Belfast Students

[Donagh]

Fair play to Donagh for attempting to politicise the argument..........

Erm I'm only pointing out the blindly obvious solution which you have so far managed to miss. Of course it's a political issue.

[thebandit]

As a student I'd have to say that I prefered my time in halls to living in the Holylands. More craic and a lot safer.

I'd have to say I agree with this, I was in Belfast for 3 years (01-03) and lived in the holylads for the last 2 years - towards the end it was definately going downhill

[its me again]

lads there def is a problem don't get me wrong

but it is over exaggerated in this article

i lived in the holy lands for 4 years and it was mad, but on our street the residents who showed us respect got respect back.

in final year when we weren't t going out as much we had 2 complaints of noise and both times we were not even in the house, this was very annoying indeed

i think the universities need to do more to involve the students in other activities

i believe queens and j-town are far behind other unis in terms of extra-curricular activates, if you don't play Gaelic things are limited(or badly promoted)

[pebble-dasher]

Lived in the holylands for just the one year before leaving the course i was doing and it is pretty mad.  Always thought that the boys from the country like armagh an tyrone were buck eejits but never on the scale of the article.  Some of the points in it are exagerated bollocks although the bit about the slingshot water balloon thing on carmel street is true because i know the lads who were at it!

Think that there is a lot of residential intimidation of the students and this seems to be mostly at the start of the year, e.g last year the acid and paint stripper poured over the cars and then this year 6 cars burnt out on jerusalem street by a sc**bag drug dealer who lived there. 

There is always a heavy police patrol in the area and they are only interested in handing out fines to line their pockets.

[Minder]

lads there def is a problem don't get me wrong

but it is over exaggerated in this article

i lived in the holy lands for 4 years and it was mad, but on our street the residents who showed us respect got respect back.

in final year when we weren't t going out as much we had 2 complaints of noise and both times we were not even in the house, this was very annoying indeed

i think the universities need to do more to involve the students in other activities

i believe queens and j-town are far behind other unis in terms of extra-curricular activates, if you don't play Gaelic things are limited(or badly promoted)

I have heard it all now......I thought that kind of talk only applied to "alienated" spides in West Belfast but now it seems there is nothing to do for wee Johnny in the Holylands either........Are you a "community worker" ?

[Maguire01]

I totally agree Minder. The idea that students have nothing to do is ridiculous! You're in the middle of a City! Botanic Gardens and Ormeau Park are on your doorstep, the PEC is 5 minutes away! There's  also numerous clubs and societies in Queen's and UU, catering for all tastes, that any student can join!

Don't play the disadvantaged card - it won't be bought. Students are supposed to be adults - they shouldn't need someone to drop them off at afterschool activities to keep them out of trouble!

[DownFanatic]

Was up in Queens from 2004-2007. Witnessed a hell of a lot of anti-social behaviour. Was no angel at times myself. However, the biggest problem I saw eminated from students who were born and reared in country areas. We termed them mucksavages. They showed no respect for property or people. They wrecked 4 nights a week and the vast majority of them would of been Jordanstown students.
A high percentage of these savages generally came from Tyrone. Awful people. Their women were as raw as ropes and even the half decent lookin ones turned you off after they opened their foul mouths. Their only form of clothing were GAA tops and orange fake tan. There seems to be a very high proportion of oompa loompa's up that part of the country.
The only way that the anti-social behaviour issue can be solved is to stop people from Tyrone going to University in Belfast. A great solution would be to establish educational centres for these people in principal towns like Omagh and Dungannon. Keeping them away from our capital is the only solution. 

[Our Nail Loney]

Was up in Queens from 2004-2007. Witnessed a hell of a lot of anti-social behaviour. Was no angel at times myself. However, the biggest problem I saw eminated from students who were born and reared in country areas. We termed them mucksavages. They showed no respect for property or people. They wrecked 4 nights a week and the vast majority of them would of been Jordanstown students.
A high percentage of these savages generally came from Tyrone. Awful people. Their women were as raw as ropes and even the half decent lookin ones turned you off after they opened their foul mouths. Their only form of clothing were GAA tops and orange fake tan. There seems to be a very high proportion of oompa loompa's up that part of the country.
The only way that the anti-social behaviour issue can be solved is to stop people from Tyrone going to University in Belfast. A great solution would be to establish educational centres for these people in principal towns like Omagh and Dungannon. Keeping them away from our capital is the only solution. 

You have hit the nail on the head there DF!! Well said!

[Longshanks]

I live in the Holylands too at the moment, it aint too bad where I am, but I can see where things would kick off, as when Im coming home from work last month you would have seen fellas who were out drinking all day and having a bbq but there is nothing in that, their just having the craic..
To be honest its a minority that act the right edjits and its true something has to be done as it aint fair on the residents..

But looking back at other points, houses going up sale in the Holylands area go for big prices even in this market so permanant residents can move to a nicer area (although Im in no way saying they should be forced out)

Also to blame the landlords is unfair, are any of you telling me you wouldnt do your best to make a quick buck?!?!
Now apparently the HMO approval is not been given out so easily and their taken it street by street in the Holylands that most are up to spec.
Houses/Flats are and were getting alot of work done to them recently to bring them up to standard...

