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.
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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 BBC1 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...
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