Advantage Sinn Fein

And now the ball has been moved to Ian Paisley's court. Accept the PSNI, the DUPers said, if you want to restore Stormont. In Dublin today, at an extraordinary ardfheis, Sinn Fein voted to support policing in the north of Ireland.

Not that the Shinners have given up on their dream of a united Ireland, and by 2016 if God is smiling upon them. Rather than use the bullet and the bomb, they've decided to try peaceful means, politics rather than war. Accepting the Police Service of Northern Ireland is a step along that road, the destination unchanging. The DUP recognizes this desire, and they've done all they could to prevent it. With the policing roadblock now removed, what excuse can the DUP come up with next?

Easy enough to brush off the vote. Actions, the DUP contingent will bark, actions speak louder than words and we don't trust the words. Therefore, there is still no deal to restore devolved government. Oh, and did we mention that it's all Sinn Fein's fault? Don't go saying that the loyalists are putting up a roadblock, not when it's clearly Sinn Fein's fault. You understand that, don't you, that it's Sinn Fein's fault?

The agreement was not easily reached. Reports from Dublin note that the debate dragged on for six hours before a vote was forced, and not every party member agreed with the decision. Too many years of fighting British rule, and now, clear evidence that the police colluded with loyalist gangs, have embittered many nationalists.

Sean Oliver put it best when he commented on the change in Sinn Fein strategy. He sees the foundation of unionism crumbling, bit by bit. The Orange Order, once a mighty force, is fading into insignificance. The one-party state, run by unionists, is on its death bed with the rise of the nationalist influence in politics. And now, the control of the police force will be lost to the loyalists. Couple that with a recent survey showing a dramatic rise in the number of registered nationalist voters, and change is in the air.

The DUP will not accept such change, and they will find a way to stop progress. As Sean MacBradaigh said at today's ardfheis, Sinn Fein republicans are going to probe the police service, "into the deepest, darkest recesses", and there goes the once cozy relationships between the peelers and the loyalists. All that fresh air will blow into the PSNI and who knows what might get blown out from behind the closed doors? Crimes by loyalists against nationalists might actually get prosecuted. Unthinkable before, but an evolving reality today.

Scientists suggest that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid crashing into the earth, creating a cataclysmic change in the environment. What was a catastrophe for the dinosaurs, however, was a boon for the little mammals that once scurried about underfoot.