quotes of the week

If John Major wants to be re-elected he should travel to Brussels and tell them that we have had a bellyful of being treated as though we had lost the war.

Lord Tebbit, Conservative peer

I saw myself on TV and thought I looked particularly healthy, like a love god.

Nicholas Soames, the previously portly Armed Forces Minister, who has been on a diet

Even in this age of intense media scrutiny, there are still some stunningly idle MPs.

Sir Robert Rhodes James, former Conservative MP

We have said what we think. We will act clearly and firmly.

Alain Juppe, the French Prime Minister, insisting France will stand firm over the resumption of nuclear tests

It seems that the sex war is about to end in unconditional surrender, by the males.

John Casey, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Wasps do have this bad reputation which is very undeserved. Most wasps will only sting if provoked and mostly people who are stung, quite frankly, are asking for it.

George Else, entomologist at the Natural History Museum