Michael Copeland's East Belfast UUP Advice Centre

It is a sort Of folly to remain wise in the midst of those who are mad..

With an amber warning in place from 9pm this evening, Monday 30 October until 9am, Tuesday 31 October, please take care and check in on elderly or vulnerable neighbours 🌧️☂️

You can contact the Flooding Incident Line on: 0300 2000 100 if you need to - and you'll find more information at ow.ly/zILF50PQ2ZX

Major Co Antrim crash involving motorcycle – three ambulance crews attend Three emergency ambulance crews were deployed to a major road traffic collision in Co Antrim on Thursday night.

I wrote this in the small hours when sleep escaped me..

Local Councillors and Councils are in a unique position in the political structure of Government.
They are bound by law to do certain things, to perform these functions they raise money by a local tax known as the Rates, so it’s unsurprising the primary responsibility they must discharge is to set a Legal Rate.
They must then, use the money raised to provide certain services.. the collection and disposal of waste, the registering of births,deaths and marriages the provision of cemeteries and I think leisure services.
These represent the primary responsibilities.
Local Councillors are expected to attend
monthly meeting of Council, Special meetings of Council when required and meetings of Council Committees to which they are appointed.
Unlike any other level of Government the are also potentially liable to Surcharge which means that if they are present when decision which costs money is taken and that decision is later to be found improper and they did not vote against that decision then they are personally responsible jointly and severally to repay the money.
Local Councillors as individuals may also chose provide other services.. advice and intervention on behalf of their constituents regarding Benefits, housing,Education and many other issues… some chose to do all these things above and beyond what others do.
Local Councillors are paid a mileage allowance to attend council meeting but not to visit constituents or attend meeting with or on behalf of constituents.
Local Councillors receive no financial support to provide offices or support staff.
Local Councillors reflect our society some are hardworking and effective others in all honestly are less so, that said in my honest opinion they are the most cost effective level of Government that we have and amongst the most accessible.
Perhaps if Councillors concentrated on discharging their legal responsibilities and less Council time taken upon Notices of Motions on issues over which they have no control this might be a cleaner, tidier, more respectful, fitter and healthier place.
People tell me that in my time I helped a lot of people, I still bump into them in the course of my daily life… truth be told I sometimes struggle to remember them..the ones that I could not help … I remember almost perfectly…. Those failures haunt me even though I know I did my best, it used to really bother me that Councillors from other parties used to advise people to come and see me saying “ because you go to him doesn’t mean you have to vote for him” ….
The Political Landscape here has changed dramatically the exercise of reducing the number of Councils from 26 to 11 has not in my honest opinion produced more effective less expensive Local Government.
At Stormont (Regional Government) the reduction of the number of seats from 108 to 90 saw the loss 18 seats 16 of which were Unionist … I don’t think that if the perceived end result of that process had been the loss of 16 Republican or Nationalist seats the proposal would have ever seen the light of day.
The change to the method of electing the First Minister which was previously based on the largest party from the largest designation to the largest party and all the angst that has flowed from that.
Now there will be pressure to further amend the Belfast Agreement and bring about changes to the system of weighted majorities, cross community votes an the petition of concern in effect instituting what amounts to majority rule …to me it’s clear that this pressure will come from those who when they they were a minority called for an end to majority rule and have now that they may be a majority have changed their tune.
David Trimble was many things but he was not a fool.. he asked to see me after I was first elected as he knew I had personally voted against the Belfast Agreement… during the conversation he explained that when developing the protections built into the Agreement for minorities he had in the the thought process foreseen the day when Unionists might need those protections.
I also had a conversation with a very senior member of another Unionist Party who confided that they had deliberately poisoned David Trimble because they realised that they would need the Agreement.
I was brought up in a working class home the bread was put on the table by my fathers job in the shipyard… he was born and raised in Coburg Street… my mother was from Calvin Street..
Working class Unionism was for a very long time taken for granted… now it’s in danger of being taken for fools.
The Protocol troubles me deeply and I honestly don’t know what the answer is … what I do know is that some of the loudest voices against it now,ignored warning about the likely issues that would arise in its implementation .
I was, am and will remain a Unionist… in terms of politics and culture, I’m old fashioned and to be frank old…. That does not means that I count any other human being any the less for not being those things.
I do not think I have ever hated anyone but I have disliked many… I believe that capitalism with all its faults is needed to produce wealth and that the wealth produced should be apportioned according to a social conscience.
I believe that voting is a duty ….
A hard won right … I always voted for the person not the party …. and I always voted on issues as I knew them to be and not what the political parties said they were.
I always tried to put people first… the individual citizen not demographic group, I don’t know how well or badly I did.
As I said I’m old now and my memory isn’t what it once was but I will never ever forget the very great kindness shown to me by the extraordinary ordinary folk of East Belfast who I once had the privilege to serve.
Vote for those who put people first… be there for them so that they can be there for you …

