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• Mark Devenport
• 5 Mar 07, 03:27 PM

I have just watched the tape of my colleague Mark Simpson's interview with Ian Paisley at the City Hall. The DUP leader proclaims, no doubt inadvertently, "this has been a good erection for democrats".

Reminds me of the day when I was reporting on the Ormeau Bridge on a contentious march by the Apprentice Boys. The marchers agreed with the police to halt at the bridge and then board buses which would take them on their way. An enraged loyalist protestor shouted into my microphone "this is a total and utter copulation".

On the subject of parades, the Secretary of State has been up at Schomberg House playing a Lambeg drum. He told the Orange Order they have a role to play in a shared future, and promised talks with insurance firms on providing cover for Orange Halls. Those in attendance included the local DUP MP Peter Robinson, the Mayor of Castlereagh and South Belfast candidate Jimmy Spratt, the DUP leader Ian Paisley and the UUP Fermanagh candidate Tom Elliot, who is Grandmaster of his county.

According to the "purdah" convention, during an election ministers and civil servants are meant to "exercise caution about taking policy decisions, initiatives or actions which might appear to favour a particular candidate or party." Is there a "purdah" issue here or not?