Also have to say Im 23 and when seeing my younger cousins that are 19, they go out on the rip but they keep the house immaculate and dont come down and wreck the place so it is a minority of dicks that just come down for a year to piss it up!!!

[whiskeysteve]

when an area is 90% students of course you will have a lot of young people together, a lot of parties and so on. If you are in a mixed area you will have less of this. it's fairly simple

That's the "why do you let me do it?" argument. Every mentally healthy adult on the planet is responsible for his/her own behaviour. Nodody else is. That's the starting point for civilisation. We're not talking about parties. We're talking about anti-social behaviour that ignores the rights of other people.

also i never knew a student who fouled their own living quarters

How would you describe behaving in such a manner as to make your environment impossible to live a civilised life in?

We are talking to some degree about parties - there are a lot of them in the holylands and a few do generate anti-social behaviour (the result of people leaving them blind drunk, for example). Or nearly all them do if you class excessive noise as anti-social, which is fair enough. It depends were you draw the line - which is why it is so hard to police. And yes a lot of it does ignore the rights of other people i don't see us disagreeing on this point

We are all responsible as individuals and some of the deplorable behaviour, though heavily exagerated, must be condemned as such. But surely you are not so naive as to expect year long responsible behaviour from all of the large congregation of 18/19 year olds who are besieged with sources of alcohol. Newcomers to the Holylands are oblivious to its problems and don't comprehend the trouble they cause. If there weren't so many students crammed into one area there would be a hell of a lot less incidents, by law of averages. Vice versa, there are few residents to make their feelings known and they are so outnumbered by changing faces the source of the trouble is hard to pin down. For similar reasons the police/university authorities find it hard to follow up any incidents

So in my opinion overcrowding IS a contributing factor and not to be disregarded as 'shite'

Incidentally the starting point for civilisation is the rule of law, not self responsibility. Even rats are self-responsible  

[its me again]

look you are taking my point the wrong way

there are plenty of activites they just need promoted in a better way

i also believe that the universites should do more than they do in terms of controlling there student population

we also have a drink culture which is getting out of control

there are more students in the holylands than J-town halls, this behavior would not be tollerated in the halls anf therefore i believe it should not be tolerated in the HL, basically the uni's should be held more reponsible than there are at the minute.

i honestly believe the HL would alot more unsafe if the students move out, you only have to look at the state of some of the housing estates neighbouring the HL. students bring alot of money in the local economy around the HL and there voices should be listened to rather than being constantly lambasted for anti social behavior. not all students in the HL are like this and i feel they are being tarred with the same brush

[Rav67]

Was up in Queens from 2004-2007. Witnessed a hell of a lot of anti-social behaviour. Was no angel at times myself. However, the biggest problem I saw eminated from students who were born and reared in country areas. We termed them mucksavages. They showed no respect for property or people. They wrecked 4 nights a week and the vast majority of them would of been Jordanstown students.
A high percentage of these savages generally came from Tyrone. Awful people. Their women were as raw as ropes and even the half decent lookin ones turned you off after they opened their foul mouths. Their only form of clothing were GAA tops and orange fake tan. There seems to be a very high proportion of oompa loompa's up that part of the country.
The only way that the anti-social behaviour issue can be solved is to stop people from Tyrone going to University in Belfast. A great solution would be to establish educational centres for these people in principal towns like Omagh and Dungannon. Keeping them away from our capital is the only solution. 

[Surreal Steve]

Was up in Queens from 2004-2007. Witnessed a hell of a lot of anti-social behaviour. Was no angel at times myself. However, the biggest problem I saw eminated from students who were born and reared in country areas. We termed them mucksavages. They showed no respect for property or people. They wrecked 4 nights a week and the vast majority of them would of been Jordanstown students.
A high percentage of these savages generally came from Tyrone. Awful people. Their women were as raw as ropes and even the half decent lookin ones turned you off after they opened their foul mouths. Their only form of clothing were GAA tops and orange fake tan. There seems to be a very high proportion of oompa loompa's up that part of the country.
The only way that the anti-social behaviour issue can be solved is to stop people from Tyrone going to University in Belfast. A great solution would be to establish educational centres for these people in principal towns like Omagh and Dungannon. Keeping them away from our capital is the only solution. 

post of the year there from down fanatic

[behind the wire]

Down Fanatic, id say there will be a good few people that will try to slate what you say, but when all is taken into account id say you arent far wrong. every other person you meet in the holylands is from tyrone.

id say the whole problem really lies with the drink culture that exists in our society today. over the years students have always tended to have a reputation of being a bit wild but with the drink culture really coming to the fore in recent years the behaviour has just spiralled out of control.

its a sad reflection on society. if the truth be told most students now spend more time drinking than studying or doing things which students would traditionally have done ie clubs and societies etc.

problem lies with wider society as a whole. this would happen anywhere where there are large numbers of drunken young people, students get slated for it because more is expected of them - and rightly so in my opinion.

in my opinion it is a reflection on the way society is going - less and less respect shown towards others all the time.

[Surreal Steve]

In all seriousness but, some of the anti social behaviour, vandalism etc aroudn the holylands is a disgrace. once i seen the UUJ bus-stop destroyed by graffitti. it said:

DONT FORGET YOUR CRAYONS

imagine the holylands residents having their locality damaged by shite like that. bet you the perpetrator is one of these boys who thinks the students are blameless for the problem too