The DUP, Sinn Fein and Bob McCartney's splinter party, the UK Unionists, speak with one voice in condemning the talks which reopened in Belfast yesterday could anything else provide clearer proof that the extremes are combining to prevent the only available opportunity for political dialogue? Dr Paisley's attitude is the most bizarre, because he makes his predictably stormy attack on the participation of the loyalist parties in the talks less than a leek after one of his colleagues, the Rev William McCrea, appeared on a platform with a notorious militant loyalist in a calculated act of defiance.
That event and the involvement of many prominent unionists in the shenanigans at Drumcree, and Dr Paisley's own associations at an earlier stage of his checkered career have served to make the useful point that supports for violence is not confined to this party or that, but shades off through the traditional political system. For this reason it is vitally important for the peace talks to be as inclusive as possible, and only a state of actually declared readiness to use arms (such as has been the case since the IRA ceasefire was called off) should be grounds for exclusion.
Whether this is the defacto situation now in regard to the loyalist parties is a matter for the two governments to decide. Dr Paisley and Mr McCartney think they should be excluded, but both are suspect because they are threatened by the more conciliatory policies of the loyalists. Dr Paisley has argued that to allow them to remain in would open the door to Sinn Fein. This does not follow because the IRA has still to reinstate its ceasefire. But if it does, and does so permanently and credibly, there can be no further block to Sinn Fein's admission. This is the real challenge to unionism in the attempt to negotiate peace.
How it responds will have profound implications for everyone living on this island. As the second part of the Irish Times poll published today demonstrates, there are some signs of dynamism in Northern politics, in spite of the bleak prospects held out for the success of the talks themselves.
Mr John Hume, no doubt because of his involvement in the effort to prevent an escalation in Derry in August, but also for his long advocacy of moderation, now enjoys cross community approval unparalleled by any other political leader. Both of the loyalist party leaders, Mr David Ervine and Mr Gary McMichael, attract positive recognition from many Catholics. While there has been a withdrawal, as far as policy is concerned, into reassuringly traditional attitudes, there is at the same time a shift, modest but perceptible, towards parties and politicians who have been preaching conciliation.
This is not a paradox, because the overriding consideration in both communities is that there should be no return to killing, the negation of politics. Scepticism and deep divisions about causes and cures are widely prevalent, but about the need to avoid the slide down to violence there is, understandably, less disagreement. Dr Paisley and Mr McCartney may prefer the nit picking approach that effectively stymies dialogue and then what? But the evidence suggests that the electorate would prefer the low key bilateral contacts of Mr Hume and Mr Trimble to the political games that could lead inevitably to chaos.