Goodbye Bertie
It's been one of those days on which I've been too busy to blog, running in to one of our radio studios for a special news programme when Bertie Ahern announced his departure. Then on to Talkback, the BBC Network News at One and finally off to Stormont Castle to talk to Ian Paisley about his surprisingly warm rapport with the Taoiseach.
Far from lobbing snowballs at Bertie, the DUP leader was effusive about Mr Ahern's negotiating skills, saying he knew when not to speak and that the days of threats between north and south were over.
It's a weird coincidence that both the First Minister and the Taoiseach are now working their notice, having both promised to leave the scene in May. The First Minister says he still hopes to see Mr Ahern at his US Investment Conference on May 7th, even if he is only a caretaker. But our sources in Dublin suggest the transition could be complete by then (Mr Ahern gave May 6th as his departure date).
I don't want to "upset the apple tart", to quote a famous Bertie-ism, but this raises the intriguing possibility of the First Minister welcoming a politician as Taoiseach who he once lampooned for having "thick lips". I asked about this in a circuitous fashion, and the DUP leader responded that he thought Mr Cowen had seen the jocular side of the remark, by acknowledging he wasn't the most beautiful politician ever.
I'm 
