No Cobwebs in the Castle
Hello all. It's Mark back at the blog. Thanks Martina and sorry RJ.
After my Halloween holiday it's back to the more frightening events of working life. This morning I made my way inside a spooky looking castle which should be full of cobwebs given that nothing has happened there since the summer.
But no, the cleaners are still working at Stormont Castle and there wasn't a spider's web to be seen. And when the First Minister came to join me he didn't look especially wraith-like. You can hear his views on the last minute alterations to Sunday's homecoming parade and whether the Stormont deadlock might lead to an early election on Inside Politics tomorrow at 12.45pm on BBC Radio Ulster.
If you can't wait for that, though, the BBC NI News website will be webcasting the DUP conference in Armagh tomorrow from 11am until 4.30pm. The coverage, including the new leader's speech, will be carried on BBC2 from 11.45am until 1.10pm. This is the first time the BBC has covered one of the local party conferences live in this way. I shall be joining Jim Fitzpatrick in Armagh for our conference programme.
On Sunday the Politics Show will have more on both the DUP Conference and the Army Homecoming Parade in Belfast. Will the withdrawal of the RAF fly past and Sinn Fein's re-location of their counter protest prove enough to take the heat out of the situation?
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~30~RS~)
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WELCOME BACK MARK!
Poor RJ and his broken heart. Enough of that and in order you will not feel out of all this adulation Ms Purdy has been receiving, I still think you are the greatest blogger and a hard act to follow!
Pandora
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Mark,
Welcome back.
In this day and age I feel now is the time that our MLA’s have a performance review. I know the electorate put these MLA’s in power but surely like in any other job a performance review should be carried out once a year. It means that if an MLA does something right then they will get praise but if their performance is disgraceful then they should get warnings and then if that doesn’t work they should be sacked. Everyone else has to have continual professional development so why not our MLA’s?
Stormontspy
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Mark,
When will the technical boffins fix this continual problem?
Stormontspy
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#2 & 3 Stormontspy
#2
Your suggestion on performance review is a valid suggestion. Unfortunately the only review comes at the next assembly election so lets not hold our breath for an improvement in performance anytime soon.
#3
There are a number of technical issues with the site but as with #2 lets not expect them to be resolved anytime soon. Worse than that taking the following page as an example http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/default.stm the site also appears to have a number of accessibility errors which potentially leaves the BBC open to claims under the Disability Discrimination Legislation.
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Bushmill 1608
I think Assembly Elections should be held every 3 years. It would cut the bad politicians out. It would demonstrate who is fit for Government and who isnt. I see the DUP want to cut the number of Government Departments down to possibly 6 or 7 from the 11 at the minute. I think that would be good but I cant see any other party agreeing to it.
Regarding technical issues what I mean there is that this blog replaces apostrophes with question marks. It is very frustrating and annoying. Anyone would think that the executive are working to resolve it!!!
I checked the link you have put on and I cant see any errors. What are their?
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Stormontspy,
1)first go to http://wave.webaim.org
2)now where it says web page address input http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/default.stm
3)then click where it says wave this page
4) the report that comes up will tell you how many accessibility errors.
The fact errors are highlighted raises questions about BBC's ability in the area of web design.
The issue with apostrophes and question marks remaining unresolved simply highlights the capability issue.
These however are issues better addressed elsewhere.
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Bushmill 1608,
Thanks for the link. That is a very good site. I must check to see of the political parties and Government sites are better or worse than the BBC. I am sure you will remember the problems this blog had earlier this year and last year. I once submitted a comment and it appeared 7 times. I hope for 3 things.
1. The BBC rectifies these problems rather than ignore it. The issues with apostrophes are most frustrating.
2. Comments made to the blog owner are read by the blog owner and the blog owner asks bigger and better questions of politicians not only here but in England too.
3. The moderators show some common sense and consistency across the board.
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Mark:
It is good news that there was no cobwebs in the castle; following your vacation....
~Dennis Junior
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