Loose cannons

Sincerity rules OK

"[Bill] Clinton is the first president in American history who has perfected the art of crying out of one eye." — Haley Barbour, US Republican Party chairperson, lamenting the fact that Clinton is a better actor than Ronald Reagan.

Uncharitable

"We are not running a charitable institution for nuclear disasters." — Jan Eriksson, managing director of Volvo Australia, which distributes Renault cars here. Renault is to withdraw from Australia because of a disastrous fall in sales since the French nuclear tests last year.

Relevant and Liberal

"[Victorian ALP leader John] Brumby announced yesterday that the Labor Party was reviewing its policy opposing electricity privatisation, the City Link tollway project and the Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in a bid to make the party more 'relevant' and competitive before the next election." — Australian, July 17.

Bad attitude

"It has to be a foreigner. Apart from anything else, Zimbabweans find it difficult to stomach killing their own people." — A Zimbabwean official, explaining why the government has found it necessary to recruit a public executioner from abroad.

Secret rules

"I play a game where there are rules ... But this is something entirely different. If there are rules to this game, then they are rules made and understood by one man only." — Russian chess champion and politician Gary Kasparov on the intrigues created by President Boris Yeltsin.

From GLW issue 239