The people of Northern Ireland deserve better in 2023 and here is what needs to happen

The crowds were smartly dressed, full of energy - joyful, even - experiencing the shops, restaurants and bars with more choice than High Street Kensington or Kings Road, Chelsea.

The Christmas market was jammed but orderly; a minimum police presence in the centre; the odd beggar, not as many as frequent Mayfair.

In short, Belfast appeared a proud, confident and peaceful modern European capital enjoying the rhythm of normal life.

And there is more. The bankers say that there is a manufacturing boom in NI with even shipbuilding getting a fillip. By all accounts exporting goods is easy but the red tape for getting UK raw materials is frustrating.

What is missing from this cocktail of human enterprise is democratic leadership.

Yes, the local elected representatives all have a - dully repetitive - point of view as does London, Dublin, Brussels and Washington.

But no one is in charge, no one is leading and Northern Ireland is sucked further into the quicksand of debilitating and now secret protocol negotiations between the EU and the UK.

But what about the people who have to live with the outcome - why are NI elected representatives not participating?

Northern Ireland has made a remarkable transformation that needs to be recognised when the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is celebrated next April. The people themselves have defied the bickering of the heritage parties to create a better, fairer, largely successful society.

Look no further than the Integrated Education Act, passed by Stormont last March, reflecting the majority view that educating all faiths and none in the same classroom is a pathway to tolerance, equality - and lasting peace.

The people have earned the right to nationhood status for Northern Ireland, determining their future as independently as possible.

Treating NI as an appendage of either London or Dublin is holding back a more prosperous society and maybe endangering peace.

Apart from exclusion from the protocol negotiations there is constant external interference over legacy issues.

On both these matters NI parties need to come together with a common view: first to demand a place in the protocol talks, just as they were constantly consulted on the sidelines during the Good Friday negotiations. A handed down protocol solution from the UK is doomed to failure or perpetual wrangling.

Secondly, the NI parties must wrest the agenda on legacy issues away from outsiders, establishing something like an Institute of National Remembrance, the Polish model, with powers to investigate the past. However costly, establishing such a body to record a single version of the truth will facilitate a forward looking administration, no longer distracted by the past, as it attends to present day needs like rebuilding the health service and infrastructure investment.

Building nationhood depends on confronting the past, not burying it.

Building nationhood through the restoration of the Stormont Executive is in the best interest of both unionists and republicans.

For the former it will create growing contentment with the constitutional status quo. For the latter it will underscore the reality of Irish Unity which is only possible if there are two equally confident and strong entities that decide to come together.

Thus the two opposing aspirations are kept alive by mutual understanding - a necessary prerequisite for a focused and competent power sharing Government.

Ironically the political agenda of NI should suit everyone - greater devolution of powers from Westminster, an NI that is not just part of the UK and Ireland but also has privileges from the EU with the US cheering it on.

The passive historic observance of the electorate is showing signs of turning towards an activism that demands a functioning government above all else.

In the coming anniversary year of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement the city it is named after is testimony to its success - one of many signs that inspire a growing number who identify first and foremost with Northern Ireland.

The relentless progress to nationhood moves forward with every year.

With each step the message to political leaders is becoming clearer - Northern Ireland deserves better.