Senior figures in Sinn Fein are contemplating withdrawing the party from the assembly in September, some time before the 24th November deadline set by the governments. It's unclear at the moment whether this is a serious threat or just a publicity stunt to pressure the governments into more public blaming of the DUP for the current impasse.

It's said that with the Prime Minister meeting his counterpart from the Republic today, that Sinn Fein "don't want a pep talk" and "don't want all parties to be tarred with the same brush." Unfortunately that's exactly the situation. The problem is that Sinn Fein arrogantly refuse to countenance that their continuing refusal to support the police, despite the total overhaul that has taken place over the last decade, is a significant obstruction to progress and are now they appear to be threatening to withdraw from the institutions in an effort to blackmail the governments into lending credence to this ludicrous position! Of course that would then give them cause to call on the government to strengthen their threat of that joint-stewardship republicans have been having wet-dreams about for months.

Of course they do this in the knowledge that with Hain and Blair in charge, they could well get what they want (oh for the days when politicians relied more on their backbones and less on their makeup ladies). Despite that, I confidently predict that Sinn Fein will not walk out on the assembly. They're much to media-savvy to take the blame for the process derailing. If they do bring the whole process down, they can kiss their "joint-stewardship" goodbye!