I’ve declared the Northern Ireland turning points before and got it wrong – most notably on the Easter Sunday after the Good Friday Agreement. I failed to understand that the effect of the Agreement would be to squeeze the centre almost out of existence and leave the extremes facing one another. Why did the gradual removal of violence not squeeze the extremes and boost the centre? But still, today’s Sinn Fein decision to support the police in Northern Ireland is a remarkable moment – and a remarkable feat of political leadership.
And in the wake of that comes all the other Sunday stuff – significant or insignificant according to your taste. Shilpa Shetty’s victory was well-deserved but somehow felt more than a little patronising. My appetite for Cosmo-type info remains somewhat unsatisfied. There seems to be a famine of Kate Middleton news and I was reduced to reading the dress code for Liz Hurley’s wedding. Best joke of the day was Ronnie Corbett’s small people joke – too small to play James Bond and too big to be adopted by Madonna. I know just how he feels.