Equally, leadership is needed from within the Unionist community.

Over several hours pro independence groups chanting No forgetting, no forgiveness faced off with unionist protesters shouting, Long live Spain.

The Unionist parties say they are prepared to share power, when it is clear that the threat of violence has been removed once and for all.

I also look to the Unionist community to show determination in condemning and doing all it can to discourage the continuation of the appalling lawlessness, which has in recent times so badly affected both loyalist communities and their vulnerable nationalist neighbours.

German leaders, by contrast, must reckon with a populace that is deeply resistant to rapid change, particularly when it involves job cuts. Many German workers believe, as one trade unionist recently lamented, that takeovers are being driven by a philosophy of buy it, strip it, and flip it.

For most Israelis, even those who voted for him as the bearer of Sharon s legacy after the Gaza disengagement, Olmert thus remained the accidental prime minister. Likewise, Peretz, a rabble rousing but effective trade unionist, surprised all when he won the Labor Party s leadership primary and then chose the defense portfolio over the treasury.

But it proved significantly less compelling than the economic doomsday scenarios advanced by its unionist opponents, including former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former World Bank President Robert Zoellick, and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. In other words, many people s votes were driven by risk aversion, fear, and intimidation, rather than hope, passion, or deep emotional attachment to a common identity.