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Wit & Wisdom

"Don't tell me what the law is, tell me who the judge is." Roy Cohn, quoted on Slate

"As a child, I thought I hated everybody, but when I grew up I realised it was just children I didn't like." Philip Larkin, quoted in The Independent 

"Anger is a prelude to courage." Eric Hoffer, quoted in Forbes 

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"I naively thought it was a bit like a normal job... I hadn't really taken on board the fundamental truth, which is: modern British politics is almost exclusively about being incredibly loyal to the leader, until the moment when the MP stabs the leader in the back." Rory Stewart, quoted in the Financial Times 

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company?" Zora Neale Hurston, quoted on Literary Hub 

"By the time you're 80 years old, you've learnt everything. You only have to remember it." George Burns, quoted on KevinMD 

"The great secret of the national insurance fund is there ain't no fund." Aneurin Bevan, quoted in The Times 

"Only the great writers are misquoted." Susan O'Keeffe, quoted in The Guardian, after the Dublin Marathon medal had the wrong Yeats quote

Good week for...

Chioma Nnadi, who was named as the new editor of British Vogue, replacing Edward Enninful. The London-born journalist, who has tended to avoid the limelight, becomes the first black woman to edit the fashion bible, which will remain under the overall control of Anna Wintour, the global chief content officer. 

Royal memorabilia, after a jumper worn by Diana, Princess of Wales sold for $1.1m at Sotheby's in New York. Diana first wore the jumper, depicting one black sheep in a flock of white ones, in June 1981, just before she got married. A few weeks later, it was returned to its designers because it had been damaged. They sent her a new one, put the original in the attic and forgot about it.

Bad week for...

Transport for London, which was criticised for rebranding Bond Street station as Burberry Street for a marketing stunt during London Fashion Week. The deal involved changing the station's name on signs inside and outside the station. Some travellers were confused by the switch; others just found it annoying. TfL has not divulged how much it was paid for the campaign. 

Greggs, after a branch of the bakery in Richmond, North Yorkshire, was decorated with framed photographs of Richmond upon Thames, in London; some of the images, which have since been removed, featured a sign pointing to Tower Bridge. 

Skiing, with news that a ski resort in the French Alps has closed permanently, owing to persistent shortages of snow. La Sambuy, a family-owned resort close to Les Trois Vallées ski area, was only able to open for a month last year, making it financially unviable.

Poll watch

When asked to consider 12 qualities that children could be taught at home, and to pick five that are especially important, 12% of British adults chose obedience, down from 42% in 1990. The proportion of people choosing "thrift" also fell, from 26% in 1990 to 19%. By contrast, 48% chose "hard work", up from 29%; 37% valued "imagination", up from 18%; and 53% selected "independence", up from 42%. As in 1990, "good manners" (selected by 85% of respondents) remained the most valued quality. World Values Survey/The Times 

48% of voters think the economy will get worse over the next 12 months. 22% think it will get better. Only 27% think the Tories are managing it well. Opinium/The Observer

Spirit of the age

A new TikTok trend that has gone viral consists of women asking the men in their lives how often they think about the Roman Empire, and filming their answers. A Swedish influencer started the trend, saying women would be surprised by how often the Romans crop up in men's thoughts. And she was right: it turns out that in a fair number of cases, it's daily. 

The General Medical Council has been criticised for removing all mention of "mothers" from its guidance for staff who become pregnant, and of "women" from a paper on menopause. Instead, the GMC refers to "colleagues going on maternity leave", and "colleagues experiencing the menopause", which it says is a "natural event in some colleagues' lives".

Statistics of the week

Residential rents rose by 12% on average across the UK in the year to August, the largest annual increase on record. Hamptons/FT 

Over the past century, the number of centenarians in England and Wales has risen 127-fold, to 13,924 in 2021. ONS/The Times

Farewell

Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor, died 15 September, aged 91. 

Edith Grossman, translator of Latin American novels, died 4 September, aged 87. 

Sir Horace Ové, trailblazing film-maker of black Britain, died 16 September, aged 86. 

Michael Steed, psephologist and Liberal Party politician, died 30 August, aged 83. 

Roger Whittaker, giant of easy listening, died 13 September, aged 87