Time to follow Wilson’s example: Decision will reawaken old hatreds

Last September, Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley admitted that before she took up her post she was ignorant of the region’s divisions. She said she was unaware that nationalists did not vote for unionists or that unionists did not vote for nationalists.

“I didn’t understand some of the deep-seated and deep-rooted issues,” she blushed. The pilot did not know how to fly the plane but at least she knew it. That admission showed Ms Bradley in a poor light but it showed those who appointed her up in a malicious way. A greenhorn was asked to be ringmaster in these islands’ most volatile, unsettled circus.