Hume attempts to heal widest tribal division

Having worked for a mere quarter of a century to bring the warring sides in Northern Ireland back to a power-sharing Executive, SDLP leader Mr John Hume embarked yesterday on a more serious challenge.

Nobody has better experience of attempting to heal tribal divisions and build trust between mutually hating communities.

But even sanguine observers at Stormont were wondering if the Nobel Peace Prize winner was over-stretching himself in trying to encourage understanding between Glasgow's two main soccer teams, Rangers and Celtic.

Undeterred, however, there he was at Parliament Buildings, presiding over a ceremony of handshakes between players and supporters from the clubs for which the term "political football" was invented.

The occasion was to publicise an annual soccer skills roadshow for children, and the sporting theme allowed Mr Hume to repeat one of his favourite phrases when he looked forward yet again to a future in which people "spill their sweat, not their blood".

They tend to spill both in Celtic-Rangers matches, but yesterday was an occasion for optimism and Mr Hume was noticeably light on his feet. A young fan aimed a question at the footballers: "How much training do you do a day?" The SDLP leader deftly intercepted it and replied: "I walk for half an hour."

Mr Hume's sometime midfield partner in the peace process, David Trimble, did not make the soccer launch, despite optimistic billing. He was busy elsewhere; and indeed Stormont was all quiet business yesterday as the hum of phones and fax machines confirmed the return of the political roadshow.

Beyond Stormont, the Northern Ireland Minister of Education again faced heckling during his second day on the job. Addressing a conference on education, Martin McGuinness ignored the interruption and later dismissed the plans of the DUP to bring down the Executive.

"I'm not interested in the wreckers, I'm interested in the builders," he said.

It was a good day for the builders. The announcement of 1,200 new jobs at Shorts and the prospect of an order for two cruise ships at Harland and Wolff underlined the return to normality.

The DUP decision to keep its ministries on a rotating basis was dismissed as "pantomime politics" by the Workers Party and "musical chairs" by the SDLP. Alliance called the DUP "a collection of self-serving, loudmouthed hypocrites", while the Ulster Unionists called the decision a "pathetic con-trick", aimed at securing salaries and perks under a pretence of opposition.

The anti-agreement unionist, Cedric Wilson, criticised the DUP for registering ownership of the title "United Unionists". The DUP's Peter Robinson dismissed Mr Wilson's demands with a growl. "This dog will not be wagged by a short tail," he said.