Stop being so grumpy, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams implored unionists on BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme last night.
The IRA statement on arms inspection was "good news", he insisted, sounding a bit fed up himself. People should stop focusing on the "dark side", examining what the statement didn't contain rather than what it did. Sure, if he had told Evening Extra listeners news like this 10 years ago "they would have thought I was bonkers".
Whatever Mr Adams says, the IRA statement doesn't go nearly far enough for the No camp. Jeffrey Donaldson of the UUP popped up live from London on UTV's news to tell viewers exactly why.
"This is nothing new," said the Lagan Valley MP. "In fact they (the IRA) have added further conditions to the commitments they gave in May." He still wasn't smiling half an hour later on the BBC's Newsline programme, where he repeated his concerns almost word for word. "We haven't got decommissioning," he pointed out, wearing an expression Mr Adams would no doubt describe as grumpy.
Everyone was keen to discuss the significance of the statement last night. Shortly after the news broke, Evening Extra's chief security correspondent Brian Rowan said the timing was all-important, given Tony Blair's visit today and the critical meeting of the UUP ruling council on Saturday.
He pointed out that various Sinn Fein politicians had been talking in recent days about how the IRA intends to honour its commitments under the Belfast Agreement. "Now out of the mouth of the IRA we have confirmation of that, but what is not in this statement is the when, which is what the unionists are interested to know," he said.
Conveniently enough, Security Minister Adam Ingram had already been lined up in the studio to talk about his newly-established Organised Crime Task Force and so was one of the first politicians to give his reaction to the IRA's statement.
"It is a very helpful step forward. I am very much encouraged by it and I think others will be too," he said. "There is no timescale but the IRA and Sinn Fein make it clear that when they say they are going to do something they do it."