It’s not the economy stupid, but who is going to be First Minister

AND herein lies the North’s problem. The public sector grew so large when the Northern Ireland Office was running a virtual war economy that no party dares put it up to NIPSA, the public sector trade union and one of the last communist refuges between Havana and Pyongyang.

Because Northern politics doesn’t cleave on normal left-right lines and because civil servants come in all shapes and sizes (and religions), no one dare says “boo”.

The unionist parties are scarcely any different. Relations between the UUP (“DUP-SF cuts”) and the DUP — which does a subtle line in blaming the Brits too — are especially venomous when it comes to National Health Service closures.