quotes of the week

I love this job. Journalists and media people are so much more fun than doctors.

Virginia Bottomley, Secretary of State for National Heritage, formerly Secretary of State for Health

Was not this piece of hyperbole a cheap attempt to curry favour with his audience and a sad commentary on the depths to which a leading politician can stoop?

Sir Julian Critchley, Tory MP on Michael Portillo's speech at the Tory party conference in Blackpool

I have never known any really talented English [football] coaches.

Former Inter Milan trainer Helenio Herrera on the appointment of Roy Hodgson as the club's new coach

I know the knockers and sneerers who may never have taken a risk in their comfortable lives aren't fit to wipe the boots of the risk-takers of Britain.

John Major in Blackpool

No one has ever heard of me.

Joseph Rotblat, physicist, awarded the Nobel peace prize

Life comes one day at a time, not one year at a time.

Baroness Thatcher celebrating her 70th birthday on Friday