Grande apologises again; might have more work to do

We've tried to stay aloof from Ariana Grande's whole 'licking doughnuts while saying I hate America' incident; and the botched apology.

But we can't sit idly by while she apologises for the first apology:

She says: ‘I feel like in the apology I posted, I missed my opportunity to sincerely apologise and express how I was feeling because I was preaching about my issues with the food industry.

‘Seeing yourself behaving poorly is such a rude awakening. I was so disgusted at myself.’

You could have seen yourself behaving poorly by watching the video through before you slammed it up on to YouTube. Just a thought.

Still, she's contrite now, right?

She goes on to say she behaved out of character, and that she understands she is being judged for her actions.

The singer ends with 'I’m human, I’ve still got a lot to learn and I still make mistakes.

‘I’m not making excuses, I am here to apologise’.

You might think "I'm only human and learning" is making an excuse, but I suppose we can consider this as close to a proper sorry as we're going to get. She doesn't actually apologise; she just says she's here to do it, but you have to take what you can get.

And let's be fair to her - her actions were driven by her disgust at the American food industry and its promotion of unhealthy lifestyles.

I wonder why she started with doughnuts, though? She could have started with the soda companies, the home of empty calories.

Why would she not have started her campaign with, oooh, let's say Pepsi?

Ah. Okay, so that might be a little awkward. How about the takeaway business, though? Maybe Grande could say something about how terrible all those fried chicken joints are. Perhaps she could do that on stage at an upcoming date. She's got some dates coming up, right?

Okay. Fair enough. Maybe licking doughnuts is all she can do without harming her bottom line.

Paul McCartney takes on McDonalds

One of the nicer branches of McDonalds is the one opposite Liverpool's Albert Dock. It was one of the first in the UK to try and go for an ambiance that didn't rely on wipe-clean, primary colours and even attempted to make a nod to its surroundings, albeit in the most kneejerk, 'here are pictures of The Beatles because this is Liverpool' fashion.

Oh... hang on a moment: McDonalds. Beatles. Isn't one of the Beatles a bit anti-meat? There's going to be trouble:

"What sort of morons do MCDonald's think Beatles fans are?
"It's ridiculous and insulting to use images to peddle hamburgers. Fans should boycott McDonald's - and not just in Liverpool."

So... McCartney wants people to boycott McDonalds not because they serve beefburgers, but because one of the hundreds of thousands of branches has a photograph of him on the wall?

McCartney doesn't think that Beatles fans are morons, and yet he seems convinced they'll see a black and white photo of him and his band from the 1960s and somehow think that this is an endorsement from McCartney. Curious.

Dennys, champions of the world

US pancakes and burger chain Dennys are throwing their slightly-over-normal weight behind small bands, with an initiative called the Dennys All Nighter. This allows webusers to vote for a band from a list of six to receive all the food they can eat, while out on tour, providing they eat at Dennys.

Meanwhile, we're given to understand that several bands are running a campaign designed to help out Village Inn by voting to eat at any remaining branches of that chain while they're out on tour.

Back at Denny's, they chain have also invited Taking Back Sunday to create a signature dish. Considering that the last time we were in a Dennys, their one concession to pop culture was a small photo of Elvis and a 45 nailed to the wall, this is quite a leap forward. Although we're not sure we'd want to eat in a place that lets Taking Back Sunday into its kitchens.

We've had a Taco Bell gig, now Dennys feeding touring bands: Perkins, we're waiting.