THE UK's Brexit negotiator, Frosty the No Man, has come up with another stick to beat the EU with, just as they were about to announce a raft of proposals to mitigate the worst effects of the NI protocol.
The Europeans, who must wish they had never allowed les rosbifs into their club, planned their olive branch announcement for Wednesday.
So Lord Frost, who is to diplomacy what King Herod was to childcare, decided to put the boot in the day before.
He went to Portugal to make his speech complaining that they had been effectively coerced into signing the deal in the first place and demanded an end to the role of the European Court of Justice in arbitrating the EU law that applies in Northern Ireland.
This was not the issue troubling businesses here and in GB, but sure, who cares?
The sheer brass neck of the man is staggering, and a bruised Brussels must be now wondering if the French were right to oppose any attempts at rapprochement. Perfidious Albion, comment allez vous?
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THERE'S nothing like a good read while you're on holiday. So I'm sure Boris Johnson is lying on a hammock at his rich chum's Marbella villa, glued to the 150 page Commons report on his government's early handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Described as one of the worst public health failures in UK history, it said ministers and their scientific advisers, took a "fatalistic" approach which exacerbated the death toll and led to undue delays in imposing lockdown. Its test and trace system was "chaotic" and care homes were left unprotected.
Boosterish Boris is hoping the undoubted success of the vaccine rollout will disguise the obvious shortcomings of his response by the time he gets around to a full enquiry into the Covid saga, which won't be anytime soon.
Maybe they'll be too distracted by gas price surges, disruption of petrol supplies, empty shelves and labour shortages instead? Pass the suncream, Carrie.
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DEAR Doug,
You are a definite improvement on Submarine Steve as leader of the Ulster Unionists. Your party political broadcast was probably meant well but the girl playing camogie and the Irish dancers at your party conference don't really cut it as respect for Irish culture while you still have a blind spot on the Irish language. Just saying.
And while we're about it, you dug yourself into a very deep hole when you refused to answer a question that should be easy if you believe in democracy. That also apparently defeats the DUP, despite its name.
If Sinn Féin emerge from the next election as the largest party, would you nominate a Deputy FM? Yes, if you respect the wishes of the electorate.
You didn't answer Mark Carruthers who was nearly morphing into Jeremy Paxman with Michael Howard, when he asked you the same question repeatedly while you wriggled in discomfort. It got worse on Good Morning Ulster a day or two later.
Here's a tip, Doug. This question is going to dog you for the next 20 interviews until you answer it. Journalists are like that. They can smell fudge and obfuscation, and so can voters.
You have a reputation as a straight talker. It's time you started thinking straight too.
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WHEN I went back to work after suffering a miscarriage at 10 weeks, many years ago, I was opening mail at the newsdesk when a press release from a pro-life organisation dropped out of the envelope.
It featured a full colour picture of parts of an aborted foetus, including a graphic description of the procedure and what it did, limb by limb, to the embryo.
I was so upset I initially considered contacting the organisation to point out the distress they caused. But I decided they didn't care.
Some years later in Belfast city centre, I had to shield my children's eyes as they passed a demonstration from the same group. This time the ghastly pictures of dismembered foetuses were blown up to placard size.
People on both sides undoubtedly feel strongly about abortion or the right of women to choose. It is an emotive argument.
But do you win your case if you need to force distressed women to run a gauntlet of abuse when they try to access services that you don't agree with?
The right to protest is a hard won civil right. But running after a young pregnant woman, shouting "Don't kill your baby" goes beyond human decency.
If it needs legislation to stop it, the Assembly should pass it. Well done Claire Bailey, for making a start.
