It’s not unknown for birthday celebrations to take a turn for the worse and end up in an unedifying brawl.
No blood was spilled as the Stormont executive marked the one-year anniversary of its restoration but it wasn’t all smiles and back slaps.
Yes, we’re happy that First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly get along like friends and we’re reassured by their commitment not to collapse the institutions.
The pledge to yet again put a “shoulder to the wheel” and work on behalf of the oft-cited “workers, families and communities” is encouraging but over recent days numerous commentators summing up the past 12 months have reminded ministers that people yearn for more than mere words. They want action.
Measured objectively, in terms of legislation and meaningful policy changes that impact on people’s lives, the executive has been found wanting.
Our political leaders would’ve preferred a more upbeat assessment but their record in government doesn’t lie.
So as ministers nursed their bruises, up stepped Hilary Benn on Tuesday to effectively kick them when they were down.
In his speech at Ulster University, the secretary of state was full of praise for the new-found bonhomie that has infected the Executive Office, characterising the past year as a “great start”.
But there was a sting in the tail.
Noting that more than a quarter of people in the north are on a health waiting list – more than double the figure in England – and how 53% of people waiting for a first appointment with a consultant are waiting for more than a year, compared to 4% in England, Mr Benn concurred with Michelle O’Neill’s recent assessment of the regional health service as “dire and diabolical”.
Highlighting how spending per head on health is nearly £300 a year higher in Northern Ireland than it is in England, he said it was clear the system isn’t working.
The reason, according to the secretary of state, was that Stormont had either been suspended, or the difficult decisions necessary to improve the health service and other public services had simply not been taken.
His critical assessment echoed that of most commentators this week, many of who pointed to the need for reform to ensure more effective decision making.
The secretary of state had barely sat down before the Sinn Féin press office issued a rebuttal on behalf of newly-appointed Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald, who accused Mr Benn of a “blatant disregard for communities here and for our democratically elected political institutions”.
She cited Labour’s winter fuel payment cut and plans to make farmers pay inheritance tax, while accusing his government of denying victims’ familes access to truth and justice.
Ms Archibald argued that the secretary of state had inadvertently made “yet another compelling argument for constitutional change”.
He had clearly struck a nerve.
Has the executive not committed to the transformation of public services? Do ministers not concede that to date they have shirked difficult decisions?
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt was more circumspect, if not agreeing with everything Mr Benn said, while Alliance deputy leader Eoin Tennyson suggested that with the exception of his party’s own ministers, there was a clear requirement for more to be done.
The various responses demonstrated the tensions that exists in the executive, which are often glossed over.
If ministers are genuinely committed to improving people’s lives then we need more robust public debate – not public rows – rather than the current status quo where good ideas seemingly go to the executive to die.
Unionists get upset by ‘Dublin interference’ and republicans by ‘British meddling’ but now and again hard truths are necessary to shake our political leaders out of their complacency.
