The Northern Ireland peace process faces yet another new deadline - the arrival of the Blair baby. British PM Tony Blair has let it be known that he wants the whole process wrapped up (there's optimism) by mid May. Cherie is due to deliver her fourth child around May 20th and the decommissioning deadline is May 22nd, so Tony wants the Irish question out of the way by the middle of the month. Another Anglo-Irish session is planned to follow Hillsborough, but then that should be it.
Tony is a new man for New Labour and he faces a huge quandary over paternity leave, a personal problem he has been discussing far and wide for a long time now. He hasn't announced yet whether he will or he won't (take paternity leave, that is) but the belief is that he will take a couple of weeks rather than a couple of months to bond with the baby. Then Britain and the Irish question (if the plan to have Ireland "settled" within the next 10 days doesn't happen), will be in the hands of Blair's deputy, John Prescott.