Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Sir Ken: I got an Express glimpse of Dame Judi
Anger after surge in attacks across city
SIR Kenneth Branagh has revealed he saw a lot more of Dame Judi Dench than expected while discussing their new film, Murder On The Orient Express.
Jokingly referring to her as a “troublemaker”, Belfast-born Branagh said: “I went into her dressing room one night and she was in her dressing gown.
“We are excitedly talking about the film when we get the call to go on stage.
“We are still chatting in the wings and with 30 seconds to go she throws off her dressing gown and there is nothing on below the waist.
“Her dresser ran to get her skirt and Judi went on clutching it around her.”
Judi, a fellow guest on the Graham Norton Show last night, responded: “I was quite surprised too.”
Branagh, who has worked with Dame Judi 10 times over the past 30 years, told Norton she was the first he had asked to be “on the train” and she had said “yes” straight away.
The 56-year-old BAFTA winner plays detective Hercule Poirot in the film. THERE were calls last night for an end to the recent string of racially motivated hate crimes.
In the last three months there have been seven such attacks across Belfast.
The latest took place on Thursday evening when a brick was thrown through the window of the York Road home of the Rahman family, originally from Bangladesh. A woman and her young child were inside.
On September 6, an Islamic centre in South Belfast was targeted in a paint attack. Just over two weeks later a pig’s head was left on the steps of the Inverary Community Centre in the east of the city and racist graffiti daubed on its walls.
On October 15 a van belonging to the charity Ten Foundations, which supports families in the Philippines, was burnt out in East Belfast. Its tyres had been slashed six months previously.
Five days later, the home of a Syrian family was targeted with stones in the west, the latest attack in an eight-month campaign of intimidation against them.
Just 48 hours later, several cars were set alight in South Belfast. And on Halloween night, a Belgian charity worker was injured when a brick was thrown through the window of his home in the east. He believes he was singled out because of his accent.
Speaking to the Mirror yesterday, SDLP MLA Claire Hanna called on politicians and community leaders to do more than simply condemn each attack.
She said: “This spate of sinister hate crimes is rooted in the inability of some people here to accept difference of any sort. It has been incredibly traumatic for those targeted and disturbing too for all those who want to see a welcoming, outward-looking Belfast.
“The global political climate of Trump and Brexit, like polarisation here at home, is of people seeking power through the use of fear and anger.
“Politicians and community leaders must be factual about the benefit of diversity in our society and economy and tackle the actual causes of lack of housing or decent employment.”
There are an average of two race hate crimes reported to the PSNI every day in Northern Ireland, according to the Policing Board.