Friday 25 June 2010

Quotes of the week: From a dandy to a hangover

Rowan Pelling in the Daily Telegraph remembers an email from dandy Sebastian Horsley: "Don't tell my mother I work as a journalist. She thinks I am a prostitute."

Francis Beckett on his blog: "The TES and Times Higher Education are a shadow of what they once were. The freelance market is littered with good journalists who know education and care about it, and once wrote for these two publications. Now they make their living doing public relations for official education bodies, and their independent voice is silenced."

Richard Desmond defends the Daily Express in the Independent:"Everything we've been crusading for ... we were mocked, laughed at and ridiculed. [But] the immigration situation, the pension situation and inheritance tax were the three spot-on things that frankly decided the election."

Andrew Anthony in the Observer on Piers Morgan: "He looks set to become the kind of international star by whom he's always been fascinated."

Chris Bullivant on his new launch, the Birmingham Free Press: "I am more excited about this concept than I was producing either the first free newspaper or the first metropolitan free daily."

Sky News political reporter Niall Paterson, who broke the Gillian Duffy 'bigot' row story which sunk Gordon Brown's election campaign, on journalism.co.uk: "It's not commonly known, but I landed the Gillian Duffy story because of a hangover. Actually, more accurately, I got to report the gaffe first because of the anticipation of a hangover. The night before (in the bar with the team), aware of a swelling pain in my temples (thanks to the team in the bar), I begged my colleague Michelle Clifford to do the early two-ways. That'd mean I'd get on the Labour Vengabus after breakfast, and have an extra hour in my bed. Bliss. Survival on an election tour depends on these snatched moments."

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