The Dromore effect will soon wipe the grins off the Chuckle Brothers

FOR a brief moment last year it seemed Ian Paisley would defy Enoch Powell’s dictum that all political careers end in failure. At the grand old age of 81, he was at the height of his powers with prime ministers and presidents flattering him at every turn.

Commentators had churned out the dinosaur’s political obituary at the time of the Good Friday Agreement. He belonged to the past. Well, they were made to look very foolish.

Then it was said he was gravely ill, not long for this world. Instead, he rose again — proof, his staunchest supporters claimed, that he was on a mission from a higher power to ‘Save Ulster’.