Inside Politics this weekend features the Enterprise Minister Nigel Dodds. Most of the questions concern the speculation over a Westminster election in November. What about double jobbing minister/MPs? At 81 should Ian Paisley really still be continuing as First Minister, DUP leader, MLA and North Antrim MP?
I also try to assess how much disruption an election might cause the Executive given the timetable for its budget and programme for government. And talking of timing, we move on to discuss the Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie's deadline to the UDA over decommissioning.
The North Belfast MP isn't impressed, it seems, by the October 9th deadline. He accuses the SDLP in general and Margaret Ritchie in particular of hypocrisy, citing the SDLP's previous reluctance to approve any sanctions on republicans in relation to IRA violence.
So are the SDLP hypocrites or is this just an early example of an Executive Minister retreating into a traditional political bunker now an election is in the offing? To judge for yourself listen to Inside Politics on 大象传媒 radio Ulster on Saturday at 12.45 pm.
A large hole has appeared outside Parliament Buildings. It appears it's part of a lasting memorial to the events of the 24th November 2006. It's not a monument to mark Michael Stone's failed incursion, but the foundations for a new external X ray search facility.
Members of the Culture Committee were perplexed by a response they received from the Minister Edwin Poots. The DUP's Nelson McCausland found the letter confusing and thought it had obviously been written by a civil servant.
The committee chairman Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff cheerfully explained his theory that the government used to have standard letters signed by a civil servant who he suspected did not exist.
Quick as a flash, the Ulster Unionist David McNarry reminded the republican that the IRA had its own fictional letter writer.
That is, of course, unless the real Mr P. O'Neill cares to identify himself now.
Lord Eames and Denis Bradley gave evidence to the Committee of the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister today, on the topic of their exploration of the past. They suggested that the committee might wish to submit in writing its own ideas about how we can come to terms with our troubled inheritance.
Afterwards the DUP's Jim Wells warned that it might be difficult for the Committee to get beyond a working definition of a "victim". He offered to pay 拢500 to charity if any member could provide one. I think the offer was restricted to fellow Committee members, but if there are any lexicological punters out there I'm sure the Committee would be glad to hear your suggested definitions.
The proportion of Northern Ireland covered in trees. It's well below the British average (12%) and far behind the most wooded part of the UK, Scotland (17.1%). And they say the politicians here can't see the wood for the trees...
I don't know what it is about 6.3%, but it's also the amount of renewable electricity as a percentage of our total supply that we are meant to produce by 2012. Thanks to the DUP's Alex Easton, the SDLP's Pat Ramsey and Ministers Gildernew and Dodds for these statistics.
The number of seals resident in Northern Ireland last year - up from 580 the year before. Thanks to the DUP's Jim Shannon and the Environment Minister Arlene Foster for this information.
The South Belfast MP Dr Alasdair McDonnell is rightly exercised about the burning of four cars in the Holyland area of his constituency. But from the look of two statements he issued today on the matter he had to engage in a bit of thinking on his feet about who to blame.
At 9.30 am he described the arson attacks as "the last straw for hard pressed residents...We may not yet know precisely who was responsible, but it can only be seen as a deadly escalation of the pattern of abuse of residents by drunken young people, mainly students, living in multiple-occupation houses in the area.....The students are only back a week. The universities need to step up to the mark and recognize the sheer enormity of this problem and their own pivotal role in finding a solution."
But by lunchtime the doctor gave students a cleaner bill of health. "It is now becoming clear that students were the immediate victims of the arson attacks in the Holyland" the MP explained. "I understand an arrest has been made. This terrible event just underlines that life in the Holyland can be intolerable for everyone, including many hardworking students who play no part in the late-night carousing and vandalism."
Memo to Queen's Politics students. A day can be a long time in local politics.
Those of us who have to spend hours watching our MLAs read their speeches from prepared texts long for the moment when a politician tries something new. But when John O'Dowd tried to jazz up his contribution to this evening's debate on a recent Republican parade in Belfast he was ruled out of order.
