STRAIGHT TALK
MARK BARNES: Go and ring your PR Bell somewhere else; your apologetic defence is a sorry excuse
‘Fake news and propaganda are part of Bell Pottinger’s stock in trade’
It may have been different for me, but I remember my childhood being governed by frequent instructions from my caring mother to "Say sorry!" or "Say thank you!". Of course, I did what I was told, obedience is as much part of my character as conformity. There is a difference between actually being and feeling sorry and just saying you are — as there is a difference between being grateful and simply thanking someone, however apparently politely. On June 17 2010, Tony Hayward, CE of BP, appeared before a subcommittee of the US House of Representatives to apologise for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two months earlier. He said it "never should have happened". Eleven people were killed. Five million barrels of oil were discharged in the spill, causing extensive damage to marine life over a distance covering thousands of kilometres. So far, BP has either paid or set aside about $42bn to deal with claims and settlements relating to the incident, in addition to the $18.7bn in fines it ...
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