As JANE Austen might’ve written, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a failed Assembly must be in need of a solution.

Adapting her opening line in Pride and Prejudice might be appropriate for some of our Assembly parties, as they adhere to the novel’s title rather than delivering good government. 

A rather sceptical attitude to our democratically-elected representatives, you say, but if you can find any link between what goes on in the Assembly and the real world, please let us know. 

So, if Stormont’s failure is the problem, what is the solution? There are three possible options: ignore it, scrap it or reform it. 

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The first option is what many of us do anyway. It is a two-way process, since many MLAs generally ignore us.

They concentrate instead on religiously (sometimes literally) preaching prepared scripts inside the Assembly bubble, where even the government parties are in opposition to each other. 

In fairness, MLAs do not disagree on everything. They have united over a £14,000 annual salary increase for themselves and a £530,000 refurbishment........

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