Loose cannons

Overwhelming mandate

"If 14% of Russians trusted [Alexander] Lebed, we may consider he has passed the exam giving him the right to work professionally in big politics." — Russian President Boris Yeltsin on the defeated presidential candidate he has taken on as an adviser.

Decisive

"I won't say I didn't do anything because I did. I kept a mental note of it." — Glebe (Sydney) Morgue manager John Kent, explaining to the Independent Commission Against Corruption how he had responded to 1994 allegations that morgue staff were stealing valuables from bodies.

Naive

"There is very little point in having a review if you get the same outcome." — NSW Labour Council secretary Peter Sams, on the setting up of a consultative committee to review the state government's planned changes to hospitals, which are likely to reduce the number of hospital beds and cost up to 2000 jobs.

Unlike everything else

"I do not think the minister for foreign affairs will forget the events of the past few days." — PM John Howard, after foreign minister Alexander Downer "inadvertently" misled parliament several times by falsely reporting that foreign governments had not criticised aid cutbacks.

Nothing special

"He never asked for and never sought special treatment on anything. He does not believe he gets special treatment." — Steve Murphy, spokesperson for Jeff Kennett, quoted in the Age on June 26 after revelations that the premier was fined after police radar picked him up speeding at 143 km per hour, a speed which, if you're an ordinary mortal, means your licence is automatically suspended.

From GLW issue 237