Sandra Chapman: Politics in the north is now driven by women so maybe peace will have a chance

At least one in the hierarchy of them has suddenly turned her attention to the Middle East. Yes, honestly. Our own first minister Michelle O’Neill wasn’t all that long in her position over us when she turned her attention to the Middle East, that place none of us would take a free trip to.

She was quoted in an LBC radio interview recently as calling for a ceasefire in the current Israel-Hamas war adding that Gaza was ‘a graveyard for children’ and ‘let it not be the graveyard for international law’. Dialogue, she told interviewer Andrew Marr is the only way to end conflict – “You only have to look at our own example to know how important dialogue is.”

Well, I’m going to backtrack on some of the old newspapers I store in what I call my library at home looking for examples of all this old so-called dialogue and see what I turn up. My recollections are that her party had a view that the way forward was either their way or no way.

But Ms O’Neill is so confident now she is even butting into Middle East politics. In her radio interview she added: ”What we need to see in relation to Palestine is a ceasefire now.” All this and there are many here in Northern Ireland who feel there is no reliable peace here yet. Her next favoured idea is a referendum on Irish unity. I would much prefer her to be realistic in what she and her party can achieve in our beloved province that wouldn’t need to be achieved through nefarious means.

Now that Ms O’Neill has such an interest in the Middle East she might just run into the Prince of Wales who declared this week that the ‘fighting in Gaza must be brought to an end’. Before long she could be taking an interest in other troubled countries which have little or nothing to do with us and may even find herself hob-knobbing with British royalty.

Not sure how the rise and rise of Michelle will affect the ambitions of Mary Lou who appears to have spent a lot of time up north lately. Is this to make sure Michelle doesn’t trip up? I have just one other question to ask the pair of them: why do they mostly wear black?

If and when our province can achieve the long term peace it expects - and that may or not be with the aid of the two ladies in question, and the wait could be long drawn out - we will remember these days when we avidly kept up with politics and worried about the health of our king. We hoped the ageing Queen wouldn’t find the extra royal engagements too much of a strain and hoped the Princess of Wales, also known as the Duchess of Windsor would make a quick recovery from her own period of ill health.

We will have celebrated St Patrick’s Day. Easter will have been a good time to take a short holiday and slowly but surely the pot-holes in our roads began to disappear and the temperature climbed.

Spring will have moved on without our permission and suddenly summer will have arrived. But will there be peace in Gaza?