Leading article: A triumph of both style and substance

There was a time when Ian Paisley's Demcratic Unionist party had a policy of drowning out Sinn Fein. When a Sinn Fein councillor attempted to speak in Belfast city council, Mr Paisley's daughter Rhonda and other DUP members would shout them down, calling out, "Gunman, gunman - gangsters, IRA men, get them out." At other council meetings DUP people would play tapes of Orange songs or spray air freshener at Sinn Fein representatives. The Paisley attitude towards republicanism was summed up when he posed with a sledgehammer with the slogan "Smash Sinn Fein". But that was then; this is now.

Not a sledgehammer was in sight yesterday as Mr Paisley and Gerry Adams delivered something far in excess of what had been expected from their first encounter, in terms both of substance and style. The substance was all that London, Dublin and the other Northern Ireland parties had hoped for - a formal, public commitment to form a government together, with a firm date of 8May. Mr Paisley and Martin McGuinness are to run Northern Ireland together. The fact that yesterday's ostensibly unbreakable deadline for devolution to happen was breached, was suddenly rendered an unimportant technicality. And the style of it all was even more breathtaking, since it provided the most riveting, powerful image, a glimpse of a potential future in which a new, constructive type of politics is possible for Belfast.

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It had been assumed that this first Paisley-Adams meeting might be a furtive occasion held behind closed doors, to be followed probably by a terse and tense communiqué. Instead, the two leaders flung open the doors and permitted the television cameras to capture the sight of them sitting side by side, exuding mutual respect and speaking in a non-confrontational, businesslike style. They were polite and constructive; they listened to each other. The fact that there was no handshake did nothing to spoil the occasion, since the sight of the two men together, flanked by their respective teams, had enormous political and psychological impact.

One instant area of agreement between them is their joint desire to extract more cash from London. The billion pounds that is on offer from Gordon Brown as lubrication for a new government has been called "stingy" by Mr Paisley, and Mr Adams can be confidently expected to endorse that description. But the importance of yesterday's event goes far beyond mere cash.

The months and years ahead are still going to be strewn with confrontation and controversy, for loyalist interests will not always coincide with republican concerns. Coalitions are, by their nature, competitive alliances, and since this is Northern Ireland there will be ding-dong battles ahead.

Still, the Paisley-Adams entente at a stroke established a new tone in Belfast politics, sending out the unfamiliar message that the politics of the megaphone just might eventually give way to the politics of pragmatism and the evolution of a culture of dialogue.

Although the peace process has produced many wonders, yesterday ranked among its more remarkable events. For decades Paisley persisted in denying the rights of Catholics and nationalists, insisting that "the Protestant people" had the right to exercise majority rule. Republicans, meanwhile, offered no real respect or recognition of Protestant and unionist rights, blithely assuming that once the British were beaten, unionism would be beaten, too. It has taken many years, many deaths and much discord for the extremes to come to terms with the fact that the troubles would end not in victory for one side, but in compromise. But republicans finally hung up their guns; and yesterday Ian Paisley finally hung up his sledgehammer.