A Tipping Point?
Yesterday's Stormont Live made for interesting viewing for anyone interested in the deteriorating relationship between the DUP and the SDLP. Neither Peter Robinson nor Margaret Ritchie pulled their punches as they sat next to me on the blue bench in our studio.
When I opened up my inbox today the row simmered on via press release. "SDLP - Ritchie. Smash and Grab Raid on Housing Budget." "Sinn Fein - Concern at Ritchie reaction to Executive respobse to economic hardship." "DUP MLA Simon Hamilton - SDLP should stop party politicking and welcome the good news for Northern Ireland.""SDLP. Ritchie responds to Robinson's dubious remarks." "DUP. Deliberately Misleading SDLP Comments".
In the context of recent rows about fuel poverty and the ministers' previous confrontation over the UDA related Conflict Transformation Initiative this might be all too predictable. But seen over a longer timespan it's remarkable that the SDLP is increasingly viewed as the opposition to a DUP-Sinn Fein axis.
DUP policy remains that they would prefer a voluntary coalition to a mandatory coalition. The assumption is that Sinn Fein would resolutely oppose any move to, say, weighted majority voting on the basis that unionists, given the chance, would permanently exclude republicans from power and seek to govern in alliance with the SDLP.
But could we be reaching a tipping point? Who would now guarantee, if we did move to a voluntary coalition, that the DUP would pick the SDLP over Sinn Fein as their nationalists of choice?
I'm 
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