Aer Lingus heads north

Aer Lingus have dropped their Shannon- Heathrow routes, in order to free up resources to operate a Belfast hub. It's their first hub outside the Irish republic:

The announcement is an early sign the newly-privatised airline company is ready to ignore local political fall-out when taking decisions it considers in its commercial interest.

Ian Paisley, the hardline protestant politician who heads the four-party executive at Stormont as first minister alongside Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, hailed the decision by Aer Lingus as “a shining example of how competitive our economy is becoming”.

And whoever would have thought you'd hear Piasley welcoming the Irish flag-carrier operating on his patch?