Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley got on perfectly well for a year. So well, in fact, that the DUP toppled him and replaced him with Peter Robinson.

He and McGuinness had a civil enough relationship, yet not so civil that it prevented a series of standoffs, showdowns, crises and edge-of-the-cliff teetering.

McGuinness’s relationship with Arlene Foster was a bit distant for the first few months and then turned to ice around the time of the RHI saga, followed by his resignation letter and the collapse of the assembly for three years.

Foster and Michelle O’Neill did their best, “for the sake of the children”, as my aunt put it, but it was never convincing. And Paul Givan had barely got his feet under the table as first minister before Jeffrey Donaldson removed him and collapsed the structures for another couple of years.

Will the Stormont Executive make unenviable, unpopular and difficult decisions about squeezing public services? - The Irish News view

Brian Feeney: Sinn Féin are right to go to the White House - a boycott would be crackers

All of this is a very........

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