Rogue Heroes: A photo portrait of Corporal John 'Jack' William Sillito, who was a member of a four-man SAS (Special Air Service) patrol tasked to blow up the rail line in the enemy's rear, just before the offensive at El Alamein in 1942.

After a firefight with the enemy, Sillito got separated from the rest of his group and set out to walk the 100 miles back to the British lines, without food or water, a gruelling week-long experience which he only just survived by drinking his own urine.

The photograph was taken on 22 November 1942 after several days in hospital following his rescue, with his feet still bandaged. After a fortnight’s R&R, he was back on duty.

Sheridan Tongue to receive Outstanding Contribution at 2022 NI Music Prize EMMY award-winning composer Sheridan Tongue who is internationally acclaimed...

A bona fide United legend.

We said goodbye to the great Nobby Stiles two years ago today ❤️

Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 1916, Trimmer Frederick Charles Catchpole (pictured), Second Hand Robert Neslen, Trimmer John Walker, Deck Hand Thomas William Dowsing, Engineman William Robert King, lost their lives when H.M. Drifter “Waveney II” sank during a Channel raid by German destroyers.
H.M. Drifter “Waveney II”, built in 1902, had been requisitioned from the Great Yarmouth Herring Drifters for war service, such service lasting from September of 1915 until her sinking in October of 1916. On the day of her sinking, the enemy had made a raid on the Strait of Dover with two and a half flotillas of destroyers and torpedo boats. She caught fire before sinking after being hit by enemy shells. One of the articles on the raid can be found at the Wartime Memorial Project website https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/battles/view.php?pid=4894
Frederick Catchpole, born in Plomesgate in Suffolk, was 21 years old and married. His brother Albert would be killed in April of 1917, serving with the Norfolk Regiment in Palestine.
Robert Neslen, from Caister-on-Sea, Great Yarmouth , was 28 years old and married.
John Walker, from Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, was 24 years old.
Thomas Dowsing, from Lowestoft in Suffolk, was 46 years old and married.
William King, from Repps, Great Yarmouth, was 27 years old and married.
Sadly, the only crew photograph which could be found at the time of writing was of Frederick Catchpole. None have a known grave - all but John Walker are commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial, he is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

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Call 101 or phone the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting the police reference number CC2022072500897

Thank you

Allen calls on Sunak and Truss to commit to ensuring the energy bills support scheme will be delivered in Northern Ireland before December

East Belfast Ulster Unionist Party MLA and Communities Spokesperson Andy Allen MBE has called on Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to commit to ensuring the energy bills support scheme is delivered in Northern Ireland at the same time that it is delivered in the rest of the United Kingdom, during today`s visit.
Mr Allen said:

“I wrote to the Treasury in June to highlight my concerns about possible delays in delivering the announced £400 payment to assist households with rising energy costs. I received a response stating that the Treasury was working with Northern Ireland Departments and other stakeholders to identify a solution.

“Today we hear from the Utility Regulator who has voiced genuine concerns that, unless urgent action is taken, these payments may not be made to those in Northern Ireland before Christmas. This also comes against the backdrop that further increases are to be expected in the coming months.

“I would call on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to urgently action the plan put forward by the NI Utility Regulator to ensure that families and individuals in Northern Ireland have this support in place before winter. These payments will go some way to supporting households, however, it is clear that further intervention is urgently required.

“While I will not be meeting with the two candidates standing to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister during their visit to Northern Ireland today, I would ask them both to use the hustings to confirm their commitment that they will ensure this money is delivered across Northern Ireland before December.”