Plain speaking
As reported by Richard Norton-Taylor in the
Guardian of 9/29/05, in
a
story on the appointment of Sir Richard Mottram as "the prime
minister's top security and intelligence adviser":
Sir Richard put it more succinctly. He
is said to have told a colleague [about a 2001-02 mess in Whitehall]:
"We're all fucked. I'm fucked. You're fucked. The whole department's
fucked. It's been the biggest cock-up ever and we're all completely
fucked."
Passed on to me by Victor Steinbok, who characterized Sir Richard's
forthrightness as "one of the best lines of recent British politics".
Note that the
Guardian,
unlike some other papers I could name, doesn't shrink from printing Sir
Richard's remarks without any
avoidance
characters.
zwicky at-sign csli period stanford period edu
Posted by Arnold Zwicky at October 6, 2005 08:17 PM