It’s hard not to have a little bit of sympathy for Mark Kleiman’s proposed solution to the Northern Ireland problem. But Gerry Adams and Ian Paisely would probably find plenty of common ground in their locked room when it came to their long-term shared enemies, the British and Irish governments.

Meanwhile, events continue to unfold, as they say. The DUP (Paisley’s party) will resign their ministerial posts on riday. First minister David Trimble wants Sinn Fein out of the executive. The Police returned two computre discs that they’d taken from Sinn Fein’s Stormont offices last week, which complicates the story a bit. And just to keep us all amused, Gerry Adams gave a speech in Dublin today arguing that the upcoming Nice referendum (a second attempt by the Irish government to get the electorate to accept the latest E.U. expansion) was “constitutionally suspect.” Well, he’s certainly an authority on that topic… See? There goes the cynicism again. It’s a kind of defence mechanism against Irish political life.

See my primer on Irish Political Scandal for more on the best little country in the world. And stay tuned to Slugger O’Toole for the latest on the North.