Being sold short?

‘It is an Orange Hall, with the Alliance Party washing the floors and cleaning the windows to make it more respectable’

That was Martin McGuinness parroting Danny Morrison when he dismissed the 1982 ‘Prior Assembly’. However, the words seem to be becoming an apt description of events taking place at Hillsborough, the British Queen’s country pile in Ireland.

As discussions on stabilising the latest experiment in British devolved administration continue some seem to think ‘hope’ is on the horizon and in return for a united Unionism permitting an Alliance Minister limited control over the regional police force that SF republicans will buckle and compromise on the current status quo around disputed parades. Indeed, Slugger’s own Chris Donnelly indicates that at least he one SF member would have no problems with Orange feet on the Garvaghy road just one last time as long as it nailed the final piece in SF’s policing jigsaw.

With the phrase ‘community confidence’ having been a continual mantra from the DUP, I wonder just how thoroughly SF has assessed community confidence in areas that could suddenly find themselves back in the centre of summers of madness. Sellout is another old phrase but the ground work seems to at least being set for selling short.