QUOTES of the week

‘It was an absolute dereliction of parenting and marital duty.’ Beverley Turner criticises her estranged husband James Cracknell over his decision to spend eight months training for the Boat Race.

‘His assertion that he has not had a fair hearing is laughable and I’m afraid is the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests.’ Judge Michael Snow as he finds WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange guilty of failing to surrender to bail. ‘My daughter signed up to a class called football, not hula hoops for girls.’ Sports broadcaster Jacqui Oatley is livid after a coach advised a group of girls to play with a hoop instead of joining in a football match. ‘I’ve suddenly started to wear so much leopard-print clothing that I may need to take malaria tablets.’ Author Kathy Lette jokes that her passion for the outfits is out of control. ‘It can be demoralising to realise that your carefully honed drama is nothing more than a line of sandbags against Line Of Duty.’ Victoria creator Daisy Goodwin laments being pitted against the BBC’s hit police drama in the ratings battle. ‘It was never in doubt.’ British tennis player Tara Moore, who staged an incredible comeback to beat her French opponent after being 0-6, 0-5 and 30-40 down. ‘There are signs that this bedrock of our democracies and economic growth is not as stable as in the past. The middle class looks increasingly like a boat in rocky waters.’ The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warns that a middle-class lifestyle is under threat from stagnant wages. ‘That’s one small schlep for man.’ Headline in The Sun as an Israeli probe crash-lands on the Moon.