Yet another historic day in Northern Ireland

I'm getting quite bored by the rhetoric of breakthroughs and new dawns.

In case you haven't followed the latest developments with bated breath, the unionists didn't want to take control of policing and justice in Northern Ireland from the British government because they have to share government with uppity nationalists.

Finally, after the prime ministers of two proper countries spending 10 exhausting days mollycoddling these utterly parochial groups, some sort of vague agreement has been reached. The nationalists wanted an Irish language act (which I doubt will happen) and the unionists wanted the Parades Commission abolished. Parades are central to triumphalist Unionist culture: they dress up, get drunk (though the Orange Order is technically teetotal) and march through Catholic areas to remind the natives who won the war in 1690. The Parades Commission occasionally diverted marches to keep the peace, and thus was hated.

So here we are again, another grubby little fudge which will no doubt involve more state cash for 'community leaders' and a temporary repression of sectarian instincts - until the Tories get in. They've been trying to build a pan-Unionist, all-Protestant front to fix the elections, thus ruining any claim a Conservative government might have to disinterested neutrality when brokering negotiations.

If you're bored reading this, you should be. I know I am.