The importance of minutes
It's worth checking out Ogden's comment on Executive Showdown 2 as I think his quote from "Yes, Prime Minister" is the most salient comment so far on the great Margaret Ritchie Stormont minutes controversy.
Today on Talkback, Sir Reg Empey rode to Margaret's defence on his white charger, although it might be a more potent intervention if he could find those notes which he left somewhere around his house. Sir Reg is a DIY fanatic so the notes are probably buried under a pile of rubble.
On tomorrow's Inside Politics, I suggest to the SDLP Leader Mark Durkan that the only way to go is to tape all future Executive meetings. He tells me that it may come to that. The Executive table doesn't have microphones, but I wonder if any of those note takers had a dictaphone running?
Aside from the technicalities, I do get around to asking Mr Durkan a few other questions, like whether he is contemplating marching into opposition.
The programme is on at 12.45pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster tomorrow.
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Thank you, Mark.
It is rare for anyone to think that an intervention/contribution of mine is salient, even if only indirectly (i.e. the quote is Sir Humphrey's).
Still, I find it amazing the implications of Sir Reg's defence. That means that a unionist is jointly alleging with a nationalist that republicans and other unionists are engaged in a conspiracy together to stitch things up. Looking back through history: who would have ever thought that such a combination of sides would ever happen?
This better drama than anything the telly has to offer.
Will Sinn Fein/DUP be decomissioning all other ministerial posts?
Is Sinn Fein/DUP going to put all other ministerial posts verifiably beyond use?
It's like David Healy's non-goal against Arsenal early on in the season.
The ball quite clearly crossed the line, but the official record will show that at no time during the game did David Healy score.
In reality, the ball crossed the line. Officially it didn't.
The analogy ends there. Maragaret Ritchie was not the victim of poor refereeing, she was the victim of bully-boy politics led by the DUP, a party that is letting down its voters every chance it gets.
Their voters are impressed by principle, backbone, common sense and a seeming inability to even spell 'corruption'.
Then came causeway-gate and now this ungodly row.
If I was a DUP voter I would be getting very confused by now.