IN my office at home, there is a caricature of two mules dressed in loyalist and republican regalia, with their tails tied together, pulling in the opposite direction.

It was drawn in 1998 as a gift for Bertie Ahern, but I liked it so much I copied it.

It’s now 29 years on, and the two factions are still doing the same thing, under the facade of a partnership government.

Sinn Féin and the DUP are the living embodiment of those mules.

First of all, they are not just linked but intrinsically shackled together through the joint office of First and Deputy First Minister.

Perversely, they are wholly dependent on the need for each side to engage in ongoing verbal taunting of the other by waging useless cultural wars. With elections approaching, they will see no point in a ceasefire.

I’ve said it here often – Northern Ireland is an economic, political and social basket case.

One cannot administer an effective government through photo-shoots and press releases.

A society emerging from conflict needs to be led by people mature enough to recognise that co-existence is not reconciliation. In fact, it’s stagnation and those who suffer are the public.

A large part of our problem in the north is that people on all sides have long memories, grievances and hurts which have not just shaped but fermented their prejudices and jaundiced their vision – even when winds of change like the Good Friday Agreement blow opportunity and aspiration in their direction.

Perceived gains and losses are looked at through the........

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