THE Collins Dictionary's word of the year is 'Permacrisis', which it defines as "an extended period of instability and insecurity". Naturally everyone thinks of the chaos at Westminster that has seen five Prime Ministers come and go in a matter of years and four chancellors in four months. And that's not to mention Covid, a tanking economy, war in Europe and climate disaster.
But it equally could have been coined especially to describe Northern Ireland's political state for the last two decades. Since it began in 1998, the Assembly has been in suspension five times, the latest in 2017, when the late Martin McGuinness pulled the plug over the RHI scandal.
That stand-off lasted three years, because the DUP reneged on a deal it had reached with Sinn Fein after 12 months. It hasn't sat since it was elected in 2021, as the DUP won't play because of the NI protocol, yet the current Secretary of State believes another election is a great idea. Over here, a snap election means it's like the card game – snap, it's the same result you had last time.
Whether it's true that former SoS Julian Smith, one of the few who seems to know what he's talking about, has had a word in Rishi Sunak's ear to stall is not clear. But the date of a poll is still shrouded in mystery.
Violence – or the threat of it – loves a vacuum. And so the LCC, fronted by the lugubrious David Campbell, which represents terror groups including the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando, put out a letter warning loyalists could "lash out in unproductive ways" if there's a sniff of joint authority.
Then it was claimed that a loyalist attack on an Irish government target was only called off after the NIO's assurance there were no such plans.
Sir Jeffrey was more concerned about putting the boot into QUB professor Colin Harvey for using the university's logo when he launched a booklet setting out the case for Irish unity.
The same logo appeared when he turned up to address unionists at the university some months earlier, but sure that's different.
Sir Jeffrey also found time to say the protocol had caused delays to heart surgery – a claim described as "without substance" by the Belfast Trust. Then he said he meant the Southern Trust, who also demolished his claims.
But who needs substance when you can instead wind up loyalists with spurious claims that their British identity is under threat because of post-Brexit customs regulations, not to mention it causing rising prices?
The latter claim is not borne out by the Office of National Statistics figures, but no matter. We didn't need experts during the whole Brexit debate and we don't need facts now either.
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The utter pointlessness of the violence that has plagued our history is perfectly summed up in the powerful documentary Lyra, currently showing at Queen's Film Theatre. The young journalist and author Lyra McKee was shot dead by republican dissidents during a riot in Derry in 2019. News of her death came through on another Good Friday morning, 21 years to the day after the peace agreement was signed. She was the 160th person killed in conflict-related incidents since 1998.
How many more do we need?
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JUST when you thought the Tories couldn't get more ridiculous, the absurd Matt Hancock, the Health minister forced to resign after breaking his own Covid guidelines when he was caught on film groping his mistress, has signed up for I'm A Celebrity.
Deciding to fly to Australia to take part in a reality programme while parliament is sitting, and an enquiry into the Government's handling of the pandemic is under way, is not a good look so he has lost the party whip.
A spokesman for Sunak said the PM believed that at a challenging time for the country MPs should be working hard for their constituents, whether that's in the House or their constituency. Strangely, this was not expected of Boris Johnson, who was recently sunning himself in the Dominican Republic instead of looking after the people of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. But then rules don't apply to him.
The best line about Hancock was from the deputy chair of the West Suffolk Conservative Association, Andy Drummond, who said : "I'm looking forward to him eating a kangaroo's penis. You can quote me on that."
