The health service here is on its knees, GP surgeries are closing through lack of doctors, a hospital has lost nine consultants in the past year, funding for special educational needs teachers has been halved, while loyalist paramilitary flags have sprouted in various unwelcome locations.
But the good news, from the DUP, TUV and UUP, is that work on a stone to mark Northern Ireland’s centenary has been completed and will be placed at Stormont – where no other work is being done – with a public unveiling planned for later this summer.
Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the logo that used to grace the opening credits of Scene Around Six back in the day, the grey stone, which carves out the six counties from the rest of the island, also has the disturbing look of a headstone. That’s starting to seem a tad appropriate.
Those who’ve been missing more in the saga of Harry and Meghan can hardly believe their luck with the latest plot twist, where our 'hero' returns from California to take on the British tabloid press – specifically the Daily Mirror stable.
It can’t really be argued that the popular press hasn’t had it in for Harry from the start. He was ginger, he was 'the spare', with no proper job after he left the army and he kept getting into trouble, so he was worth the pursuit.
No wonder his first serious girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, ran for the hills after her experience of being shadowed by reporters and photographers every time she left the house. It seemed a bizarre rite of passage for potential royal spouses, to see how they handled the pressure.
Harry had to suffer seeing his youthful indiscretions, including drug-taking, drunken brawls, naked billiards in Las Vegas and dressing up in a Nazi uniform all making front page news.
Who wouldn’t be angry, especially when he believed his mother was hounded to her death by the attentions of the paparazzi?
But believing his phone was hacked and actually having evidence to prove it is quite different.
The press can point to lots of different sources, many of them the palace staff who Harry has blamed in the past for leaking unfavourable stories about him.
But in a contest between Harry and Piers Morgan, it’s hard to root for the press.
“Firstly, are you OK?” asked Holly Willoughby, mustering the sort of sincerity last seen on Bob Monkhouse’s gob. It was her first day back on the This Morning sofa, after the “trauma” of the past week involving her erstwhile co-host, Phillip Schofield.
Holly told us she felt “shaken, troubled, let down and worried”. You might think Phil had been revealed as a serial killer, and not someone who’d had an extra marital affair with the office junior and then lied about it. Worse. He’d lied to our Holly.
It had become a subject of national importance – apparently. And the stand-ins for the pair were breaking down on live TV with the emotion of it all. Holly felt their pain – and ours too, but added “what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and well-being of everyone".
Oh, the mocking on social media was fierce. But probably the best response ever came from the Irish author, John Banville, who tweeted: “No, Holly, I’m very much not okay. The novel is dead and Colm Tóibín still thinks it’s his birthday and hasn’t left my house in two days.”
The steady sunshine of the past week makes Belfast almost look like a different place, very nearly continental, with pavement cafes bustling and parks full of people strolling and sunbathing.
Last Saturday night, we had a fantastic meal at the Mourne Seafood restaurant in the city centre, where the atmosphere was buzzing.
Concertgoers to the Lionel Richie gig at Ormeau Park were flowing onto the road as we made our way home on the bus. Then they all started to get on the same bus, which soon started to resemble that scene in the Marx Brothers movie where everyone crowds into a tiny ship’s cabin.
Should there not have been extra buses to make sure those hundreds of fans could get their way home? Nope. Instead, just pack everyone like sardines into the one regular bus.
Then have it followed up the road by another totally empty vehicle with a 'not in service' sign on the front. Genius.
