The last week in NI: a summary

For new readers, particularly those arriving here from Tim Blair's blog, a brief recap on the last week on Letter to Slugger O'Toole.

The week began badly for Belfast with the news that it's bid to become Europe's City of Culture was stillborn. The moderate nationalist SDLP began to shift pressure onto Sinn Fein to have the IRA disarm.

We also 'sluggered' two longer essays this week: Richard Kelly on the perceived demoralisation of protestants; and Eammon McCann's take on the IRA in light of a recent book by Ed Moloney. New secretary of state for NI, Paul Murphy called for disarmament of all paramilitaries.

For the rest, just scroll down.