Political streetfighters may fancy a move to the middle of the road

HAVE the lunatics taken over the Assembly? The Northern elections have left us seeing through a glass darkly as regards the future shape of things on this island.

A hostile, bigoted DUP appears to dominate unionism. Pessimism about the DUP may not be justified, as things turn out. But the SDLP, which has done more than any other party to defend civilised politics in the North, may be permanently sidelined by a political force with plenty of bully-boys, intimidators and fraudsters in its ranks.

There are a number of reasons for the SDLP's downfall, and the first of these is structural. The party has always been a series of political fiefdoms Derry, South Armagh, South Down, and a middle class entity in Belfast rather than a unified political party.