Shooting oneself in the foot.

[Suff]

To be honest, in my opinion, this is a legal matter. Not a media or employment matter. It was out of hours and not on set. Therefore if there is a complaint to be made, it should be made to the police. Not the BBC.

If there is no case to answer in court then everyone should shut up and get on with it. If there is a case to answer then Clarkson should answer it and pay whatever the penalty is. I'm totally in favour of that.

I have noticed that the BBC likes to police itself. OK during filming or on the air. Not OK out of working hours. So the BBC now endangers a large part of it's revenue because they won't actually follow the law of the land.

Surprise, surprise....

[Kaz]

God what a fool Cameron is! Fancy wading in on this, saying how heartbroken his children will be if JC (nice initials BTW ) loses his job! We all know they are great mates, and neighbours. He won't do himself any favours in the polls by reminding people of what an Old Boys Network he operates......

[Workingman]

Ah but, you see, erm, Dave had to chip in.... there was a petition to "Bring Back Clarkson" and it was mighty popular to boot. The fastest growing petition ever, a bandwagon not to be missed, Dave couldn't stop himself.

[Suff]

And Miliband's spin doctors probably bent themselves into pretzels trying to work out how to spin it for him. God knows he needs something to help him. But, alas, there is no way. Millionaire thumps the hard done to £45k per year "poor" BBC executive (assuming he's average but unlikely for Top Gear over 10 years). Just the story Labour needs to tie themselves to after the way Miliband has been going on about everyone who earns more than £10k a year.....

I find the political indigestion it crates most amusing.

[Suff]

I must admit I've been doing a lot of surfing and trying to find out just what the story might be re the debacle between Clarkson and Tymon.

If you read everything available, I have noted a few things.

They were out filming on location all day
Three food related things came out, sandwich, a hot meal at the end of the day, the hotel restaurant being closed
James May mentioned handbags and barging
Bystanders in the bar mentioned a 40 minute tirade from Clarkson to Tymon using many expletives
Clarkson clearly punched Tymon in the mouth. Apparently he had to go to the hospital.

The BBC is investigating. I've noticed a few other things too. Clarkson and his co presenters clearly thought it would just blow over eventually.

Honestly something doesn't add up. All the Top Gear presenters know that they are very much on sufferance for their style and attitude which is decidedly Non BBC in origin. Espeically Clarkson who is on his last warning for his so called "racial slurs".

So something doesn't add up. Why would Clarkson be so relaxed about the whole thing. The press, generally, hates him and have, no doubt, tried to hassle all the details they can get out of the people who were staying at the hotel, but we still get a very narrow and single focus view of what they want to present to us. Clarkson is bad, Clarkson is evil, JC is actually the anti-Christ....

What if there is a different take. What if, on location with things going badly, they left the hotel before breakfast, worked hard all day with a lunch break of a pitiful few rolls and no effort made by the support crew. What if, after being working all day, they get back and find that the support crew has not even phoned ahead to get someone to provide food, knowing the hotel would not be serving food. What if, after all that and after the presenters had drunk too much to drive, they were told that the Night Menu was all that was on offer and that it should be good enough for them?

Would you be happy? I'd ream out the target of the responsibility for making food happen for 40 minutes too. I'd use more than the F and C words too. But I'd probably also phone the most expensive restaurant still open that I could find, order massive amounts of food for everyone except the object of my frustration and I'd bill it to the BBC. Then I'd eat it in front of him whilst forcing him to order from the Night Menu.

I'd probably also tell him that if he wanted to keep his job, he might want to start doing his job.

So what if, after a 40 minutes tirade in which Clarkson tells Tymon that he's going to get him sacked, Tymon starts getting physical? What if Clarkson finishes the physical stuff off with his fist to Tymon's face.

How would you feel? How would Clarkson's behaviour during and after seem then?

I must say, I would dearly like to know the final details of this. Because Clarkson, who is now talking about an inevitable leave taking from the BBC, might actually have finally reached his Politically Correct limit.

Trial by press is never pretty and it is more often incorrect than correct.

I read the BBC assistant producer job description today and also the excruciatingly politically correct BBC "Mission and Values" document...

I have tried to think about what programming would meet these very high standards.







Then it hit me

[Workingman]

So many versions of the story, and every one authentic to the last crossed 't' and dotted 'i', according to the authors.

That "Missions and Values" link was the best laugh I have had for ages.

We make decisions based on our values, stick by them and take responsibility for them.

Do be brief.

[Suff]

That "Missions and Values" link was the best laugh I have had for ages.

I was hoping that Cromwell didn't break his teeth or that he was not near anything particularly fragile when I posted it....

[Kaz]

I heard the reason they were so very late back to the hotel - too late for hot food - was because Clarkson made the helicopter wait while he sat in the pub for three hours................

[medsec222]

If that were the case, it sounds like he has only himself to blame.

[cromwell]

Well I got as far as

"we are independent, impartial and honest" before the swearing started.

What a load of smug, self congratulatory tripe. The BBC are so far up themselves it's unbelievable.