IRA does it again

There have been better times for the British and Irish premiers to discuss the Northern Ireland peace process. Today, their talks are marred by the latest demonstration of the republicans' commitment to "peace": the grisly mutilation and assassination of the double agent Denis Donaldson....

The murder has... proved the IRA's consistency. Whether in 1922, 1969 or 1998, as soon as one part lays down its arms, another picks them up.

Also, as always, the barefaced lie is wheeled out to reduce republican embarrassment when one of their hoods goes too far. Happily, a public disgusted by these gangsters and by their terrorism knows that as soon as representatives of the IRA disclaim responsibility for an act of violence, the opposite will almost certainly turn out to be true.

Mr Blair's strategy towards Ulster has in recent months become increasingly preposterous. The IRA has been defeated. After the attacks on America in 2001 the republicans' main paymasters pulled the plug on the organisation: terrorism no longer had that romantic tinge on the other side of the Atlantic. That is why the IRA needs to rob banks and run drugs, which has overtaken the political struggle as its main business and raison d'être.

However, this is a gang of failed criminals and murderers whom Mr Blair remains only too keen to propitiate....