Quotes of the week

It is damaging to the public interest to have any decision-making process exposed.

Andrew Leithead, Assistant Treasury Solicitor, at the Scott inquiry

I walked into a room once where a judge, sitting behind his newspaper, called out 'Marshall] Where are my Marmite soldiers?'

Wife of retired judge on the cost ( pounds 700 per day) of judges' lodgings

I am looking forward to a pint of Guinness.

Jacqueline Greaves on being rescued from the Cairngorms

I can personally testify to poetry's calming effects, since during my poetry-reading sessions, I always find some members of the audience snoring to metre.

Ghazi Algosaibi, Saudi Arabian ambassador

It wasn't for what everybody thought it was for . . . I'm guilty of a lot of things, but I didn't do that.

President Clinton fails to explain why he lined his pick-up truck with Astroturf as a young man

I am over the moon.

I pounds 3m fails to inspire winner of Irish national lottery to eloquence