Quotes of the Year: Hacks on hacks

Nick Kent in his autobiography Apathy for the Devil says of his first impression of Julie Burchill when she joined NME: "A strange teenaged girl with a pronounced West Country twang, sullen eyes and a vibe about her that could best be described as 'Myra Hindleyesque'".

Julie Burchill reviewing Apathy for the Devil in the Observer:"As Kent was so off his bonce due to various medications of both a street and legal kind that he regularly apologised to the NME office hat stand when he bumped into it during this time, one hardly expects 20/20 recall."

Stephen Glover on Nick Davies: "The sort of journalist who can find a scandal in a jar of tadpoles."

Alison Rowat in The Herald: “Seismologists are puzzling over a loud grinding noise in major metropolitan areas. It’s almost like a million teeth are being gnashed in fury. I’m relieved to report that it’s not an earthquake but the reaction of some journalists to Piers Morgan taking over Larry King’s CNN slot."

Julie Burchill in the Independent on female columnists:"Don't do as I do – do as I why-oh-why is the general rule out here in Hackland. I love hacks, and I love being one, but their hypocrisy – particularly the women, regrettably, and particularly the female columnists – is one of the few qualities that revolts me."

Clare Balding in letter to the Sunday Times over an AA Gill review in which she was described as a 'dyke on a bike': "I would be very surprised if you used a comparable word that related to race or religion. Allowing this sort of anti-gay language contributes to rising levels of homophobic bullying. By printing it, you suggest that the sneering use of the term “dyke” is acceptable. It is not."

AA Gill on fellow food critic Giles Coren in the Sunday Times: "I am a great admirer of Giles's food writing. I find it comfortingly familiar."

Matthew Bell on interviewing Giles Coren for the Independent on Sunday about his new book on anger management: "This interview was due to last half an hour but in the spirit of compromise I say let's do 10 minutes. In the end it lasts less than a minute before Coren stands up and calls it off. A few fucks later, coupled with a hasty apology, and I'm standing in the street, Dictaphone whirring."

Quotes of the Year:

Super-injunctions;
Blogging and Bloggers;
Ethics and entrapment;
Phone-hacking;
WikiLeaks and Julian Assange;
Paywalls, Rusbridger and Murdoch;
The General Election;
The Regional Press.