Nothing to celebrate in Northern Ireland

Tony Blair has been hailed for his one achievement as PM....peace in Northern Ireland. But it has come at a heavy price.

Peter Hain has bent over backwards to accommodate the paramilitaries and as a result, it is their backers who effectively rule the province, not the moderates. Sinn Fein, a party financed and run by organised crime has gained legitimacy as a result and is poised to become the dominant party in the Irish republic. It's not an achievement that Blair should be proud of.