Nominations Close
The deadline for nomination papers to be handed in for the European election has just passed and the Electoral Office has confirmed that there are just seven candidates in the race.
Having led everyone to understand he might run, the family of Colin Duffy confirmed last night that the man charged with murdering two soldiers at Antrim has ruled out a campaign. The family say that time and money are against them. Instead they are writing to candidates "seeking votes from within the nationalist and republican community" asking them to endorse their campaign.
I have just recorded a "two way" with Hearts and Minds recounting some of the events of the week. Truth be told, it wasn't desperately exciting. I myself went to an SDLP launch, in which Alban Maginnis said there should be no sectarian vanity contest, and the TUV event where Jim Allister displayed his poster featuring the First and Deputy First Ministers sm,iling at each other in one corner. Gareth Gordon went to the DUP bus launch where Peter Robinson talked of Diane Dodds "completing the jigsaw" so his party is represented at council, Assembly, Westminster and European level.
I wasn't there, but my spies report a DUP strategy meeting at Wards Cafe in Bangor with Messrs Morrow, Poots and McCrea talking tactics over tray bakes. Where would unionists be without tray bakes? Outside, a Jim Allister poster had swivelled around on a lamp-post as if he was craning to hear what his erstwhile colleagues were on about. All further election sightings gratefully accepted.
When it comes to posters, Jim Nicholson and Alban Mginniss appear to be vying for the most beaming smile award. Jim Nicholson asks people to "vote for change" but he better hope they don't take it to heart, as the slogan works better for David Cameron than for an MEP who has been in place for 20 years.
Radio Ulster listeners are getting exercised about the profusion of election posters, especially those close to the North West 200 circuit which might distract the motorcyclists. Although I think if I was tackling a corner with my knee just inches from the tarmac, I wouldn't spend too much time pondering to whom I might give my third preference.
Who have I left out? I haven't set eye on Bairbre De Brun this week but I gather Sinn Fein is holding a launch early next week and all the candidates are due to attend a business hustings on Monday. I hear there's some debate about whether Sinn Fein might launch its manifesto in Derry. Will that depend on whether the local postal workers deliver their literature?
Stephen Agnew and the Greens were at Harland and Wolff (these days a hub of wind and sea turbine technology) launching their Green New Deal (I remember them doing that at a previous election) and the Alliance's Ian Parsley has been promoting Fair Trade at Dundonald's "Cafe Nosh". This is the one, I must confess, which I was really cheesed off about missing. Over the Bank Holiday I had hatched a sneaky plan to get the kids to cycle all the way from Comber to Cafe Nosh along the Greenway. But their little legs gave up and we had to turn back without so much as a tray bake.
Finally, I'm aware that having last week made a reference to Chelsea's tactics against Barcelona in the first leg of their semi final I have to return to the topic even though this might seem painful for the First Minister. I said both he and Chelsea would choose whichever tactics it took to get the job done. As the world now knows, though, Gus Hiddink's strategy didn't quite pay off. I'm not going to engage in any more painful metaphors about who might turn out to be the Xavi, Iniesta or Messi of this election. Let's just hope that before the polls close this race gets a tenth as exciting as those last four minutes of injury time.
I'm 
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