Lord Rooker: People’s Hero

I was pleased to read on Slugger this evening that NIO Finance Minister Lord Rooker has set the record straight on direct rule versus devolved government.

He claims that much of the unpopular reforms the the Northern Ireland Office are currently pushing through were originally conceived by the “locally elected Assembly”.

The inference, as Mick correctly points out, is that the Northern Irish Assembly ministers know that some form of unpopular reform is necessary but that they don’t want to risk the PR backlash of being the ones to announce it. Instead, they’re criticising the NIO for implementing their initiatives!

By the sounds of the UTV report, Jeff Rooker is as fed up with our politicians as the rest of us. Would it be too much to hope that Peter Hain has finally set a time-bomb under their collective arses?