Cheers for all this info.

It supports a view that I have argued for a few years now. It always struck me as odd, that in a place where the vast majority of people are sick to death of violence and romantic views of history and religious nonsense, paramilitaries are somehow believed when they argue that they are fighting for some cause.

It was John Hume who first pointed out that the problem was not religious, but, being a contemporary problem, was in fact political.

Even this has been shown to be stretching the truth however, as the paramilitaries don't represent the people. The people want to live peaceful lives.

The problem is, that they also want to know that the "other sides" paramilitaries are going to behave themselves.

I remain of the belief that the paramilitaries are happy with the status quo, and that they benefit from the peoples paranoia, which they are keeping alive as long as they can.

Northern Irelands biggest enemies are fear, paranoia and stubbornness. These things can all be overcome. When Clinton came to The North, people didn't greet him with the tricolor or orange sashes, they greeted him (view it cynically if you want to, but it happened) with doves and other such symbols of peace.

It strikes me that the people of the north want nothing more than to cast off the clothes that history has given them to wear.

A good first step is taking a look at the people who are keeping the old wounds open.

The paramilitaries don't need our sympathy. They don't need anyone to stand up for them. They are bullies, and I hope that this sudden awakening that Ken Maginnis and Peter Mandelson seem to be having, has the effect of shutting them down.

I'm sorry if this seems flippant or patronizing, but I am convinced that what we are seeing at the moment is the death of the old order in the North. Nationalism and Loyalism are, I think, irrelevant to most people nowadays. I think that this is particularly true among the youth.

It's their future!