The Rev Ian Paisley laughs as he scans newspaper articles predicting the political demise of himself and his party. They were written three years ago, after the signing of the Belfast Agreement. The word "dinosaur" appears frequently.
The media consensus was that as Northern Ireland embarked on a new era of peace and reconciliation, there was no place for him. David Trimble would lead mainstream unionism into the millennium.
The fringe loyalists - the Ulster Democratic Party and the Progressive Unionist Party - would oust the DUP as the representatives of the Protestant working class. "I was treated like a creature that should have died before Noah's flood," says Dr Paisley. "But this dinosaur is still sailing on and things have never been better for him or his party."
It's difficult to argue with that. The Ulster Unionists are deeply divided; the UDP is virtually defunct; the PUP's big advance never happened, and the DUP is going from strength to strength as unionist disillusionment with the agreement grows.
While the UUP suffered heavy losses, the DUP secured its biggest ever Westminster vote - 23.6 per cent - in June. At the previous 1997 election, the DUP secured only two seats to the UUP's 10. In June, the DUP took five seats to the UUP's six.
If that trend continues, the DUP could overtake the UUP as the largest unionist party in the May 2003 Assembly elections.
"We're breathing down their necks," says Dr Paisley. The DUP celebrates its 30th anniversary at its annual conference in Newcastle, Co Down, today. Special medals will be distributed to mark the occasion.
Dr Paisley (75) has outlasted countless Northern Secretaries and four unionist party leaders - Terence O'Neill, James Chichester-Clarke, Brian Faulkner and Lord Molyneaux. He believes he will be around to witness further departures. "Things can only get worse for David Trimble. The agreement can't survive either. We will see the fall of the Walls of Jericho."
While he has always accused UUP leaders of treachery, his feelings run deeper against Mr Trimble than his predecessors. Even in private, they engage in no social chit-chat. Mr Trimble is "so untrustworthy" it would be impossible to work with him even on the policing issue, Dr Paisley says.
Today's DUP conference will be very different from last week's UUP one where "the numbers attending were dramatically down and the mood was dead", he says. He views the UUP as riddled with in-fighting and totally out-of-touch . "It would never have deteriorated that way if I was leader."
He presides over a "vibrant, healthy united party". While the UUP's youth wing is dwindling, the Young Democrats are expanding and recruiting many former anti-agreement UUP activists.
"Timothy here is an example," he says, pointing to Timothy Johnston, a young accountant who resigned from the UUP in June, "in protest at its pro-agreement stance and leadership lies". He now works for Dr Paisley.
The DUP leader would like to see more women representing his party at a senior level. "Women have a hard time in politics here," he says. "There is an Ulster/Scots attitude that a woman's place is in the home."
One of the DUP's strengths is that despite its leader's strong personality, it is not a one-man band. Mr Peter Robinson and Mr Nigel Dodds have built high public profiles. "I would never hold back talent," says Dr Paisley.
Still, he is not currently planning to hand the leadership onto a younger generation.
"I have no intention of retiring. I'm young in spirit and I've a good sense of humour. I can take the political beatings I get from my opponents and I can give them back harder." Rumours that he had terminal cancer were "total lies", he says.
"I'm in perfect health, much better than the Pope. I get up to read the Bible for an hour at 4 a.m. every morning. I still have years left in politics. I enjoy it as much as ever. When the time comes that I can't do the job, I will know and I will go. No one will ever have to push me."
There has been speculation about a possible realignment of unionism with leading anti-agreement UUP figures combining with the DUP to form a new party.
Dr Paisley is strongly opposed to the idea.
"I won't be leading the DUP into any coalition in which it could end up being destroyed. If genuine people within other parties are unhappy, they are welcome to join the DUP, but there is no future in this country for a new party."
Dr Paisley attributes the success of his leadership and the DUP to straight-talking, principled politics. "Nobody needs a dictionary to understand what I say. I'm a man of my word and people like that. When Trimble goes out on the street, some spit at him, some curse him, others don't talk to him. But even opponents have a bit of craic with Ian Paisley."