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 £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.
I'm 
