Two political peas seeking a suitable pod

IT WAS the moment Ahern met Mbeki, two shapers of continents, or perhaps more realistically, two lame ducks deciding whose quack was still the loudest as they waddled together toward the exit sign of the world political stage.

President Thabo Mbeki is already seen as yesterday’s man in South Africa, and that title could befall the Taoiseach, well, as early as tomorrow, if you buy the lines from the opposition, or read between the ones from John Gormley.

The two met at Union Buildings in Pretoria, a magnificent structure finished at the same time as Stormont, though far more lavish as the white minority government had a lot more people to exploit than its Belfast equivalent.