Senior officials from the UK and Irish Governments have been trying to work out a formula which would allow the re-establishment of Northern Ireland's political institutions.

BBC: News Online

The peace process in the province remains partial, bumpy and incomplete (only last month British, Irish and Northern Irish leaders failed yet again to agree on a precise formula for the revival of devolved government in Belfast).

ECONOMIST: The luck of the Irish

Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish spending varies little in relation to England, because of the 34-year old Barnett Formula.

BBC: Re-balancing Britain, from Bard to worse