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This week I joined the ranks of the many citizens of Belfast and beyond who have been ‘parked in’ at their home and discovered over the course of an extraordinary four hours that there is literally nothing you can do about it — even if you really do need to get out as soon as possible.
Amid the euphoria and novelty of the last week at Stormont – coronations, partnerships, allocations of offices, distribution of limousines, keys to the Executive washroom – I have to confess to being a little disappointed.
Ten long months ago this column said that if Sir Jeffrey Donaldson got the Windsor Framework through the DUP party machine he could become one of the great historic unionist leaders. This week he took a major step towards that accolade. Now he just has to finish making some significant changes to his party’s mindset.
The first response we might be expected to have to the extraordinary interview given by Pedro Donald, owner of the Sunflower Bar, on his decision to leave Northern Ireland for a new life in Amsterdam is to try and talk him down.
A candidate for town council dropped out of the race last week amid a hearing challenging whether she met the residency requirements.