Those who follow the Westminster Parliament’s Hansard will know that the scribes of that august publication are masters at disguising absolute uproar as ‘Several Hon. Members: Oh! Oh!’. While this is doubtless a skill, we do sadly lose some of the flavour of the occasion when MPs use particularly choice language. Fortunately for us, the [...]

The moving finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it. —The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

A correspondent writes: Dear Sarah Palin, You’re an idiot. Your followers’ celebration of your “values” – which, I believe, are teen pregnancy, moose hunting, overpriced suits, and big hair – make me extremely concerned for the future of our country. Save yourself (and the rest of us), and go retire in Russia. Thanks. Sincerely, A [...]

In the middle of Leicester Square is a statue of William Shakespeare. It depicts him with a scroll with (as a quick Google reveals) a line from Twelfth Night IV ii: There is no darkness but ignorance Which strikes me as a pretty good motto. On the plinth is the legend This enclosure was purchased, [...]

“You don’t tell countries you’re going to unilaterally renegotiate agreements with them.” Senator John McCain “We need to put healthcare records online. The VA does that. That’ll reduce costs.” Senator John McCain The first quote is important because it does show that McCain, hopefully, recognises that, particularly given current US military engagements and the financial [...]

“This is not intended to take over the free market, but to preserve it.” -George W Bush on the US$250bn banking bailout The free-market1 leader of the free-market party2 in the free-market country3 has acknowledged, in those fourteen words, two fairly simple ideas that could, or at least should, have considerable impact. Firstly, the market [...]

At last night’s University Cogers, one of the speakers came up with a brilliant line that, given that religion is much discussed nowadays, seems apt to quote “No man knows more of God than any other, though many believe they do.” The Society of Cogers is the world’s oldest free speech society; it is in [...]

My post, ‘Nothing about us without us‘, is up on Liberal Conspiracy. In response to some pretty poor arguments from ‘Nick’, Pennyred has a great putdown: “HUGE straw man there, of the type Christopher Lee might dance around.” Nice one, Pennyred. I’ll be weighing in again shortly. xD.

Redemption Blues holds a particularly good Britblog Roundup, and comes up with one of the best one-liners I’ve seen: “the Sun + money + fear = the Daily Mail“. xD.

“We no longer know how to be brief. For instance: the Lord’s Prayer consists of 56 words; the Ten Commandments 297 words; the United States Declaration of Independence 300 words; and the EU Convention on the Importation of Caramel – 26,911 words.” Greville Janner, Janner’s Complete Speechmaker, 6th ed., 1999. The anecdotes and one-liners at [...]