Those who believe Stormont is nothing but a talking shop take note. Talk may be cheap but Assembly crested cuff links are more expensive. A series of written questions from the Ulster Unionist Leslie Cree reveal the turnover and stock of the Stormont shop, on the right after you make your way through the famous revolving door.
Back in January 2006 the shop generated a measly £61.30, but by June of this year it had net sales of a whopping £4232.10.
There are plans afoot for new goodies to tempt both tourists and MLAs. They include new chocolates, an assembly tie-pin and a Stormont brooch. Subject to assembly commission approval, there's also a proposal for Stormont crested wine, although I'm not convinced the First Minister will be ordering a crate any time soon.
"You put your whole self in, your whole self out". If anyone wishes to provide an Irish or Ulster Scots translation of this, or indeed of the term "hokey cokey" I will look forward to publishing it.
Today's Irish language debate was predictable in the main but surprising in part. Sinn Fein Junior Minister Gerry Kelly broke new ground by addressing the chamber in Ulster Scots. The Alliance's Stephen Farry tried out his Irish. The Ulster Unionist Ken Robinson treated us all to a bit of German.
David McNarry had tabled the motion calling on Executive ministers to refrain from using Irish. He pioneered his own form of "hokey cokey", pointedly leaving the chamber when nationalists responded in Irish, in particular when Caral Ni Chuilin called him "Daithi". Both Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff and Alban Maginnis raised his behaviour, and the Speaker Willie Hay has agreed to give a ruling on whether the "hokey cokey" is out of order.
P.S. The prize for shooting yourself in the foot has to go to the Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy who, in taking a crack at the Alliance's Stephen Farry, said his contribution showed people in Bangor can't spell. He quickly clarified that he was only referring to some people in Bangor. But this didn't stop Barry McElduff pointing out that Bangor was the only place where the UUP still has a Westminster seat. How much longer if the voters find out the party thinks they can't spell?
During question time yesterday, the First Minister indicated that if he could he would like to limit Freedom of Information enquiries aimed at the Executive. "On occasions" Ian Paisley argued "the requests are of a wide-ranging and detailed nature that requires many hours of research, and are sent in by lazy journalists, who will not do any work, but who think that we should pay them and give them the information that they want."
The SDLP's Declan O'Loan pointed out that he has been using Freedom of Information to probe the Causeway Visitor's Centre story, but the First Minister was spared from detailed questioning on that score when the Speaker ruled Mr O'Loan's digression out of order.
Of course, unlike "lazy journalists" the politicians don't always have to resort to FoI requests as they have their own system of Stormont written questions. The First Minister was unable to answer the Ulster Unionist Sammy Gardiner's question about how much supplying an answer to an MLA's enquiry cost. Back in 2002, Ruth Kelly estimated the average cost of a Westminister written answer at £75, when raising the maximum cost limit to £600.
Since May 8th the Education Minister Caitriona Ruane had had to deal with the most written questions (344), followed by the Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy (263) and the Health Minister Michael McGimpsey (251). The minister least in demand by his fellow MLAs has been Peter Robinson at Finance. He's dealt with only 86 questions.
I'm 
