Belfast News: Whose Stocking Are We Filling?

Hooray Christmas is Coming and may we start this article by wishing all our users a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year in 2011.

Every year, ever single council in the land prepares a special day for the switching on of the Christmas Lights, in Belfast that night has come. The Belfast Christmas lights were switched on tonight, followed by the opening of the Continental Market in the grounds of the City Hall.

Most people across Northern Ireland hold Christmas dear, why, because they love Christmas for all the good feelings it gives them, it provide a time for Christian reflection at the Birth of Jesus, it enables us to set aside troubles of the past and for many its a time for family and for looking forward into a new year.  

Each year thousands flock into Belfast for the annual switching on of the Christmas Lights, the event is talked about on television news, radio news, local newspapers, talk shows and is published on the Belfast City Council website (as well as other free sites including here at Simply Belfast).

So why, did Belfast City Council burden its rate payers with the expense of advertising  the event beyond the free media options mentioned above. Why pay for special advertising, why plaster the sides of buses, why waste the money?

Here at Simply Belfast we are getting into the festive mood and nothing will divert us from enjoying Christmas as we always do, but given Northern Ireland's financial woes, voters will have to decide whether they are prepared to elect new 'wasters' or whether they are going to demand financial wisdom and prudence come the 2011 Council & Northern Ireland Assembly Elections.

Given that this advertising cost us dearly and achieved little, whose stockings did Belfast City Council really fill this year? 

Last Updated: 20th November 2010