Paul Hosford: Grasping the nettle of a shared island concept

Political apathy is no longer a valid stance, as violence on the streets of Belfast is everyone's responsibility on this island.

The PSNI use a water cannon on youths on the Springfield road, during further unrest in Belfast. Picture: PA Wire

It has been a year of Seamus Heaney quotes. And though on this side of the border, politicians have eschewed the Derry great's poetry for more sombre lines in recent months, this week one line rings too true. "Anyone born and bred in Northern Ireland can’t be too optimistic,” Mr Heaney once said.

For people in and from the North, this week is a reminder that there is always something threatening a peace that was too hard-won. For people in the south, not all but too many, it was a chance to peer over the spectacles and proclaim the natives were restless again before returning to more pressing matters.