THE timing of David Trimble's demands for the replacement of Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam could not have been worse.

With only seven days to go to the deadline for reaching agreement on forming an executive in the province it was the last thing the British and Irish governments needed.

Ulster is teetering on the brink of renewed hostilities. And if that happens the blood-letting will mirror recent events in Kosovo - it is a horrifying prospect.

Trimble and his Unionist colleagues see Mo Mowlam as pro Sinn Fein.

But they seem to have lost sight of what the majority of people in Northern Ireland want - peace.

The political jostling and point scoring means nothing to them. They have suffered terribly over 30 years.

Mo Mowlam may have upset the Unionists. But she has achieved far more than any other Northern Ireland Secretary over the last 30 years.

She, like her predecessors, faced an almost impossible task.

How do you persuade two communities diametrically opposed in views, religion and up-bringing that it is possible to live in harmony?

She has come nearer to answering that question than any other Northern Ireland Secretary.

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