The Sinn Fein MLA wanted to know why unionists were devoting a debate to a parade which was peaceful (despite the brandishing by some fake British soldiers of replica guns) when they could have debated real loyalist violence in Carrickfergus, Bangor and elsewhere. To punctuate his points he produced print outs of the relevant 大象传媒 News Online stories and screwed them up throwing them to the floor.
The Ulster Unionist Danny Kennedy objected that this was "chamber theatre" (presumably a play on the "street theatre" defence the parade organisers mounted for the replica guns). The Speaker Willie Hay concurred and ruled that MLAs could not resort to such "visual aids".
So it's back to reading parrot fashion from prepared texts then...
Previously we've noted the SNP's move to rebrand its Executive as the "Scottish government". The Green MLA Brian Wilson asked the First and Deputy First Ministers if they intended to follow suit. He's just been told that "there are currently no plans to change the name of the NI Executive to the NI government".
Interviewed at the annual Ulster Champ breakfast at Bournemouth by my colleague Ruth McDonald, our 81 year old First Minister Ian Paisley confirmed that he will stand again in North Antrim should Gordon Brown call a snap election.
Meanwhile in Glasgow a spokesman for Scotland's 52 year old First Minister Alex Salmond repeated that he will not stand again in Banff and Buchan.
How come our politicians are so much better at multi-tasking than their Scottish counterparts?
Recently this blog's old friend DUP MLA Jim Shannon provoked some mirth for asking the Environment Minister "to detail the number of incidences of dog fouling, and the resulting number of prosecutions, broken down by district council area, in each of the last two years."
But just to show that the subject of natural deposits is a cross community concern, we need look no further than Sinn Fein's Councillor Philip McGuigan whose recent statement on bird fouling deserves quoting at length.
"This is and has been a serious ongoing problem for the people affected. Large numbers of birds congregate on NIE electricity lines above peoples gardens and property with the result that gardens, cars and other property are covered in bird foul"
"In these circumstances, people are unable to hang washing out, or indeed permit their children to play in their own gardens."
"I have, over a period of time, made contact with NIE on behalf of a number of constituents in Dunloy and other local villages but I feel the response of NIE has been unsatisfactory."
"Their only solution is the ludicrous suggestion of the homeowner continually making noise to scare the birds off, or for the people to purchase rollers for the overhead cables at a price of 拢500."
"In my opinion NIE should be shouldering the responsibility of addressing this problem. This means incurring any associated costs to ensure that the positioning of their cables is not having a detrimental impact on the quality of life of their customers."
Some of my colleagues aren't taking this seriously. But as the resident of a house where the birds gorge themselves on blackberries before doing an impression of Guy Gibson's Dambusters, I am cheering Councillor McGuigan on from the sidelines.
During questions to the Assembly Commission the SDLP's John Dallat suggested that the oil painting depicting King Billy arriving in Ireland with the Pope apparently blessing him should be put on display in a public place in Stormont "to intrigue visitors and put another slant on our previously beleaguered history". Alliance's Sean Neeson said the Commission had received a request for the painting to go out on loan, but would consider Mr Dallat's idea. Neither politician mentioned that last time it took pride of place at Stormont it provoked a frenzied act of vandalism by some enraged Scottish loyalists, as we documented on 大象传媒 News Online back in 2006.
That's how long the assembly parties took to approve 拢160,000 more money for themselves. The money will be used to fund support for the Stormont party whips. Noone spoke against the proposal which did not go to a formal vote. The politicians dealt with the matter so quickly that the Education Minister Caitriona Ruane did not manage to get to her seat in time for the next debate on the Classroom Assistants Dispute, which caused some confusion in the Chamber.
The Executive's draft budget isn't far off and many of our ministers have spent the last few days locked in meetings about projected Departmental spending. The Finance Department's best guess about what we are likely to get from London in the Comprehensive Spending Review due in early October is a 3.7% increase. Given that inflation is running at 2.7% that's around 1% real growth.
