From media, education and culture to policing and justice, is the duty to promote the peace corrupting public life in NI? Have government and political structures simply been co-opted as mechanisms for conflict management? What are the implications for building a dynamic, democratic future? Is the obsession with keeping the Executive afloat distracting us from the potential to imagine, let alone build a dynamic, democratic future? As recession begins to bit and already threadbare public services face savage cuts, has the tie come to accept that devolution is no longer viable- a 'luxury none of us can afford?