Paisley quits

Northern Ireland First Minister and archbigot Ian Paisley will resign in May. Good riddance. For the past 40 years he has been a toxic influence on Northern Irish politics - a racist, a homophobe, a feeder of sectarian bigotry (he once denounced the pope as the antichrist when the latter was speaking to the European Parliament, and he's been fierce in opposing what he calls "Rome Rule". This is sixteenth-century stuff, which just has no place in the modern world). He has done his utmost to whip up violence and prevent any peaceful settlement in Northern Ireland. In the end he grew tired (and more importantly, everybody else did) and was unable to resist peace, but he still did his best to screw it up. I for one will be very glad when he's gone from the political scene.