Northern Ireland's tortuous progress to self-rule looks set to be put on hold amid speculation about a secret letter and a hidden report. Jenny McCartney explores the latest twists in Ulster's bitter politics. THE long, gleaming corridors of the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast reek of brass polish, fresh paint and melancholy.
Blazered guards loiter beside heavy doors and in majestic, echoing hallways.
An occasional Assembly member scurries past. The assembly is already in political slow motion. The plushly decorated press bar is almost deserted, though the restaurant is still doing a brisk trade. The irony is not intentional. The sticking point was the old, familiar issue of the IRA's decommissioning.