Quotes of the week

If other countries want to slap more costs on their business, then they are welcome to - if they want the Social Chapter they can have it. But we are not having it here.

John Major

At my age (43) I'd feel a jerk if I hadn't participated in pop music.

Loyd Grossman, Radio Times

We have a very good system of justice - but no one can afford it, neither the state nor the public.

Lord Woolf, heading a government inquiry into civil law

British beef is safe. There is nothing to fear save hysteria itself.

Gillian Shephard, on German unwillingness to buy British beef

I just tapped out my pipe and my notes just flared up and I had to stamp them out on the carpet.

Tony Benn, Labour MP, explaining to BBC Radio Sheffield listeners odd noises during a live broadcast

The bells are probably a reminder of the remorseless passage of time.

A spokesman for Durham Cathedral rejecting a complaint about the cathedral's chimes by a prisoner in nearby Durham jail