Top Ten in the Peace Process

delgirl said:

+1 it was unfortunate he passed away when he did.

What about Mareaid Corrigan and Betty Williams founders of the Peace Movement who received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize?

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Deserving people, yes, but unfortunately they were ahead of their time so far as the PP as we know it is concerned. Similarly, people like Paddy Devlin and Brian Faulkner tried to work the eventual settlement way back in 1974 but the rejectionists on both sides were having none of it so I am afraid they do not qualify for this particular competition. The pope of Rome also failed when he came here in 1979.

Also I have to stop the clock somewhere. I have decided 2008 as that is when we got fairly safe that there was a robust settlement. If I stopped the clock in 1998 the DUP wouldn't figure at all. If I kept the clock running the Queen of England would be bang up there on the leader board.

This was always going to be a hard nut to crack until Gerry and his mates stood to gain. Hence Mrs T gets the top slot, though of course she doesn't deserve it for intent but rather for the inadvertent result of her actions. Having said that, the Anglo Irish Agreement was a courageous(remember the IRA nearly murdered her and did murder her friend) if naïve attempt on her and Garret's part.

Betsy Og said:

Was there capitulation to republicans?, bar the prisoner releases most "concessions" were only putting NI on par with the rest of UK.

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Betsy, there is nowhere in the UK (nor indeed anywhere in the World?) where a contrived and artificial electoral system is imposed to ensure that a minority have equal power with the majority.

Don't downplay the prisoner releases. The "campaign" was obviously going nowhere and to get off the hook like that was literally a "get outa jail free" card. And Mrs T's fingerprints are on this aspect as well. If she had conceded special category status, the carrot of prisoner release would have been lessened.

Duke - as I said, it was my 3rd go at that email - earlier version(s) had acknowledged that prisoner releases were a big issue.

As regards how skewed the electoral system is, that was a necessary outcome of Stormont's historic mis-rule and the general dysfunctional nature of society in NI. I'm of the view that the system works (the bar is quite low, for the time being anyway), so what if its contrived?, at least its contrived fairness as opposed to contrived inequality (e.g. gerrymandering). If politics wasnt so tribal there might be no need of it, but thats how it is, so policymakers had to make the best of it, and I think they've been proven right.