Tuesday
Here is proof that Jeremy Clarkson and his fellow petrolheads have definitely got under some green skins, if you get my meaning:
Environmental campaigners have called for the BBC's Top Gear programme to be scrapped as they claim it promotes irresponsible driving. But how fair is this criticism?For many motoring enthusiasts it is among the highlights of the television week.
But, with its irreverent style and penchant for high-speed stunts, Top Gear attracts fans and critics in equal measure.
Now the BBC Two programme has come under fire from the Transport 2000 pressure group, which has called for it to be taken off the air and replaced with a show that promotes "sensible driving in sensible vehicles".
Yes, that will pack them in.
Greenies: try to understand. Most drivers spend their lives driving sensibly in sensible vehicles, except when you lunatics have stuck bumps in the road, in which case they are obliged to drive senselessly, accelerating and decelerating and generally spoiling the air and the neighbourhood. The idea that TV's premier driving show should surrender its position as TV's premier driving show by doing nothing but reflect this dreary reality is crazy, and cruel. Kill Top Gear, and you will have alienated yet another big brick in the human wall that is Middle England.
Transport 2000, which is committed to reducing the environmental and social effects of transport, argues that Top Gear falls short in its responsibility to educate viewers and acknowledge the interests of women drivers.
Personally, I am in favour of the "social effects" of transport, the main ones being that because we are able to travel, we can get to see interesting places and appealing people, and get and do far better jobs than would otherwise be possible. And as for the environmental effects of transport, I know what they mean, but once again, I think transport makes the environment far more congenial, not least because we can travel about in it and see what it all consists of.
Obviously the most environmentally friendly thing, in the sense these people mean, that humans could do would be to drop dead en masse. But most of us, thank goodness, are not these people. For most of us, life is for living, and life would be very lifeless if we were to do away entirely with exciting cars, and drove only sensible ones, and worse, if we were not even allowed to watch crazy cars being driven crazily on TV.
This would be the same Transport 2000 that receives substantial amounts of its funding from bus companies bloated on government subsidy, would it?
So just who does Tranpsort 2000 represent? How many members does it have? And why should anyone pay the slightest attention to what it says?
Posted by GCooper at April 13, 2005 01:01 AM
A Mr Brian Rushton, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcs wrote to the Telegraph yesterday to blame Jeremy Clarkson for another ill.
Sir - Jeremy Clarkson should accept some of the blame for the demise of the MG Rover group.As the presenter of the television programme Top Gear, he is constantly deriding the company's cars in favour of the exotic sports cars that he drives. This slashes the sales figures of new Rovers and reduces the resale values of used models.
No one wants to own a car that is the butt of a national joke.
I actually think this guy could really be serious!
When I posted this on my own blog Dave Weedon made a good point in the comments.
But why's this guy writing to the Telegraph? Blame the Beeb, why don't you, or the Sunday Times. But the Telegraph is not responsible for Clarkson.
All true. However Dave hasn't taken the fact that the guy's a bit Radio Rental in to consideration.
Posted by Mark Holland at April 13, 2005 01:08 AM
Bless them for they have the sepia photograph, the snapshot of the world as they wish it to be , and ever will be, clutched to they're hearts! Trouble is, stuff changes and the greens only notice when it's getting bad not good.Maybe the planet is warming up a bit.It has before and it will again(especially when the sun goes nova) but these clowns keep thinking it's all Man's fault.
Listen up Greens.99% of all living things that have existed on this planet are already extinct, and that had nothing to do with mankind.Greens seem to believe in a strange goddess called Gaia, that somehow the earth is a living thing.Well sorry , it aint.It couldnt give a shit what you do to it, or what it does to you, because if it has any conciousness at all (like vile mankind does) it will know that it is going to be dust again in a few billion years.So stuff the planet and get off it as soon as possible .That is our destiny if we have one at all above the pure accidental fact of our existence.
Posted by RAB at April 13, 2005 01:10 AM
Bless them for they have the sepia photograph, the snapshot of the world as they wish it to be , and ever will be, clutched to they're hearts! Trouble is, stuff changes and the greens only notice when it's getting bad not good.Maybe the planet is warming up a bit.It has before and it will again(especially when the sun goes nova) but these clowns keep thinking it's all Man's fault.
