Quotes of the week

He was not a man who was going to die of old age in his bed.

Irish police officer on the shooting of Dominic 'Mad Dog' McGlinchey, IRA and INLA terrorist, who admitted his part in 30 murders

Nothing is more disagreeable than having to write about male homosexuality. The editor of the Spectator is not at all keen I should do so and I don't blame him.

Paul Johnson beginning an article on male homosexuality

In the US, everyone eventually dies of something.

Professor of Medicine in LA, on recent US research on rates and causes of death

Whoever said that relationships were meant to be happy? . . . You come to the conclusion that hell is not other people but no other people.

Fay Weldon, interviewed in the 'Guardian' about her new novel, 'Afflictions'

Political correctness is spreading like an insidious evil across the country. It is dangerous, and if allowed to spread, it could alter the nature of British life.

John Patten, Education Secretary