Premium
Martina Devlin
Opinion
Forget the paint pots and the paramilitary masks, the protocol is here to stay
And so we are forced to watch paleo-loyalism in action: vile graffiti, threats against customs staff, and a hooded show of strength in the wake of tensions around new post-Brexit inspection rules at Belfast and Larne ports. Violence and politics have long intermeshed in the North, a cycle broken by herculean efforts which led to the Good Friday Agreement. Unfortunately, that link has repaired itself with disconcerting ease.