With the pragmatic and mildly reformist O'Neill in power in the North and the similarly inclined Lemass in the South, a new openness was in the air. Viney saw a short film on the city that Hume had made with a Church of Ireland clergyman, Brian Hannon. The film captured a mood of hope by arguing for 'the independence and seriousness' of the city's Protestants to be allied to 'the discipline and resourcefulness' of its Catholic population. Viney praised the film and urged RTE to show it, which it did. The Irish Times then published two articles by Hume under the title 'The Northern Catholic', representing the first significant statement by a man who was to be one of the most important political figures of what was left of the century.
Weak opposition leads to corrupt government.
Nationalists in opposition have been in no way constructive. Leadership has been the comfortable leadership of flags and slogans. He also urged them to accept that the Protestant tradition in the North was as strong and as legitimate as their own. In his second article, Hume turned his attention to unionism, setting out the steps the governing party must take. Unionists would have to accept, he wrote, that nationalism was 'an acceptable political belief,' which people were entitled to express without incurring discrimination or charges of disloyalty.