A year ago today I set off for my week's holiday in Paris.  Before I left I spoke with the UUP's Alex Kane by phone and we discussed the ongoing refusal of Sinn Fein/IRA to work devolved government due to their childish fit of pique over the devolution of polcing and justice 'powers' (in reality it is nothing more than transferring the budget from London to Belfast as the police will retain operational independence).  On Tuesday I depart for two and a half weeks to India, and I'm wondering whether I'll be having a similar conversation one year on.

Sinn Fein/IRA are once again behaving like Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles (the scene when he couldn't find his 'froggy' in the bath).  Instead of the bearded barman or the butcher of Londonderry, this time we had a relatively insignificant hick in the form of 'national' chairman, Declan Kearney, wheeled out to make the customary threats.  He message that the political process will go into 'free fall' unless those power are devolved is just another example of how Irish republicans can both misread and misinterpret an agreement they signed up to.

This is not about the principle of sharing power with former IRA terrorists and whether those same terrorists should one day have that budget withing their grasp.  Regular visitors to ATW will be well versed in my opinions on both matters.  No, this is about the republican movement effectively lying to the rubbish that consitutes its support base in claiming that pressure would be brought to bear on Unionists in the event of slow progress towards policing and justice devolution.  The St Andrews Agreement makes no such provision.  It states categorically that it is for the parties of the Assembly - collectively - to determine when the move should take place.  Although I have no time for the DUP since they reneged on their promise never to share power with terrorists, on this matter I entirely agree with Peter Robinson. 

So what could the Provo excusers do?  Collapse the Assembly?  In a re-election atmosphere where the DUP could effectively claim it had called Sinn Fein's bluff it is highly unlikely to suffer the same haemorrhaging of support to the TUV as we witnessed back in June.  Ergo, it is more than likely that the DUP would again return as the largest party.  So where do the Shinners go then?  Bleating to the Republic's government who are busily trying to prop up their basket case of a country?  Bleating to the Americans who've just, yet again, experienced the reality of terrorism (make no mistake, Ft Hood was a terrorist attack in all but name) within their borders?

Sinn Fein have been brought up in an atmosphere of making threats whenever they couldn't get their own way fast enough.  Nearly twelve years after the Belfast Agreement and with completely different circumstances, dometically and globally, prevailing, such childishness no longer works.  It didn't work a year ago and it won't work now!

He happened to be Muslim, like thousands of others who have served their country with honor.

One can recognize the real dangers of radical Islamic terrorists without having to resort to slandering an entire people.   I don't recall too many of the armchair warriors of ATW taking a leave of absence from blogging to serve in the wars they advocate, do you?  Corporal Khan made the supreme sacrifice, and among the things he died for was the freedom of speech for those who would use it to label him disloyal based merely upon his religious beliefs.  Perhaps, if they had the capacity to reflect upon his sacrifice, they would be less quick to sterotype all Muslims.           

"Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire Thursday, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. "

All very well but surely the BIG issue, the one which really concerns the BBC for example, is to ensure that Muslims are not discriminated against by those racist whites.

So, before the witching hour, a song from me to finish my first week back!

"I understand" says Brown, "But we'll be voted out soon anyway."

There's one way to find the truth - give her a bowl of Bombay Mix and see if she pulls a face.

We have a public sector awash with printed cash, and a private sector squeezed by broken banks.

 - John Redwood

Finally, the dirty secret is out there. If you thought the Bank of England's counterfeiting of our currency is intended to keep inflation up (going by their erroneous definition of inflation), think again. Before this week the BoE had printed up £175billion to ease liquidity in a cash-strapped economy, so goes the official line. However, the BoE has bought just £2billion of commercial paper and £173billion of Treasury gilts. This week the Bank announced that another £25billion will be bought up. Can you guess where that's going? Over to Redwood:

The Bank has decided to print another £25 billion, presumably to boost inflation more. I think they will find inflation goes up in the New Year anyway. The decision will also have the effect of making sure the government does not run out of cash for its current spending spree in the important period of the run up to the election. Very convenient.

I see that the Traditional Unionist Voice has apologised for its "childishness" after issuing a statement describing Irish as a "leprechaun language".

The statement was issued under the name of TUV vice-chairman Keith Harbinson and condemned the Department of Education for "wasting" money on Irish. However after being distributed to the media, the press release on the party's website was changed to remove the term.

Good call by Jim Alister and Keith to alter this. There is no need to call the Irish language a "Leprechaun" language and this was a silly error. However there are worse things one could do - such as share power with terrorists. A young party like the TUV need to realise that press releases are a two edged sword and ensure that all such releases are authorised by someone with an eye for such obvious howlers.

I plan to be at the TUV annual conference tomorrow and will report back. My old pal Bob McCartney is a speaker and it will be nice to hear him after all these years.

I saw Jim Allister being interviewed on H&M last night and thought he did well in what was a tough interview by Noel Thompson.