As you can imagine, the past few weeks have been pretty busy and I am a bit exhausted. I have been ordered by my wife and several of my girlfriends to take a break for 48 hours.

So if you post a comment on anything, I apologise that I may not reply for a while.

I will however leave you with two thoughts on the election. The dust has not even settled on this election and people are using the stats to determine the next election. It is of course an interesting exercise. But it is not POLITICAL analysis …it is MATHEMATICS.

One of the issues many have with Slugger O’Toole is the apparent inability to accept any election result. It is always about the next one. This reduces Politics to the level of a spectator sport. It deserves better. Any analysis by eminent academics projecting 2016 results on to 2017 Election….turned out to be rubbish.

Let us all take a moment to congratulate UUP on their sixteen seats and sympathise with SDLP on their seven seats and falling behind the Alliance Party and their ten seats.

The voters voted. Analysts presume to second guess the voters. Apparently it is not good enough to listen to the electorate, we must explain that they did not really mean to vote how they did. The arrogance is all-too believable.

Another point. Lending your vote to another Party …or voting til you boke ….is dangerous. A political party craves your vote (and transfer).  “Lend us your vote” they say but as soon as the vote is counted, the Party that sought it will forget your misgiving. It will be seen simply as an endorsement.

Anyway….see you in 48 hours.