WHAT used to be striking about Sinn Féin-DUP government was that it happened at all.
What is most striking about our new, exclusive Sinn Féin-DUP government is its coordinated choice of departments, with the d'Hondt process now just an outline to negotiations.
These are two parties that can accommodate their separate agendas, even if they barely have a common agenda.
The strong impression of portfolios simply being swapped over is to some extent explained by a slimmed-down executive but it also follows the example of permanent secretaries, the top civil servants in Stormont departments, who regularly swap posts.
Assembly committees have often accused them of doing this to avoid the blame for past mistakes.
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The SDLP's first act of `constructive opposition' was to denounce the appointment of the justice minister as a case of "no nationalists need apply". The recruitment of independent unionist Claire Sugden is certainly unorthodox but it is not anti-nationalist, let alone sectarian. It is anti-republican, which is not the same thing and which is also not entirely unwarranted.
How much trouble would Stormont be in if there had been a Sinn Féin justice minister during last summer's IRA-linked murders? An official report claiming Sinn Féin is run by the army council was reaffirmed by the chief constable only this month. The lack of fuss from Sinn Féin over this latest justice fudge suggests it accepts the DUP's `difficulty'. Besides, the only other nationalists who could apply are the SDLP - and they went into opposition before there was a vacancy.
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So farewell then to the Alliance Party, which has at last become culturally Catholic enough to enter purgatory. It had a strong hand relative to its size at executive negotiations, thanks to the last justice fudge, but it overplayed this to a ludicrous extent and is now both out of power and out of formal opposition, being too small to qualify for either. Alliance has published its demands in the belief they are self-evidently reasonable but they were still politically impossible. Restricting petitions of concern to matters of identity, the conflict and the Good Friday Agreement, for example, would have prevented the DUP from blocking same-sex marriage and put Sinn Féin on the spot over abortion - so it was never going to happen. Tellingly, Claire Sugden had the wit to back down on both issues as soon as her job offer firmed up.
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Questions have been asked about how Sinn Féin finance minister Mairtin O Muilleoir will cope with imminent budget cuts. If his time as a Belfast city councillor is any guide he will cope magnificently. O Muilleoir was the driving force behind the council's 2012 three-year `investment programme', which turned a £7m rates hike into £150m of alleged capital spending by including every penny anyone was thinking of spending in Belfast, whether the council was responsible or not, then adding more that might be "levered in", then putting it all in a 40-page glossy brochure with incomprehensible updates in the council magazine. Occasional protestations from the press that this was all a load of nonsense were met with wounded denial.
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If Stormont wants to cut corporation tax, it would need to get a move on. The European parliament has just beefed up proposals from the European Commission to stop member states setting rates below 15 per cent. Stormont wants to match the Republic's rate of 12.5 per cent. The rest of the proposals seek to penalise multinational tax avoidance, which could make emulating the south beside the point. Of course, Brussels moves very slowly - but Stormont can be even slower.
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The refurbishment of Belfast's Obel tower is to address the issue of its windows, which were not tinted as shown in original publicity, causing a host of internal and external problems. Plastic film will be applied to reflect 80 per cent of heat in summer and retain 39 per cent in winter, while enhancing aesthetics and privacy. The fact that such improvements can be achieved so easily only highlights how fortunate Ireland's tallest building was to be signed off in the first place. Put the wrong window in a loft conversion and building control can stop you selling your house. Build an extension that looks different to your drawing and the planners can make you knock it down.
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The general perception of motorbike racing is of good-natured crowds watching nature's gentlemen, so there is some surprise at the online vitriol the writer Malachi O'Doherty has received after suggesting public bodies should stop supporting the North West 200, where casualties seem grimly inevitable. Although O'Doherty's proposal was merely to stop sponsoring danger, in a world where every other danger is banned or taxed, it has earned him a barrage of violent threats and language. This is a reminder that for all the complaints about `fleggers' and `Shinnerbots', online political discourse in Northern Ireland is usually quite civilised. For real abuse on the internet, you need to write about sport.
