A week in politics

By Martina Purdy BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent

As the fourth anniversary of the Omagh bombing approaches, dissident republicans have claimed another life.

That of Protestant worker David Caldwell.

His murder was another painful reminder of the hate that still drives some in our society to kill.

Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein challenged his former republican allies to put their heads above the parapet and explain themselves.

What possible political analysis was driving them?

It was as if they fulfilled the prophesy of David Trimble who in a recent Irish Times interview suggested August "would be bloody".

Northern Ireland is bracing itself for further violence with loyalist and republican paramilitaries threatening to plunge the state into despair.

Looking ahead to September, the Ulster Unionist leader even spoke of possible political disaster.

The analysts are trying to work out precisely what he means. His fall from leadership? The collapse of the institutions? Suspension?

Mr Trimble has embarked on his annual holidays.

Tony Blair is on his holidays too - but he left with the words of Ian Paisley ringing in his ears.

The DUP leader led a delegation to Downing Street demanding more security measures and insisting the Agreement had only brought more violence.

John Reid: Death toll has "diminished"

Not so, said the Secretary of State, John Reid.

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness was quick to dispute the DUP claim, insisting "progress" was being made.

He even looked forward to another 10 years of "progress."

While the DUP insisted crime was on the rise - rattling off police statistics on shootings - Dr Reid pointed out the death toll had diminished.

He insisted the killings were symptoms of an "underlying problem: sectarianism".

The idea of a ceasefire auditor is floating about

The politicians did not seem to know what to do about this and even failed to agree this week on a rally to tackle it.

The DUP stayed away, while the the pro-Agreement parties, the churches, business and the trade unions backed it.

But there were those in the pro-Agreement camp who sympathised with the notion that law and order had been "flouted for too long in favour of nurturing politics".

They insisted the balance must be struck again.

Politicians seemed equally at a loss as to how to deal with interface tensions.

A few hours of talks with Des Browne, the Northern Ireland Office minister, ended with agreement only to meet again in a month's time.

The parties failed to agree a joint statement. As the rain splashed down on the waiting media, the best the SDLP's Alex Attwood could muster was the meeting was "brighter than the weather".

The idea of a ceasefire auditor is floating about - but the government cannot seem to decide if it will help or hinder the process.

David Trimble seized on the idea - which is being claimed by the Alliance Party. Dublin appears wary, as do the nationalists.

Decisions such as this, however, will wait until the Autumn.

Then, the ice around the crisis will begin to thaw and the political tensions at Stormont - fuelled no doubt by the impending Assembly elections - will begin to boil.