DUP/ Sinn Féin Axis Charade

The latest stunt by the DUP and Sinn Féin threatening to pull down the Assembly is a damning indictment of both parties and an insult to the people of the north, yet will conveniently suit both parties' self-serving agendas.

With the new regime installed at the helm of the DUP, the party will want to move out of Chuckle Zone given the criticism from the TUV and others of Paisley's jovial relationship with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin over the past year. Of course, the DUP couldn't just manage this transformation back to the old-school style overnight without good reason- this 'crisis' gives them that good reason. It has created the perfect excuse to create the impression that there has been a chilling of the relationship. They even went so far as to appoint Jeffrey Donaldson as Director of Elections for any possible election that might be forced by an Assembly collapse.

Yet all this is a sham. There will be no collapse of the Assembly. There will be no election. The rising strength of Jim Allister's party and Peter Robinson's three-decade bridesmaid performance mean that the DUP will want to hold onto their position of strength within the Assembly for as long as possible.

It would be insane for them to put at risk everything that they have been working for.

Which leads onto the provos. They are claiming that they may not play ball on Thursday when it comes to the joint nomination of the First and Deputy First Ministers. Their excuse is that fact that there still has been no Irish Language Act, no devolution of policing and justice, and the Maze is looking like a dead duck.

However, it was quite clear from the outset of this Assembly that the DUP would not agree to at least the first two of these items on the Sinn Féin shopping list. The fact that the provos failed to get a fixed timescale built into the Saint Andrews Agreement for any of these issues reflects their gross incompetence at the negotiating table.

Whereas the SDLP could negotiate the Sunningdale Agreement and later the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin's first opportunity to broker a deal as the biggest nationalist party in the north has resulted in abject failure.

If Sinn Féin had done the deal properly, they wouldn't have to put on this tough-lad act and threaten to collapse the whole devolution project based on their own inability to secure results. And they wouldn't have to go running to the British Prime Minister like scolded children looking for him to fight their corner.

This sorry debacle is vivid proof that the DUP and Sinn Féin's biggest priority is themselves. They have yet to bring forward any substantial pieces of legislation whatsoever yet they shamelessly flaunt themselves in front of any cameras within a hundred-mile radius.

It's time for the DUP/ Sinn Féin axis to quit the games and start delivering.