Divided They Stand

Beginning of article

WE WERE a week into the ceasefire. There was an air of change about. The Belfast Telegraph was predicting that the demilitarised look could be the new big trend this autumn in Northern Ireland. Soldiers on the streets had dumped their hard hats, while security staff at the Ulster Brewery on the Glen Road had been issued with new uniforms - snappy navy blazers and company ties replacing the old military-style brown tunics and peaked caps. Old certainties looked less sure somehow - the military feel of Belfast, the isolation of Sinn Fein.

But it was still just a unilateral ceasefire .

The whole world was queuing up to try to determine the loyalist position on the …