Ministers urgently need to heed this canary in coalmine as to the mounting anger at what is happening over the legacy of terrorism

Since the emergency began, the UK retreat from Stormont House legacy plans has been attacked by voices ranging from the Committee on the Administration of Justice to the Catholic bishops.

Brandon Lewis shows little sign of being more on top of the legacy crisis than his predecessors. Instead of strongly defending the retreat by pointing out the alarming way legacy has turned on state forces, he has sounded apologetic.

Meanwhile, the appeal court has put pressure on the authorities to hold yet another inquest into deaths (in the Good Samaritan killings, in which the murderers were the IRA but the RUC has ended up getting most blame).

And a veteran charged with two Bloody Sunday murders will be tried in Londonderry, with pre-trial hearings in July. Amid this, there is no hint of coming trials of IRA leaders.

But there is still no appeal ruling in the Loughinisland case in which a judge launched a fierce attack on the Ombudsman, yet bizarrely stood aside while rejecting a claim of bias, then his replacement issued a different verdict.

Another ruling was issued this week, however, when the Supreme Court overturned Gerry Adams’ convictions.

For a man who has dedicated much of his life to cross-border reconciliation such as Trevor Ringland to write as he does opposite (in the print edition, see link below) about that ruling walking on the graves of judges murdered by the IRA – whose heinous killings will never get costly scrutiny – is a canary in the coalmine as to how public patience is close to snapping with the path legacy is taking.

It is one the government should urgently heed.

• Trevor Ringland: The Supreme Court ruling in the Gerry Adams case walked on graves of judges murdered by IRA