Don't envy the "First Day Briefing" experience for Caoimhe Archibald MLA or for other ministers. They will not be underestimating respective & collective challenges. But none should not be overwhelmed by complexity. From experience, Assembly all-party scrutiny can help them all.

Truly a sad loss to civil public discourse. The colour, quality & salience of Michael's insights & inquiries brought light - & lightheartedness with it! Honest charm, empathy, straight curiosity & natural acuity made him a sound reader of politics & a sharp writer.

Today, we remember Pat Hume on what would have been her 86th Birthday. "Pat liked that her birthday came when the days are stretching and spring is showing. It was also an excuse for sharing great hugs!" [1/3]

Truly a SPECIAL Correspondent. Reported with rare rapport. Intensity of enquiry, enthusiastic communication & cut-through to comprehension. And then more remarkable service to understanding & sharing when facing own illness yet still embracing other causes. Charlie Bird RIP

Mark Lusby RIP. Cherished & shared Derry heritage with integrity. Lifted facts & faces from dim history to modern light. Real belief in people, not just true pride in place. Positive purposeful aspirations for civic/economic future, always fact-based in critiques & ideas.

Only 2 days until our special event with the one and only Candice Mama at Ulster University Derry~Londonderry from 6.30pm! Tickets are still available here - eventbrite.co.uk/e/forgiveness-… Community Dialogue Integrated Education Fund YouthAction Northern Ireland NI Youth Forum Holywell Trust Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation

RIP Stephen Grimason. Deserving all words of warm tribute. I dealt with him as deft journalist & worked with him in govt. Recalling "core/story" chat & how he saw a public service ethos as golden thread in distinct roles. Witty in banter; weighty on substance. Condolences.

Thoughts with families of Annette McGavigan & Billy McGreanery tonight. In 2013 I'd to force minister to put MoD private written apology to Billy's family on parliamentary record. NB: wider import of serious related facts via Pat Finucane Centre & HET! hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2013-0…

Thoughts with #contaminatedblood survivors & bereaved on "step closer to justice" Infected Blood Inquiry. Full apology & compensation due. Not just on compound NHS failures. Serial systemic dereliction of civil service/political oversight, cynical obfuscation posing as accountability.

#compensation Infected Blood Inquiry. Syndicated deflection & misdirection by govt hinged on abject avoidance of "liability" & false depictions re Irish compensation scheme. EG: first ever HoC #contaminatedblood debate Oct '10. Scare numbers used then/since a fraction of today's sums.

Tommie Gorman RIP. A truly fine journalist who aided our public awareness, understanding & discourse. Read & reported events with acuity & innate empathy. His honest decency, casual manner & assiduous method joined to make him so trusted, valued & appreciated. Condolences...

Sad loss of Nell McCafferty, writer for rights. Real influencer & true disrupter. Charted change in astute care-honed commentary. Also chartered change as empathetic & distinctly emphatic campaigner. Funny, fierce, terse, tender. Her unnerving eye-glint: "Now, tell me this.."