A galling absence

Date: 27/06/1996

Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen had to miss the summit because of gallstone problems. Instead, the Helsinki delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Sauli Niinisto, while Lipponen stayed at home for surgery for a condition known as urolithiasis.

“It's quite an ordinary illness. It is not dangerous, but it can be painful,” said Finnish professor of urology Sakar Rannikko.

Disappointment all round in the press room where, although nobody wished Lipponen anything other than a full recovery, there were faint hopes of a sensational story about urolithiasis being transmitted to prime ministers via infected beef. The summit did not, you will observe, produce a cure for mad hacks disease.