QUOTES OF THE Week
“We are not at 1970s levels of inflation but we are now experiencing enough inflation that real pain will be felt as low-income households - most of whom have little in the way of financial assets wait more than a year for their incomes to catch up” - Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, on the Budget.
“It is not just about being in the North, by the way - we’re here in Burnley but if you are growing up in a village in the South West or even on the south coast, people want to feel opportunity is there for them, wherever they happen to be” Chancellor Rishi Sunak, speaking in Bury.
“Football is a beautiful, heartbreaking, soul-deadening, evil and gorgeous game and I’m never sleeping again” - Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds after watching his Wrexham team play live for the first time.
“We will keep the red list category in place as a precautionary measure to protect public health and are prepared to add countries and territories back if needed, as the UK’s first line of defence” - Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announces all remaining countries on his red list of international travel will be removed.
“We regret the confrontational language that has been consistently used by the French government on this issue, which makes this situation no easier to resolve” - A UK Government spokesman announces
“Stormzy didn’t start rapping because he saw an animatronic figure clutching a Rickenbacker, bouncing up and down on two fake legs” - Music Venue Trust chief executive Mark Davyd, on the Government’s funding boost for a new Beatles visitor attraction in Liverpool.
“I travelled back from Manchester with seven hats and on Tuesday I had friends round and they said ‘wear that, no that, not that’, and I completely blew it this morning and changed my mind” - Maureen Lipman reveals she borrowed seven hats from the Coronation Street wardrobe department for the Windsor Castle ceremony when she was made a Dame Commander.