Carl Whyte

North Belfast Councillor | #talknorthbelfast | For all constituency issues: [email protected] 📲07823 668806

[Jeremiah Johnson 🌐 @JeremiahDJohns]

Reporting from the Financial Times on Xinjiang remains incredibly grim:

* In some areas, 90% of children are taken from parents to be educated in boarding schools where they aren't allowed to speak Uyghur
* Officials monitor who eats during Ramadan and report those who skip meals
* Basic items like prayer mats and religious text are considered illegal contraband
* Adult Uyghur women are pressured to marry Han Chinese men, and there are official goals to sterilize a certain % of them.
* Xinjiang has the largest prison capacity in the world relative to population
* Huge numbers of Uyghur prisoners are now being shipped across the country in forced labor schemes, as a way to dodge Xinjiang sanctions/boycotts
* The CCP shut down all 10 existing Uyghur-language publishers, none remain. They fed one university's book collection into a shredder.

There's a lot going on the world, but it's worth remembering that China is still actively engaged in cultural genocide. They're barely even hiding it, they openly talk about the need to 'correct' Uyghur culture and create 'ethnic unity'. They are openly destroying an entire culture as efficiently as they can, cutting children off from parents, restricting language, restricting religious practice, forcing sterilizations and intermarriage, imprisoning anyone who resists the tiniest amount and shipping them out to forced labor factories. That is what the CCP is.

https://t.co/gHK9ZS38Vx

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

This seems to be Gordon Lyons' logic, supported by the NIHE Chief Executive:

Step 1. REDUCE the grant given to housing associations, who are the only organisations building social homes, in Belfast & Lisburn,

Step 2: Expect MORE social houses to then be built in those areas.

Can't work. Won't work.

[Paul Colgan @paulcolgan]

Over 50,000 households in NI are on the social housing list - as housing supply lags behind.

My report for @bbcnewsline ⤵️

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

Interesting thread on public pools in sun-baked Madrid.

The Spanish capital has 1 municipal pool per 140,00 people.

In Belfast we have 10 public pools (11 once Girdwood is opened) - which is roughly 1 pool per 35,000 people. And we've a lot less sun to deal with!

These are the services ratepayers, in my experience, are happy to fund and support.

[Antonio Giraldo @giraldeo]

Madrid dispone de 25 piscinas municipales para 3.5 M de habitantes (ZGZ 22 para 800k), pero es cierto que algunos tienen piscina privada. Veamos mapas, y veamos isla de calor. Hilo🧵

En rojo: edificios residenciales sin piscina privada, a más de 15 min de una piscina pública.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

Interesting story below re sale of Castlebrook property in Manc.

The big question for the owners of the area-formerly-known as TriBeCa is what they plan to do after a planning decision.

Do they have the money to develop it?

Or do they plan to put it on the market?

[JPCampbellBiz @JP_Biz]

Castlebrooke, the property firm behind not-TriBeCa in Belfast, have sold on a big regeneration project in Manchester. The new owners say they will ‘breathe fresh life into a much loved but neglected property.’ https://t.co/mMHLyRtyW6

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@BelfasTownCrier No. Just a store that didn’t sell alcohol.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

Reminder that our liquor licensing laws are so supportive of 'local businesses and local community' that a German multinational was able to open it's first EVER pub in Dundonald, whereas you or I would need at least £100k to get a license to open a pub anywhere in Belfast.

And we wonder why pubs are closing year in year out.

#supportlocal #supportGermanMultinational

[JPCampbellBiz @JP_Biz]

Lidl has revealed the name of its pub in  Northern Ireland: ‘The Middle Ale' will open in Dundonald next month. Convoluted background here: https://t.co/dOgmEKGgXn

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@LadyPenelope_W Lol fully aware of where the license came from,

Hilarious seeing anonymous accounts defend a German multinational buy a pub license cos it can’t get an off-license and acting like the system is working well 😂

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@SwissKrono_JH ‘Virtually no-one’ ≠ ‘No one else’

All the best to you.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@SwissKrono_JH Johnny, full aware of how it works. My point re people not being able to buy them is bc they cost many £k.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@bullhousebrewco Had no idea it was that long.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@Liamquinn1Liam The model is completely broken Liam. What type of system allows the population of Dundonald to have to go to Lidl for a pint?

Long list of other paths we could take. Vested interests stopping it.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@SwissKrono_JH You know how liquor licenses work right?

I’m afraid virtually no-one else in NI can buy liquor licenses.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

We started with Belfast Summit, then + Derry Summit and then we thought let's just get + 12 cities together!

They're all here - plus New York & York Mayors - on 24th June!

Speakers & tickets here: https://t.co/ik3FnSxZLG

[MWAdvocate @mwadvocate]

This morning marked the official launch for Summit of the Cities. For the first time we’re uniting all 12 councils across the island.

https://t.co/ahlA6LJTw0

Thanks to our partners @ANDborough @belfastcc @BelfastFunding @Inter_Trade @nmdcouncil @NIElectricity @QUBelfast

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@AndyBelfast The question is how could they be viewed as similar in any way?

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

Good morning from Ulster where the time sponsored by the TUV is 1690 and zero else to offer. 🤦‍♂️

[Darran Marshall @DarranMarshall]

No agreement between Claire Hanna & Jim Allister in @bbctheview tonight

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@Aodhanho Four.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@MariaFlynn1234 Yes lol

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

@mehercle A common misconception Alan.

Famine and famine diseases ravaged Ards for example, soup kitchens in many villages which are now part of Belfast.

The book distills a lot of the history into a readable text.

[Carl Whyte @CarlJWhyte]

Belfast is the natural location for the National Famine Commemoration next May - when it will take place in Ulster.

Despite tens of thousands of famine deaths in North East Ulster and Belfast being the only place with recorded famine victims from every county in Ireland - the history of the the Famine here is forgotten & ignored.

The proposal has cross-party support & there are no barriers from Belfast's point-of-view to it taking place here.

[Government of Ireland @GovIE]

The 19th National Famine Commemoration took place yesterday, Sunday 17 May, in the Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna, County Galway in remembrance of all those who suffered, died or forced to emigrate due to An Gorta Mór.