“I am a county councillor, a very public man To benefit the people I'll do everything I can; In all my waking moments for their welfare I will scheme And in the arms of Morpheus of improvements I will dream. A local legislator and a man of high renown, I am the county councillor, the greatest man in town.”

Now, first of all, I'm a great believer in a free society. Free society is defined as a society where all individuals act voluntarily and find it safe to be unpopular. I also applaud our right to free speech, as recognised under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights.

I received an e-mail last week that reflected on how kids years ago spent their time and I thought it would be a nice nostalgic piece to include in this month’s advertiser. I am including it, but before the nostalgia, I'd like to write a bit about perspective.

Considering that the whole country is awash with political and economic talk at the present time, I shall refrain from any comment on the serious issues this month. I've decided instead to focus on one-liners, quips, general quotes or as we call them around Ballagh, “spakes” and around Charlestown, “chirps”. The following are a random mixed bag of quotes, some deep, some funny, some both.