Coming in from the cold

FORTY years ago, a minor incident occurred in West Belfast. Compared to everything that happened since, it was a nothing, a midge-bite of a thing.

But it marked the first crossing-of-the-paths encounter for the two personalities who now dominate Northern politics.

In 1964, Sinn Féin was a party that was not too far away from extinction. Its strength and numbers had been shredded by suppressive clampdowns on both sides of the Border during the late 1950s.