A normal day at the office

I had lunch with Ranald Macdonald, MD of Boisdale Restaurants, on Thursday.

The Macdonald restaurant at Boisdale of Belgravia was pretty much full which I didn’t expect because January is normally the quietest month of the year for restaurants, so there was a lively atmosphere.

Other than his engaging company, one of the many benefits of dining with Ranald is meeting people you might otherwise never speak to because other diners often stop to say hello and chat. This week, for example, we were joined after lunch by two journalists, one from the Mail on Sunday, the other a former Mail journalist who now freelances.

The latter, Joanna Bell, is from Dundalk in Ireland and, as I have subsequently discovered, is arguably best known for having been ‘ejected from an Irish embassy reception in London after heckling the ambassador’. According to the Irish Times, which broke the story in 2019:

When the Ambassador spoke about the risks to the Northern Ireland peace process from Brexit and the potential for a hard border affecting Border communities, Ms Bell reportedly shouted: “Bor-ing!”

At another point, she shouted “Brexit!” before being escorted from the room at the Embassy near Westminster.

The best bit, however, was arguably her exquisite apology:

“Obviously, I profoundly regret the excessive robustness and perhaps lack of finesse with which I expressed my disagreement with the ambassador. I had, I confess, enjoyed a good lunch with an eccentric aristocrat who is a staunch Brexiteer.”

Needless to say I have invited her to attend the next Forest lunch at Boisdale. I imagine she will fit in well.

PS. Later, after we retired to the cigar terrace, Ranald and I were joined by a piper (below). So, just a normal day at the office …