This blog has often taken a negative view of events, and an even more negative view of the record of the current Prime Minister, so it is refreshing to have good news to mull over, and a genuinely positive addition to Mr Blair's famous 'legacy'.
Many Prime Ministers have tried to unravel the Gordian Knot that is Northern Irish politics, and until now all have failed. But finally it looks as though peace has irretrievably broken out, and it is in large part due to Tony Blair's enlightened policy since he took office. It is also worth paying tribute to the - unexpected! - capacity for change shown by Dr Ian Paisley (at a time of life when one tends to get stuck in one's ways) and Gerry Adams, the former gunman turned peacemaker.
That's not to say that Stormont will see a love-in between Paisley and Adams, or that there won't be animosity and festering resentment in many parts of Belfast, Londonderry and elsewhere for decades to come, but the sources of the animosity have been dammed and it should now begin, slowly, slowly, to wither away.
What is needed now are fora where the two sides can come together and each see that the other is composed of ordinary human beings, with all the normal range of human feelings, and hardly an inhuman monster in sight. Integrated schools would be good, so that children are not automatically drawn into seeing those of another religion as 'different', though it may take a little while yet for the levels of resentment to subside sufficiently for that to work in some areas. Social clubs, sports teams, pubs and bars...wherever people meet and socialise, things have been polarised for too long and it will take bravery to reach out to the other side - not so much for the reaction to be expected from them, as for the opposition from one's own side.
Integration will happen, though, eventually. It took a long time after the Reformation before the various Christian sects could live amicably together in England. "Catholic or Protestant?" is not a loaded question here. Roll on the day when it isn't in Northern Ireland either.
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