If the executive parties want to stick to their previous manifesto committments that consumers should not pay twice for their water, they may opt to offset any future water charges by reducing the rates. They are also facing a delay in hoped for cash infusions from projects like Workplace 2010, the sell off of many government offices. Either way there's likely to be less money around.
So the Executive's first budget could end up being a belt tightening exercise. Certainly some are already engaged in lateral thinking about how the Executive might raise some extra revenue. There are limits to what can be achieved by raising the regional rate (which would be an unpopular move anyway). So in the medium to long term watch out for other ideas, such as a tax or charge on developers, increased payments for planning services and more sell offs of government land. Road tolling appeals to some politicians but may be a toll booth too far for others.
With the Soldiers of Destiny marching towards us, this week's Inside Politics focusses on what Fianna Fail's move north might mean for politics here. My guest is the SDLP Deputy Leader Alasdair McDonnell who takes a different line on the need to contest Westminster elections from the Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern. The programme goes out, as usual, at 12.45 on Saturday afternoon on 大象传媒 Radio Ulster.
I also conducted an interview with the Irish Labour leader Eamon Gilmore. Besides canvassing his views on a Fianna Fail-SDLP understanding, I asked whether he supported a motion due before his party conference from some local Irish Labour activists who want to contest council elections north of the border. Due to time constraints this interview won't run on Inside Politics tomorrow but I hope it will get an outing on Good Morning Ulster on Monday morning.
Before somewhere like the Giants Causeway can be designated a World Heritage site it has to be placed on what is known as the "tentative list", which is a kind of holding area for potential wonders of the world. During an extremely confident performance in front of the Stormont Environment Committee this morning, Arlene Foster stressed that Seymour Sweeney's private proposal for a Causeway Visitor Centre is still very much on her 'tentative list'. He may be in pole position but no final decision has been taken and she hopes her announcement will provoke some dialogue between the planning service, the developer and the key stakeholders such as Moyle Council and the National Trust.
She was also adamant that she met no one lobbying for or against the private planning application and that no member of her party made representations to her about the matter.
Unless the story takes some as yet unforeseen turn, it would therefore seem that Seymour Sweeney's membership of the DUP and contacts with the Paisleys may ultimately be deemed irrelevant to the DUP Minister's handling of the planning application. As the journalist who yesterday reported on Ian Paisley Jr.'s fishing trips with Mr Sweeney, I believe that whilst there may be evidence of a smoked lobster, there is, at this stage anyway, no smoking gun.
Tuesday's morning's Newsletter quoted the independent MEP Jim Allister as saying he knew nothing about a private and confidential meeting to discuss options available in the present political situation. But when the meeting took place in Moygashel Orange Hall last night Mr Allister appeared as a key player and read out a statement to waiting reporters. Lucky someone told him about the meeting at the last minute, then...
Martina Purdy tells me that one of the attendees, Walter Millar, referred to the Education Minister as "Caitriona Ruin". I'm not sure whether this was deliberate or not, but it could catch on.
During a meeting of the Regional Development Committee members were discussing a proposed road widening scheme around Greencastle. A large number of people have objected to the scheme because they stand to lose their front gardens. This prompted a rural MLA to quip "I thought all you folk around Belfast were looking to get rid of your gardens". This may have been aimed at Peter and Iris Robinson, who are reported to have sold part of their East Belfast garden to a developer. But the only DUP Robinson present to hear the aside was George, who lives in Limavady, where gardens are probably less in demand.
It's been a bad tempered afternoon at Stormont. The Alliance's Naomi Long tore strips off the Ulster Unionist Roy Beggs over his alleged duplication of a motion on fuel poverty. The Enterprise Committee chairman Mark Durkan tried to tear the odd strip off the Enterprise Minister Nigel Dodds over the Giants' Causeway Visitor Centre but didn't really succeed.
But the blood boiled most obviously during a bad tempered debate on education. The DUP used the debate to accuse Caitriona Ruane of bias towards Irish language education in the criteria she has sued for keeping schools open. Both sides of the chamber accused each other of "witch hunts" and using children as "political footballs".
