Some of the most quotable quotes of 2010

We have identified that we are in need of a gentleman from a mining company in South Africa to come and join us at a dinner event to take the stone apart. We will have a little meal for the board of directors, with a bottle of 1948 ruby port which we still have in the cellar, and he will sit and chip away all night and we will watch the rubies fall out like pomegranate seeds
Tim Watts, network group holdings, February

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I can’t remember a time when a party in opposition was offering the building world so much for so little in return
Grant Shapps, then shadow housing minister, January

How many velodromes do we need in the world? It’s not that popular a sport and soon enough we’re going to have one in every bloody country
Eddie the Eagle, aka Michael Edwards, February

Architects talk a big game. They imagine they have a transformative effect on educational outcomes. But actually, that’s bollocks. There is no evidence to support those claims at all. It’s just smoke and mirrors
Journalist, author and Free Schools pioneer, Toby Young, September

The two receptionists at Head Office jumped up and gave me hugs and kisses. There were tears. It meant a lot to me
Redrow’s Steve Morgan on his return to the company, March

This is the 21st Century; we’ve flown to the moon. Surely people can get their heads around a house built in poland and shipped to the UK
Richard Ogden, chairman, Build Offsite UK on offsite construction and flatpack homes, March

I know how this industry works, which terrifies my officials’
Mark Prisk, the new construction minister, speaking at Building’s terrace reception in June

’What a complete COK’, ’Pratt’ and ’You can bet your bottom dollar that “Snookums” can afford to be frivolous’
Various online comments following Garvis Snook’s infamous ’Keep on Roking’ email following the collapse of Rok in November

I wondered why the banks didn’t want to trade through it, but then I saw some of the numbers and it was a train crash
Chris Cheshire, chief executive of Kinetics on Connaught, September

In China the contract is an almost useless piece of paper
Peter Chan, director of Asia-Pacific for Scott Wilson, March