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Paddy Paradesdown

• Mark Devenport
• 18 Apr 07, 03:17 PM

Peter Hain is currently giving evidence to the House of Commons NI Affairs Committee on the latest developments here. The Secretary of State used the occasion to confirm the appointment of the former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown as the new chair of a review into parading.

As a former Marine Commando, Paddy Ashdown has a bit of prior history when it comes to marching - he led a company of soldiers who arrested the former SDLP leader John Hume during a civil rights demonstration.

The new review, promised at St Andrews, holds out the possibility of ending the stand off between the Orange Order and the Parades Commission and, maybe, further easing tensions on the ground.

Although Lord Ashdown's name is the one guaranteed to capture the headlines, there are other interesting characters on his review team, including the Rev. Mervyn Gibson, formerly of the Loyalist Commission and Sean Murray of the Springfield Residents Action Group. Although the government supplied biographical notes don't mention it Sean "Spike" Murray was well known to have been a senior member of the IRA in West Belfast. So could this help guarantee that the new review will crack the parading nut?