Last week was the week that saw politics in City Hall take yet another strange political turn.
The SDLP supported the DUP's Wallace Browne in becoming Lord Mayor of Belfast and in turn the ever tolerant, inclusive and forward thinking and looking DUP supped with the SDLP and made Pat Convery Deputy Dog.
Well, well, well, I will make you this prediction; either my old friend Pat McCarthy or Carmel Hanna MLA, Councillor and former Minister will become the future SDLP Lord Mayor.
The DUP and the SDLP are strange bedfellows indeed, maybe not as strange as the DUP/Sinn Féin bedfellows of December past, traipsing in and out of Downing Street, going to do a deal – and then not going to do a deal.
But it will be interesting if the deal between the DUPS and the SDLP for the two largest gold chains in Belfast will see them further cooperate on matters that really count – that is on the ground, working for the people of the city and particularly North Belfast.
The next four years are going to crucial for us all.
We want a leisure/ healthy living centre for the people of the area.
We want the housing waiting lists torn up and replaced with rent books.
We want to enjoy better economic prosperity and the list goes on.
Will we see the respective public representatives at the interfaces, and on the ground, rather than them guessing what has happened or having relied on a reporter to tell them the details so that they can compete with each other and other parties for a statement? Maybe some good soul could send a map to some of them at the Members' Room in the City Hall. Yes, you go up the Crumlin Road and turn right after the Ambulance Station to get to Ardoyne. You can't miss it on the twelfth night; there are hundreds of PSNI and British soldiers everywhere, and also a few Orangemen. You will know that you are there when you see the local community under siege.
You see the people of the North and by that I mean, North Belfast, need the SDLP, Sinn Féin and whoever else can be got hold of, to work together to redress the years of government neglect of both the people and the area.
Over the years I have witnessed the blind hatred that exists amongst a significant minority of some people of views exchanged between the SDLP and Sinn Féin. That serves no useful purpose in fully representing us all.
The deals cut between any political parties, whether they are in City Hall or up at the ancient bastion of inclusivity and equality (Stormont) should not reflect the selfish need of any individual or group but should occur to make things better for the people.
It will undoubtedly make for interesting times to see how the deals cut in City Hall will be rolled out for this area. I doubt very much if the DUP are interested in improving the lives of all the people of North Belfast, for others it may be more about get what you can while you can, before it's too late.
