It's been a busy day for the DUP. They started the morning by lambasting Sinn Fein for boycotting a debate on law and order (a touch ironic given the desire Sinn Fein can't wait to get their mits on devolved Policing & Justice powers) and finished it with Peter Robinson revealing that the party has begun consulting its grassroots over sharing executive power with Sinn Fein.

It's all just so damn tedious and unbelievably predictable. Everything in Northern Irish politics just seems to take forever and I'm just getting really fed up now. We know the DUP will share power with Sinn Fein sooner or later, it's just a question of when - and frankly, it'll only be when the DUP are satisfied that they're calling the shots by making the decision to share power, for example, by Sinn Fein signing up to supporting the police.

Apparently they parties couldn't even agree that "to get into government, political parties should support the police and encourage others to do so." I'm still confused (though not surprised) about Sinn Fein's hypocrisy over this - wanting responsibility for policing on one hand, but refusing to support the police on the other.

Meanwhile Sinn Fein will not accept the police until they're content that they're calling the shots - though I'm not sure what it is they still want from the police. I get the impression they're more likely to hold out for something unrelated in a side-deal from their buddy at the NIO: Peter Hain.

As I said, tedium ad nauseum. That said, there could be a "shock" announcement overnight that they've managed to get a deal and get the assembly back up and running tomorrow - I still think I'd find it difficult to care. What we need is for a couple of politicians to come up with a brainwave. Something fresh and exciting, and completely "outside the box". Even something dull but practical (licensing supermarkets to sell booze, anyone?) would give us a cause for optimism, but with things our politicians it seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same.