Robert Fisk

Must we stand idly by while world leaders spout this codswallop?

Even Churchill told the Empire that Britain would 'not stand by idly and see Poland trampled'

 Funny how the news agenda gets tired. Like the quotes. Only a couple of months ago, we were all bracing for Israel's attack on Iran's nuclear installations. And for serious pressure on Bashar al-Assad to end his "barbaric campaign". I quote Susan Rice, La Clinton's lady at the UN. And now? Well, Bashar lingers in his palace while Iran goes off the boil. Instead, it's the underpants bomber. Or the super-underpants bomber. Or rather the super-underpants bomber who wasn't – because it was a sting operation and a CIA man (or a British agent "of Middle East origin"; choose as you wish) posed as a would-be super-underpants bomber to get hold of the super-underpants bomb so it could be taken to pieces by the lads and lasses in Langley, Virginia.

 But none of us journos ever point out what a load of old codswallop this is. We report it at face value, as if the phrases are new, the indignation real, the drama exploding in front of us. We simply do not say or report that "not standing idly by" and patience being "exhausted" are among the greatest clichés of the political world.