The French club’s emblem is a dove and it nestled nervously in Ulster’s Red Hand for most of the game. But if Hoddle said he had been misinterpreted, then we have to take that as true.Tony Banks (Minister for Sport). As he told me before Christmas, he would only ever consider falling on his sword if adverse circumstances started affecting his family, and that will not happen unless the latest brouhaha begins to impinge on results because of loss of respect from his team.Thus far, apart from a highly publicised but subsequently refuted allegation that Shearer had uttered the immortal words “Have you ever thought it could be you?” after the Euro 96 qualifier against Luxembourg, his relationship with England players has remained nothing worse than uneasy in some quarters.However, even Hoddle will be aware this morning that once his men begin to question his management, and indeed his authority, his position would become untenable No amount of Bible-thumping would save him then. By the end the visitors were hanging on, their only aim to avoid further damage.. Apart from anything else, so long as the IRA remains in existence, it has to provide its recruits, especially those who joined too late for the real action, with adventures that rival the attractions of dissident republican groups. Threat of summary execution locks the rank and file of the RUF (many of whom are young teenage abductees) in an unremitting struggle RUF fighters can survive indefinitely in the bush.

YOU REPORT that the Government is planning to increase maternity leave and introduce other privileges for those with children as part of its Fairness at Work Bill (“Maternity leave to be extended”, 24 January). I know because I was his partner at the time it was done in the Bevan, Crossman, Phillips case. BLAKE MORRISON sneers at authors who produce novels at a rapid rate (“They just can’t stop it”, 24 January). The Liberal Democrats were forced to support closed lists for the European elections, which made them look distinctly illiberal even if, paradoxically, the system turns out to be to their advantage. They were not given anything back either.Mr Blair fulfilled his manifesto commitment to set up an independent commission, under Lord Jenkins as it happened, to investigate electoral reform. Psychopaths have their uses, especially for purposes of internal control. It is easy to forget that the paramilitaries have been engaged, not just in a struggle between communities, but also in a struggle within communities.

Dissidents within their own ranks and within the areas they control have often been a greater threat than the official enemy on the outside. The IRA, for example, has always had a “nutting squad”, whose job is to terrorise its own members by killing suspected informers and troublemakers. For such a task, you need people who enjoy their work.Within the broader community, punishment beatings, for the paramilitaries, are both a means of asserting and retaining control, and a form of propaganda. This is not to say, however, that the leadership of the IRA and the other paramilitaries do not exploit and direct the sadists in their ranks. A shrewd passer, he was closest to a goal, with a deft free-kick from 20 yards, before setting up Jamie Clapham for a startling strike in the 40th minute.

The former Tottenham reserve came inside and sent his shot into the top corner of the net for a first goal in 58 appearances.Marcus Bent, Rudge’s last signing, from Crystal Palace, carried what little threat Port Vale posed. It was his header, 11 minutes after the interval, that forced Richard Wright into his only save of the afternoon. Paul Musselwhite’s smart stops from Kieron Dyer and Tony Mowbray prevented a more realistic reflection of the balance of play.. JORG ALBERTZ may be known as The Hammer, but Andrei Kanchelskis is no heavyweight.