A changing island - Figures that speak louder than words

Early last month, the cadaver of violent nationalism dusted itself off one more sorry time, stepped out from the shadows and, feeding on the anti-democratic delusions that have cost so many lives on this island marched behind the coffin, offensively draped in our national flag, of a dangerous Dublin criminal.

That the daylight murder of Alan Ryan signalled a new and escalating round of gangland killings over the closing weeks of September shows exactly what kind of republican he was and the kind of republicans those who paraded as a “colour party”, or in paramilitary uniforms, at his funeral actually are.

On Saturday, 30,000 people marched through Belfast to mark the centenary of the Ulster Covenant and though it did provoke moments of tension it was far, far more peaceful than it might have been even a decade ago. Comparing the two events may not be a faultless way to review how relationships and society on this island are evolving but it is nevertheless a valid, if fleeting, metric.