My 14 year-old daughter, her best friend, a native of Co. Kildare in the Republic of Ireland, and I, are touring my hometown, Belfast, in Northern Ireland. "Do you know anything about Northern Ireland?" I ask my daughter's friend as we enter Milltown Cemetery on the Falls Road. Silence - and, unfortunately, it's not just the dead.

Ever since the Good Friday peace agreement of 1998, parties on both side of the divide have, albeit slowly, attempted to move things forward. And forward things have moved, as I explained at the start. However, a critical demographic have been left behind: the working class and the radicals within.

Today, it is our generation's and our governments' reputation for honour, not that of the Magdalene women, which is at stake.

Call me an idealist, but people need to reflect upon their motivation, on where they get their kicks, on what is really driving them in conflict before they embark on violence with all its negative consequences for themselves and others.

The flag riots are just plain bad for Northern Ireland. Bad for business, bad for foreign investment, bad for community relations, bad for the image of Northern Ireland abroad and bad for the collective future of its people. But I genuinely feel bad for the loyalist rioters.

As the end of 2012 spun us around and shot us out like a faulty astronaut training device into the unknown wilds of 2013, most people have probably started the year disoriented and feeling a wee bit sick.