The Gerry and Jim Show
This lunchtime we broadcast the second in our special election editions of Inside Politics. We had an interview with the TUV leader Jim Allister, recorded on Friday, in which he indicated that in those seats where his party isn't standing his supporters should perhaps back the UUP rather than the DUP because of their opposition to devolving justice. Since the interview went on the air, Sammy Wilson has responded claiming this advice would have the Sinn Fein candidates "jumping for joy".
My live guest was the Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams. I recalled recording a previous Inside Politics in which Mr Adams was streaming with the cold but carried on regardless - this time the boot was on the other foot, as I'm suffering a touch of "man flu". I can reveal that the Adams patent remedy for these situations is plenty of Vitamin C and echinacea.
During the interview we covered the SDLP's rejection of a nationalist pact and the chances of Sinn Fein abandoning its long held policy of abstentionism in the event of a hung parliament (answer = zero). I also questioned him about the Brendan "Darkie" Hughes testimony on his involvement in specific murders and disappearances during the early 1970s. Anyone who listens to the last five minutes of the programme on the I Player will hear that it's not a topic which the Sinn Fein President wants to give any further "oxygen of publicity" to borrow a Margaret Thatcher phrase. He wouldn't give an answer on why Ed Moloney's book has not prompted defamation proceedings, but insisted it would be up to the voters to make their own judgements on who is telling the truth about the past.
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