Quotes of the Week: From Mail's 'vile' front page to how much does an Edwina Currie quote cost?

Zoe Williams in the Guardian: "The Daily Mail reminds me a little bit of climate change: you think you've got the measure of just how bad it is, but every time you look it's taken another appalling leap forward. Yesterday, following the conviction of the Philpotts for the manslaughter of their six children, it called Mick Philpott the "vile product of welfare UK". The cynicism, the lack of respect for the dead, the dehumanising terminology (he "bred" the children, it says); the front page alone told us all we need to know." 

Daily Mail in a leader: "As the debate over welfare reform rages on, one mystery increasingly perplexes and infuriates the Guardianistas of the well-heeled, middle-class Left. Why, they ask over the Chablis, do the working-class poor so stubbornly refuse to share their enlightened belief in the wonders of the welfare state? To their bemusement, poll after poll has shown that three-quarters of voters (including most Labour supporters) want benefits reined in, with the clamour for cuts at its loudest among workers at the bottom end of the pay scale." 

George Osborne, as reported by the Guardian: "It's right we ask questions as a government, a society and as taxpayers, why we are subsidising lifestyles like these. It does need to be handled."

Dan Hodges on his Telegraph blog: "Headlines like the Mail’s, and lazy characterisations of those on welfare as 'scroungers' 'chavs' or the 'shameless generation' add nothing to our understanding of this complex issue. But nor does the similarly frenzied, emotive and immature language being deployed by welfare's self-styled defenders."

Joel Simon, executive director of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, in a letter to David Cameron on press regulation:"Prime Minister, we urge you to take a step back from the current proposals, which do not take into account the implications for press freedom beyond Fleet Street. Online journalists and bloggers and those outside the London-based, national newspaper establishment need to have their voices heard too. The haste with which this deal has been put together leaves too many unanswered questions. Journalists, especially those working under authoritarian regimes, are watching and hoping that their colleagues in Britain can find a better solution than regulation anchored in law. Mr. Cameron, we think that in the interests of global press freedom, you should allow them the opportunity to do so."

Neil Thackray on TheMediaBriefing: "So the victory for the press is not in seeing off statutory underpinning, but rather seeing the malaise in journalism for what it is. A poisonous infection of inanity and untruths that clouds the best of what journalism can do. Until or unless that is fixed, newspaper owners pleading for a free press is little more persuasive than the pimp arguing for sexual freedom."

Neil Wallis on the Huffington Post slams Liberty for not speaking up for journalists arrested in the UK:  "Liberty is, of course, like many such groups, largely left-of-centre in attitude and premise. Almost universally, they don't approve of mass media that is not broadsheet in presentation or pink of hue. You know, the papers and magazine most people choose NOT to buy. Some such left-wing organisations very often fight for freedoms for those it approves of, but are silent about those they consider less worthy."

Sun crime editor Mike Sullivan speaking to the BBC after Scotland Yard said no action will be taken against him following his arrest: "I am very pleased. It has been a long 14 months in many ways, but my delight at the news today is tempered by the fact that so many colleagues are still in the same situation. I hope they find some resolution."

Kelvin MacKenzie in his Telegraph column praises the Eastern Daily Press for winning a legal battle to name a councillor who was drunk in charge of a child: "Thank God for newspapers and thank God in particular for the Eastern Daily Press, its strong-willed editor, Nigel Pickover, and the company’s management who would have had to pick up the cheque if it had all gone horribly wrong."

Andrew Gilligan in the Sunday Telegraph: "Hacked Off did it by using all the red-top tricks they claim to hate – broad-brush condemnations, simplistic arguments, distorted facts, behind-the-scenes political deal making, celebrity stardust and the emotive deployment of victims."

New BBC director-general Tony Hall in an email to staff: "We are now winning back trust, something which will always be the most precious commodity for our organisation. We must never take it for granted."

Lord Melvyn Bragg, as reported by the Guardian, calls for a purge of BBC middle management:"The Savile crisis has exposed a dire structure and I think he [Tony Hall] should go in with a cleansing sword. It's not just individuals – it's the system...Savile exposed the problems with the middle management at the BBC, which clogs everything up. I speak as a great admirer of the BBC [but] it is amazing that they can get any programmes done at all." 

Eddie Mair in the Radio Times: "As for all the hullaballoo … for the record, I don't want Jeremy's job. Or John's. Or Andrew's. I like mine."

Freelance TV producer Nick Frost @nicholasfrost on Twitter: "Former Tory MP Edwina Currie says SHE could live on £53 a week. Asked her to talk to @5_news about it, she wanted 500 quid."