“You appear to be extremely naive because you don’t have a clue,” fisherman James Parris to Crown counsel Graveney Bannister while on trial for use of illegal fishpots in January.

“To date, the Premier’s position has gone from being vaguely hostile to plain vague,” rogue political commentator Rolfe Commissiong on the Premier’s public statements on independence, January 24.

“They weren’t up to the quality one would expect from ladies that are professionals,” lawyer Larry Mussenden claims in mitigation for Hermann Sonny Bell. In cooperation with Dwayne Robert Young, Bell broke into the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society (BMDS), stealing $7,000 which the pair then squandered on a drugs, alcohol, hookers and a hotel room.

“I don’t eat junk food. I just drink Cockspur,” drunk driver Alexander Livingstone Douglas to Police officers who asked if he had been drinking.

“People were looking for an easier drinking beer that they can drink more of,” Marcus Betschart on introducing the new locally produced beer, Island Ale.

“I’m not overworked, let’s just leave it at that,” outgoing US Consul General Larry Owen to a reporter in February when asked to describe his typical day. Eleven months after his departure, he has yet to be replaced.

“Women come here from Europe and they are very plain. But during the first year they begin to dress like Bermudian women... They didn’t wear deodorant a year ago,” MP Dale Butler during a July parliamentary debate on long-term residents.

“We shouldn’t be begging employers to hire Bermudians. It’s sick,” said MP Derrick Burgess on a scheme to reimburse contractors at the Berkeley School project for hiring Bermudian trainees.

“This isn’t Sunday School in here,” Dame Lois Browne Evans in defence of Parliamentary conduct.

“The shark headed off toward a group of swimmers and I thought I was going to see red water and flapping humans,” tourist Paul Cizek after Horseshoe Beach is evacuated August 22 after at least one shark — type unknown — was spotted close to the beach.

“Regardless of the reasons why the trial has come to an end, there is a danger that Bermuda’s ability to provide a satisfactory mechanism for the resolution of disputes will be questioned. That is something we should all take very seriously,” Attorney David Kessaram of Cox, Hallett & Wilkinson, who represents the 49-year-old Thyssen son, Heini Jr. (George) after the trial fell apart when the judge resigned in September.

“I firmly believe that, certainly, the majority of Bermudians in the workforce are good employees. Otherwise we would be hearing of very high turnover figures from companies,” Bermuda Employers Council executive director Malcolm Dixon after the Bermuda Pest Control employment ad controversy.

“Bermuda depends to a large degree on what is happening in the greater world for its economic circumstances and I think we really should be concerned, on the individual and the company side, but also on the Government side.... We should really be preparing ourselves for a potentially declining situation in the next six months,” Shadow Finance Minister Dr. Grant Gibbons in an interview with The Royal Gazette <$>published September 10 — one day before the terrorist attacks in the United States.

September 11<$>

“I want to come home. I am scared here,” Yvonne Morgan in the New York Bermuda Tourism Office.

“Whatever is going on, it is almost certain that it is not a chance thing. We will find out as time goes on that this sort of attack means war. I am sure there are going to be thousands of casualties,” Bermudian filmmaker Arthur Rankin in New York on a business trip.

“I haven’t been able to function properly. Every sound is making me nervous. I’m looking at the ceiling in my house and thinking it’s going to collapse. I can see the buildings collapsing and trying to get away from them. And I can’t watch TV anymore — I have friends who were in the towers having breakfast. They were on the 110th floor having breakfast,” Kirsti Foggo-Howell, a Bermudian survivor of the after-effects.

“Right now we are getting killed, all the hotels are taking a hit. Group bookings are cancel, cancel, cancel — even into October,” Ariel Sands general manager John O’Brien as hotel occupancy levels fall ever lower after the attacks.

“There is no doubt there will be challenging times ahead. However, I would caution that this is not a time for people to panic. This is a time for cool heads and well reasoned action. We shall need to pull together in a spirit of national unity to reduce the impact of this trying period,” Premier Jennifer Smith, September 20.

“It is too early to quantify but revenues and expenditures are being closely monitored on a monthly cycle. Government has positioned itself to assess and re-align priorities within its existing budget to better accommodate any unplanned expense arising from the tragedy. Accordingly supplementary estimates connected to the September 11 events will be kept to a minimum,” Finance Minister Eugene Cox, September 24.

And moreover ...

<$>“I couldn’t get the confidence of the black community and I lost the confidence of the white community because of the Colin Coxall affair,” Former Premier Pamela Gordon in an interview after announcing her decision to step down as UBP leader.

“Is this shades of Rebecca Middleton again? Was a decision made before the evidence was in?” UBP Legislative Affairs Shadow John Barritt after DPP Khamisi Tokunbo comes under heaving fire for the handling of the Jermaine Pitcher stabbing death.

“No matter how dire the circumstances, no matter what calamity you find yourself in, no matter how bad things get, you can always get up. One day I am sitting on the wall making a complete nuisance of myself and the next I am graduating from one of the most prestigious universities in Europe,” convict Charles Richardson Jr. after receiving his law degree with honours from University of London while behind bars.

“It is a work of fiction with no negative implications to society. I would dismiss (views that Potter is Satanic) as out of hand. We run the risk of setting a very dangerous precedent if we seek to censor those we don’t agree with. It is a bizarre position to take by those who claim to believe in democracy,” Political commentator Walton Brown on the Harry Potter controversy.