The DUP's Peter Weir accused the UUP's David McNarry of picking up a crate of red herrings from some fishermen who visited Stormont this week. The exchange came during our recording of Inside Politics. The herring bone of contention was the local council shake up and the UUP prediction that it will pave the way towards the greening of Belfast.
If you want to hear the feisty debate tune in to BBC Radio Ulster at 12.45pm tomorrow.
Earlier this week I recorded an interview for National Public Radio in the USA about Hillary Clinton's claims to have contributed to peace in Ireland. I had to scratch my head to bring back the memories of covering her meeting in the "Lamplighter" with Joyce McCartan and other women from working class areas of Belfast. Also I recalled attending her "Vital Voices" lecture at the University of Ulster. I told NPR she had played a supportive role, but like anyone applying for a job, might be guilty of making the most of her CV. At that time I had not seen her quoted claim that she was "instrumental" in brokering peace. I see NPR quote me as describing the "Lamplighter" occasion as a bit "artificial" given the battery of cameras and reporters in the corner of the room Is "First Lady" A Foreign Policy Credential?
What I forgot to mention was a memory of my producer on the UU campus at Coleraine being told not to film the First Lady's legs as, allegedly, she didn't like her ankles being shown on TV. This was a whole decade before Carl Bernstein wrote about Hillary's ankles being thick in his biography of the Senator. Personally I have no view on what the physical attributes of any potential leader of the world's biggest super power should be. But my tip to Barack Obama is that if there is something he is sensitive about, don't make such a big deal of it that you flag it up to the press.
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I'm Mark Devenport, BBC NI's political editor, and I'll be blogging here on all things politics. For the latest updates across BBC blogs,
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