Peter, when you look at the number of initiatives which have floundered on the the Unionists intransigence, it would make me feel a whole lot better if a UK government told them that they did not have a blank cheque on their resources. In my lifetime I can recall the Major government clinging on by appeasing the Unionists. There have been other examples of the tail wagging the dog like that too. I do realise that the constitutional status of Northern Ireland is for its own people to decide. However, if some Irish want to stay in the UK, I think the UK deserves a say in that too. For many years, certain bigots were able to lob stones, bombs whatever at their neighbours and then hide behind British soldiers when retaliation came. I don't want to disenfranchise the Ulster Unionists (admittedly a recipe for disaster), but I would like to see the end of their rarified status.