The most personal element of the debate came when the DUP MP Iris Robinson asked the Education Minister whether she was abusing the school admissions system by living in the south and sending her own children to a school in the north. Stung by this, Ms Ruane angrily told Mrs Robinson that she should not be bringing her children into the debate.
She confirmed that she was sending her children to a school in Northern Ireland, but unlike those parents recently accused of "grannying", or giving false addresses, she said she had always given her own address in North Louth. Ms Ruane pointed out that many people, like her, lived in the south but paid taxes in the north.
So like Tony Blair before her, Caitriona Ruane now finds her own children's schooling is a matter of political discourse.
Nothing to do with "grannying", but yesterday I bumped into the Education Minister clutching a conker. Was she going to make playing conkers compulsory on the enriched curriculum, I enquired. Sheepishly she admitted that conkers are now against all the current health and safety guidelines for schools. But perhaps she and Iris could settle their differences with a pair of old chestnuts. Although the IICD would have to verify that neither projectile had been baked or soaked in vinegar.
During his first ever question time on June 11th the First Minister made a bit of a mix up when answering questions from the SDLP's Thomas Burns and Patsy McGlone. Both asked about the role of junior ministers in general, but the First Minister had been pre-briefed to fend off questions about his son's controversial remarks on gays. So he twice delivered answers on that topic anyway, even though they were non-sequiters.
Ian Paisley was on his feet again this morning, answering questions about the summer meeting of the British Irish Council. As ever, Ian Jr. sat by his father's side shuffling the papers the First Minister relied on to answer questions. However once again Ian Snr. hit a glitch, when his party colleague Ian McCrea asked about the progress that had been made on the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between the UK and the Irish Republic.
Somewhat surprisingly, the First Minister answered "all I can say to that is that is a matter for the individuals concerned, and I personally would like to see a good relationship between both parts of this island and without any potential claims of jurisdiction by either one of us. We are not claiming that the south of Ireland should be part of the UK and I think they shouldn't claim that we should be part of the Irish Republic and I think we have to keep this...this is not a place for arguing constitutional positions, it's a place for arguing the best things for the ordinary people that can benefit from them".
Just in case anyone is tempted to learn this paragraph by rote, so they can repeat it to a speed cop on the M1 somewhere near Balbriggan, it appears this is not the official position of the Stormont Executive in regard to southern penalty points. Subsequently the SDLP's Alex Attwood tacked a further enquiry about the points onto a question about the Irish Sea. With the proper paper work to hand, the First Minister replied that British and Irish officials were working to achieve mutual recognition of penalty points as soon as possible.
I am indebted to our Westminster correspondent, Ruth McDonald, for bringing my attention to a Westminster answer from the Secretary of State to the Conservative MP Mark Hoban, who enquired which periodicals the NIO subscribes to.
Few can have a problem with "Crime Reduction News". But "Homes and Gardens" and the "Ulster Tatler"?
But if anyone thinks the NIO is being spendthrift, they should scan up to an answer to the Liberal Democrat John Hemming who wants to know how many new ministerial red boxes the department has bought in the last five years. The NIO reveals that it has been recycling the same boxes for the past five years. And now we have devolution there's presumably nothing to put in the boxes, apart from back copies of "Homes and Gardens".
Bertie Ahern might think he's doing his bit for north south relations by organising here (I'm not convinced from a rather ambiguous news conference in the Stormont Great Hall whether the SDLP leader Mark Durkan welcomes this or not, given that some of his party still hanker after the Irish Labour Party).
But the DUP's Gregory Campbell has other things on his mind. During questions to the Tourism Minister Nigel Dodds, he wondered why some shops here backed by the Tourist Board sell standard "stage Oirish" shamrocks and shillelaghs, which a tourist could pick up (in the East Londonderry MP's words) in a "tip in Tipperary", when they could stock more local fare. His suggestions: Ulster Cottages, Red Hand Logos and the Mountains of Mourne (in miniature I presume).
