Reports in the past two days of violence in parts of east Belfast, including alleged shootings, illustrate just how fragile is peace in the Province.

As reported by the BBC, around 700 people were involved last night, with shots fired in the lower Newtownards Road-Short Strand area. A photographer was hit in the leg, and several other people have been injured. The Guardian has a photo gallery of the riots.

Patrick Mercer, the former defence minister and veteran of numerous tours of Northern Ireland as an officer in the Sherwood Foresters, wrote on cycles of violence there in ‘Holding the Ring’, published in our February 2011 edition. His warnings are salutary.