Like God Gaudi was a fervent Catholic he was just as interested in the smallest thing

Like God (Gaudi was a fervent Catholic), he was just as interested in the smallest thing as the largest ­ as you can see if you go to an exhibition called “Gaudi: Art and Design”, which is housed in one of his own apartment buildings, La Pedrera, on Passeig de Gracia 92 The exterior of this building is quite unmistakable. It is the one that ripples and undulates and swells like a living and breathing organism. In this exhibition we find the Gaudi who begs comparison with Rennie Mackintosh and Hector Guimard, a creator of chairs, tables, grilles, door handles, door casings, church pews, tiles, parquet flooring, taps, hooks, and even symbolically charged coverings for sewers; an architect who was also passionate about the craft of chair design, metalwork and ceramic decoration. (Yes, William Morris had been one of his early loves too.) Again, there is a telling mixture of the exuberant, the fanciful and the practical ­ a device for holding a Paschal Candle has a handle to enable it to be turned His hand dabbled in everything, and it was never still. For details of Gaudi in Barcelona, visit . The Ulster Freedom Fighters admitted responsibility last night for the murder of a Catholic man in the early hours of yesterday, calling the killing a “measured military response”. The UFF, a cover name for the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association, admitted the attack on Mr Lawlor in a statement that threatened further sectarian violence amid rising tensions between the two communities.The UFF/UDA, whose ceasefire has already been declared void by the Government, said: “Last night the onslaught against the Protestant community by the republican gunmen was met with a measured military response.

We warn republicans that further attacks on our community will be met with military action.” Jane Kennedy, the security minister in the Northern Ireland Office, condemned the statement, describing it as a “pathetic attempt to justify sordid sectarian murder”.John Reid, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, warned of further tragedies if the political process was handed back to the paramilitary leaders and a cycle of tit-for-tat murders ensued.Mr Lawlor, who lived with his parents and four brothers, was shot several times as he walked along Antrim Road, a few hundred yards from his home. He was preparing to set up home with his girlfriend and 18-month-old son. Sharon Lawlor, the mother of the dead man, said she would pray for his killers and appealed for no revenge attacks. The shootings began at about 7pm on Sunday evening when a 19-year-old Protestant man was hit in the groin as he stood in Glenbryn Park in Ardoyne, close to the site of last year’s loyalist picket at Holy Cross school.

The man was “stable” in hospital.Shortly after that attack, a Catholic man was shot in the thigh in the nationalist Oldpark area. The shootings followed a series of violent clashes in Belfast over the weekend.Mr Reid will make a statement to Parliament tomorrow about paramilitary violence in the province.Pat Convery, an SDLP councillor, said the murder was the inevitable result of growing sectarian trouble in the area. “People are more and more hell-bent on carrying out attacks,” he said “I don’t know how we are going to get out of this spiral.”. The Government disclosed yesterday that 47,000 violent and sexual offenders who were considered to represent a potential threat to the public were living in the community. The Government is hoping that providing such information will encourage the public to take a more rational approach to the risks posed by offenders. Mr Benn said: “Burying our heads in the sand and pretending these offenders do not exist is not an option. Chasing them out of one community and into another is not an intelligent response.

We need to know where these people are so we can minimise the risks.”In an effort to reassure communities and encourage wider involvement in the rehabilitation of dangerous offenders, the Government is piloting a scheme to allow members of the public to sit on the protection panels alongside criminal justice professionals.The move was prompted by concerns arising from the death of Sarah Payne, aged eight, who was murdered in July 2000 by a convicted paedophile, Roy Whiting. Fears were raised that parents were had insufficient information to protect their children from sex offenders.. A dispute broke out yesterday over how much state aid may have to be paid out for Railtrack’s failure to upgrade the flagship West Coast Main Line. They were predicated on further delays for which no financial calculation had been made.The authority official said the £106m figure had been agreed to head off endless and possibly pointless litigation between Virgin, which runs West Coast and CrossCountry services, and Railtrack which was in administration and due to be replaced by the “not for dividend” Network Rail.The West Coast upgrade delays have hit plans to introduce high-speed tilting trains which should cut journey times on the London to Scotland route.Virgin had hoped to start passenger services of the Italian-designed Pendolino tilting trains in May this year. They would have run at up to 125mph initially and at 140mph in 2005.But delays to the £7bn upgrade have meant the trains will not start passenger services until this autumn and then they will only run between London and Manchester rather than all the way to Glasgow and they will not operate in “tilt mode”.The trains will not run in tilt mode until next May and even then they will only travel at 110mph. Virgin Rail hopes that 125mph tilt running will start in October 2003..