Colloqui di Hillsborough: la strada per il fallimento?

Pathway to failure?

So much for that wave of optimism around nine o’clock last night. Things started cooling off in the early hours of the morning and didn’t get any warmer after that.

Around lunchtime, we got word that the prime ministers were preparing to leave without agreement, but had in mind a pathway to success which they would entrust to the stewardship of Shaun Woodward and Micheal Martin.

But hang on a moment, had Sinn Fein not demanded prime ministerial involvement on the grounds that mere ministers had not proved able to help the party overcome their remaining obstacles?

We were summoned into a room inside the castle not far from where Tony Blair once talked about the hand of history on his shoulder.

But this was not to be a repeat performance. There was a brief comic interlude when Gerry Adams in shirt sleeves walked in by accident, not realising the press had assembled there.

It was a little reminiscent of the moment when Cherie Blair went to open her front door the morning after becoming the wife of the prime minister.

I had to leave the castle because our lunchtime news was about to go on air, but as I walked I started getting texts from politicians telling me that another round table session was in progress.

However in contrast to last night’s smiling pictures, they said the mood was bad and Sinn Fein were very upset.

Messrs Brown and Cowan revealed their May target date for the transfer or powers and assured reporters they could see a way forward.

If the parties won’t agree, they are set to publish their proposals at the end of the week. But both PMs had to deal with a barrage of accusations they had presided over a dismal failure.

Not surprisingly, they didn’t agree. Martin McGuinness then took the microphone to spell out his deep disappointment but refused to answer questions about whether he would resign as Deputy First Minister.

Peter Robinson told us the DUP wouldn’t buy a pig in a poke or accept a second rate deal to meet someone elses deadline.

However you dress it up, it is going to be difficult for the governments to turn matters around.

If this is a pathway to success I’m not quite sure what a pathway to failure looks like.