Merry Christmas From El Blogador!

Yes, it's that time of year again. This is El Blogador's fourth Christmas, and although over the past few months posts have been somewhat thin on the ground, hopefully in 2009 they'll pick up again in number.

I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to El Blogador in 2008, and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ritchie Executive Concern

Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie has said that her party may need to reconsider its role in the Executive if she is prevented from doing her Ministerial job by Executive colleagues.

The SDLP woman said the party were committed to working to deliver in government "but if there comes a time when executive colleagues and others deliberately stop me from delivering, then that will give my party an opportunity, and myself, to consider our role in government, but at this particular point we haven't reached that point- we're still in government."

It would be a disgrace if Margaret had to quit. After a five-month break by the Executive, the north finds itself in the midst of the global financial crisis. This isn't the time for playing petty political games. There is far more that unites us than divides us, and with jobs being lost and people feeling the pinch, the Executive needs to collectively focus on doing the job it's paid to do instead of messing about.

Margaret Ritchie has done a great job, but there's still much more to be done. I hope her Executive colleagues set aside their animosity towards her and work with her to deal with the issues at hand.