Little Gems

 "I am very aware that the most successful role in my career has been when I've been silent."

(Penny Mordaunt [UK  Conservative politician] reflects on her sword-carrying success at the coronation.)

"In a first, Germany's far right will take control of a district."

(The New York Times forgets some 20th century history as it reports German election results.)

"We are all getting along too well now to blow it."

(Stewart Copeland explains why there will be no reunion for The Police.)

"I had to do a speed awareness course and, as a famous actor, it was humiliating. No one recognised me."

(Eddie Marsan.)

Merry-Go-Round
Mark Gertler (1891-1939)
Photo Credit:  Tate [CC BY-NC-ND] 

"I took a year off because it was cheaper. I got my accountant to check,"

(Ian Rankin [Crime Writer] responds to his wife's ultimatum that he either take a year off from writing or get a divorce.)

"Anything that stops a grilled tomato from taking its place in a fry-up is a good thing."

(Al Murray [British Comedian] approves of February's salad shortage.)

"The first 80 years are tough. Life gets better after that."

(The author Len Deighton, 94)

"I can hardly walk upstairs or go downstairs without fear. I find the bathroom more dangerous than Vietnam."

(The war photographer Don McCullin, 88, on the perils of ageing.)

"We have ways of making you talk."

(Advert on the Berlin Metro for the Berlin School of English.)

"What to do in the event of fire."

(This sign was the first thing the comedian Tom Allen saw at his father's cremation.)

(TMS, The Times, 2023)