Sunny Manchester
Both the Conservatives and Labour have given seaside resorts like Blackpool and Bournemouth a miss this year. But today the sun has been shining so strongly in Manchester that it would have seemed fitting if the conference organisers had imported a few tons of sand to create an urban beach.
The weather isn't gloomy, but Labour's prospects are, with a poll published in the Observer predicting meltdown and a 146 Tory majority. So far this hasn't translated into any more blood letting. The party factions appear to have agreed a truce, although it may not last beyond the Glenrothes byelection.
Shaun Woodward made only a glancing reference to Gordon Brown's troubles during his speech this morning. He said the PM had visited Stormont despite market turbulence, speculation about banks and "local stuff", which was code for the fact that David Cairns chose the same day to resign.
One of the reasons the DUP reacted so strongly to Mr Brown's speech was that it lacked any admonishment of Sinn Fein for blocking Executive meetings. Today Shaun Woodward filled in the blank saying the Executive "needs to meet. There is business to be agreed."
The speech was fairly low key - in part because of its slot, at eleven o'clock on a Sunday morning. Mr Woodward talked about the need for "great acts of leadership" to break the logjam. And he tried to adapt his theme to refer, presumably, both to Peter Robinson and Gordon Brown when he said "in times when solutions aren't clear - then you really look for leadership. You need to count on your leader. And the leader should know, he can count on you."
As some readers have noticed, the Conference fringe programme advertises a breakfast tomorrow with Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness. But neither the First nor the Deputy First will be here. Instead we are expecting Jeffrey Donaldson and Pat Doherty.
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