I refer back to the answer I got from the NI office.

"We cannot force paramilitary organisations to decommission - but it is vital if Northern Ireland is to have a peaceful future that the decommissioning is completed and there is a cessation of all paramilitary activity thus stemming the rise of mafia-like culture that threatens to replace it.

The decommissioning of paramilitary weapons is only one element - although a vital one - in the process of taking violence out of politics in Northern Ireland permanently"

Am I the only Englishman (Polish/Russian/Welsh/English if truth be known!) that can see that the McCartney case has been deliberately forced into the news by someone (I am not even going to attempt to say who) who wished to see the Republican politicians disgraced by this?

OK - I will happily admit that

IT WAS NOT THE KILLING BUT THE COVER UP THAT MADE MCCARTNEY'S CASE DIFFERENT.

but does this not show the whole fracas up for what it is? It was simply an example of "the Mafia-like culture" that is threatening to replace sectarian violence. This realy does smack of the ones-I-would-not-name-earler (Sorry caught up in Harry Potter at the moment) clutching at straws to try and prove that the IRA have not de-commisioned? To try and justify the fact that they have not?

Call me an old cynic but...

Sorry. Can't think of the but. Just call me an old cynic.

Cheers

DtG