He also made a reference to the "beauties of the north coast". Surely the DUP wouldn't consider selling them off?
The Stormont Press Corps is more used than most to discussing what should or should not be done about arms. But generally it's concerned paramilitaries and whether they will or won't destroy their weapons. I started today in the Stormont Long Gallery at a different kind of arms debate.
Amnesty International has compiled a survey of the range of NI based arms exporters. Amnesty's NI Director Patrick Corrigan told an audience which included MLAs such as Carmel Hanna, Dawn Purvis and Martina Anderson that he believes Northern Ireland is playing "an increasingly significant part in the global arms trade". He claims local companies are involved in arming regimes with "atrocious human rights records" such as Burma and Zimbabwe.
Amnesty wants Invest NI to apply human rights conditions to any support used to finance such exports. It
has also called for the Northern Ireland assembly to be given a role in retrospectively scrutinising export licenses granted to firms here manufacturing military security and police equipment. It believes the OFMDFM should report annually on the matter.
However the OFMDFM minister Ian Paisley Jr. takes a dim view. He argues that arms export licenses are a reserved matter and should remain so.
It's Monday which means we are again limbering up for another edition of Stormont Live at 2.35 this afternoon. The Education Minister Catriona Ruane faces questions on academic selection, amongst other issues. Sir Reg Empey and Nigel Dodds also face questions, although I think we will be off air before the Enterprise Minister takes to the despatch box. For those of you who have asked why we miss the first five minutes of question time the answer is that we have to get a slot whichj fits into the UK wide schedule, and 2.35 is the closest match we can get.
We now have a brand new, bright 'daytime TV' type set. This is a big change from our former pine set which resembled an old fashioned gentleman's club. The Stormont basement is a sleep inducing place at the best of times, but our old studio, with its comfy seats could have been marketed as a cure for insomnia. Once a 大象传媒 Newsline producer sitting in the programme gallery glanced around the monitors to check in the moments before the programme went on air that all the correspondents were ready to go. One could be seen studiously rehearsing his words, another appeared to be flossing his teeth, whilst I sat slumped in my Stormont chair fast asleep.
No danger of that in our bright new studio, however I have discovered another problem. It's very blue. And so are most of my shirts. Wearing a blue shirt in the blue studio makes you appear on screen like the Cheshire cat - a disembodied head. So last Monday I wore a lilac shirt. But when I came out everyone said it looked blue. On Tuesday I wore green. That worked, but some suspected I was making a political statement. Over the weekend I tried, and failed, to pick up some pink shirts (there is a severe shortage of 14.5 inch sizes out there). So today I am reduced to beige. Politically neutral, but what's the betting that on screen it looks blue?
Tomorrow's Inside Politics features the DUP MP Gregory Campbell and Sinn Fein's Daithi McKay debating the merits of public or private sector development of the Giants' Causeway. There's no meeting of minds on the visitor centre although both politicians agree that there should be more transparency surrounding donations to the local parties.
The Causeway will remain the centre of attention at Stormont next week - Daithi McKay is due to question Nigel Dodds on the matter on Monday, whilst the Tourism Minister and a host of interested parties face the Enterprise Committee on Tuesday. The Environment Minister Arlene Foster is due to face questions from her committee on Thursday.
Apart from discussing the visitor centre, I also get a question in about the emergence of a new unionist party. The gossip is that this will finally be unveiled next week, although Gregory Campbell tells me he's not worried about the prospect.
Inside Politics is broadcast at 12.45 on 大象传媒 Radio Ulster on Saturday.
Back on May 29th the Assembly debated the pressing issue of fuel poverty. Members began discussing the matter between 4.15pm and 4.30pm. Just after 5.45pm, members supported the Ulster Unionist motion "That this Assembly calls on the Minister for Social Development to review the strategy for the eradication of fuel poverty, particularly amongst pensioner households and households with children."
