We may be back to 'angel papers' to give wing to the peace process

HUMPTY Dumpty said it in rather a scornful tone: "when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or less."

It was ever thus in the peace process. The more important language was, the more important it became that each side using the language could be the arbiter of its own meaning.

In the days when I was involved in the peace process (and I imagine it's still the same), when either government wanted to float an idea they would sometimes write it down on a paper to be given to the other side. Only these pieces of paper had no status whatsoever.