Peter Robinson and the UVF
Last month I found myself in Pansy Street, which for those of you who don't know is just off Dee Street in East Belfast, watching our First Minister unveil a new mural. Depicting the lion "Aslan" and the Narnia author C.S. Lewis, the mural replaced an old paramilitary image. Standing alongside Dawn Purvis and Sammy Douglas, Peter Robinson hailed it as an example of the paramilitaries contemplating change and made it clear that he would be prepared to do all he could to help them go further.
Yesterday the Belfast Telegraph reported that moves were afoot to arrange a meeting between the First Minister and the UVF leadership. It's understood disarmament will be on the agenda.
Peter Robinson wasn't available for comment yesterday, but the DUP didn't deny the story, pointing me instead to his Narnia mural comments.
Jim Allister has criticised the potential meeting arguing that "though it may seem a small and parallel step from sharing power with IRA/Sinn Fein, I believe Peter Robinson would be profoundly wrong to enter negotiations with another terrorist axis, the UVF. This increasing erosion of the line between democratic politics and paramilitarism does the integrity of politics no service."
I can remember many occasions in the past when unionists said they wouldn't talk to Sinn Fein, not because they were republicans, but because they had guns. However the days of standing on this principle seem far off and if this latest initiative does produce results I suspect the TUV leader will be a fairly lonely voice within the political spectrum here.
I'm 
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