Separated at birth?
| 14:54 UK time, Tuesday, 31 July 2007
It seems the Foreign Secretary David Miliband has a "double" who works at Stormont. The Speaker's advisor Richard Good is forever being told that he looks just like Foreign Secretary (he does). In fact, he is growing a little weary of phone calls immediately after the news that start with "did you know...."
(Previous entry had described Mr Good as special advisor - when it should have been advisor.)
I'm 
°ä´Ç³¾³¾±ð²Ô³Ù²õÌýÌý Post your comment
Why does the Speaker need a special advisor?
Presumably it's somebody who knows the rules and procedures inside out.
Thats not the point of the blog post michael!!
Agree re richard good like cavid miliband. richard is the son of the Rev Good, part of the arms de-commission team.
Clearly to give him special advice!
Is that the same Richard Good who got 1000 votes for the Alliance Party in East Belfast during the 1998 Assembly Election, or did Martina really have lunch with the foreign secretary in Stormont yesterday!
Special advisors are political appointments for Ministers to give political advice (see Yes (Prime) Minister). If it's a legal advisor or counsel for the speaker thats fine, but surely a special advisor is something else entirely. Something that the speaker doesn't really have any need for.
Rev Good used to come to my school to fill our heads full of nonsense about some fella that lives in the sky who wrote a really long indecipherable book.
He was no spring chicken then and had a full head of white hair. He must have a life expectancy like those boys in the Old Testament that went on past 300.
Wonder what their secret was?
Getting back to the speaker and his special adviser. We need a definitive answer here Martina. We are guessing at what this guy actually does for a living. Can you please enlighten us.
Actually, a special adviser is in the personal gift of a Minister and should resign if the Minister does.
Richard Good is the adviser to the Speaker, on the Assembly staff and appointed by the five-party Assembly Commission, and has worked with all three Speakers (so far). His job is to assist the Speaker in a range of duties.
He is also the same Richard Good who was runner-up for Alliance in East Belfast in 1998: clearly he impressed the members of the other four parties at interview.
Perhaps Mr Good should ask Michael Caine to stop phoning him...
Well... as Margaret Thatcher once said: "Everyone needs a Willie"!