AFTER four days of questioning over the murder of a mother-of-ten during Northern Ireland’s notorious Troubles, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was released without charge. No surprise there, then. Absolutely none.

Though, of course, it would not influence his release, it had been claimed that a charge against Mr Adams could derail the Province’s much-vaunted “peace process”. From the scenes on his release – loyalists and republicans confronting each other as of old – it seems the process might unravel anyway.

Which raises what has long been the key question – but never asked – about the peace process. Launched with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, 16 years ago, how long is it expected to continue before it becomes proper peace – or is regarded as stalled?

Parts of Belfast are still divided by “peace walls” – the usual inverted language of the Troubles. It’s a simmering cauldron that we have simply put from our minds. But don’t take my word.

The son of Jean McConville who witnessed her abduction in 1972, daren’t name names because he fears he or a member of his family will be shot. Delivering the vital message of this episode, he adds: “Everyone thinks this has gone away, but it hasn’t.” Nevertheless, we’ll still ignore it.

THE Rottweiler is retiring. Jeremy Paxman’s decision to quit Newsnight has brought tributes to his interrogation skills – so fearsome they have acquired his name. Subjects who have suffered are said to have been “Paxmanned”.

But hang on. The prime example of Paxmanning was an interview in which Paxman pressed former Home Secretary Michael Howard on an issue to do with the head of the prison service. Twelve times Paxman asked: “Did you threaten to overrule him?” His persistence is hailed as the touchstone of putting a politician on the spot. But Howard never gave a straight answer. The interview is probably played to aspiring Cabinet ministers as the model of how to avoid answering a question.

PRAISE for the bravery of lifeboat crews is standard. Now let’s hear it for the RNLI for another reason – care for the environment.

Last weekend, it cancelled a balloon race over concern that it could harm wildlife. “We will not be supporting or running any balloon event now or in the future,” the RNLI announced.

Its decision came after the Marine Conservation Society had highlighted the dangers from balloons – string entangling birds’ feet, fish and other creatures killed by ingesting plastic. The eventual litter of the balloons was another factor.

In place of the race, at Weymouth, the RNLI held an intriguing ‘virtual’ balloon race. Tags drawn from a tombola were each given a randomly selected wind speed and direction, from which the winner was calculated.

Appropriately nautical. Let’s hope it catches on.

TAKING a swipe at present TV comedy, John Lloyd, producer of Blackadder, chooses to insult Middlesbrough. He says producers often find themselves competing for commissions with “any w****r who’s flown in from Middlesbrough who says, ‘I’ve got 3,000 hits on YouTube…’”

Presumably the situation would be less dire if said w****r had flown in from Margate or Manchester. But why?