Signs of the times

'This time the bread and jam fell on the floor jam-side up'
RAF group captain Ian Travers Smith after a Harrier attack on Belgrade. Dangerous stuff that bread and jam

Party whips have received letters from a psychologist suggesting that hereditary peers should be offered counselling to help them cope with the trauma of losing their seats

'The end of war: how peace will change us' ran the front cover of the April issue of Prospect magazine, 'Britain's intelligent conversation' - which hit the streets as the bombs hit Belgrade

'There have been thousands of famous people throughout history. We simply cannot include everyone'
Spokesman for Gilt Edge diaries, with an interesting argument for the absence of Shakespeare's birthday from the official Royal Shakespeare Company diary

'These hard questions I get, I tell you...It was actually...no...you will like this...It was when we redrafted the new Clause Four - the first line is: the Labour Party is a democratic socialist party...'
Tony Blair's parliamentary reply to being asked whether he was a socialist. John Prescott has clearly been coaching him on the noble art of extemporising

'The newspapers have been very supportive, but we are getting massacred by the broadcasters'
A civil service 'insider' gives the view from the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence