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FOOD:THERE’S SOMETHING very appealing about cooking brunch for friends. You can entertain on the cheap and get rid of people before dark. That may sound a bit cruel, but peppy and cheap are what hosts and hostesses should be aiming for these days.

No longer are we to slave over beef Wellingtons and precise spun-sugar work. It should be about feeding guests for €1.99 a head, a taxi-free party zone and no babysitter cash/hostage situation to come home to. Sure, we’ll miss the sing-song or drunken dancing to bad 1980s bands, red wine teeth and endless stream of babble, but instead there will be scintillating, but sombre chat about the economy, second-hand cars and allotments. (If that happens, spike everyone’s drink with cheap, duty-free vodka).