Wasn't the point of whole political process to take the gun out of Irish politics, as John Hume used to put it?
Interesting then to see that amongst the first four written questions tabled by our Assembly members was this one from the DUP's Jim Shannon.
"To ask the Minister of the Environment what discussions she and her Department have had about extending the shooting season until the end of February."
The Minister, Arlene Foster, replied that she hadn't had any such discussion, but was open to discuss the suggestion with Mr Shannon.
So further to my last comment, the DUP's Sammy Wilson did a typically knockabout turn in the chamber on the topic of Sinn Fein ministers being neither here, nor there. During an exchange with the East Antrim MP, Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd clarified that his colleague Fra McCann had NOT submitted a motion talking about Northern Ireland. Instead Sinn Fein maintains their original wording was changed by the Stormont Business Office.
All this has shades of the old Kevin McAleer sketch about a football match in which "the Province" plays "the Mainland". In the chamber, MLAs played it for laughs but it will be interesting to see if these old terminological traps undermine the "compartmentalisation" of old style politics by Executive ministers which I've noted previously.
It's "location, location, location" day at the Assembly as our MLAs discuss affordable housing, delays in planning and opening up vacant properties. But the location which made headlines this morning is this place, where we live, God's Own Country, if you know what I mean...
If you don't, then let me explain that unionists are not impressed by a memo from the Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy telling his staff how he wants this wee part of the world to be described. It's not "Northern Ireland", but "the North" or "here". "Londonderry" is "Derry" and the "Irish Republic" is "all Ireland".
Conor says it's not a republican diktat but just an attempt to explain to staff what language he would feel comfortable using in correspondence and statements going out under his name. However the memo on the topic also says such language should be used in submissions from officials to the minister.
The DUP's Gregory Campbell says its "puerile" and "absurd". One thing is for sure. Conor hasn't been discussing his terminological exactitude with his colleague Fra McCann, whose motion on vacant properties is just about to be debated in the chamber. The motion notes that "some 36,000 homes lie empty across Northern Ireland". "Northern Ireland"? Surely Fra means there are such homes dotted here, there and everywhere.
I'm 
