91Èȱ¬

I spent today in transit between London and Belfast. During the day, though, I noticed a couple of interesting developments.

Members of the Stormont Culture Committee expressed their concern about the threat of job cuts at UTV. More than that, the Committee is also seeking information about establishing a local broadcasting commission. Although broadcasting is not devolved, it's obvious that our local politicians have strong and often divergent views on programming.

and have already been down this route before so it will be interesting to see whether Stormont follows suit.

Tonight a different kind of commission, the Parades one, allowed a Sinn Fein counter protest to the Army 91Èȱ¬coming Parade due to take place in Belfast city centre on Sunday November 2nd. The Parades Commission noted with concern that, besides Sinn Fein's event, there are plans for other, illegal gatherings in Belfast on the day, all of which will prove a headache for the police.

The assembly is in recess next week and I am determined to beat them to it, by taking leave starting on Friday. My colleague Gareth Gordon is looking after Inside Politics this weekend, whilst Martina Purdy promises to blog sit. I will be back blogging from Friday October 31st, when Peter Robinson will be preparing for his first DUP conference since succeeding Ian Paisley as leader.

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