Quotes OF THE WEEK

‘I certainly wouldn’t want anything beastly happening to any minister of state or member of government.’ Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, putting a stop to Minister John Halligan’s bizarre plan to travel to North Korea for peace talks

‘The next James Bond film is just going to be him defending himself against a class action sexual harassment suit.’ Twitter user, updating 007 in light

of the various scandals.

‘I was horrified ... she’s made a mistake. She was in the Himalayas, apparently.’ Paul Hollywood, Bake Off judge on Prue Leith’s gaffe in revealing the winner of the contest early

‘I was always into acting, but I never really saw it as a career.’ Rupert Grint, on his years in the Harry Potter films

‘You don’t want something you have to eat with a knife and fork. I’ll stir a bit of mustard into it, a bit of tabasco. If it’s really messy I’ll put a towel down.’ Nigella Lawson, on her habit of eating soup in bed

‘ It is clear that Collins’s Word of the Year “fake news” is very real news .’ Helen Newsead, head of Collins Dictionary language content

‘I calmly and politely explained to him that if he did it again I would punch him in the face.’ What journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer said to newly resigned British defence secretary Michael Fallon who repeatedly touched her knee 15 years ago

‘I am not going to throw away the hand of friendship to suit 100 Trotskyites in Glasgow’ Billy Connolly, attacking critics of his friendship with the Prince Charles and Princess Anne