18 March 2015
Is is just me?
I've always taken the view that a car is a metal box on four wheels designed to get me from A to B. I can't be arsed whether it's brand new, a status symbol, has a hundred gizmos and does 200 mph. I just want it to get me to my destination. My wonderful aged T-reg (16 years old, no central locking, no power steering, not even a CD player but still going like a dream) is more than enough for me. It'll be no surprise then that I have never watched a single episode of Top Gear and so I do not have the slightest regard for Jeremy Clarkson that the rest of the nation seem to have, if all the recent fuss is anything to go on. But, aside from all that, let's look at the evidence. This is a grown man of fifty something who, after a long day, apparently threw a strop after he was served soup and a cold platter instead of the steak he fancied. The hotel chef had dared to go home after 10pm (probably after an even more exhausting day than Mr Clarkson will ever experience). Furthermore, we are told, Clarkson lashed out physically at his producer because of it. So why is everyone signing petitions to keep him in his job and treating him like the victim? Is this the behaviour of someone you would like to know? If he were a work colleague of yours, would you be less worshipful? If he were a child, you'd surely send him to his bed or the naughty step. Which, I think, is what the BBC should do with him. Anything else will surely give him a bigger stroppier head than it seems he already has. As for ITV lurking in the wings for a chance to nab him for their schedules for some astronomical sum, they should be ashamed of themselves, as they are only rewarding bad behaviour. It's tantamount to taking him to Disneyland because he's attacked his granny. Or is it just me?
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9 comments:
Oh, Well Said! Most people would deplore bad behaviour, but, with this man, they just laugh it off, almost affectionately. The thought of him making yet more money by defecting to another channel just makes me despair of the human race.
I like Top Gear, I find Jeremy Clarkson amusing and entertaining and I have a passing interest in cars. But, but, but if what we've read in the papers is true, and he did hit someone, he should be sacked and put in a police cell (as would you or I if we attacked someone).
As I said to NB the other day, he's like the mad aunt you tolerate at Christmas but all year round. He is utter comedy genius, I don't want him to not be on Top Gear because it entertains me massively. I also don't ever want to have to be in a room with him mind!
Leaving the assault to one side...
Behaving like a schoolboy is one thing but what irritates me about Clarkson is the lack of courage to own up when he is caught doing something wrong.
With this incident, he denied hitting the man but it now appears that he did.
If you hit a fellow employee in any arena, you face the sack.
But, if a pilot strikes a steward mid flight, you would not immediately wrest him from the controls of the aircraft, you would deal with him when the aircraft was on the ground.
The BBC should have announced that Clarkson was under investigation for assault, facilitated the criminal enquiries, protected the alleged victim form intimidation and finished the series (their duty to the viewer and the international networks who paid for the right to broadcast them) at the end of which, they could have hung Clarkson out to dry, fining him and dismissing him, and providing the victim with all the evidence necessary to sue Clarkson for compensation. That way everyone is seen to be behaving correctly and millions of viewers and several networks are not penalised.
My daughter is upset that Top Gear has been taken off air (hers is the age group it appeals to) so I've made sure she knows why. His behaviour cannot be dismissed just because the show is so popular. I hope the BBC remembers that it is bigger than any of its presenters (as it did with Chris Evans, Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand in the past).
I used to watch it - and at times it was interesting or amusing... but then it got frankly repetitive.
Then Mr Clarkson made a comment about public service workers on strike should be lined up and shot - or something like that. My wife is a Teaching Assistant - she gets barely £10 an hour and at times has to take lessons if teachers are not about. She will again be away from home for a week, not in some 5* hotel with steak meals at the end of the day but in a some awful chalet on an adventure park with the responsibility of first aid, medication etc. for a class of 11 years. Last year she saved an epileptic girl's life - it is all in a days, vastly underpaid, work.
Mr Clarkson has not appeared on a television in our house since. I'm not too fussed anyway.
Now... also. I've worked in a bunch of environments over my career and recently. If a colleague hit another colleague whatever the provocation or reason there is to me absolutely no excuse. They have to be disciplined and probably in the ultimate manner. I can't remember a contract I've worked under in 30 years that hasn't stated an act of violence against another employment wouldn't lead to anything other than instant dismissal. But then I'm not someone who earns his money and doesn't pop to the local pub for a beer with the Prime Minister .... one rule for one... one rule for the rest of us
I agree with everything that's already been said - on both sides - so will be interested to hear what does happen to him...
The BBC has done the decent thing (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32052736).
Celebrities should not get away from crime or be beyond the law, just because they are celebrities (as we know only too well from Jimmy Saville), not that I am in any way saying the crimes are similar.
My husband watches Top Gear but I flee the room - overgrown schoolboys driving too fast. I certainly signed no petition for J Clarkson!
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