So there's been a bit of a fuss about it today, with comments from Ed Miliband who said it was absolutely disgusting and disgraceful, and from no less a personage than David Cameron, who is a friend of Jeremy. (You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep.)
David said that he thought it was a bit silly and he didn't really mean it.
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| Jeremy, visiting his friend, meets an ordinary person |
What is rather worrying is that Dave issued a statement tonight through a Downing Street spokesman. It was as follows: "Execution is not government policy and we have no plans to make it government policy"
Ah, that's a relief, Dave, but then a day before the election you had no plans to raise VAT and a week afterwards you did and you have U-turned on every other promise since...
tris
ReplyDeleteNah! they are using an old very old tried and trusted English ruling class method of control..
Known as
'STARVING INNOCENT PEOPLE INTO SUBMISSION'
Aye Niko, but Alex and the SNP offer you an escape from that.
ReplyDeleteAs Alex kept telling daft wee Iain (sorry I know you're his biggest fan) today. If you want us to be able to do something about it, join with the government in getting extra taxation powers for the parliament.
Talking of FMQ, what on earth was that blokey Ken (you know, the one Ed had forgotten about)doing, standing up at FMQs like he was looking for fight with Big Eck...
He didn't do himself any favours there. Looked like a right prat. My money's on Johann (mind you I only got 50p on her).
Thanks kid, but I rarely blog about London.
ReplyDeleteBy and large this is a blog which is supportive of Scottish independence and, therefore, broadly supportive of the SNP.
Nice of you to offer though.
This time without the spealling errors
ReplyDeleteI think we are all getting our collective knickers in a twist of Jeremy Clarkson.
I find myself in an unusual position of defending (half) the man, in this one situation anyway.
The report about shooting the Strike leaders in front of their families was only part of what he said and if taken out of context, as it has, does not reflect what he really said.
He said first, that he supported the strike and strikers but then, as he said as this was the BBC he had to be balanced so he then said what everyong else is concentrating on.
In fact he was being ironic but irony seems to have slipped from the Lexicon of British humour, possibly because of Polititical Correctness and the use of strict written Guidelines.
He then went on to say, "I mean how dare they go on strike when they have these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed, while the rest of us have to work for a living."
FFSake, if that is not irony, from £1 million a year Clarkson what is?
Clarkson was being Clarkson, leading with his chin and inviting everyone to have a go. At £1 per year, if I had the chance I would too.
What was also not reported was another statement about people inconveniencing him by throwing them selves in front of trains. That was beyond the pale.
If, as has been reported, his remarks had been agreed with the One Team before broadcast, then the whole thing has to have been a set up, maybe to get the sort of publicity for a failing couch potato programme with slipping ratings?
We have been manipulated on this one.
Bread and Circuses, anyone?
Like all would be Tories he is even worse than the real ones..Eric Pickles, William Hauge and Margaret Thatcher spring to mind.
ReplyDeleteA career based on being shocking and loudmouthed needs more and more shock to maintain interest and the sensational value.
F course, Clarkson hob nobs with Cameron. Given his previous stances I think the jokey, blokey nature of the comment was a very thin mask for his true feelings on the matter
ReplyDeleteWolfie:
ReplyDeleteI'd certainly no idea that he said that he supported the strike. That wasn't reported anywhere and puts a considerably different light on the subject.
But I don't think that irony has been erased from our range of comedic style. But it's the time and place argument, and I still think it was inappropriate.
I was recently held up on a 9 hour journey from Paris to Dundee by 2 bloody long uncomfortable wait because someone had jumped or fallen onto the line. Between myself and my mate, we had a laddish joke not far from the line (if you pardon the pun) that Clarkson was taking.
I wouldn't have done it, though, on prime time tv.
But yes, maybe we are being played like violins.
After all, the X Factor or Britain's got Talent type shows started off as talent competitions but the producers soon found out that if there are falling outs, drink, drugs, sexual tensions, judges with issues, etc, you can bring the thing to whole new levels. In fact I doubt it matters what the 'artistes' are like any more, as long as they are up for a bit of scandal.
The trouble with shocking people is that once you have shocked them with a particular thing, you need to be MORE shocking the next time.
And taste goes out the window.
Ah Munguin. I see you had already said what I have just said.
ReplyDeleteI wonder where the "shock" element will end...
Anon:
ReplyDeleteI think Clarkson is a hater of political correctness.
I think most of us hate 'political correctness gone mad' to use the rather worn out expression.
But political correctness of sorts has been around for a long time. Except it used to be called a variety of names, like "manners" or "decent behaviour".
It's is now politically incorrect not to point fingers at a guy who walks funny, or has involuntary jerks, or whatever. When I was a kid, my mum and gran just said that it was bad manners to do it.
It didn't used to be politically incorrect to be rude about minorities of whatever kind. It used to be bad manners.
It wasn't politically incorrect to tell jokes against people who had killed themselves, or to laugh at funerals. It was just tasteless and crass.
And from what I can make out the BBC would never have allowed anything like it. If you were on live tv, you would not have done it if you wanted to work with the BBC again.
Didn't the F word on radio once kill someone's career?
Clarkson now has a reputation for saying blokish, laddish things. He has a reputation for being a bit right wing, and that's backed up by his friendship with Dave and his crew. There are similarly "incorrect" left wingers.
I don't see anything wrong with it on either side. I cracked tasteless politically incorrect jokes about Mrs T's state funeral for example. But there's a time and a place and that is not on early evening tv. Children don't understand the concept of irony... or indeed that Mr Clarkson's whole persona (for which read, multi-million pound career) depends on him throwing a politically incorrect, or just downright tasteless comment in here or there. His fans expect it.
The BBC need to keep him, because he is probably the glue that holds his programme together. But they should restrict his appearances to his own show, BBC2, 3 or 4 and not at prime time.
PS Wolfie. isn't it irritating that the time you spot spelling errors is the second after you hit the publish button.
ReplyDeleteTris
ReplyDeleteWhen I did my scientific papers, thesis and, especially, patents, I developed a technique of writing whatever it was, scanning it for obvious mistakes and then putting it in a drawer for at least three days before reading again with fresh eyes.
Reading it quickly means that my brain reads what I wanted to write and that is what I see.
Unfortunately you cannot do that as a comment on blogs. It goes up, warts and all.
By the way, I think that Clarkson is a prat but his TV motoring show brings our the Boys' Own in me and makes me laugh, occasionally.
He is a TV personality, not a sage. I never confuse the two.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the X factor etc just fills a void that religion used to do before most people gave it up. Same goes for celebrities.
Dear Jeremy
ReplyDeleteShut up or the woman gets it.
Yours Ass as in a tor
Shhhhh CH. Leave the man to speak his mind...
ReplyDeleteBang bang
Now there's a piece of horrible taste, but it's just between us broad minded mates, huh?