Brighton in September; the iconic pier and the Labour Conference. It was nice to be asked to go. My political consciousness was partly influenced by our friends in the UK. Happy memories of listening to Billy Bragg late at night on the Mark Cagney show. The Miners strike. Red Ken and the GLC. Naively, I thought I was in for a good old-fashioned Ard Fheis with all the trimmings. It turned out to be more controlled and managed than I had imagined. One of the highlights was Ed Millibands speech on the environment, not so much for its content but more because of the superb manner of delivery.

The real highlight was the Labour Party Irish Society event. This was organised by Conor McGinn, an enterprising Armagh man in exile. I was impressed by their work on the status and welfare of Irish prisoners as well as their work with survivors of institutional abuse who found themselves in the UK, cast adrift and without a voice. On balance, every political junkie should find some way of attending this conference. There is a fringe meeting for every cause. While the revolution is just a tee-shirt away for the core, the upper echelons seem more than a little detached. The presence of some of the Northern Irish based brethren (from other political organisations) was very noticable. To be frank, our sister party in the UK don"t seem to view us as strategically as SF or the SDLP. I assume this is due to the fact that the House of Commons and Devolution creates natural synergies and closer ties.

Mandy's speech (which I missed) was the highlight of the conference and marked the beginning of Labour's fightback against the Tories. I found it a little self-serving but it does appear to have worked. Was it the beginning of a recovery in Labour's fortunes? We'll see in May. There is an irony in that Labour's fortunes here in Ireland seem to be pointing to a term in Government while our "sister" party seems to be on the way out.

The core theme of the conference centred around the notion that Labour could return to power if the Tories don't get the swing in the vote that they need. This could pave the way for a Lib-Lab government. Somehow, I think that notion is misplaced. We await the election with anticipation.