Crisis week for Stormont

Sinn Féin strategists have eyes on both sides of the border in a welfare confrontation with the DUP that could collapse the Assembly.

Stormont: the clock is ticking towards a collapse
Democratic Unionist First Minister Peter Robinson (left) and Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness

Stormont is the Rasputin of political institutions. On its knees, beaten, bruised and bleeding, it crawls along refusing to die - but life is slowly draining away.

The latest blow to the body politic in Northern Ireland is a DUP effort to ...