by BBC Northern Ireland political editor, Stephen Grimason

There was a mixture of the political old and the new this week.

We began with the first governmental decision taken by local representatives in a generation - a £30m funding package for health, education and agriculture delivered by the assembly executive.

But the old agenda is still there.

Gerry Adams told an American audience there was no reason why there could not be a united Ireland by the 2016, the centenary of the Easter Rising.

"Oh yes there is!", responded unionism as the panto season comes to an end.

And then there is the ever-present decommissioning debate.

We are now in the middle of January and there is still no sign of a move by the IRA, even if President Clinton did apply a little pressure on Mr Adams in the White House.

The secretary of state hinted at a possible way out of the morass when he talked of weapons being made permanently inaccessible.

He was quoting the legislation on decommissioning but it would require a change in that same legislation if disposal was to mean secure dumping.

There are only two schemes permitted under the law.

The first is to hand the weapons in to the decommissioning body and there's no chance of that happening.

The second is for the terrorists to destroy the weapons themselves under the gaze of General John de Chastelain and his colleagues.

And guess what will be on the agenda when the assembly has its first full meeting of the New Year next Monday - correct, decommissioning.

The motion on weapons is in the name of DUP leader Ian Paisley and his signature is also on a motion condemning health minister Bairbre de Brun for not allowing the Union flag to be flown from health service buildings here.

Another and equally controversial debate will be on a proposal rejecting the Patten report on the RUC.

On Friday the Ulster Unionists announced the crucial meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council would be as expected on 12 February.

If there has been no decommissioning by the IRA by that time the Council could pull Mr Trimble and his ministerial colleagues out of the Assembly Executive and that would effectively plunge Northern Ireland into another political vacuum, regardless of who is held responsible for it.

But the meeting is a month away, and if a week is a long time in politics, then anything can happen in four of them.