Unfortunately this post isn’t slang for Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman not being very good… it is quite literally about his under crackers! I must admit, Jeremy Paxman’s underwear isn’t a subject I thought I’d ever be writing about on this blog, but even more shocking to me is that I was given the inspiration by an article on the trusted news source that is BBC Online.

In brief, no pun intended, Paxman sent M&S a private email to complain that its pants “no longer provide adequate support” and its socks are “wearing out more quickly”. This email was leaked to the Mail on Sunday who ran a story. So, M&S proclaims its pants are the best they’ve ever been and its CEO says he’ll meet Paxman to discuss.

Am I on a parallel universe where this makes sense? Is it April 1st already? The whole story just begs the question ‘why?’

– Why has Paxman got time to write emails complaining about his pants? Hasn’t he got better things to do?
– Why is the Mail on Sunday worrying about Jeremy Paxman’s pants? Surely they haven’t run out of things to write about Diana yet?
– Why on earth does M&S’ PR team feel the need to provide quotes and escalate the non-story any further?
– Why is the BBC then covering the story?
– Why is M&S’ CEO meeting Paxman to discuss his complaint?

What a surreal meeting that’ll be! Most of us who’ve ever fired off an email gripe to a company are lucky if we ever receive a reply. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?