They say every picture tells a story - it certainly does with the Northern Ireland Executive.
As a metaphor for how joined up or otherwise the current crop of ministers at Stormont is, try this - they have never even been photographed together as a group.
The media's latest attempt to get a team photo happened on Thursday.
After a lot of pleading, Stormont Castle finally relented and agreed to allow a pool cameraman in so broadcasters could get up-to-date shots of the current crop of ministers working together around the executive table.
But at the last minute, as he waited outside, he was told it was off because one of the ministers, Naomi Long, was joining remotely and would not be there in person.
A spokesman for the justice minister and Alliance leader said: "Whilst others might be more interested in photo ops, Alliance's focus is on delivery around the Executive table.
"Despite being unwell on Thursday, Minister Long attended the executive via video link to tend to the business of government."
There used to be regular joint news conferences after executive meetings but the last one was on 16 October 2025 - five and a half months ago and rising.
"The parties complain that there is a good news story waiting to get out but they're just not telling it," said one source with a deep understanding of how things operate inside Stormont Castle.
"After the cabinet meets in London there are always lobby briefings," said a veteran journalist.
"Here we get told nothing bar what we can glean from party sources. They could be discussing tiddlywinks for all we know."
In a statement the Executive Office (TEO) said the suggestion that there is a lack of communication or joint working by ministers does not reflect reality.
A TEO spokesperson said the first minister and deputy first minister regularly engage with the media and wider public through interviews, joint appearances, press releases and through social media.
Maybe no-one does. But it all goes to feed a narrative that little is being achieved by ministers.
Or at least little they want to tell us - and therefore the public - about.
"What do they do in that big house up on the hill" asks an increasingly sceptical public.
Truth is we don't really know because the media is increasingly starved of all but scraps from the executive table.
Its a far cry from what happened when the executive came back after a two-year hiatus in February 2024.
Then you could not move for DUP Ministers Irish dancing or playing camogie or indeed Sinn Féin ministers attending Remembrance Sunday.
This week the First Minister Michelle O'Neill and the deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly appeared separately in Stormont's Great Hall within minutes of each other to condemn violence against women and girls in the wake of the Natalie McNally court verdict.
They were asked repeatedly why they were not standing together, especially since their message was identical.
Remember a strategy for preventing Violence Against Women and Girls was part of a Programme For Government that they have already jointly agreed - one of the successes this executive can rightly point to.
Their explanations were not convincing.
But later the same day they did speak to the media together on the same subject during an event at Belfast's Waterfront Hall.
Maybe the questions had an impact.
"There's always a tension palpable at Stormont Castle but in the past there have often been big-hitters able to manage it," said a source.
"My sense is there aren't the people there now with the same political clout."
It has escaped no-one that some of this is down to the pending assembly election.
But that is still thirteen months away, though last week the DUP launched its candidate for West Belfast.
An executive under increasing scrutiny does not surely have the luxury of treading water until May 2027 or voters may ask with justification what it is there for.
This week in the Stormont Assembly Chamber most of the other parties piled on the DUP for preventing legislation to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Northern Ireland to becoming law in time for the next election.
"Disgraceful" said a Sinn Féin MLA; "brazen and shameless" said the SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O'Toole.
The DUP argued that preventing alcohol harm needed not just one measure but the health Minister Mike Nesbitt called that "deflection".
Then there's the multi-year budget that the Sinn Féin Finance Minister John O'Dowd told MLAs in December he was confident of agreeing before the end of the year.
He meant 2025. There is still no sign of it.
Most recently his party and the DUP have been conducting a blame game over which is responsible for dragging their heels getting out money to people unable to meet spiralling fuel bills to heat their homes.
It all points to a government which is becoming more dysfunctional by the day.
If that is not the case it is time the executive started telling us.
Telling us anything that is.
A TEO spokesperson said: "Executive ministers are working together every day to deliver on Programme for Government priorities, taking decisions on the issues that matter most to people.
"The executive has made significant progress already, with delivery on reduced waiting lists, expanded childcare provision, investment in skills, and a programme of transformation for public services."