The Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov and his counterpart, David Andrews, had a conversation about age and how times have changed over lunch in Iveagh House on Wednesday.
Asked by his host to give a rundown on recent developments in Moscow, Primakov (69) sang the praises of his new Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko (35) and mentioned that he, Primakov, was now the oldest member of the cabinet. It was not always thus, he mused, in Russia.
Andrews (63) said we too had a young and vigorous prime minister, Bertie Ahern (48). Primakov replied that when one was a man of his age and woke up in the morning and felt no pain, one wondered if one was dead.