The Policing Board has been one of the great achievements of the Agreement. Under the able leadership of Des Ray and Denis Bradley, the board has courageously and cohesively tackled a number of difficult and sensitive issues. This is all the more remarkable when one considers that the board comprises political nominees from the SDLP, the UUP and the DUP. Many people would have doubted that politicians as diverse as Alex Attwood, Fred Cobain and Sammy Wilson would have been able to find common agreement on the handling of sensitive policing issues, but they have – on the symbols to be included in the police badge, on the Ombudsman's report into the investigation of the Omagh bombing and on the recent adoption of a manpower strategy, which included the contentious question of the full-time reserve.