Absent Friends and Angel Delight
He was very much the "absent friend" at last weekend's DUP Conference - someone who Peter Robinson referred to as one of those who "once walked with us" but "strayed when the heat came on".
This weekend Jim Allister gets his chance to return fire at the TUV's first conference. The TUV will have its own absent friend, though. The party president, former East Londonderry UUP MP Willie Ross, booked his holiday long in advance of the conference. So he will be making his speech via video.
Last Tuesday on "Stormont Live" we had to make do with video version of the DUP's Nelson McCausland as the Speaker's one day ban on the North Belfast MLA prevented him from joining us in our Stormont studio. However for this weekend's "Inside Politics" both Jim Allister and Nelson McCausland apperaed in the flesh in front of me to argue the toss over the future of unionism and whether there is an alternative to the current mandatory coalition. You can listen to their debate on Inside Politics on Â鶹Éç Radio Ulster tomorrow at 12.45pm, or after that via the programme website.
My colleague Maggie Taggart has just handed me today's eleven plus paper, which begins with a comprehension piece about how to make bruschetta (do I detect a middle class bias, there?)
I predict a cooking theme in the coming days. Jim Allister's conference agenda comcludes with an advert for a recipe book "What's Cooking? Tempting and Unusual Variations of Traditional Recipes". Next week, at Stormont, another recipe book will be launched with contributions from our MLAs. It's in aid of Cancer Research. Who likes Angel Delight and who likes Chocolate Balls? More next week.
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