Quotes of the Week

"I'm going to miss cheese and onion crisps

and Irnbru."

Iraqi child in a "thank-you" letter to Tony Blair

before leaving for home after being treated in this country for cancer

"The Royal Opera House ought to be put out of

its misery."

Lord Bragg, Labour peer and arts pundit,

calling for its privatisation

"I value the physical sensation of sexual intercourse about as highly as I value a piece of plum cake."

George Bernard Shaw, in a letter written 104 years ago and only just discovered

"We don't like violence, but we don't mind sex."

Woman pensioner from Essex, to researchers compiling a survey about TV wildlife programmes

"I tend to cringe whenever feng shui is mentioned. I can't help bracketing it with things like horoscopes and reflexology on my mental list of irritating nonsense."

Actress and cake-maker Jane Asher