"If Ecclestone says he was an idiot, I will certainly not contradict him, " Dieter Graumann, vice president of the council, told Handesblatt newspaper.

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Microsoft employees quake all year at the prospect of their annual meetings with Bill Gates, where even being shouted at would not hurt as much as seeming to be an idiot.

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It is about suggesting, if only hinting, that Obama and not George W. Bush, ATMs, or an idiot in California, might at least be somewhat responsible for what is happening in the world.

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Sir Edward Garnier QC, a former solicitor general who is acting on behalf of Lord McAlpine, told the court that because of the huge amount of publicity around the Newsnight programme "only an idiot in a hurry" could not have known the meaning of the tweet.

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No one even looked at me, save for one barista who gave me a quick smile (which may or may not have been related to the fact that I was the idiot who had just set off an alarm loud enough to disrupt any and all conversation).

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