DIPLOMACY has dominated this week's news, and seeing as diplomats are paid obscene amounts of money to say as little as possible, the scope for quirky quotations has been narrowed severely.
There still has been time for a few local absurdities to creep into news coverage.
On the subject of Sino-US diplomacy, optimism abounded mid-week when a senior US official said: 'The Chinese are signalling to us that they are interested in putting this relationship back on line.' He scored zero out of 10 for timing, as his comment came the day before China expelled two US airmen for alleged spying, triggering a renewed bout of diplomatic sparring.
Debate over France's decision to renew nuclear testing in the Mururoa Atoll turned into a basic slagging match, with senior politicians reverting to insults in lieu of reasoned discussion.
French European Affairs Minister said: 'This is not a whim, there is no arrogance and we are not insensitive - but the tests must go ahead.' Meanwhile, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Don McKinnon, who objects to the tests, was called 'ignorant and stupid'.
The law prevailed in the Great Michelangelo Debate when Justice Findlay ruled the David was far from obscene.
