SOMETIMES it takes a flip remark to animate a plodding election campaign, and yesterday it fell to Mo Mowlam to inject a note of hilarity into the heavy run-up to tomorrow's referendum.

At Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education, the Secretary of State, in uncharacteristic lupin pink, told her student audience that her only leisure activity during the Talks marathon which led to the Good Friday Agreement had been to check out her security guards' muscles by punching them in the stomach as they stood to attention.

Of course, in Belfast of all places, such a statement requires clarification and once the guffaws had dwindled to nothing, Mowlam made clear that hers had been a ''soft punch'' of a jovial nature. But when it comes to defusing stress and extracting the pomp from politics, no-one is more masterly than the Northern Ireland Secretary.

Even so, this has been a week of improbable platform togetherness in the Six Counties. Here we had Mo Mowlam being kissed on both cheeks by Sir Richard Branson. The Virgin knight was in the Province to demonstrate the dividends which would follow peace. And the audience was composed mostly of final year students whose initial concerns were the familiar ones of decommissioning and prisoners' release. In two years, half the Maze terrorist inmates would be out anyway, said Mowlam. As for decommissioning, she is adamant that those who don't comply with the most sensitive clauses in the accord will be penalised.

A former university lecturer, Mowlam has always been impressive with students and, once the standard knee-jerk questions had been answered, inquiries at this meeting took a more heartening turn, reflecting the normal vested interests of youth. Would Branson consider discount long-haul flights for students? Would he fly his airline from Belfast, thereby challenging the steep fares of other operators? Would he bring his health clubs to the Province?

These matters, he said, were certainly challenges for the future. But the vote had to demonstrate that Northern Ireland had a future, not a present trapped in the past. ''And what about work experience with Virgin?'' a voiced piped up. ''Ah, see Jackie afterwards.'' said the business icon.