Hope for '07

I want to wish you all a happy new year, whatever your politics.

Northern Ireland's political prospects are looking better than ever before. The Sinn Féin leadership is leading Republicanism from the front and has come down firmly in favour of supporting law and order, and the constitutional forces that preserve it. They're ploughing new fields, and they're to be praised for it. The DUP is now willing to share power and has now backed away quietly from "political lifetime" statements.

As I've said before, the biggest challenge in 2007 will be 'splinter management', the ability of the two main parties not just to carry the majority of their supporters along with them, but to minimise the militancy of the disaffected. Something to pray for there.
The four main church leaders have called for people to end sectarian thinking, and I am adding my small voice to that. Political change should be accompanied by myriad small steps taken by everyday people in their everyday lives, steps which show that people who hold different political aspirations and cultural backgrounds are nevertheless people of worth. Let's get on and do it.