More evidence Following Ken's Lead that Sinn Fein see Hugo Chavez's oil as the answer to our problems. Martina Anderson has travelled to Caracas to attend a conference organised by President Chavez to hear what she describes as "the hugely exciting developments which are taking place there", by which she means his policies on free health care and education and his "programme providing cut-rate heating oil for needy families in the US and other countries".
Martina's party colleague Willie Clarke wants the Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew to investigate the possibility of buying Venezuelan oil at a 20% reduction to fuel our fishing boats. Ms Gildernew says the local fleet should become more fuel efficient. She has no plans to investigate purchasing oil from Venezuela but declares herself ready to raise the matter with her ministerial colleagues in the future.
After his Argentinian dove shooting holiday, Jim Shannon has been concentrating on other forms of wildlife. If I was an animal and I heard Jim was asking written questions about me I'd be worried, very worried...
But on the face of it all Jim wants is a fresh survey of the local otter population (the last survey 5 years ago showed a 20% decline in their numbers) and tougher penalties for those who steal grouse chicks and eggs. So nothing to worry about there, then.
But if I were you, wildlife, I wouldn't start relaxing just yet. I hear whispers that the Strangford MLA is working on an extension of the shooting season which lasts until the end of this month. Jim thinks that, in future years, it should be extended into February.
Sammy Wilson didn't bring his newspaper back into the Assembly today, but he did bring a 1 foot 8 inches pile of written material he had received during the fortnight previous to the Christmas recess. He reckons that if you mutiplied this by a month and constructed a bookshelf which could take all the documents sent to all 108 MLAs, it would stretch from one side of Stormont to the other (around 365 feet).
Sammy thinks the Assembly could cut the amount of paper it gets through given that all the material can be accessed on the computer. The Deputy Speaker John Dallat took this on board but warned the East Antrim MP both about using visual aids and his use of imperial measurements. "We've gone metric" intoned the Deputy Speaker before taking another tome off his 111.252 metre bookshelf.
I'm 
