you've forgotten Keith - thing were just as unstable in the past.

in the '60's the sea green incorruptibles were waving red books and shouting, 'hey! hey! LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?' we scared the shit out of our parents.

luckilly we didn't have access to weapons. in germany they had baader meinhoff, in America they had the weathermen, the simbianese liberation army. Stokely Carmichael, George Jackson, Angela Davis, Soledad Brother.....

in the 70's the IRA looked just as intractable> And the threat is still there...

in a way you can't have honest equal negotiation with people who are prepared to go that far.

but in the end, its the Mo Mowlams and John Majors and Bill Clintons- the ones who are willing to try for that who get stuff sorted out and civilisation back on track. ...not the Thatcher No Surrender merchants.