SHOULD we be surprised at the resurrection of the Drumcree issue and everything that has, and might still, follow from that?

Not at all. It was only a matter of time before the lid was blown off our pretend peace process.

The truth is, we’ve been kidding ourselves for decades. We don’t really have a peace “process” in Northern Ireland – at least not one worthy of the title.

Never mind “ours is the most successful peace process in the world”, as some people never tire of telling us.

Newton Emerson: Why Jon Burrows is marching to a different tune at Drumcree

David Adams: Drumcree shows we’ve been kidding ourselves that we really had a ‘peace process’

Yes, we have an absence, more or less, of sectarian violence. And that‘s wonderful. But all kinds of pain and resentments have for decades been bubbling away, just beneath the surface of our peace, none of which have ever been addressed by our largest political parties.

Which is not to say they have ignored this widespread rancour. Far from it. They have encouraged and exploited it within each of their own communities, while minimising or ignoring it within the other.

This has finally led us back to the past; back to Drumcree and the unfortunate people living on or near the Garvaghy Road. If it hadn’t been........

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