Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
R&B honour for X Factor flop Ella Mai
DUP’S Little-pengelly denies Twitter claims over Glider halt name letter
X FACTOR reject Ella Mai has become the first Brit artist to top the US R&B singles chart in 26 years.
The 23-year-old hit the jackpot with her song Boo’d Up.
She said: “1992 was before I was born. First in my lifetime. Insane.”
Yet the same track is at only No62 in the Top 40 charts and so appears on the Radio 1’s C list, meaning it gets around just eight plays a week.
London-born Ella Mai auditioned in 2014 for The X Factor as part of trio Arize but did not get through. Yet Boo’d Up has earned 6.3 million streams.
The previous Brit to top the US R&B chart was Rochdale’s Lisa Stansfield with her single All Woman in May 1992. She tweeted Ella Mai: “Congratulations.” EMMA Little-pengelly yesterday denied her bus stop name change bid was sectarian.
She spoke out in the wake of a Twitter spat sparked by a letter on Commonsheaded note paper in which she pressed Translink over the “Short Strand” halt for the new Glider service.
The transport company yesterday responded the bus stop has always been called Short Strand, from when it was used by the Metro service.
Ms Little-pengelly insisted it was not “unreasonable” for her to press for the change after residents in the area contacted her.
The DUP representative said it was not the case there was “anything wrong” with the name but locals had contacted her to say the stop was in lower Woodstock and not Short Strand.
Ms Little-pengelly wrote: “This stop is clearly not a Short Strand stop.
“In addition, this does not reflect either the area or the history of the area in which the stop is situated.”
She highlighted how she outlined her concerns with Translink but had received an “unsatisfactory response” in February and attempts to arrange a follow-up meeting alongside the DUP’S Gavin Robinson had not materialised.
Ms Little-pengelly wrote: “I am therefore not happy the halt has now been physically named in such an inaccurate way.”
The South Belfast representative’s letter sparked a debate on social media on Thursday evening and she was accused of “being petty” and “sectarian”.
Issuing a statement on Twitter yesterday morning, Ms Littlepengelly wrote: “Last night there were references made on Twitter to an issue about a halt.
“I now realise there has been confusion about this issue.
“My letter references the halt at the Lower Woodstock side of the Albertbridge Road, South Belfast.
“I have never made any representations about the name of the halt at Short Strand, East Belfast on the other side of the Albertbridge Road. Local South Belfast residents had contacted me to see if the halt at Lower Woodstock could be more accurately named as it is an area that would not be considered Short Strand.
“The naming is part of the pairing policy of Translink NI. That is what I was working locally on.” In one tweet, Alliance leader Naomi Long said: “The halts are in pairs, though. Hence the naming convention. They’re effectively the same stop: one country-bound halt, one city bound, but both with the same name/location descriptor.
“Honestly trying to understand why it’s an issue to use the name already given on the stops?”
A Translink spokesman said yesterday: “The new Glider halt replaces a Metro stop named ‘Short Strand’.”
The new halts have been put in place ahead of the Belfast Rapid Transit Glider service which is launching in September. However, some bus lanes are set to go live in East Belfast next week.
They will operate between Dunlady Road, Dundonald and the city centre from Monday.
A two-week, one-strike warning period will be in place until August 13, during which motorists parking or driving illegally in the lanes will be issued with a warning notice for a first contravention.
LETTER TO TRANSLINK