Beautifully put, Jeremy

Clarkson called Brown an idiot but later apologised, says the usual interpretation of the latest Clarkson gaffe/silly outburst/moment of plain speaking*. (*delete as applicable)

Or did he? What he said was:

"In England we have this one-eyed Scottish idiot... he keeps telling us everything's fine and he's saved the world and we know he's lying, but he's smooth at telling us."

And the apology was:

"In the heat of the moment I made a remark about the Prime Minister's personal appearance for which, upon reflection, I apologise."

So he apologised (rightly) for drawing attention to Brown's sight problems. However, I don't see any apology for calling him an idiot or a liar. Which is quite correct, of course; Brown's lack of vision may well be true but is irrelevant to his position, whereas his idiocy and untruthfulness are both true and highly relevant.