I ATTENDED the lighting of the beacon at the banks of the River Lagan on Monday evening to take part in a national celebration to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the accession of Her Majesty the Queen to the throne of our great nation. Instead, I ended up attending a cheap and cost-saving event which lacked any display of Britishness.
The event was most disappointing. The beacon was the same one used to mark the Millennium, suggesting that Belfast City Council were seeking to save money on a major national event.
Furthermore, to add to the bad atmosphere was the lack of British music or even the playing of the National Anthem. Flags weren’t even flown.
I must ask: why was a beacon not lit in the grounds of City Hall with the events in London being shown on the TV screen?
This was a poor show by Belfast City Council and a rather poor showing for the newly-installed DUP Lord Mayor Gavin Robinson, who lit the beacon along with Executive minister Nelson McCausland.
If this is the shared future we are being signed up to by the DUP I do not hold out much hope for those of us from a British/unionist tradition.
John Graham
Tyrone
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