The new year has barely started and we already have an odds-on favourite to win our 2008 idiot of the year
award. Step forward Jeremy Clarkson, renowned UK celebrity petrol-head and all-round motormouth.
In his weekly column for red-top tabloid the Sun, Clarkson rashly publicised his bank account number and sort code in a dimwitted effort to prove that the UK government’s loss of unecrypted data discs was a lot of fuss about nothing. The worst that could
happen, he figured, was that some fool would pay money into his account.
Within days a red-faced Clarkson was forced to recant after an unidentified member of the public accessed his account and set up a £500 direct debit in favour of UK charity Diabetes UK.
“I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake,” the contrite Top Gear presenter wrote in a column for the Sunday Times. "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes.”