The row between Andy Wood, the former head of the Northern Ireland Information Office and his former boss, Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam, reached new heights this week with the publication by the Sunday Times of his thoughts on his removal. After 10 years serving a succession of Tory ministers from Tom King to Patrick Mayhew and including Peter Brooke, at whose side he stood during the ill-fated singing incident on the Late Late Show, Wood, a blunt Yorkshire man who describes himself as old Labour, expected to be staying on under Mo. But the two never hit it off and he was removed because there was a conflict of "personal chemistry and style".
Although other information officers were also fired when the new regime took over a year ago, Wood did not take his dismissal lying down. He formed the Tumbril Club for dismissed comrades, looks forward to the Commons public administration committee's investigation of the GIS, and rather than accept a transfer, has opted for early retirement. In the article, he accused Mowlam of using extremely bad language, which shocked him and his colleagues, and of winging it. And not much else.
He thinks she sacked him for going on holiday during the Twelfth of July fortnight. She is not responding, but a spokesman says Wood is no longer a civil servant and, while recognising his contribution, it regrets the tone and content of his comments "at this positive moment for Northern Ireland".
As all this simmers away below the surface, the EU ministers for Women's Affairs and Equality, among them our own Mary Wallace, gathered in Belfast to discuss employment. They were addressed by the Commissioner in charge of women's affairs, Pee Flynn.
It is the first time the North has hosted an EC Council. Why the British minister, Harriet Harman, chose Belfast for this EU presidency gig is a mystery. Northern Ireland is, after all, the last outpost of misogny in these islands. Witness the dearth of women in politics, the constant slagging of the Women's Coalition and the apprehension with which a woman secretary of state was greeted.
The other powerful woman at the Northern talks, Department of Foreign Affairs junior Minister, Liz O'Donnell, told Quidnunc it was clear some men not only had a problem with women but clearly with women with executive powers. Mowlam, she said, was one of the most refreshing politicians she had met - totally instinctive, natural and effective.