Reaction to the placement of paramilitary and other loyalist flags in ‘shared neighbourhoods’ of south Belfast this month highlights the hypocrisy that surrounds our political leaders’ approach to paramilitarism.

Just weeks after we saw our middle ground parties wiped out at the Westminster general election, a seemingly ‘let it be’ attitude by a DUP MP towards the flying of intimidating emblems hardly instils confidence that Northern Ireland is heading in the right direction.

After flags were put up in the Global Crescent and Cantrell Close areas of her constituency, Emma Little-Pengelly MP said there was no widespread demand to remove them; “Really, they (the residents who she consulted) didn’t want a public fuss.”

She did tweet afterwards: “I oppose all paramilitaries in our society, that includes paramilitary flags.” But, hey, why make a fuss about it then?

Would you raise your concerns about flags, if you thought your life depended on keeping quiet? Probably not.

In the neighbouring constituency of north Belfast, by the loyalist estate of Mount Vernon you’ll find a large mural depicting two masked UVF gunmen with the message: “Prepared for peace, ready for war.” Isn’t that pretty much what these flags are telling us, too?

On the one hand in Northern Ireland, official political party machines state unequivocally that paramilitaries are a plague on our society; they should be a thing of the past.

On the other, the unrehearsed opinions of politicians suggest a more casual approach.

The PSNI has said removing flags is not its responsibility. And should it be?

Given the difficult situation that our police force finds itself in, surely politicians should have an increased responsibility to lead society, rather than to appease individuals or gangs which glorify a bygone era defined by violence.

In many ways the constituency of south Belfast reflects Northern Ireland’s broader political situation: dominated by nationalism and unionism, but with a reasonable showing of middle ground parties.

Whereas in March’s Assembly election, five parties won five of the Stormont seats available, in this month’s Westminster poll a split in the vote amongst self-proclaimed progressives handed the sole seat to the DUP for the first time.

The problem for the middle is that these parties – which are increasingly coming to say much of the same things on anything from flags to Brexit – are too hopelessly divided amongst themselves that seismic change here isn’t likely to come around anytime soon.

Modern Irish politics is renowned for fallings out, splits and defections. We don’t do broad churches (didn’t the DUP’s Rev Ian Paisley set up his own?), but if our political landscape is to change we might need to.

This month’s general election taught us that our tribalism is more entrenched than ever: there can only be one unionist party, and parties seeking Irish reunification must organise across the island.

But there is still a market for the middle ground, if parties look beyond their respective cults of personality and expand their comfort zones.

At Belfast Crown Court yesterday, a former UVF member turned police informer, Gary Haggarty was given five life prison sentences, after pleading guilty to 200 charges. These included five murders, five attempted murders, 23 conspiracies to murder and four counts of directing terrorism. His victims were of both Catholic and Protestant background.

If political leaders won’t cause a fuss around paramilitary flags flying in shared spaces, what hope should we have that we can live freely, without fear of intimidation in a new Northern Ireland?