and also please believe that I am not preaching from some lofty position of advantage. In the course of my formative years and adult life, there have been times particularly in relation to the IRA when I have passionately wanted to have my finger on that button. I have personal reasons for that. But I have come by painful degrees, through outrage after outrage, murder after murder, blame after blame after blame, to a current belief that there is simply no alternative. That, however much in pain that we may look for the quick fix, in the longer run there is nothing shown to work but dialog(ue), understanding, patience, compromise: all those grey and amorphous things that cost us dear. It's not what, in some respects, I want to believe - but I just know that if this response is heavy-handed and not accompanied by serious soul searching in the West, we will be back here very soon, but worse.