Airstrip One

Poor David Trimble has been saved! Hurrah for the nice guys. Well not so fast. Firstly he could only be saved by the switch of a number of the non-sectarian Alliance Party to labelling themselves as Unionist, which may be strictly correct as they want to maintain some sort of link with Britain, but they are not a solely Protestant party. So the idea that the Unionist community is behind the peace process has been shattered.

Then the Alliance demanded that the whole position that brought this shambles be dismantled, meaning that the whole idea of "power sharing" - meaning that both communities would have to agree to any decision - is now thrown out. It may suit the nationalists this time, but the Prods are still a majority in Ulster. And finally it has missed a legal deadline, meaning that this will be challenged by the courts.

Better get Plan B dusted down.