Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Corgi puppies will lift Queen
Council defends ‘popular’ tradition
THE Queen was left delighted after being given two corgi puppies as a present during lockdown.
The monarch has had her spirits boosted by the dogs while the Duke of Edinburgh is in hospital and as Buckingham Palace braces itself for the Sussexes’ Oprah interview.
She has been without corgis for more than two years after her final one, Whisper, died in October 2018.
At the end of last year, the Queen was left with only one dog, a corgidachshund cross called Candy, when Vulcan, also a “dorgi”, died.
A royal source said: “The Queen is in love with the pups and they have provided much comfort and strength over the past few weeks.”
The Queen has been devoted to corgis throughout her life.
She has owned more than 30 and her first, Susan, was given to her as an 18th birthday present by her parents in 1944.
A LONG-DELAYED mayoral portrait of a Sinn Fein representative is set to cost ratepayers up to £13,000.
Stormont Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey was Belfast’s Lord Mayor in 2018-19 but a picture to commemorate her tenure has yet to be unveiled.
Belfast is the only council in Northern Ireland which annually commissions painted portraits of its civic leaders.
Almost £150,000 of ratepayers’ cash has been spent on them between 2005 and 2018.
Public spending campaigners have previously branded such portraits an “expensive vanity project” but the council has defended it as a tradition “popular with citizens and tourists alike”.
The budget for Ms Hargey’s image is between £10,000 and £13,000, the council confirmed to the Mirror in a Freedom of Information response.
It said the portrait is being created by artist Catherine Creaney and has not yet been completed.
Belfast City Council added there was an initial delay in commissioning the work as Ms Hargey’s “artist of choice wasn’t immediately free to accept the commission”. It said: “Progress was also disrupted given the ongoing pandemic, as well as former Lord Mayor Hargey’s own personal circumstances.”
Ms Hargey had to step aside as Communities Minister for six months last year after suffering liver failure and undergoing emergency surgery.
The cost of the portrait emerges after it was confirmed in January that two Sinn Fein representatives who shared a term as Belfast Lord Mayor would each have their own individual picture commissioned.
John Finucane took the post in May 2019 but was replaced by councillor Daniel Baker in December that year after being elected MP for North Belfast. Of the 12 mayoral portraits since 2005, the most expensive was of 2010-11 incumbent Pat Convery, created by John Keane for £15,150.
CLAPPED OUT Johnson applauds at No10
EXCLUSIVE JUST months ago Boris Johnson joined other Tories to applaud NHS staff and praised them for saving his life after he was hit by Covid.
But the PM’S gestures now appear hollow after exhausted front-line workers were told their reward is likely to be a below-inflation 1% pay rise, that will mean a real terms wage cut.
And it sparked fears nurses and other staff may go on strike, amid fury that No 10 has splashed billions of pounds on
a botched Test and Trace system and other private contracts while health workers who have given their all during the pandemic are fed scraps.
The measly proposal to the NHS Pay Review body will cost £500million in England – which No10 claims it is all it can afford.
But Unite union national officer Colenzo Jarrett-thorpe said: “The public is rightly outraged by a Government that can spend £37billion on the flawed Test and Trace, but can’t find the cash for a decent pay rise for the NHS front line.
“It shows a contempt by ministers for those who have done so much to care for Covid-19 patients.
“Unite will be considering holding an industrial action ballot.”
The Royal College of Nursing announced an emergency fund for strike action. TUC General secretary Frances O’grady added: “After years of real-terms pay cuts, the