British buyers should not forget James Wilson of Lane Fox Acquisitions reminds us that Switzerland is

“British buyers should not forget,” James Wilson of Lane Fox Acquisitions reminds us, “that Switzerland is outside the European Community, hence outside EC regulations The Swiss can act unilaterally.”They already have. We had to form a limited company so that shares can be passed to our respective spouses or children.”The three couples made a second agreement: “None of us can sell within five years, and we have to offer it to the other two owners first,” Debbie explains. Each family gets 17 weeks each year, with winter split into weeks, and summer divided into fortnights. “In the summer we walk, go rafting, paragliding and swimming and play tennis. It is very slick, and they sew it up quickly.” However , be warned.

The slickness that Debbie found noteworthy is all the more reason for buyers, as Mme D’hont warns, to be cautious. Peter agrees: “There are complications, and we used a local solicitor who specialises in buying French property. Most feel in their bones that an honourable compromise was finally reached in the agreement signed in Belfast on Good Friday. The scaffolding of an intricate new constitutional structure is presently being put into place with a new Belfast assembly, new cross-border arrangements, impending prisoner releases and reviews of policing and emergency legislation. It is all very complicated, but the nuts and bolts represent a whole new political architecture designed to ensure that in the next century differences will be thrashed out through argument and debate rather than at the point of a gun.The assemblage of all these details was made possible by that sense in the air that the time had come to give peace a chance. But it is also apparent that, even after Omagh, it now has a chance of a far better future.

Though the Troubles have been terrible, all the signs are that the next 30 years will be a much better era. For all the bitterness and the bigotry, the tribalism and the hatred, there is in the air a sense that a corner has been turned.
This sentiment arises not just from hope and a natural longing for peace, but from a communal intuition that the Troubles have run their course. How dare he, said Protestants and Unionists; he’s right, though, said Catholics and nationalists: the place really is a mess. It is self-evident that the polity has not delivered peace, stability and reconciliation over the past three decades.

Words by The Independent’s Ireland correspondent, David McKittrick

n Irish prime minister once generated a storm of political protest by describing Northern Ireland as a failed political entity. Folding hardtop blends coupe integrity with roadster appeal, a quality not available elsewhere.. Gilles Peress has spent four years photographing Northern Ireland Of course his images tell of bigotry and conflict. But they capture, too, a softening of hard lines, a growing sense – even after the Omagh bombing – that peace, some sort of peace, is finally at hand. As radical at its launch as the TT is now, and with a terrific rasping four-pot and flamboyant Italian good looks.Fiat Coupe Turbo: pounds 22,800 Another Italian that stunned the world and still does. Something of a performance bargain in the latest turbo guise.Mercedes-Benz SLK 230K: pounds 31,640 A beautiful piece of restrained design. But, unless Audi’s UK distributor can increase its quota, then a game may be the only way most people can get an impression of this fine car – a shame when the world’s car market is suffering from vast over-capacity in dull stuff.SpecificationsMarque: Audi TT 180/225bhp Price: pounds 25,000-pounds 30,000.

Engine: 1781cc transverse in-line four, five valves per cylinder, 180/225bhp, 173/206lb ft Transmission: front-wheel drive, five/six-speed manual. Performance: top speed 141/152mph, 0-100kmh (62.5mph) 7.4/6.4 secs overall.RivalsAlfa Romeo GTV 2.0: From pounds 21,945. Prices are, roughly, pounds 25,000 and pounds 30,000 respectively – though if you are one of the few to get one, it won’t be until next spring.The 180bhp model is the better car, the engine a little sweeter, the four-wheel-drive hardware (borrowed from the Quattro) somehow tauter and the whole no less exciting in real-world driving.Some testers expressed reservations about the handling, but I found it perfectly good, with nicely weighted steering and plenty of usable grip. The TT, a bigger car than it actually appears, also performs the incredible shrinking sports car trick rather well.If I do have a complaint, it is with the gearchange, a cable-operated type that suffers a slight sluggishness (though perhaps only by contrast with the remainder of the car).From the driving seat on a winding backroad, the TT’s high waistline and shallow windows give the impression of a wide-screen video game. This is mere retro pastiche, of course, but the effect is pleasing.Two versions will be available over here – with 180 or 225bhp but otherwise the same, save for the exhaust pipe, which doubles up on the more powerful version. The TT’s novel profile is a mix of the Porsche 996 and VW’s new Beetle; but where the Beetle’s is formed from three intersecting arcs of roughly constant radius, the TT’s combines near semi-circular wheel arches with a more sophisticated curve for the cabin, looking like a punctured Beetle in the initial stages of deflation.Inside the nominally two-plus-two cabin you find a touch of austerity in the best German sports car tradition, as in the Porsche 911 (before that was turned into a tart’s handbag) but with aluminium on gearknob, air vents, handles and anywhere else it can function as a highlight. This is absurd, because cars are not commodities, they are consumables to be enjoyed.