It's a bit surprising then that on the provisional order paper circulated amongst the parties for next Tuesday the UUP is wanting to debate exactly the same issue with exactly the same motion. The Alliance Deputy Leader Naomi Long has called on the Ulster Unionists to withdraw the motion immediately. 鈥淭here are so many groups lobbying local MLAs who want their concerns raised in the Assembly" she says "to be debating exactly the same motion again is disappointing and reflects very badly on those who proposed it. Whilst we recognise that it is vitally important to tackle the issue of fuel poverty, the UUP should not be proposing the same motion twice. I hope that this is merely an administrative oversight from the UUP, and not evidence that they have run out of fresh ideas so soon after the summer recess.鈥
Perhaps a substitute motion could be drafted in the style of the great baseball player Yogi Berra, who uttered the words " It's deja vu all over again".
UPDATE: The motion's proposer Roy Beggs Jr. says his party has deliberately brought this issue back to the Chamber because the Social Development Minister has failed to conduct the review called for in May. Strange they didn't change the wording of the motion to reflect this...
Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff wants to know what progress has been made on updating a study of obstacles to cross border mobility. He told a Stormont Committee that he had been contacted by a constituent who had just moved a couple of miles across the border from Strabane to Lifford. She asked the post office in Strabane to redirect her mail. When the mail arrived, including the woman's daughter's A level results, it was a week late and stamped "par avion". It's not clear which route it had taken but when I last checked Aer Lingus's renewed interest in Northern Ireland did not include a regular Strabane Lifford shuttle.
You might presume that all the officials in the Department of Finance and Personnel are number crunchers but some of them have to wrestle with problems which require more than a pocket calculator to resolve.
Today DFP officials briefed the Finance Committee on the Presumption of Death Bill, which is at an advanced stage of drafting. The bill follows representations from the families of those who disappeared during the troubles who have not been able to get death certificates for their loved ones leaving them in a state of legal limbo.
Following the precedent of a 30 year old Scottish law the officials are now preparing a bill which will not just provide the families of the disappeared with some solace but should also apply to cases of other missing people in the future.
In cases where there is compelling evidence to suggest someone has died, or the missing person has not been heard from for seven years, family members will be able to ask a court to declare the person to be presumed dead.
But what if someone comes back from the dead? The officials told the committee that in Scotland, where four or five declarations are made each year, that has only happened once in thirty years.
There are a few potential dilemmas. What happens if one family member wants someone declared dead but others are clinging on to the hope that they will return? And what happens to the property which has been passed on to your nearest and dearest if you resurface?
As things stand it's proposed the missing person will forfeit their estate if they don't reappear within five years of being declared dead. But then if you have just achieved resurrection it may be that you won't be too worried about what happened to your old record collection.
I finished work last night with a rushed edit of the Assembly debate on the Giants Causeway Visitor Centre so wasn't able to gather my thoughts on the matter for this blog. Now, a day later, the affair is still rumbling along, with Coleraine Council's opposition to the proposed private development. Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds have firmly rejected criticism of their decisions, and the private developer Seymour Sweeney says he has never met either minister, even though he clearly knows the DUP leader Ian Paisley and his son Ian Paisley Junior.
Mr Sweeney says he has never been a DUP donor, although he is a party member. In the rest of the UK this would be a matter of public record as political donations are declared to the Electoral Commission. Here parties will have to declare donations from the autumn of this year. But the Commission will not be allowed to publicise donors' names at least until 2010. This was at the request of some parties who were concerned that identifying their donors might place individuals in danger or discourage potential supporters.
However the fact that ministers from the local parties are now making decisions with major commercial implications puts this continuing lack of transparency in a different context to the days of direct rule when the legislation on party funding was initially drafted. Back In June 2006, at a hearing of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, I argued that it would be logical for the timetable for the public disclosure of political donations to be dovetailed with the return of devolution. I think recent events have strengthened that argument.
Stormont used to be called a "cold house" for Catholics. But there can be fewer assemblies any colder than the Nunavut Legislative Assembly, which governs the largest and newest territory of Canada.
