Paisley Says No.

Some things never change.

As reported here last week Gerry Adams stood up to propose the Rev Ian Paisley as First Minister and his colleague Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister.

Then Paisley declined saying that his "reasons were well known and had been endorsed by the majority of the unionist voters".

Afterwards he also showed it was not sectarian when he added, "If Mr [Reg] Empey [the UUP leader] wants the support of a terrorist organisation [the UVF in the form of PUP's David Irvine], let him have it, but he'll not have my support".

So no movement there then. No Mr Paisley calling anyone's bluff and accepting but applying the rules he holds dear by forcing the withdrawal of the next two biggest parties and letting the SDLP retain the Deputy First Minister post. No that would have been radical. But then Paisley is only radical when it suits his way of being conservative.

Update:This is the view of Kevin Connolly from BBC Northern Ireland.