Goodbye, Labour

Well, I’ve just left my last Irish Labour Party meeting and handed over my Treasurer’s books to someone else.

Everyone in the Northern Ireland Constituency Council had a decision to make in the light of the report of the 21st Century Commission, which was adamant that the Party wouldn’t allow its Northern members to stand in local elections. This evening we had copies of the full report including details of the membership survey – which showed that two-thirds of respondents wanted Labour to operate on an all-Ireland basis. But that's clearly not going to happen.

I was one of the very few branch members who felt unable to continue their membership under these circumstances. Most are disappointed but think it’s important to keep the branch going. They’ll be represented at the March conference in Mullingar and will continue to argue their case.

But I think the attachment of leading Labour members to the SDLP is too strong to be broken for many years to come. The fate of the separate commission on the future of Party activity in Northern Ireland shows this. It has seldom met, has not considered papers put to it by Northern members, and has met only with the SDLP rather than undertaken wider consultation on how politics is developing in the North and how Labour might fit in. I argued that the committee was a delaying tactic and I was right. I think I’m right again now. I’m surprised Labour’s leaders are so out of tune with the views of the Party’s grassroots, who perhaps have a more realistic view of Northern politics, including the electoral gap which could have been filled by a cross-community democratic socialist party.

Ah well, that's that. It’s been suggested to me that I should check out the British Labour Party, but I’ve decided not to join another party that doesn’t contest elections, and so I’ll be taking a break from party politics for a while. It’ll be interesting to see how the ‘normalisation’ of Northern Ireland politics progresses – or doesn’t – in the new economic climate. And of course you don’t need a party card to keep on blogging…

Adopt a restaurant

Interesting article in the Independent yesterday about the increasing number of restaurants that are going out of business due to the economic situation. The media attention has been on the high profile operations, but more modest establishments have also been affected.

The article included some suggestions for restaurants on how to keep going during a recession. The focus needs to be on good service, targeted special offers but not necessarily competing on price, keeping a good relationship with suppliers, and closely watching both margins and overheads. All good business advice, as I remember from my bookselling days, but there’s also something we customers can do.

I sometimes think that the new culture of middle-class frugality has gone too far. It’s time to say that not everyone has suffered massively from the economic crisis. Some jobs have been lost and more are insecure, especially in the private sector: that leads to lifestyle changes. For the rest of us, we still have some disposable income – and some costs have even gone down over the past year, such as petrol and mortgages. It’s time to become more discerning consumers, and eating out is the perfect place to start.

We all know the nightmare restaurants that shouldn’t be in business even in the good times. Other perfectly adequate establishments are not making the necessary effort to adapt. I was in a bar restaurant in central Belfast last week where I had to practically beg them to let me pay – I could easily have walked out instead, and nearly did. That’s a place that has survived due to its location rather than the quality of its food or service.

Let’s boycott such places, and adopt a local restaurant that we would miss if it closed down. The sort of place you might go to after the cinema or on a night when you can’t be bothered to cook; where you take visitors to your home town because they’ll get a friendly welcome as well as good food; and where you might go for a celebration blow-out because it’s reliable and they won’t rush you for a second booking that doesn’t materialise. In my case, it’s the Moghul in Botanic Avenue. Can’t imagine life without it, and I hope I won’t have to try.