Stormont Buildings in Belfast. A seventh attempt to elect a speaker and deputy speaker in the Stormont Assembly proved futile yesterday. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images Today, life in Northern Ireland will enter a literal and metaphorical deep freeze: amid a cold snap, roads will go ungritted, hospitals will run on a skeleton staff and picket lines will be the only thing fully manned by the public sector as 170,000 workers down tools. Inevitably, the strike is deeply political, with public servants calling out Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris for his refusal to release funds to stabilise the public service in...