Brendy: what you've had in the north has not been civil war but guerrilla warfare, limited and sporadic; albeit nasty, brutish and deadly.

I take consolation from the fact that you represent only a very small minority; defeated, demoralised and marginalised, willing to take up a gun, a bomb, or in the case of Eamonn Collins, a knife, to impose your mindless will. You say you would sit round a table with Trimble but you have to offer more than that, you must change within your heart, you must recognise and indeed embrace the legitimacy of the unionist tradition, as they must yours. "Parity of esteem" cuts both ways. Or to put it more simply; both traditions must write MUTUAL TOLERANCE into their manifestoes, and mean it. You must recognise that the Irish problem is a mere accident of history and that modern rational minds must act to effect change for the future. You must take on board, embrace and learn to love the wise words of Norman Porter,a unionist, addressed to old fashioned Orangeism, for they apply equally to you. Trimble has made that seismic shift within his heart, as I have within mine, from Vanguard towards Civic Unionism but for his pains is now having to backtrack to appease his grassroots and protect his parliamentary seat in the forthcoming election. Who would you rather deal with: Trimble, or Geoffrey Donaldson, or, God forbid, Peter Robinson and Ian Paisley? In fact they won't deal with you, they won't even talk to you. You are playing into the hands of these loyalist fundamentalists. Move forward, grasp the nettle, command the moral high ground, isolate the bastards. The language of Civic Republicanism is beginning to creep into the vocabulary of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness (a distant relative of mine from the Illies Townland near Buncrana). Adams is pragmatic enough to see which way the wind has been blowing for the last 15 or so years. You are still out on that limb, creaking and swaying under the weight of your own blindness and of public opinion both north and south.

Brendy, you're one of Bill Clinton's "drunks". You've had far too many long, deep and cold political pints in the old Sean South Arms of Romantic Republicaniam. You've had too many lost political weekends, lost weekdays and lost decades. Come in from the cold, your time is up. You have to battle and face down your political and cultural delirium tremens, bathe your red, rheumy, political eyes in the clear waters of the milk white Boyne and stagger out, free at last, into the cold light of day. It may seem impossible but it can be achieved, one hour, one day at at time, you will be a much happier man and Ireland will be a much happier place.

Mick: all that about burning Catholic churches, etc is true but it's only half the story. Orange halls are also being constantly torched, more justifiably you might say, but in fact both are just easily identifiable symbols of the other side.

I now close my correspondence on this thread. Goodnight and joy be with you all.