It does seem to a lot of people like we're teetering on the edge as far as public services here are concerned.

Stormant is in cold storage, the current Secretary of States, adopting a hands-off approach to running the place.

The unions are revolting and all the while health, education and infrastructure suffer.

So what happens next?

What if the Great Devolution Project remains in

hiatus? How do we fill the political void and find a new way to deliver services for the

almost two million people who live here? That's quite a challenge, Gareth, for anyone to be taking

on. It is. I should explain to you and the listeners for the benefit of clarity. I speak to

you at this moment from a place I don't come very often for obvious reasons and that's the studio,

a relatively new BBC studio and underused BBC studio at Stormant. And the reason I'm at Stormont

is because we are trying or there has been an effort, although it's failed, not surprisingly, on eve of the big strike, to elect a Stormant speaker, which would pave the way to electing an executive.

But the DUP, of course, as we knew it would, has vetoed it.

It's the first time Stormont has sat, actually, for almost a year. The last sitting, believe it or not, was on the 14th of February, which as you will remember, is Valentine's Day. I don't think there was an awful lot of love around that day, and I don't detect any more love around today. And it's a subject I will amplify in a moment, but I came thinking

it was a little bit like a full dress rehearsal for a wedding that no one knew would ever happen.

But I reckon now I think it's more like a wake.

Okay, that's a positive note to strike at the beginning of the conversation. John,

how big is the challenge

in your view that's facing our politicians, civil servants, union leaders and employers?

I think the biggest problem at the moment is those people trying to run public services

because anybody intensively using public services at the moment knows just how much pressure

there is.

You can virtually see services atrophing

...