And the quote of the day goes to...

I will never tire of Councillor Jeff Earle's predilection for colourful metaphors.

During Tuesday night's debate on the railway tunnel motion, Earle, who cast the lone "No" vote, conveyed his frustration at what he considers a lack of information this way:

“Essentially, I'm buying a pig in a blanket. I just don't want it to turn out to be a porcupine."

Say what you want about the councillor or his position, this is one prickly turn of phrase. One assumes he was referring to the proverbial pig in a poke, a metaphor for getting swindled, as opposed to a pig in a blanket, one of those mouthwatering sausage-in-a-pastry things I now desperately yearn to ingest, with mustard, as a bedtime snack.

Instead of allowing a flawed metaphor to fall flat, Earle took the pig in a blanket (something desirable, unless you're a health food nut) and conveyed his true meaning by morhphing the pig into a porcupine. As far as he's concerned, the railway tunnel, like the sausage, is a good thing, but he's worried that, having bought it, the sausage will turn into a porcupine.

Enough to make you look twice at your breakfast, that is...