Christ James, you sound as boring as me Respect.

I don't see why people have a thing against clarkson, yes he's bit of a wanker as he mocks every car but its funny. as with todays tight arss govment we need someone to twist the rules and get away with it, not like these other pathetic shows like fith gear who would never upset anyone or other car makers, as that would be mean

well thats just my opinion I know you probably won't agree, but I just hate it when people have ago at people like clarkson who tells the truth and says the thing that we want to say to this shoddy govment!

right that's my rant over now to pack my penguin costume

I like Clarkson. I don't always agree with him, and some of his casual dismissals thrown at stuff he knows nowt about can often rankle, but still I like him.

I prefer to read his books than watch him on tv though, as just recently he's become a parody of himself in order to keep up those all important tv ratings. Much better in print.

Clarkson's a very good TV journo. Very opinionated. Funny, with excellent timing and a self-deprecating style. Just what is needed for strong, memorable television. However, almost everything he writes and says is pure wrongheaded nonsense wrapped up in a kind of bullying humour that's just created to wind people up... and he knows it, as exemplified by this:
"His public persona does not necessarily represent his personal views, as he acknowledged whilst interviewing Alastair Campbell saying "I don't believe what I write, any more than you (Alastair Campbell) believe what you say"." (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Clarkson).

So, I'm not having a go at Jeremy Clarkson, who as a professional I admire greatly. However, as a persona I just think he pushes rather suspect nonsense that does little other than just encourage a sense of intense dissatisfaction with the world, which I don't think is very healthy.

Also, he's rude about 2CVs, which encourages the kind of knobhead behaviour that some of us experience from his less intelligent fans, who take Jeremy so literally that they appear to think that things like mega-expensive cars are a symbol for liberation from the madness of an over-regulated world, and that his style gives them carte-blanche to bully other road users... which is mad!

Finally: he makes insane amounts of money out of it, so I don't suppose he gets too upset when people express their dislike for his persona.

Rant over! Where's my valium?

it wasnt meant as an insult to russ!!
anyway
i like clarkson, i really think he is funny!!

i love the way top gear upset people, yer they smashed up a few 2cv's and called then shit etc, but who else has the guyts to do things like that? from our point of view that isnt very funny, howeer on the other hand some poeple might of thought so, and thats what top gear is going for, right?
now, with top gear and the morris mariner's club, any morris mariner owners would be upset, understandably, but i personally, thought it was quite funny (shoot me down for it but my opinion) thjought it was funny that after upsetting the club so many times, they distroyed another one!!

anyway top gear aims to bring good entertainment to BBC2, which i think it does a brililnant job at,
its great that they push the boat out, go for left wing, not afriad to be kicked in the bollocks by the public and press, they just get on with it for our entertainment, which is why i think the 3 lads are great (my favourite is james may!)
i love there little challenges they do, however they made a poor effort with the boat challenge, cocked everthing up,
a friend of mine's dad workes for the BBC quite high up, and he has met the likes of moyles and clarkson and alike, and every cock up is put on and scripted, now thinking of this it runis top gear, buyt reading between the lines, personally i think its one of the best shows!
i find it soo boring when they actually review cars like the lambo's etc, i cant stand that! i much prefer the smashing things up, and challenges, however, thats my humble opinion, which you mu may choose to agree or dis agree with, and thats your opinion, so dont shoot me down for mine!!

Perhaps the only danger he presents is in expecting everyone to fully understand that at times he's just winding them up, but as you say some don't, hence the tipped over 2cv's and so on. As for the money, well isn't that the name of the game for all TV celeb's? The one with the most money upon death wins?

Are the cars tested done for pure escapism? Must be, as none of us non celeb's are very likely to be in the market for one. Top gear's good fun, but for me it's becoming a little formulaic.

someone pointed out to me, i was winging aobut footballers sallerys, and they pointed out, (my argument was soilders should be payed footballers wages) and he pointed out, how many david bechams are there in the world? 1. so the demand for him is through the roof, so with that the price of him also goes through the roof, make sense?? its a sick way of the world but sadly thats the way it is

Not necessarily. Perhaps the question should be "How many young unknowns are willing to replace him for one tenth the money?"

I'll bet there would be no shortage of takers. No doubt you'd hear the old "But they're just not as good as a Beckham or Rooney"to which I can only say "Remind me again how well we did in the world cup with all those gifted and expensive players?".

How many employees have heard the "If you don't like it there's the door" argument from their bosses? There's never a shortage of people lined up to take your place whatever the endeavour.

I sometimes wonder why it wouldn't be better to reduce ticket prices at the gate and have a full stadium each game than play to half a crowd. Most football money comes from sponsorship and TV deals anyway, the fall in gate revenue wouldn't be missed but it would be a hell of a good will gesture to loyal fans.

It is a purely economic argument. The question isn’t at all how many people are willing to replace David Beckham for 1/10th of the price? The question for the clubs is how many players are there who can put that many bums on seats, sell that many replica shirts, generate the column inches or draw in that many viewers? If the replacement can’t match that they’re not worth the price.

It is essentially the same argument with soldiers. Are a sufficient number of people willing to sign up at the rate being paid? If the answer is yes, then the pay is high enough.