In the final red lines of 2022, just a few weeks ago, we look back at another action-packed year in the politics of this place.

And now at the beginning of a new year, we're looking ahead and it looks busy.

We know we have local elections pencilled in for May the 18th, and there could be a fresh assembly election in there at some stage two.

We may well see developments over the protocol. We've a 25th

anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in the mix in April along with a possible US presidential

visit depending on how things go. The cost of living crisis shows no sign of abating. We're

caught well and truly in the middle of a healthcare crisis and a big question mark still hangs

over the wider stormant devolution project. We're still in the middle of a healthcare crisis and a big question mark still hangs over the wider

stormant devolution project. We're still in the first half of January and already the political

diary is beginning to bulge. Jane, this week alone is turning out to be a pretty remarkable start

to the year. This morning and this afternoon when I meandered round to Erskine House, the Northern Ireland

office buildings this morning, Mark, I was selling in for what I thought was going to be pretty

standard talks between the five parties here, along with Chris Hitton Harris and James Cleverley.

It soon evolved into Arroy when it turned out that Sinn Féin was not going to attend.

It was going to boycott because Mary Lou McDonnell, the party president, said she wasn't allowed to take part.

So already, not even halfway through the week properly, and we have a big political row that is going to roll on, I think, throughout today and into tomorrow when we have more talks when Leo Varadkar is coming up for his first visit as Taoiseach. And of course, Kier Starrmer, the leader of the opposition's due in town

over the next couple of days as well. Yeah, lots to be getting on with. It sort of feels like

we actually had a Christmas for once without crisis, which very rarely happens here. It was good

for journalists like me who wanted to get a bit of a break.

But now everybody seems to have woken up again and all of the big players are heading up here.

And I think the question there remains, they might be here. Mood music might have changed. People are saying things.

But has anything substantively actually changed? And on the face of it, it doesn't look like it has. Marie Louise, we might not have had a political crisis over Christmas,

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