Editorial A farewell to arms

The lackluster campaign for the new Northern Ireland assembly should not deceive people into underestimating the importance of the Thursday’s election. Once more, it is David Trimble who is fighting for his political life. Notwithstanding his impressive showing in the referendum vote last month, his fate, and indeed that of the whole Belfast Agreement, will turn mainly on the number of pro-agreement Unionist Party candidates who get elected. It’s as simple as that.

That is why it would have been much appreciated if Sinn Fein and the IRA had made it crystal clear that the armed campaign is finished and that, as far as they are concerned, their