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| David Cameron: I will find time for family as PM - unlike Gordon Brown Tory leader: I will find time for family as PM - unlike Gordon Brown. telegraph.co.uk |
Prince of Wales pays tribute to armed forces girlfriends in front of Kate Middleton The Prince of Wales paid tribute to the girlfriends of troops serving in the Armed Forces as Kate Middleton watched his son Prince William receive his wings as a fully-fledged helicopter pilot. telegraph.co.uk |
Prices of bananas and other household staples soar The cost of staple foods such as bananas and tea has shot up by almost a third since last year. telegraph.co.uk |
Atheist David Miliband sends son to faith school David Miliband has been accused of hypocrisy for sending his son to a Church of England school even though he himself is an atheist. telegraph.co.uk |
Stormont on the brink | Malachi O'Doherty As power-sharing teeters over the abyss, Gordon Brown has a job to persuade Northern Ireland politicians to step backThe calculation facing Gordon Brown as he wrestles with the stubborn political parties allegedly governing Northern Ireland is whether those parties would prefer to face a general election to the assembly now or later.He will be well informed about the threats facing Sinn FĂ©in and the DUP. Gerry Adams is being bombarded in the Irish press with allegations, most of them not reaching the London papers or the broadcasters, that he has mismanaged complaints made to him against alleged rapists and child abusers in the republican movement, including his own brother. Adams is fighting back with the charge that certain newspapers are out to shaft him, but he has to consider whether Sinn FĂ©in's vote might suffer if the people are now beginning to ask if he covered up for paedophiles.Coincidentally, scandals gathering around First Minister Peter Robinson cast similar dark clouds over his own election prospects. In his case, the question is whether he judiciously managed the repayment of funds solicited by his MP wife for her lover, or should have registered them as an interest.So, if the reputation of the party leaders on each side of the current deadlock was the main worry, Gordon Brown might confidently judge that neither would want to test their popularity just right now. But the issues are bigger.Sinn FĂ©in needs the devolution of policing and justice, the development that Robinson's DUP is stalling on, for two reasons.The republicans sold the acceptance of the police to their rank and file on the argument that control would shift to Stormont, and this was a hard step for them to take. But further than that, Sinn FĂ©in needs a victory in this assembly, having lost face on several other fronts. They wanted an Irish Language Act and didn't get it; they wanted a sports stadium with a museum of the Troubles attached at the old Maze prison site, and they didn't get that; they wanted to abolish academic selection and have produced, instead, chaos in the school system.So Sinn FĂ©in's choice is either to go for an election now, with a stance of strong confrontation with the DUP, having a case against them for obstructing devolution, or to go next year, at the due time, and to campaign then on their record in power – knowing that that record is abysmal.Peter Robinson is also faced with problems greater than his personal profile. He is threatened by the rival Traditional Unionist Voice of Jim Allister, a defector from the DUP who opposes power-sharing with Sinn FĂ©in.If Robinson allows an election to be triggered now, by Sinn FĂ©in, he will have a golden opportunity to fight it on the grounds that he stands up to Sinn FĂ©in as well as anybody would. But to concede the devolution of policing and justice now, and then face the general election in May and the assembly election next year, vulnerable to the charge that he took on Sinn FĂ©in on a major issue and lost, might open the gates to the growth of the TUV.And there is another consideration. Sinn FĂ©in will fight this election, if it comes, on the charge that the DUP needs to be taught a basic lesson in nationalist equality. They will seek to top the poll as the largest party in Northern Ireland, against a fragmented unionist front. This will be a chance to sweep its rival nationalist party, the SDLP, aside and take the office of first minister.And that threat of Sinn FĂ©in topping the poll will be relayed by Robinson as a call to unionists of all shades to back him and prevent that scenario. He might hope such a rallying to his party would damage the TUV terminally.So Gordon Brown is in Belfast with his Irish counterpart, to plead with the acrimonious partners in an unstable government, to settle terms. They, on the other hand, may very well relish the fight ahead.His best argument back to them, then, will be that if they force an election now, they will still have to come back after it – to the same deadlock and the same arguments.Northern IrelandSinn FĂ©inPeter RobinsonGerry AdamsPoliceGordon BrownMalachi O'Dohertyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |