Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I'm watching top gear on BBC3 now. Why would this not have been pulled also?
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
Chris Harris can replace hammond (he can do strictly or something) and he is proper fast.
Guy martin can do the engineering stuff and he is also properly fast and a bit mental. May can carry on doing Man Stuff type programmes. The benefit of Guy Martin is that they can do bikes as well as cars.
Or how about getting Foggy as well. - proper blokes bloke is Foggy.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Because they both have to renew their contract. And I (and others, I think) came to the conclusion that A: they will not get an offer for TG anymore without JC, or B: both do not want to participate in a new TG without JC, because the atmosphere will be different. If the Beeb is planning to continue TG, it's best to change course completely, presentor-wise. Remember when Hammond was hospitalised after his accident? Clarkson and May announced that they would kill off TG when Hammond would not recover and return!
Menno
All those who signed the petition because they feel that it's ok to punch someone at work are wrong. The law only allows the laying on of hands (this includes slap, punch, push) when someone has an honesty held belief that they are in danger. This is deliberately subjective. I can't see a lack of hot food qualifying as such an honestly held belief. Admittedly, we don't have all the facts concerning Clarkson but that hasn't stopped conjecture and rather firm opinions based on that conjecture.
I really struggle to understand why unreasonable behaviour is tolerable in some but not in others; surely in the ideal society that we should aspire to, all regardless of position are subject to the same rules?
Last edited by Andyg; 12th March 2015 at 23:33.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Agreed 80,000 will be at Twickers this weekend to watch 30 blokes hit one another as hard as they can. This is acceptable.
A fat old man losing his temper and having a "handbag" moment is not. Unless of course it's Prescott - was he suspended? I think not. In fact did he not stand as a Police Chairman (or something).
What seems to be missing here is a sense of perspective.
I still am interest to know whether this has been reported to the police? If not why not?
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
In my view, Prescott considered himself "under attack" and was therefore defending himself in the way he knew how - as he has every right to do. The two situations, JC assaulting someone who hasn't arranged some food to his liking (allegedly) and JP defending himself from an attack from the side, are completely different.
Not condoning or condemning JC (or the other chap for that matter) till i have the full facts.
but what gets me, and apparently 805,000 signatories of that petition, is that this debacle is rather indicative of the world we live in. Time was two chaps could sort out their differences like adults.
these days every mundane stupid thing needs to involve the authorities and a veritable army of hand wringing do gooders.
A little more take responsibility for yourself and sort your own sh*t out, a little less interference in people's lives before we turn into the society from Demolition Man!
This, absolutely.
Perspective is being lost in the rush for absolutist political correctness.
I do not mean by this that hitting someone is necessarily acceptable (although of course it potentially could be, depending on circumstances) but that how seriously it should be taken and what should happen in response, if anything, depend on the full circumstances as they applied at the time.
But, the BBC needed to do something, he was warned before, and if the man gets away with this, next time he might kick his teeth out, where's the line?
And if the BBC didn't do anything, they would most probably be accused of letting all sorts of idiots getting away with all sorts shite and all that payed by public money.
The BBC can't win this one, and Clarkson is still an idiot, IMHO.
Daddel.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The man is a fool, but I rather like him. The beeb absolutely had to do something, and suspension while they sort out the facts is the correct approach. They should have set a date for some form of hearing or panel at the same time as announcing the suspension of course, which doesn't appear to have been the case. If they had publicly suspended him pending a hearing one week later, there wouldn't be the furore that there is now.
The BBC really cannot 'win' here but need to take the compromise path that leaves the fewest people grumbling down the line. The overtly feminist and white knight columnists won't be happy of course, but they rarely are :)
Well not necessarily.
We dont have facts but i hear that the guys concerned actually were gonna let it drop having resolved it between themselves like adults but the BBC decided to stick its oar in and thats when it gets messy.
If this is true then the bbc are morons and deserve to be shown up as such.
Again, not necessarily. Both people on the right and left can recognise sensible behaviour and solutions.
Nobody disagrees that hitting people is not on. Its how its handled thats in question. And here the beeb may have shown a lack of good sense and leaderership - but we dont know until the facts in full come out.
hi, i worked for the bbc when they had an exhibition at the MIMA in middlesbrough, never spoke to him but other guys i worked with said he was a "bell end".
I hope it doesn't become a show about bikes though - that's part of its schtick. I think if you want to make a programme about bikes make a programme about bikes rather than hijack something else ;). Chris Harris would be a good choice for the anorak brigade who wear flammable clothing recreationally, he can talk about oversteer etc. Perhaps a rotating top slot, like Have I Got News For You, would work, and they can have Clarkson back in the reasonably priced car!
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Not going to work. You just can't break a team and expect it to carry on as before. You have the comedian and his two sidekicks. They have a rapport onscreen. Tiff can't do it. Nobody has the way with words JC has.
Anyone remember what happened to Bewitched when they changed Darren? Yes, I'm showing my age.
I see from the Beeb website it was JC himself that reported the incident. Could be any number of reasons for that.
Last edited by Glamdring; 13th March 2015 at 12:03. Reason: Adding addendum
So Jimmy Saville abused children for decades and the BBC turned a blind eye, Clarkson allegedly slaps someone and he's sacked. Hmm. Back in the late 80's when I was in sales, my boss would take us out on a Friday lunchtime if we hit our targets, and I remember being punched by a drunken colleague on one such occasion (I think I took the rise out if his red braces) - but afterwards he bought me a pint and said sorry, our boss saw the funny side and we forgot about it. World's gone too soft IMHO
If, as suggested the incident was caused by not having a suitable meal because of late arrival in the hotel then that is one scenario. If on the other hand it was caused by artistic tantrums on content or language of the programme it is another. The first case suggests a spoilt brat, the second a highly paid, highly strung, petrolhead.
I wonder which it was?????????????
In which of these scenarios is it ok to hit a junior member of staff?
I've worked with highly strung "talent" for the majority of my career and other than strong language I've never seen anything close to violence. I've also worked with some exceptionally famous folks overnight, out of hours and for days at a time with no access to a good meal. I've never been hit.
There is no excuse.
I quite often seem to have a contrary view to you, but I would agree wholeheartedly here. I abhor violence and the casual way it is discussed and accepted. There is of course an element of Internet bravado, but how many times have do we see someone suggesting that in situation x they would 'go round his house' or 'knock his block off'.
Generally expressing this opinion leads folk to tell you to 'man up' or stop being a drip, but I really very rarely see physical violence as the correct response.
Guinea, according to eye witnesses on Sky this morning, JC used lots of bad language, but no one reported about anyone getting a smack.
It also seems that JC reported himself to the BBC rather than anyone in the crew. Perhaps he felt ashamed of his behavior. In which case perhaps he actually deserves some credit.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
New perspective on this has now broken following interview with a family who were staying in the same Yorkshire Dales hotel as the Top Gear team. There is an interview with them on the BBC and bound to be available on line somewhere.
Clarkson had clearly had a bad day and after refusing a selfie with the family (not unreasonably they thought) he then delivered an expletive filled rant at the producer about the lack of food. No mention of violence.
Although interestingly one of the family who I should stress were all older (over 50 on average) thought he should keep his job because he was a big fan of Top Gear.
Doesn't change anything but interesting nonetheless. I particularly liked the sneak photo of him standing alone in the hotel garden doing a bit of soul searching or maybe just having a fag.
Hmm...with so little to go on this, to me, looks more and more like a stage-managed exercise. The media have been door stepping Clarkson and May...but the AP hasn't been seen, spoken or Tweeted. The only BBC comment has been to cancel two episodes (maybe production was running late) and possibly a third. I think there's more to this than we have been told so far. Only when and if we learn more can any of us form a sensible opinion. It's all allegation and hypothesis so far.
A lot of people on here have been saying Clarkson is on his last warning and should be fired. Just how long is a last warning supposed to last then? That can't be held over him forever.
The same group of people are also saying they don't condone violence. I'm sorry but a slap (if indeed he did slap him) is hardly the same as beating someone unconscious. You can give someone a good natured slap, you can't beat someone unconscious in the same way.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Just not even funny anymore really!
"Its how its handled thats in question. And here the beeb may have shown a lack of good sense and leaderership"
Your previous comment seems to imply they haven't done too well so far. How would you have done it differently? Would you have suspended him, not suspended him?
Oaf gets drunk and shouts and swears at someone is hardly headline news.
If one of my staff did it to a subordinate I'd make them say sorry publicly and suggest that when working they moderate their consumption in future.