Last weekend's gathering of the British Irish Association, aka Toffs Against Terrorism, at Worcester College, Oxford, was smaller than usual. Although David Trimble was there to open the session, neither David Ervine nor Billy Hutchinson turned up as they were busy trying to sort out the loyalist feud in Belfast. Also missing were Brian Cowen, who was on his way to New York to fly the flag at the UN, and Seamus Mallon, who was preparing for the return of the NI assembly. Nonetheless, Quidnunc's sources (who are forbidden to tell anything) tell her it was very fruitful and interesting. Mo Mowlam never attended the BIA but Peter Mandelson arrived this year, so they had a Secretary of State at last. Dublin was represented by junior minister Mary Hanafin, AG Michael McDowell and Martin Mansergh.
Trimble spoke well and there was a lively debate about Patten, with calls for the SDLP to accept whatever Mandelson comes up with. Sinn Fein's Dara O'Hagan, who was in Oxford with Francie Molloy, got such a tough time from chairman John Bowman that Garret FitzGerald had to come to her defence by saying it was absurd to push her on Patten when negotiations were still going on. The usual singing was replaced by late-night confusion because of the sleeping arrangements, which required passing through a garden and several security barriers. One delegate was confronted by a man with a gun and things got worse when the former British ambassador to Dublin, David Blatherwick, broke the lock on the back gate.
Quidnunc is at rholohan@irish-times.ie