THIS WEEK THEY SAID

I think everyone understands that this is the economic environment in which we now have to operate

I think everyone understands that this is the economic environment in which we now have to operate. So we're facing into some difficult times.- The Taoiseach Brian Cowen as the economy officially moves into recession.

If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down.- US president George Bush is dismayed after political wrangling threatens to sink his $700 billion bailout of the American economy.

"Don't blow it up."- US treasure secretary Henry Paulson on bended knee, to Democratic Party House speaker Nancy Pelosi, pleading for her to back the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package.

I didn't know you were Catholic.- Pelosi's response.

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My name is not Gordon.- Michael Douglas is tired of being quizzed about the US economy, a consequence of his iconic turn as Gordon "Greed Is Good" Gekko in the 1987 movie Wall Street.

There will be a redundancy programme for administrative staff in the HSE and I would like to see such a programme applied in the wider public service as well.- Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.

There are people up and down the country who may have been misdiagnosed, but it hasn't become public yet.- HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm says cancer misdiagnosis is more widespread than previously feared.

It's the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys.- Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat on John McCain's decision to 'suspend' his presidential campaign in order to help save the US economy.

I don't have any other options.- Muhammad Amjad, a Pakistani rickshaw driver who has posted a sign on his vehicle offering to sell his kidney to the highest bidder.

Pornographic, extremist and immoral.- The Russian prosecutor general office's assessment of the popular American television cartoon South Park, which it has sought to ban.