Loose cannons

Not necessarily in that order

"He [Russian President Boris Yeltsin] has shown a great deal of courage in sticking up for democracy and civil liberties and market reforms, and I'm going to support that." — US President Bill Clinton.

Business as usual

"All the major department stores in Sydney's CBD ... are among 75 local businesses which Customs officers have visited in the past five months to identify misleading labelling of goods on their shelves ...

"And more than 40 suburban stores were also found to feature falsely labelled goods ..."Sydney Morning Herald, March 27.

Try as we might

"You can't, after all those years that we worked together, as I think is recognised, the best prime minister and treasurer team in the history of the country, those things can't be erased from your mind." — Bob Hawke on himself and Paul Keating.

Paulspeak

"This country will now be a country made in its own image." — Paul Keating, apparently carried away by the experience of winning an election by mouthing meaningless phrases.

Upset

"Deeply upset." — The condition of the queen, according to Buckingham Palace, caused by a Bennetton clothing ad in which a computer-altered image depicts her as a black woman.

About the stock market?

"He wants to put on educational programs." — An employee on Michael Milken's plans to launch a cable television network. Milken, the US junk bond king, has just been released after serving 22 months for securities frauds.

From GLW issue 94