Scoring a goal

When the Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari, arrived at the Cologne summit straight from the peace talks in Belgrade last Thursday he went directly to the EU leaders' banquet at the sumptious Schloss Augustusburg and once the applause had subsided he made a beeline for our man Bertie Ahern. Milosevic, he told the Taoiseach, had raised three points with him, and one of them was the football. Afterwards, Bertie was heard to remark that Ireland had won the war as it was we who had forced Belgrade to back down.