The assembly governs the local Inuit people ( or if we are to be politically incorrect, the people who used to be known as Eskimos). Over the summer some intrepid Stormont officials made their way to Nunavut for a meeting of the Canadian Hansard Association.
Presumably the challenges of transcribing verbose politicians' words are much the same no matter what latitude you operate at. Perhaps the Nunavut clerks need thicker gloves. Dipping into their transcripts I think I've found one sentence from a legislator unlikely to be repeated at Stormont when Mr Mapsalak raised concerns about the increasing numbers of polar bears, a population which is "harvested by quite a few communities". "We are experiencing more invasions of polar bears into our community every year, and it is becoming a common
practice to have one or more defence kills in and around the community" Mr Mapsalak argues, and "we anticipate more defence kills since the population is growing."
I'm not sure what the nationalist/unionist take on polar bears is, although I can hazard a guess about what side of the argument the DUP's Jim Shannon might be on.
Although MLAs were sitting in committees last week, today had that 'first day at school' feeling with the politicians taking their seats in the Stormont chamber for the first time. Certainly the Speaker came over as a fairly strict headmaster, warning MLAs about the need for good behaviour. Then, during Ian Paisley's questions, Willie Hay had to warn some UUP members not to shout from their seats. This was after the First Minister had berated them over the growth in the staffing numbers at the OFMDFM during the Trimble era.
Ian Paisley's decision to stand aside from January as Free Presbyterian Moderator provoked some gentle ribbing from the SDLP's Alban Maginnis and the UUP's John McAllister, but nothing too memorable.
The Environment Minister Arlene Foster's inclination to back a private developer's proposal for a new Giants Causeway Visitor Centre provoked some criticism from nationalists. It will be interesting to see what they have to say for themselves when the matter is debated in the Assembly chamber tomorrow.
The day closed with some predictable sparring over Sinn Fein's proposal that Stormont should be able to raise or lower taxes - an idea described by the DUP's Peter Weir as "ill judged and ill conceived".
Five minutes to eight and I've just recorded a contribution to Good Morning Ulster which should be broadcast in around an hour's time. Off to Stormont soon, where the politicians have a busy day ahead of them - questions to Ian Paisley, Michelle Gildernew and Edwin Poots, an SDLP proposal for a West of the Bann economic taskforce, and a Sinn Fein suggestion that Stormont should get tax varying powers. The Scottish parliament got it, after it was supported in a referendum, but Scottish politicians have been wary of using their power to vary income tax by 3p in the pound, presumably for fear it won't go down well with the voters.
In Scotland the tax varying power has been dubbed the "tartan tax". Any suggestions for what we should call it if Stormont did get the same power?
And if you want to see Ian Paisley handling questions, most of his questiontime should be on 大象传媒1 at 2.35pm today when Jim Fitzpatrick and I return with a new series of Stormont Live. It isn't listed in all the papers, but it is on...
It's a Saturday and I'm in the office. But before there's a collective outpouring of sympathy, the real plaudits should go to Martina Purdy, political correspondent and occasional blog sitter, who stayed up until two o'clock in the morning standing outside the Martyrs' Memorial Church on the Ravenhill Road in Belfast waiting for the outcome of a meeting of Free Presbyterian Church elders. When the Free Ps left they told her that Ian Paisley would step down as moderator in January. It looks like a compromise move to avoid a split in the church over the Stormont power sharing deal. So who will succeed the Big Man? His son, Ian Kyle? Or the Reverend David McIlveen?
Does the church move have any wider political significance? The Secretary of State (or SOS for short) Shaun Woodward is my guest for Inside Politics which is broadcast at 12.45 on Radio Ulster. He has just told me that he's not concerned the Free Ps' decision will impact on the stability of the Stormont deal. He also says that an early election is "highly improbable" and links the willingness of local politicians to agree the transfer of policing and justice powers to their ability to attract economic investment.
I also ask him about Margaret Ritchie's October 9th deadline to the UDA. He appears to back her, but adds the caveal that "deadlines are a tool not an end in themselves."
