Executive Outcomes 2
Dedicated readers of this blog might remember that in July I wrote an entry about Alex Salmond, who was then pondering changing the title of his administration from Scottish Executive to Scottish government. Today my Scottish colleagues are reporting that he is going ahead with the rebranding at a cost of £100,000. He is quoted as saying that Northern Ireland is the only place where the word "executive" is used to describe a layer of government and most people don't know what it means.
So will Stormont follow suit, or will allegiances to the governments in Dublin or Westminster rule such a move out?
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Well, considering that the old Stormont used to be called the Northern Ireland Government, and the legislature the Northern Ireland Parliament, it's not a big leap to think that they might follow suit.
However, considering that the NI Assembly seems to have deliberately or unintentially chosen different terminology and symbols I don't think so - i.e 'Assembly' rather than 'Parliament' - 6 flax flowers rather than the old NI Government Coat of Arms (which they could use *if* they petitioned the College of Arms). Indeed - where is the old Mace of the Northern Ireland Government and why isn't it in the Assembly Chamber??
In answer to Rob's comment, both the mace of the NI House of Commons and the mace of the NI Senate reside in the Speaker's Office at Stormont.
Although there may be some sort of heraldic nostalgia, I doubt there would be any chance that the Assembly would seek permission to use the arms. The fact that the banner seems to be displayed on almost every single lamppost in loyalist areas somewhat diminishes its cross-community acceptability! Yet I do think we need a flag, but it needs to be something untainted in the Troubles. In any case, would SF really accept anything which adds to the sense of statehood of NI?
Thanks for that Richard - glad that the Mace was not destroyed in the fire. How come the Assembly doesn't use it? The Welsh and Scottish have maces, you'd've thought the bluff old traditionalists would've like to have had it in the chamber!