Change Gear, Attack Govt, Apologise, Have Coffee, Attack Govt, Apologise....

There seems to be a trend developing for people stating the bleedin' obvious and then apologising.

Jeremy Clarkson - he of "one-eyed Scottish idiot" fame - was the first to give it a go. Personally I thought is was a crying shame when Clarkson apologised for the "one-eyed" bit, although at least by doing so at least he pointedly let the "Scottish idiot" part stand. It did leave me wondering though, what the point of being an outspoken TV presenter is if you have to apologise whenever you're...err, outspoken.

Now the chairman of Starbucks has followed Clarkson's lead, and caused Lord Mandy of Hissy Fit to throw a major dander by saying that Britain's economy is "in a spiral". Howard Schultz was talking about the global downturn but committed the cardinal sin of saying that the UK was not actually best-placed to survive it.

"The place that concerns us the most is western Europe, and specifically the UK", Schultz is reported to have said, adding "I think consumer confidence, particularly in the UK, is very, very poor."

Toys out of the pram time for Mandy, who is said to have wailed as follows at a diplomatic (nbo, really) drinks party in the UK.

"Who the fuck is he? How the hell are they [Starbucks] doing?", and then, ominously "Why should I have that guy running down the country ?" Expect to see legislation before Parliament any now day making it illegal for business leaders to do anything other than sing "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" when questioned about the UK economy.















Oooo, get her....

Disappointingly, it seems that Schultz has taken fright and apologised. A Starbucks spokesman said there had been no intention by the company to criticise the UK economy, according to the BBC's spinning machine.

Why ? Why does a business leader have to apologise for saying something that is so obviously and demonstrably true ? Why does a TV presenter see fit to apologise for being no more obnoxious than he usually is ?

What is it about ZaNu Labour that these guys are so scared of ?