On Friday, Ulster Unionist Party MLA Doug Beattie, a member of the Army Reserve, called on the Executive to adopt the Armed Forces Covenant in Northern Ireland. The covenant was passed into law at Westminster with the Armed Forces Act 2011, pledging state support for military veterans and their families and special consideration in some cases such as priority medical treatment. Having posed a written question to the First and deputy First Minister in relation to the covenant, he described the answer received as “utterly inadequate”, lacking detail and humility. It stated the covenant has not been adopted here and there has been “no joint agreement” to appoint a representative to the Armed Forces Covenant Reference Group. Calling for its adoption here, Mr Beattie said; “Our Veterans don’t want advantage; they just want to be treated fairly and not be disadvantaged because of their service.”

On Wednesday, the First Minister and deputy First Minister sent a letter to the Prime Minister, Theresa May, saying they must be involved in forthcoming negotiations with the EU and other countries ahead of Brexit. They outlined their five key priorities as: the Irish border; trading costs; the energy market; EU funding; the agri-food sector. On Thursday Arlene Foster rejected opposition claims that the DUP are u-turning on their support for Brexit and have left it too late to raise concerns. It would be “negligent”, she said, not to have pointed out areas where she believes challenges exist; the letter is about “protecting interests” and she stressed opportunities also lie ahead.

To the uncertainty, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has brought some assurances. EU structural and investment projects in Northern Ireland signed before the Autumn Statement (due in November) will be funded if they continue after Brexit. EU payments to farmers will be upheld until 2020, and universities bidding competitively for EU projects will have their payments underwritten if they continue after Brexit. The Chancellor said; “We are determined to ensure that people have stability and certainty in the period leading up to our departure from the EU and that we use the opportunities that departure presents to determine our own priorities.”

Another week brought more division to the Labour Party, with leader Jeremy Corbyn turning his attentions to his deputy leader Tom Watson. Mr Corbyn dismissed Mr Watson’s claims that hard-left “Trostsky entryists” are seeking to infiltrate the party ahead of the leadership vote by targeting Young Labour and Labour student clubs with the aim of recruiting new members. Mr Corbyn’s team accused Mr Watson of “peddling baseless conspiracy theories”. Meanwhile, on Friday the Court of Appeal ruled that the leadership election will go ahead with the exclusion of around 130,000 new members. This comes after five new members dropped a legal challenge against the party’s decision to bar them. As reported by the BBC, the exclusion of the new members is thought to benefit Corbyn’s challenger, Owen Smith.

On the topic of making hints and claims, US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called current President Barack Obama the “founder” of ISIS. His co-founder, he said, would be “crooked Hillary Clinton”; and both are “MVPs” of ISIS, using the sports team reference “Most Valuable Players”. Days before, Trump insinuated a Clinton presidency would bring about undesirable Supreme Court justices who might abolish the second amendment of the US constitution – the right to bear arms. He said; “If she [Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.” A moment joining a long list of controversies, Trump was accused of a making an “assassination threat” against Hillary Clinton. What’s next?