Calm down Ard: we want you to live to see re-unification. The Republic, of which I'm a citzen, has of course done great in terms of economic and social advancement. The standard of living is now equal that in Britain. The potholes reference was just me being, typically, a bit rogueish!

Some interesting stats from David McKittrick's "Making Sense of the Troubles" (2000), unionist-nationalist voting

1921 NI Parliament, U - 66.9% of total, N - 32.3% 1982 Assembly Elections, U - 58.4%, N - 31.6% 1989 Local Elections, U - 54.6%, N - 34.4% 1999 European Elections, U - 52.3%, N - 45.4

Even allowing for a higher nationalist turnout in 1999 if this trend continues Martin, who is incidentally a distant cousin of mine, will be celebrating before 2016. What do the psepologists think?