quotes of the week

It's just a piece of paper.

The Duchess of York, in the Swiss skiing resort of Verbier on the announcement that she and the Duke of York had agreed to a divorce

Incompetence and laziness can be passed over; being scandalously indiscreet is not a failing one can expect to be regarded in a grown-up way.

Philip Hensher, novelist who wrote of homosexual liaisons in the House of Commons and the first ever House of Commons clerk to be dismissed

In Parliament, where most people have one eye over their shoulder before saying anything the whips might not approve of, Clare Short opens her mouth and puts her foot in it delightfully, if I may say so.

Tory MP Teresa Gorman on the outspoken Labour frontbencher