A true breath of sanity in the mad world of Northern Irish politics is the weekly Portadown News, edited by Newton Emerson. I've just been spending a few minutes looking over his recent election coverage. His piss-take of the Ulster Unionist Party's dire election slogan "Decent People...Vote Ulster Unionist" is hilarious but also (for obvious reasons) made me wince:


His commentary on news coverage of the Pope's death takes a typically local angle:


And he manages to make me glad to have got the hell out of the place, while at the same time bringing home how much I miss that vicious sarcasm which constitutes the "crack":


And on similar lines, from quite an early point in the Portadown News' run:


Back at the end of 2001, Newton Emerson annoyed certain people in Northern Ireland politics to the extent that they managed to get him sacked from his job. The reward has been that he is now one of the most visible political commentators in the media. Long may he continue.