Listen up Greens.99% of all living things that have existed on this planet are already extinct, and that had nothing to do with mankind.Greens seem to believe in a strange goddess called Gaia, that somehow the earth is a living thing.Well sorry , it aint.It couldnt give a shit what you do to it, or what it does to you, because if it has any conciousness at all (like vile mankind does) it will know that it is going to be dust again in a few billion years.So stuff the planet and get off it as soon as possible .That is our destiny if we have one at all above the pure accidental fact of our existence.
Posted by RAB at April 13, 2005 01:11 AM
I think a few phone calls to the Beeb pre-emptively in support of Jeremy and the gang are in order. Anyone know what contact number would be appropriate to get the message across? In an ever so polite"I know you at the Beeb would never think of caving into these fruitcakes" way...
Posted by Dale Amon at April 13, 2005 01:37 AM
My dad was recently telling me how Clarkson accidentally tore up some rare moss whilst taking a 4x4 off road and some little man was on the radio complaining about it. Apparently Clarkson was listening to the radio at the time and managed to call in and pretty much have a go at the little fellow for his nannyish views. Must have been great.
It seems that Clarkson and his kind are under attack in modern Britain.
Posted by Lee at April 13, 2005 03:38 AM
Exactly. Imagine for a moment if on the way to their cross-continental holidays, one could make an announcement of how much fossil-fuels their planes were burning, how much radiation they were getting, and how much cheap third-world labor they were exploiting at their destination. They would freak out. This would be amusing.
Posted by Jonathan at April 13, 2005 06:40 AM
The other thing they haven't spotted, being too busy being outraged, is that Top Gear and the like are entertainment--and largely fantasy. Such programs no more represent or promote the actual driving behaviour of their audience than Colin and Justin's How Not to Decorate does ordinary home maintenance.
Posted by guy herbert at April 13, 2005 07:56 AM
One of the reasons that Top Gear slags off Rover cars is that they are rather rubbish. They have however praised MG.
Course if there were no Beeb; pinheads like these would not be able to put any pressure to pull anything.
It is rather amazing to see what Clarkson gets away with on Top Gear. He is probably the most politically sound (from my point of view) person on the whole bleeding network.
Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge at April 13, 2005 07:57 AM
Clarkson is probably the champion of anti-puritan killjoys everywhere, ranking up there with Dave Barry and PJ O'Rourke as one of my heroes. His show is not about "real life" - I could not afford any of the cars on the show - but about fun. Fun, apparently, is the new tobacco. We cannot have fun, or worse, be irreverent. Oh no.
I heard some time ago that the Tories had tried to get Clarkson to stand as an MP. I am glad he did not, he'd be wasted.
Posted by Johnathan Pearce at April 13, 2005 10:11 AM
This is one of the most elegantly witty posts I've seen and all the better for being true.
Posted by Paul Coulam at April 13, 2005 11:36 AM
I agree with Mr Coulam - this was a very, very funny post! Totally spot on. And yes, I do enjoy 'Top Gear.'
Posted by Steve at April 13, 2005 12:52 PM
Good old Transport 2000, getting more out of date with every year that passes.
Posted by John K at April 13, 2005 01:49 PM
I'm a girl and I love Jeremy Clarkson. He's a bloke and he's great fun. How many other tv presenters have you ever seen in your life who are so palpably happy, happy, happy in their work? I hadn't thought of it before, but this is a historic moment because I am in 100% accord with what Jonathan wrote. Yes! Clarkson is right up there with P J O'Rourke and Dave Barry. Maybe even a soupçon of Hunter S Thompson with lack of interest in consequences?
An interesting little known fact about Clarkson, his best friend is A A Gill, wit and restaurant critic of The Sunday Times.
Posted by Verity at April 13, 2005 02:07 PM
I know a number of women who would resent the implication that women are only interested in "sensible driving in sensible cars." My mom just got a new Nissan Armada, not in the least because it has a 305 horsepower V8. It's also incredibly roomy and for a mother of two and grandmother of five, having room to seat 8 adults comfortably is pretty handy. My kids already love riding with her and I offer to drive for her any chance I get.
To those who would stick me in a hydrogen powered go-kart I have only one thing to say:
Bah!
Posted by Earnest Iconoclast at April 13, 2005 02:32 PM
How utterly joyless and dull these people are.
To us. I'm sure in their mindset they get a thrill every time. They've saved a mite or a bird or saved one hundred hypothetical lung cancer patients. The zealots of any religion relish the austere aspects of their creed. It's what gets them off.
Posted by toolkien at April 13, 2005 03:37 PM
toolkien:
I'm sure that in addition to the joys you mention, they get positively orgasmic at the thought that they've deprived one of the great unwashed of something fun, too... whadya think?
