Bill Gates is due be made Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. All a bit naff I feel and puts me off wanting a KBE, although I still wouldn’t sniff at a baronetcy if one floated my way. Still, as Jack Straw put it:
Microsoft technology has transformed business practices and his company has had a profound impact on the British economy, employing 2,000 people and contributing to the development of the IT sector (my emphasis).
This is like those job references where He was unrivalled in his punctuality
could just as well mean No-one else was as consistently late as he was
.