The way back to Stormont

摘要

Dedicated followers of the Northern Ireland peace process could be forgiven a certain scepticism. Eight years after the Good Friday Agreement that set it on its stumbling way, some of the landmarks look depressingly familiar. Northern Ireland's devolved government is still suspended. Britain and Ireland are once again nudging recalcitrant political parties into some sort of agreement. Another deadline looks likely to be bent or missed. And the brutal murder of an IRA man turned British spy is an unsettling reminder of bitter history.