First Minister on his last legs,so stand by for the political fireworks

ARE those Northerners sick, you might well ask? Their vital political institutions might be on the brink of collapse and what are they doing? Laughing their heads off, that’s what.

It’s entirely characteristic. Through 30 years of pointless, murderous violence, the people of the North remained grimly cheerful and that gallows humour has been much in evidence this past week.

In fairness, though, you would need to be a particularly humourless person not to listen to the spoof version of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Here’s to you, Mrs Robinson’ without allowing yourself at least a smile. Sung in the style of gospel artist-cum-DUP politician Willie McCrea and complete with lyrics about Exodus Chapter 20 and Iris Robinson “munching sausages behind Lock Keeper’s cottages”, it has become an instant YouTube hit.