THE BRITISH-IRISH Parliamentary Assembly met this week in Glasgow, when the theme of the session was the Scottish economy and Irish-Scottish relations.
It was all very worthy. Lots of work was done. And there was a specific discussion on Devolution and the West Lothian Question.
The last time the British hosted their Irish counterparts, there was a bit of an issue over the dining arrangements. Some bright spark on Her Majesty’s side decided that the assembly’s officer corps should dine away from the rank-and-file parliamentarians in a nicer restaurant in a different part of the hotel.
Some of them didn’t take too kindly to this Upstairs, Downstairs set-up.
This time, they all sat together when dining in the marbled splendour of Glasgow city hall.
It was a most educational two days. Not least for those delegates who discovered the delights of a Scotch whisky called the Macallan Gold.
A lemon citrus nose, apparently. Boiled sweets on the palate. “A beautiful burnished gold colour and quite smooth,” we’re told.
British Labour MP Joe Benton led the singing on the last night.
We suspect it was a good one.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/MOENYACS6VA77KV7ZXJ7HWR6UM.png)