is also believed to be a high level of racketeering, extortion and intimidation, again associated with terrorist groups, although the extent of these offenses are extremely difficult to quantify.

A third factor, in terms of the province's crime profile, is a highest rate of car theft, or more accurately Taking and Driving Away. This is particularly prominent in Belfast and has attracted much media attention. This is due to a number of very serious incidents where young drivers have been shot while driving through security force check points and also because of the brutal physical assaults handed out by terrorist groups to suspected offenders.

http://www.nijobs.com/resource_centre/individual_article.asp?SID=10&ArtID=173

Northern Ireland is also a safe place to live and has the lowest crime victimisation rate in the world and less than half the UK average.

http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/info_FAQs.aspx

Northern Ireland has the second lowest crime rate in Europe. Even during the years of civil unrest tourists were rarely directly affected. As with all travel, some general safety tips: leave money and valuables in a safe place, lock valuables out of sight or take them with you when leaving your hire car.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Northern_Ireland

Despite a reputation as unsafe, Northern Ireland has one of the lowest crime rates among industrialized countries. According to statistics from the U.N. International Crime Victimization Survey (ICVS 2004), Northern Ireland has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe (lower than the United States and the rest of the United Kingdom). In fact, the results of the latest ICVS show that Japan is the only industrialized country safer than Northern Ireland. Almost all visitors experience a trouble-free stay.

However, as with most places, avoid being alone at night in urban areas. In addition, avoid wearing clothes that could identify you (correctly or not) as being from one community or the other (for example Celtic or Rangers kits). Do not express a political viewpoint (pro-Republic or pro-Union) unless you are absolutely sure you are in company that will not become hostile towards you for doing so. Even then, you should be sure that you know what you're talking about! Avoid political gatherings where possible. Many pubs have a largely cultural and political atmosphere such as on the Falls Road, the mostly Republican main road in West Belfast, but expressing an opinion among good company, especially if you share the same view, will usually not lead to any negative consequences.

Northern Ireland tends to shutdown for at least a few days surrounding the 12th July due to the 'Orange' marches. These have been known to get a bit rowdy but have vastly improved in recent years.

[Tebonas]

I didn't want to accuse you of lying and carefuly chose the words thusly. I'm quite happy if the numbers I got are faulty and yours are right. It would show that peoples perceptions are not the most reliable way to judge crime levels.

God knows Ireland will cost me enough, getting robbed repeatedly would likely strain my finances too much and I couldn't get a nice new TFT monitor after the holidays 

[Ironwood]

It's kind of like Irony.  Athur's done his best here, but all it's really said to me is 'The Place Hasn't Changed; Avoid'.


Glasgow, of course, is a scum sucking shithole, so what do I know.

[Arthur_Parker]

It's kind of like Irony.  Athur's done his best here, but all it's really said to me is 'The Place Hasn't Changed; Avoid'.


Glasgow, of course, is a scum sucking shithole, so what do I know.

It depends what you are used to.  I remember years ago my parents had a holiday booked to Yugoslavia, then the civil war started there.  The holiday company kept ringing to see if my Dad wanted to cancel, he said no, it's fine the place we are going is on the coast and should be ok.  Eventually they rang and said we have cancelled it for you.

[Tebonas]

Lowest homicide rate Pakistan (0.05). I certainly will never plan a vacation based on that number alone. 


Edit: I laughed about that.

expressing an opinion among good company, especially if you share the same view, will usually not lead to any negative consequences.

Quite tolerant of them. Most of the time they accept that you have their opinion.  :-D

[Arthur_Parker]

Lowest homicide rate Pakistan (0.05). I certainly will never plan a vacation based on that number alone. 

I certainly hope you aren't comparing Northern Ireland to Pakistan, because knowing a little about the Pakistani religious law system that's pretty offensive. 

You picked a bad European study on crime that directly conflicts with the past 20 years of widely available facts, based on overall crime not just homicide rate.  If you want to troll me pick another thread, I was just tying to give my opinions as asked for in the first post.