"to keep you and the Guardian's reader's abreast.."

Mick, I'm shocked at that second apostrophe, it's wrong.

Come on now let's make a good impression in front of the guests, I mean The Guardian is THE arbiter of correct usage of the English language.

I'm throwing no stones!

Great news! Congratulations on being picked up. Now if only they'd kick in a coupla quid toward the content you're providing.

And they're off...the next few weeks will be filled with furious political debate and one party trying to out promise the other to win votes all culminating in the big election on 5th May. This is when the future direction of Social Welfare, Taxation, Education and Health will be decided by the people everywhere in the UK but Norn Iron. Our politicians are too busy with "Blame Games", "Whataboutery" etc to tackle any real issues.They will stand for the usual rubbish and engage in the same old posturing and will we be any better off?? Not likely.

Btw someone should tell the Beeb Norn Iron has no devolution so they need to update their crib sheet already.

The BEEB's crib sheet shows that the last colony's future is a non-issue for the big three British parties. Conversely, it will be interesting to see how the three Unionist parties address the real election issues as dictated by Britain, the country they aspire to ape.

Barney,

Question from this American: What are the 3 Unionist parties? I only know the UUP and DUP.

Many nationalists would see the Alliance party as a Unionist party. The other 2 Unionist parties with Assembly representation are the PUP and the UKUP.

Very interesting "crib sheet" from the Guardian. Looks like I'd be a Lib Dem voter if I'd been born on the wrong side of the Irish sea!

Looks like I'd be a Lib Dem voter if I'd been born on the wrong side of the Irish sea!

Now paddy, don't be so hard on yourself ;)

The big 3 unionist paarties are, IMHO, DUP, UUP and Alliance. Admittedly Alliance like to hide their light under a bushel but they ain't foolin' nobody. The SDLP are also closet Unionists but could be relied on to do a smart about-face under the right conditions. Of course, creating 'the right conditions' is down to someone else. As things stand today they are happy enough to swear an oath of alegiance to the Queen of England while calaiming to be "100% for a 32 county Ireland". Squaring circles was never a problem to the stoops.

Barney,

Thanks for the clarification. Your "constitutional question" creates an endless puzzle for me as an American. I think we settled ours when the Confederate States of America were defeated in 1865.