THE Taoiseach-in-waiting Bertie Ahern broke away from the various bureaucratic tasks for an hour on Tuesday to officially open the European headquarters of the US telecommunications company Trans Network Services. He showed himself most adept at buttering up the business community.

"It's nice to get out of the office!" he remarked to laughter. "I've spent the past few days trying to put a government together, and trying to please a few independents - it's almost as hard as trying to run a business, like you people here!" (cue more laughter). Meanwhile Marketing Magazine reveals that Paul Allen of Paul Allen & Associates was the man who organised the famous hand-shake between Bertie and Sly Stallone during the election campaign at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Planet Hollywood restaurant. And we all thought it was PJ!