| It has been changeable weather across these islands. From conditions so perfect last weekend that I met a young couple from the south of France on a bus in Belfast who said they had got sun burnt in Dublin! To the prime minister getting soaked outside Downing Street when he announced a surprise general election amid blasting music from a Northern Irish pop band! And when Belfast's spring market opened on Thursday its opening was delayed by blustery weather. See in this story our political editor David Thompson asking Mr Sunak yesterday if his legacy was detaching NI from the rest of the UK, something the PM denies strongly. Sammy Wilson MP however says that is his legacy. I think that unionists are wrong to assume Labour will be more friendly towards them. From what the Ulster Unionist leader says, and the TUV leader says, it is going to be a three-way unionist contest but the DUP leader still hopes for co-operation. In one of those three-way unionist battles, the Lagan Valley constituency, the youthful Jonathan Buckley has been chosen as the DUP standard bearer to replace Sir Jeffrey Donaldson. This article getting a lot of readers: details of five band parades this weekend. And here is Helen McGurk's interview with the playwright Gary Mitchell who latest work focuses on north Belfast and a local flute band. A last thought about weather: we don't much need the heat on during the coming months but home heating oil is now lower than it was on the eve of the Ukraine invasion. Such energy price falls help explain why inflation this week in the UK is now so low. But there are still demands for pay rises, and strikes. I was on radio and TV saying we do not hear the case against such industrial action. Here is an experienced doctor who says juniors going on strike puts lives at risk. Enjoy your reading and your Saturday, Ben | 