This week’s quotes that make you go ooh-  from the rest of the world to Plategate.

The Rest

“If you’re going to be a controversial writer, you have to expect people to have an opinion about you and you have to take the rough with the smooth”.
– Anna Ford (former BBC and ITN news presenter and seventies feminist icon) on Martin Amis this week.

“Let me just say absolutely clearly… I have never, never hit anyone in my life”. -PM Gordon Brown reacts to dramatic allegations of staff bullying. Would exposing a politician’s or public official’s bullying antics be considered fair comment?

“Civil servants reported that Mr Brown’s mood was ‘absolutely black all the time’ and that staff were ‘afraid of him because he was always shouting at people, being unpleasant, constantly blaming poeple for things going wrong.’ – Extracts from the book by Andrew Rawnsley (The End of the Party) which contains the allegations about Mr Brown’s notorious temper.

Dare il colpo del k.o. al campionato a gennaio e febbraio può accadere solo in Lussemburgo, in Liechtestein o a Malta. – Jose Mourinho, Whinger Coach.

Former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici insisted today that Malta should leave the EU and the Partnership for Peace and continue to be neutral and non-aligned as laid down in the Constitution. – KMB. He still doesn’t get it.

Cut me, paste me, bite me. – J’accuse’s suggested Facebook status for the month.

Good Night & Good Luck (Plategate)
The columnist in this case raised certain pertinent points in the magistrate’s regard which need to be followed up. But her assertions would have carried far more weight had they been backed by evidence and devoid of the needless personal element. That said, it must be pointed out that she is by no means the only person involved in local journalism these days who has breached what we believe to be the border of what should be printable and what should not. In fact, some people willingly engage in what can only be described as print terrorism. – the Sunday Times (Editorial) catches up on Plategate.

Wonder of wonders, for the mainstream media it is as if nothing is happening. I find this silence quite strange or ungilded. – Fr Joe Borg’s blog (still latest version on 22 feb). When ignorance is bliss.

BondiPlus is planning Monday’s edition to be about the furore over the magistrate and the politician, with communications expert Fr Joe Borg as the sole guest. – Daphne plans Bondiplus (the Runs, 19th February)

He’s (Fr Borg) the only one who’s written about the subject dispassionately so far, in the mainstream media. I know because the producers rang me for statistics, a copy of the charge sheet relating to the twin, identical defamation suits involving Miss Piggy and Kermit, and some general information about this blog. – same blog, same date 19th February. We get Mr Dispassionate but no Runs on the programme? Is anyone going to ask why DCG will not be on Bondiplus tonight?

Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night the time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan is given over to a clinical survey of the state of American education, and a week or two later the time normally used by Steve Allen is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East. – Edward R Murrow – J’accuse instructions: For Saturday replace Monday. For Ed Sullivan replace Lou Bondi. For American education replace Maltese democracy.

But the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the Junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been confusing the public mind as between the internal and the external threats of communism. We must not confuse dissent from disloyalty. We must remember always, that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another, we will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason. If we dig deep into our history and our doctrine, we will remember we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who dared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular. This is no time for men who oppose Sen. McCarthy’s methods to keep silent or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom wherever it still exists in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the Junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his, he didn’t create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right, the fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves. Good night, and good luck. – Edward R. Murrow