Comrade Bertie compared to Comical Ali

Dáil Sketch: The Dáil was still agog at the Taoiseach's weekend conversion to socialism. Revealed in an interview to mark his 10th anniversary as Fianna Fáil leader - the "Ten Years That Shook the World" interview, as it's now known - the announcement provoked many interesting questions.

Not least of which was how Labour would react to news that, at long last, a socialist had seized power in Ireland.

Badly, it turned out. Although Pat Rabbitte initially saluted him as "Comrade Taoiseach", it was quickly clear that Labour would not be recognising the legitimacy of Bertie's November Revolution. On the contrary, Mr Rabbitte suggested Mr Ahern's socialism claim had stretched credulity in a way it hadn't been stretched since Comical Ali's last press conference as Iraqi minister for information.

Labour's laughter soon gave way to anger when the Taoiseach insisted that his was "the most left-wing government in this country's history" and lectured the opposition left-wingers thus: "You know in your heart that the real workers' party in Ireland is Fianna Fáil."

This last claim was a cunning stroke by Mr Ahern. After all, nobody in modern Labour is going to claim to be the real Workers' Party. The best Pat Rabbitte could do was to counter that the Government was "the most right-wing" in the State's history, so the two sides just cancelled each other out in a rhetorical nil-all draw.

The Taoiseach still hadn't had a chance to say "workers of the world unite" before news broke that the management of Aer Lingus would be resigning - irony of ironies - next May 1st. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, was the gist of Enda Kenny's verdict on the Government's handling of the issue. Never mind the red flag, the Taoiseach would have a job to keep the flagship airline flying here, Mr Kenny suggested.

As befits a man who pilots a coalition with the wing-span of a 747, however, Bertie was not about to panic over Aer Lingus. He paid tribute to Willie Walsh and his colleagues, and hoped the Government's rejection of the "MBO" (management buyout proposal) had nothing to do with their decision. Nevertheless, he stood over his criticisms of a plan that would have made them "very wealthy overnight".

Mr Ahern's fellow socialist Joe Higgins would have approved, but he wasn't there to hear it. Neither was Mary Harney, who may be consulting health officials on whether Mr Ahern's socialism is a temporary condition or something more serious. Liz O'Donnell was the sole PD representative during Leaders' Questions. And as FF and Labour wrestled each other for the mantle of James Connolly's republic, she sat in the no-man's-land between them, betraying no emotion.