Tuesday 10 January 2017

Burning, Earning, Yearning, Learning

"You'll make Martin McGuinness First Minister" has always been the DUP's line for keeping control of the Unionist vote.

But McGuinness is off at the age of 66, which is about how old you would now have to be to have had much involvement in the Troubles.

In fact, it is relatively young for that purpose. But it is still getting on a bit in general.

Sinn Féin will not have to struggle to find a candidate who had no such background. These days, it would have struggled to have found one who did.

Meanwhile, the DUP's candidate for First Minister will be either a hopelessly discredited and even ridiculous figure, or else a cobbled together substitute for that hopelessly discredited and even ridiculous figure.

The UUP, which has been quietly back on the rise for a while, is going to make significant gains. Other Unionist parties might also do so.

And Sinn Féin stands on the brink of becoming the single largest party in the Assembly, perhaps even doing so on St Patrick's Day.

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