When Arthur Aughey thought he detected a Sicilian streak in Irish politics, his radio audience in this State probably jumped to the wrong conclusion. Here, it seemed, was a Northern historian who'd been keeping an eye on our affairs, knew what our erstwhile leaders had been up to and wasn't afraid to say so, in public.
Dr Aughey, as it happened, was talking about Northern politics, with its stubborn insistence on honour, pride and the need to save face, not about the drama now showing at a tribunal near you.
But, for a while, the fancy was appealing. Mario Puzo, who'd written The Godfather, was dead. We had our own famiglia, a party in which loyalty stood first among virtues and omerta was the bond that must never be broken.
For some, the revelation has been as stunning as book or film; their sense of betrayal by a few of the most powerful people in the State so deep that they've lost faith in all parties, all politicians and politics. Others prefer to write off their political losses as banks, apparently, write off bad debts for those powerful enough to threaten them.
And as we learn more and more about how the Byzantine connections worked, in that world of shadows and sham behind a glittering surface, the Sicilian comparisons continue to reappear. It wasn't what Arthur Aughey had in mind. But the honour and pride of which he spoke lay at the heart of the argument between the UUP and Sinn Fein on the issue of who jumps first.
And it helps to explain why the Northern public regularly shows that it recognises what should be done and as regularly refrains from doing it.
Today's Irish Times/MRBI Poll, for which the fieldwork in the North was carried out by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, illustrates the point. Almost two-thirds of those questioned accepted the main features of the proposals presented by the Irish and British governments in The Way Forward.
Two-thirds of them agreed that an all-party executive should be formed next weekend and three-quarters believed the process of decommissioning should start in a few days, with actual decommissioning to begin within a month, to be completed by May 2000.
SIXTY per cent of UUP supporters favoured forming the executive, 65 per cent of Sinn Fein supporters said decommissioning should go ahead as planned.
The impetus was clear: two-thirds said that in the event of default the executive should go ahead without the defaulters if the others agreed. And three-quarters, including 60 per cent of SF supporters, believed the IRA should make a statement backing the governments' proposals.
This was encouraging news, except that many - especially among the unionists - were uncertain that promises would be kept and programmes completed. For example, only one-quarter of the respondents thought that all paramilitary weapons would be decommissioned by May 2000. And, while 46 per cent believed the failsafe legislation - to ensure that defaulters were be penalised - would prove sufficient for all parties to set up the executive, 37 per cent did not.
Confidence in the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement is higher among nationalists than among unionists - but here, as on other issues, overall unionist figures are affected by the DUP's opposition to the agreement.
The message from the supporters of the pro-agreement parties is to press ahead, though among those who would vote for the UUP, there's a marked degree of caution, or suspicion that, someone, somewhere, will not make good his promises. And it's not the first time that suspicion weighed heavily with the electorate.
Polls taken several months ago showed that most people of all ages, classes and religious or political persuasions clearly recognised the benefits of the Belfast Agreement.
If it were to collapse, they agreed, with resounding logic and unusual unanimity, life would be less comfortable all round. Investment would fall and, as prosperity ebbed, the tide of violence would rise.
But, as Dr Aughey suggested, there's more to the problems of Northern Ireland than economic disadvantage. There's even more to them than the much analysed issues of identity and equality.
WHEN honour and pride have to be satisfied, there is every danger that some will prefer that satisfaction to more tangible benefits - cutting off the community's nose to spite their neighbours.
For a significant minority, honour and pride - Orange or Green - have always come before social or economic benefits. The case for partnership was made this week by politicians, clergy and commentators, North and South, but nowhere more impressively than at the conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The encouragement was impressive, not only because the ICTU is an all-Ireland organisation crossing social, political and religious boundaries, but because it has demonstrated the success of partnership in its own affairs.
Its discussion document, Challenges Facing Unions and Irish Society in the New Millennium, was introduced by the general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, on a note of healthy self-criticism: "The choices to be made include the challenge of changing ourselves and the way we relate to others."
On the process of partnership, the document quotes with approval a passage from Prof Rory O'Donnell's Jean Monnet inaugural lecture which might well serve as a text for politicians attempting to reach agreement.
"It is a remarkable, if not easily understood, fact that deliberation which is problem-solving and practical produces consensus, even where there are underlying conflicts of interest and even where there was no shared understanding at the outset."
Ms Inez McCormack, the new president of the ICTU, acknowledged the relevance of trade union experience to the Belfast Agreement and, like almost everyone else who has offered advice, saw the danger of allowing the present opportunity to fall to another generation.
The decision now rests with David Trimble and his allies. If they act, they should have the support of the governments and all of the pro-agreement parties.
The DUP, unlike the UUP, is not under pressure to refrain from joining a power-sharing government with Sinn Fein, though some DUP members are reluctant to have the nationalists, never mind republicans, about the place. The DUP, with 20 seats in the Assembly, is entitled to two seats in the executive - and the DUP fully intends to take its seats.
This doesn't mean that it's going to stop criticising David Trimble and the UUP because they are prepared to join an administration with Sinn Fein and the SDLP. It's up to Bertie Ahern, Tony Blair, John Hume, Sean Neeson, Monica McWilliams, David Ervine, Gerry Adams and their colleagues to see they don't succeed.
As for David Trimble, he won't be blamed for failing. But he would be blamed for not trying.