Deepest sympaty: Bertie's tribute lacks a bit of character

We all know the Progressive Democrats are ideologically committed to rolling back the State. But now even self-proclaimed socialist Bertie Ahern appears to have come out in favour of smaller government. It happened at the Football Association of Ireland headquarters on Wednesday where, signing a book of condolences, he spelt the g-word with nine letters instead of 10.

This was not the only odd-looking thing about his tribute to George Best. Nobody doubts that the football-mad Taoiseach's sympathies were indeed of the "deepest", as he wrote. Even so, they seemed to lack something: namely the letter "h" that has traditionally formed such a central part of the whole sympathy concept.

Mr Ahern's relationship with English has always been a turbulent one. His informal use of speech is an adornment of public life, however, especially in an era when politics - like his formulaic message of condolences - seems to be missing some of the characters it used to have.

He once famously expressed concern about upsetting "the apple tart"; he described Temple Bar - aptly enough, some would say - as "Dublin's West Bank"; and he has wisely cautioned people about the dangers of "throwing white elephants and red herrings at each other".

The apparent misspellings in the FAI book would be a new development. By coincidence, or not, both words are written exactly as Mr Ahern, in his distinctive northside accent, would speak them. It may be worth noting that recently he attributed his own and many other people's difficulties in learning Irish to that language's "complicated grammar", and suggested there should be more emphasis on the "spoken word".

Perhaps the Taoiseach is using English as a pilot project. But days before the budget, the fear must be he is sending a hint that sympathy will be in short supply next week, and that even Government cutbacks cannot be ruled out.