If the Executive does collapse…if Stormont does collapse….what exactly is the next stage? Direct Rule from Westminster….but I think there might well be a local dimension.

Perhaps a ten-person Commission to oversee things and give a veneer of respectability to London’s decisions.

It would be the ultimate undemocratic quango.

The Great and the Good…who hang about the Long Gallery at Stormont nibbling on vol-au-vents and posing for photographs that appear in the Ulster Tatler. The generous salary for colaboration would almost be worth sitting thru a Platform for Change event.

The usual suspects  from LetsGetAlongerism…who would rush forward to serve us in our time of crisis. We salute their indefatiguability and thank them for their service.