Posted by Richard Easbey at April 13, 2005 04:07 PM
I'm a girl and I love Jeremy Clarkson.
Verity,
You mean "a lady", surely?
The one thing I can see possibly happening if they don't manage to get it taken off the air (and I think the Beeb knows how popular this programme is) is that the Greens might "force" them to put some silly disclaimer at the start of the show. Oh, and they might stipulate that Clarkson delivers it.
Ah, the good ol' greens; where Catholic guilt goes in a post-Christian society.
Posted by James at April 13, 2005 04:11 PM
James - No. I mean girl. I would never be so pretentious as to style myself "a lady". Despite years of living there, I never became that American!
Ernest Iconoclast - Like most women except your mother, I don't hunger after fast cars and don't understand any of the terminology about torques and things. It is the sheer blokey politically incorrect exuberance that women find so appealing about Jeremy Clarkson. He honestly thinks his obsession is universal.
Posted by Verity at April 13, 2005 04:33 PM
James, I really hope that if this lousy outfit did try to make the show carry some sort of disclaimer, that Clarkson would tell them exactly where to put it.
Verity, in my experience, women are often as mad about cars as we chaps. What do you drive? Please don't tell me you have a dull saloon. It would not go with your fiery image. How about a Maserati or a Humvee?
Posted by Johnathan at April 13, 2005 05:24 PM
I am proud to say that I drive, with the air-conditioning blasting freon into the atmosphere with forceful abandon, a huge gas-guzzler with power everything, plus cruise control so I don't have to worry about keeping my foot on the damn' pedal all the time.
Posted by Verity at April 13, 2005 06:43 PM
I am now seriously looking forward to the next series of Top Gear, just imagine what treats Clarkson et al are now cooking up to further rile the tree-hugging denizens of Hampstead.
If their researchers do read Samizdata at all then might I dare suggest one episode of comparing the Bradley with a Warrior or maybe a race between an Abrahms and a Challenger - both of which have a "green" fuel use factor of something like -2mpg.
Posted by Julian Taylor at April 13, 2005 08:06 PM
Top Gear is, along with the Simpsons, about the only thing I can watch regularly on TV - driving an old volvo estate up a ramp & over a row of caravans, kitting up an old lada as a roadster.. ahh what fun!
"One of the reasons that Top Gear slags off Rover cars is that they are rather rubbish"
Er, you mean that's just one of the reasons??
Posted by mike at April 13, 2005 09:52 PM
No. I mean girl. I would never be so pretentious as to style myself "a lady".
Verity, I'm disappointed. I had you down at the very least as the wife of a Baronet.
Posted by Paul Coulam at April 14, 2005 11:38 AM
Top Gear is the best motoring program on earth. Here in Canada you can see it on BBC World - but the episodes are inexplicably chopped down to 30 minutes, rearranged and aired out of order. I guess we couldn't have expected the Beeb to get it *completely* right.
Fortunately, you can download complete episodes of Top Gear (and its inferior-but-still-pretty-darn-good knockoff, Fifth Gear) here:
Posted by Damian P. at April 14, 2005 12:51 PM
"Women drivers"?????
O, I forgot- it's not stereotyping or sexism to say that a whole sex agrees with lefty ideas...
Posted by staghounds at April 14, 2005 01:23 PM
Paul Coulam - Would it help if I said I drive a Chrysler Le Baron?
Posted by Verity at April 14, 2005 05:02 PM
If they take Top Gear off the air at the behest of these whingeing nannies, I tell you there will be fucking hell to pay.
Posted by Paul at April 14, 2005 07:20 PM
Everything proposed by the Greens seems to involve life becoming more expensive, more hard work and much less fun for the rest of us. I find it very hard to believe that, compared with the 18th and 19th centuries, when, for over 200 years, vast industrial conurbations were powered and heated entirely by the combustion of coal, the output of so-called 'greenhouse gases' was so much less than it is today that we, the denizens of the last 70-or-so years, are entirely responsible for some sort of unique climatic change. Since the late 50s, as we became increasingly wealthy, and so had more time for solipsism rather than survival, we have become an increasingly finger-wagging society, forever telling people what's good for them. The Greens, Friends of the Earth, and their ilk, are characterized by self-righteousness, self-importance and a firm belief that the rest of us are poor, benighted sou;ls who must be saved from our own inquitous behaviour. Yes, it's the Puritans all over again!
Posted by Joe Jordan at April 17, 2005 06:49 PM
