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PRESENT TENSE: THE SHOT of Bertie Ahern with a pair of 3D glasses was one of the pictures of the week. It had a dollop of absurdity and incongruity that made it hard to ignore, but it was about more than that because it aroused curiosity in some (“what’s Bertie Ahern doing now?”) and ire in others (“what’s Bertie Ahern doing now!?”).

The truth is that the scene had a certain tawdriness about it. This man used to consort with world leaders. He negotiated a European treaty, helped bring peace to the North, was lauded for his stewardship of a tiger economy. Now look what he’s up to, squeezing himself between the man from Sky TV and the wife of the pub owner, and pretending to ignore the photographers’ lenses. Sky didn’t pay him for the appearance, or, it says, ask him to attend. But the result was a publicity shot nonetheless. Posing with the glasses, Ahern had become a model of sorts.