MAYBE Cllr Tim Attwood (Letters, June 24) didn’t actually see the Lisbon Treaty ballot paper.

THE result of the Lisbon referendum has reminded me of one of the scenes from Life of Brian — not the life of Brian Cowen, but the film.

IN recent times, Gerry Adams has attacked SDLP representatives for asking tough and probing questions about the murder of Paul Quinn and the shooting of an off-duty policeman in Dungannon.

IT is more than nine years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which stated there should be “total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations” and parties should “confirm their intention to continue to work constructively and in good faith with the Independent Monitoring Commission”.

IN the 1970s, the SDLP embarked on a journey of both hope and necessity to try and change the face of politics on the North and on this island.

I WELCOME the fact that there has been a wave of condemnation against the sectarian abuse directed at Darren Graham, the young GAA player from Co Fermanagh.

THE recent homophobic remarks by Ian Paisley Jnr have been rightly condemned by the SDLP.

THERE is a new dawn breaking in Irish politics.

IT is welcome that the Taoiseach has recognised how the SDLP “led the way for the nationalist community” on the issue of policing.

ONCE again, the enormous efforts the SDLP have made to ensure that North-South issues are at the heart of government policy in Dublin and London have paid dividends, with the launch of the all-island economic cooperation blueprint by the Irish and British governments.

AS we study the contents of the St Andrews Agreement, it is important to reflect on the comments of Senator Maurice Manning who said in the Seanad a few years ago: “What we are witnessing is a victory for constitutionalism and peaceful democratic politics of the type practised by the SDLP for 30 long, difficult and unrewarding years. In a real sense, everyone is a victor today, but if there is an ideological or philosophical winner... it is the SDLP because its brand of politics has triumphed”.

An appeal for calm was issued today to a community in west Belfast which witnessed an horrific brawl in which a man was attacked with a hatchet and shot at.

A woman killed in a hit-and-run outside a west Belfast pub was struck by a red car, police said tonight.

Gerry Adams today appealed to witnesses to a fatal road accident in west Belfast involving a police Land Rover to help Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman establish what exactly happened.

The 29-year-old man knocked down and killed by a police vehicle in Belfast early today has been named as Jim McMenamin.