Alliance Party conference: Naomi fights flu, but Alliance in good health
"This is real flu," said Naomi Long, "not man flu."
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"This is real flu," said Naomi Long, "not man flu."
Day seven of the talks and, so far, little sign of progress.
There were hugs and handshakes as Northern Ireland’s Assembly members met for the first time since the election.
Hearty laughs have not exactly been easy to come by during our short, sharp Assembly election campaign.
It’s not every day the Alliance Party leader makes a point of bolstering her DUP counterpart.
Lots of little, and some not so little, decisions by our politicians will be coming to light over the weeks ahead.
It wasn’t just what she said; it was at least as much about the way she said it.
The weekend’s DUP conference took place almost a month sooner than usual - and could be even earlier next year.
The councillor who led a wave of resignations from Sinn Fein has broken his silence to accuse the party of throwing Daithi McKay "under the bus".
Unionists now have 56 of the 108 seats in the Assembly - yet far from providing reassurance, the result is likely to intensify inter-party rivalry in Stormont.
Arlene Foster can take some time this weekend to savour the personal triumph this election represents, even if all the votes aren't counted yet. Just six months after taking over from Peter Robinson she has secured the DUP's position as the prime force in unionism, and...
Government teetering towards collapse...stalemate and grand-standing....crisis talks and edge-of-cliff negotiations....”nothing agreed until everything is agreed”
It is, of course, the party made for sharing. Alliance types share everything, not just their much beloved ‘shared future’.
A senior civil servant from Wales is to referee the public fallout between a senior Assembly official and a DUP MP, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
Jim Allister strides up to his conference podium to the strains of 'I Won't Back Down'.
Britain’s most powerful trade union chief has warned against the impact of a lower rate of Corporation Tax which now forms the core of the Executive’s future job-seeking strategy.
Q. With hindsight, how did the Victims and Survivors Service (VSS) get into such an absolute mess?
The 2015 general election has been slated as one of the nastiest in memory with allegations of dirty tricks, slurs and a lack of courtesy in victory.
If it's possible to be quietly cock-a-hoop, that was the mood music emanating from within the DUP early today.
South Belfast is a very tough constituency to call. The failure of the DUP and Ulster Unionists to include the area in their electoral pact - and decision of Sinn Fein to run a candidate this time - renders an already fairly fluid mix even more unpredictable.
Northern Ireland is well used to short trips from David Cameron.
Gary Hart was expected back in Northern Ireland for a party. Instead he's here again because the parties can't agree.
There were hugs and handshakes the day Jenny Palmer met Peter Robinson to try to sort out the long-running public row involving senior party adviser Stephen Brimstone.
It was all meant to so different. Northern Ireland's 11 new super councils which finally come into being next month were designed to usher in a new era of co-operation.
For almost two years as politicians bickered it was left to the PSNI to investigate international drug trafficking, child exploitation, money laundering and human trafficking amid other offences crossing national and international boundaries.
For almost two years, as Stormont politicians bickered, it was left to the PSNI to investigate international drug trafficking, child exploitation, money laundering and human trafficking amid other offences that paid no heed to national and international boundaries.
It’s not every day you have the Opposition leader in your own backyard.
Lessons on the meaning of giving and goodwill to all along with carols are commonplace at Christmas time.
The tone is tongue-in-cheek, with that brazen, caustic wit that Jeremy Paxman has made his trademark.
So far it looks as if the Stormont multi-party meetings amount to little more than talks about talks.
A female former politician has claimed that women MLAs were treated with disdain, demeaned and humiliated "incessantly".
More than 11,000 street lights are out across Northern Ireland - and this could have implications for public safety, an Executive minister has warned.
To be fair to him, Mike Nesbitt says he is attempting something new in the way we do politics here.
They may not be on the best of terms right now, but Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness are at least, at last, answering some questions.
For some time now it has been evident that Sinn Fein brings all major decisions to its ard-chomhairle in Dublin. The party's national executive gives its verdict and, it would seem, Sinn Fein MLAs in the Assembly can only ratify them.
It is only three months since Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness missed out on a World Cup football trip because of priorities back home.
Speaker William Hay is to return to the Assembly in the near future - for the purposes of standing down.
The DUP likes to characterise itself as a "family". But everyone knows how dysfunctional families can be. In such terms, Edwin Poots came across yesterday as the churlish, angry adolescent.
Stormont's deadlock over the introduction of welfare reforms has intensified with MLAs split down the middle.
An attack on the "tartan terror tactics" of the Scottish National Party by a former DUP minister has been referred to the Assembly's Speaker.
The DUP and Sinn Fein have joined forces to defeat an Ulster Unionist demand for a new budget and revised blueprint for government at Stormont.
You would imagine things are on the gloomy side up at Stormont right now. And for the most part you'd be right.
The prospect of a re-drawing of the St Andrews Agreement has shone a spotlight on how Stormont is governed now. Noel McAdam looks at its current complicated mechanisms... and how they could change.
Political Correspondent Noel McAdam examines how we are being governed since devolution was restored following the St Andrews Agreement of 2006 and some of the main proposals on the table for change.
When it comes to power being shared out, the DUP priority has always been to grab hold of the purse-strings.
The Ulster Aviation Society can consider itself collateral damage – an unwitting pawn in the middle of an increasingly bitter political row.
As they head for their 11-week recess, MLAs are opting for no change at Stormont – at least in how they organise themselves.
Imagine you're in a meeting and the boss – followed by the deputy boss – walk out. Not only depart, but quit in quite a huff. And then the meeting goes on, without them.
So you think there is no good news coming out of Stormont? The corridors of power-sharing were certainly filled with foreboding this week with staffers admitting: "This place could still fall apart."
Even at this late stage people can be forgiven if they are unsure about which council they are voting for next week – assuming they are coming out to vote at all.
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