THIS week The Irish News has carried several stories about communities coming together.

There was a west Belfast community preparing for its popular World Cup street party. A group of traders determined to revive a market many feared had been lost. And a family overwhelmed by the support of local clubs and volunteers helping to raise funds for their young daughter.

Reading them, I found myself thinking about something that doesn’t get said often enough: for all the talk of what divides Northern Ireland, we’re actually very good at coming together.

The strange thing is that we seem to recognise this instinctively when something matters. If a family needs help, people rally around. If a community event is under threat, people step in. If somebody decides to organise a fundraiser, volunteers appear from seemingly nowhere.

Cormac Moore: A tale of two ‘Ireland’ football teams and too few World Cups

Linzi McLaren: Is there actually such a thing as ‘moderate unionism’?

Yet somehow we........

© The Irish News