The 大象传媒 Talkback programme provoked a response yesterday with its story about an East Belfast minister whose church was under siege from attacks by children. After waiting for the police to respond, the Reverend Charles McCartney took action himself by taking photos of the youngsters he believed were responsible. But instead of being commended for gathering evidence, the minister ended up being warned by the police about the dangers of taking photos of children.
The story spurred a fair bit of debate amongst listeners about where children's rights end and their responsibilities begin. That's just the kind of issue that the Bill of Rights Forum might have to wrestle with as it draws up proposals due to be published in March next year.
Despite the Orange Order's talk of "civil and religious liberties for all", unionists have traditionally been suspicious of the civil rights lobby, which they associate with nationalists and left wingers. But now the DUP's Nelson McCausland and others are taking part in the Rights Forum. This could make for some interesting 'tugs of war' with nationalists over questions like the right to march, gay rights, abortion and the whole debate over rights and responsibilities.
The forum's 28 members include politicians, trade unionists, employers and clergy who meet under the chairmanship of the Australian lawyer Chris Sidoti. They are looking for anyone with a view on what should be in a local Bill of Rights to get in touch.
Some of the recent debates over human rights here have been inexpicable to anyone outside a small clique of experts. Let's hope that the Forum follows the example of the American founding fathers and Eleanor Roosevelt who managed to produce declarations written in clear and elegant prose.
The six local players who helped broker the Helsinki agreement with a number of Iraqi parties worked together to make the discussions as positive as possible. But even in the world of peace making nothing is 100% smooth. The organisers brought some young Iraqi interpreters to Finland whose knowledge of English was excellent, but whose command of "Norn Iron" accents left something to be desired.
With Martin McGuinness chairing the proceedings in his Derry lilt, at one point a young female interpreter broke in "I cannot understand. Can you speak in an English accent, Mr McGuinness?"
The request produced some hilarity amongst the NI politicians, but the interpreter persisted "Lord Alderdice speaks very clearly, maybe he could translate?"
The Deputy First Minister saw the funny side. During a stopover in Manchester on his way home from Helsinki he texted his fellow negotiators that he and his party adviser and former IRA hunger striker Leo Green were "brushing up on our English accents".
At the weekend the 大象传媒 repeated Jim McDowell's programme about comedy during the bad old days "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way Through The Troubles". Then today an academic report found that people in Whiterock in West Belfast think things have got worse since the Good Friday Agreement. They are apparently missing the days when there was more of a sense of community cohesion and the paramilitaries supposedly kept drugs off the streets.
So are we about to get a wave of troubles nostalgia?
After Belfasty City Council last night criticised Sinn Fein's March for Truth because of the presence of replica guns, some republicans have been in touch with me today demanding an inquiry into another demonstration involving what looks suspiciously like firearms. Is it street theatre, they ask, or a threat to the peace process?
I spent most of today working on a story about Martin McGuinness, Jeffrey Donaldson, Billy Hutchinson, Lord Alderdice, Sinn Fein adviser and former IRA hunger striker Leo Green and public relations consultant Quintin Oliver talking to Iraqi factions about the lessons of Northern Ireland. The seminar took place in an undisclosed location in a Finnish forest. The discussions began on Friday and ended today.
But are our lessons relevant to a conflict on the scale of Iraq? Brigadier General Tauno Nieminen who worked for the Decommissioning Body thinks some might be
So does the former Secretary of State, Peter Hain
But on the American Prospect magazine site, there's an alternative view
Dedicated readers of this blog might remember that in July I wrote an entry about Alex Salmond, who was then pondering changing the title of his administration from Scottish Executive to Scottish government. Today my Scottish colleagues are reporting that he is going ahead with the rebranding at a cost of 拢100,000. He is quoted as saying that Northern Ireland is the only place where the word "executive" is used to describe a layer of government and most people don't know what it means.
So will Stormont follow suit, or will allegiances to the governments in Dublin or Westminster rule such a move out?
I'm 