Jeremy Paxman was never one to mince his words onscreen.
But the former Newsnight presenter appears to be enjoying his freedom from the role, using a delicate choice of words to describe Apple’s iconic “Think Different” advert.
During a keynote speech at Microsoft’s Future Decoded conference in London, Mr Paxman played the memorable 1997 commercial before remarking:
You will rarely see a bigger display of utter bollocks.
Given the choice of event, you could say he was preaching to the converted.
The end of mass generalisation
Mr Paxman’s wider point, however, was to warn against the dangers of excessive individualism.
Technology giving everyone a voice, he said, doesn’t mean everyone’s opinion on everything is worth hearing.
Examples mentioned include Russell Brand and how chat rooms differ to ancient Greek debates: “F**k off’ is not a valid contribution to a Socratic exchange of ideas”.
The impact for both individuals and organisations, he said was that “we can no longer make mass generalisations about the way we live”.
But the veteran journalist steered shy of the “mug’s game” of attempting to predict too much of the future:
I’m a journalist, not a clairvoyant.