We can tell that there is a crisis in the Stormont Assembly because the British and Irish Prime Ministers have dropped everything and rushed off to Belfast for rounds of fruitless negotiations with some last minute patch up to keep the assembly plodding on for another six months until the next crisis. If peace is ever going to work through Northern Ireland’s own assembly then the Northern Irish parties will be able to negotiate among themselves and resolve their own differences without outside interference. The role of peace broker is all very well but in this case where a democratic institution has been created it should not be necessary, if they are ready the Northern Irish will sort it out amongst themselves, if not then they are obviously not ready for their own Assembly.