Alex Kane is an Irish News columnist and political commentator and a former director of communications for the Ulster Unionist Party. As Sherlock Homes, the complete works of which constitute my bible, noted: “There is nothing so instructional as the observation of trifles.” It is true that I have no particular hang-ups about the Irish language or Irish culture more generally. There is actually a moment now for unionism – in all of its manifestations – to read the runes properly, to gather and collate the evidence, and to build a pro-union strategy which could become a crucial game-changer. More important, I am detecting a growing mood across the unionist and pro-union communities to finally get their act and survival blueprints in place.