Lunch at Leinster House (Dublin) as the guest of Senator Jillian van Turnhout, a former distinguished member of the European Economic and Social Committee and now Leader of the Independent Group in the Irish Senate. Before we dined Jillian gave me a short guided tour around the complex. A former ducal palace, Leinster House hosts both the Dáil and the Seanad. Both houses were sitting and I was able to sit in on the debates for a while – democracy very much in action! In the members’ restaurant Jillian explained the ritualised dynamics of the setting, with parties and groups and individuals always sitting in the same places. Great fun for a political anorak!