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Watched last night's top gear and normally I let clarkson's attitude towards cyclists wash over my head but last night his attiotude really boiled my pi$$. They started talking about the helmet cam incident in the news last week and I thought oh this'll be anice change he's going to say something sensible about not trying to kill cyclists with two tons of metal but no. Instead he completely shot down Hamster who was trying to bat for the cyclists and moved swiftly on to something else, the mans's, as the albanians would say, a complete CAR !!!!
I wouldn't bother getting wound up about it - it is just what he does - tries to be controversial.
How many other 'controversial' things he says get on your nerves (ie, the subjects you don't give a shit about)?
Well, I watched it and just saw it as humour. Nothing more, nothing less
He is a motoring journalist, we are cyclists who's side did you think he would be on?
That's like trying to get him to be sympathetic to caravan owners!
Yeah it was Clarkson being Clarkson he was being 'controversial' for giggles that's it.
I'd say it was a lot [i]less[/i] than humour.
[i]Watched last night's top gear[/i]
^^^ I spotted your error.
2/10.
Anyway if want to join on the "I hate JC and Topgear but still watch it every week so I can moan on STW" thread then here it is.
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/top-gear-5
I think Jeremy's espoused attitude towards cyclists is pretty well documented, as is his "[i]I couldn't give a toss[/i]" persona. He's basically the TV equivalent of a troll, and like any troll, gets off on people getting all sweaty about the stuff he says.
You either need to take it all with a big pinch of salt - like the Albanian ambassador, or throw a big flouncy like Mexico's representative. Or have him off'ed...
Top Gear is contrived and scripted.
Producer to Clarkson: Jez, give us some anti cyclist wallop.
Producer to Hammond: Richard, balance the argument out in your pathetically charming way.
Producer thinks: That'll cause a bit controversy, but everyone will keep their jobs.
Don't get sucked in.
i really wish the media would actually get one single fact straight, road tax does not exist, and that it was replaced long ago by Vehicle excise duty, a tax based on the emissions of a vehicle. Related to this is the minor point that some drivers legally pay no VED because there cars have low emissions. That roads are paid for out of general taxation, that there are no ringfenced taxes of any kind. And finally that car drivers generally break the law every time they go anywhere, be it speeding, parking, let alone phones, texts, makeup, arguments, etc.
Top Gear is contrived and scripted.Producer to Clarkson: Jez, give us some anti cyclist wallop.
Producer to Hammond: Richard, balance the argument out in your pathetically charming way.
Producer thinks: That'll cause a bit controversy, but everyone will keep their jobs.
Don't get sucked in.
Shhh.... You'll ruin the magic for them. They think it's real.
At least Hammond was having a go for the other side. Clarkson did actually say he didn't have a problem with cyclists on the road as long as they behave themselves, which is pretty much fair enough.
The road tax comment was idiotic, but sadly that is what Top Gear has reduced itself to over the last 2-3 seasons. It used to be really enjoyable but they have consistently dragged it down with "humour" that tries too hard and unnecessary attempts to court controversy.
I don't even know what that feature video about the Rolls and the Merc was supposed to be about, it was just stupid.
I suspect it will be cancelled before too much longer, or at least re-vamped, it needs it.
At least Hammond was having a go for the other side
I'm pretty sure he was just trying to get that Albanian in the boot is all!
complaining via stw forum will soon have them off air.
its your license fee, if you dont like it, tell the bbc directly.
I'm a keen cyclist, but when I'm in my car, I f****g hate other cyclists...
It's a comedy show...
Thought it was quite funny myself.
Though they still haven't figured out what turbo lag is. Or isn't. Sitting and pushing the throttle, wondering why it's not going when you're below the turbo spool speed, doesn't demonstrate monsterous lag, it demonstrates inability to drive.
It's been rubbish since Noel Edmonds left
complaining via stw forum will soon have them off air.its your license fee, if you dont like it, tell the bbc directly.
Yes that'll work, a few moans will get the one of the most popular and money generating shows of the air like a shot.
Sitting and pushing the throttle, wondering why it's not going when you're below the turbo spool speed, doesn't demonstrate monsterous lag, it demonstrates inability to drive.
Again I am sure that was done for 'comedy' effect.
They did a similar piece a few years back when they raced a Scooby against some little Jap car where it displayed the same characteristics.
He's becoming a has-been nowadays. Some scandal of some sorts will see his demise from the beeb before long. He's milked the laddism thing for long enough. Plenty of new talent out there, I dare say.
And I'm a cyclist & a caravanner. 😳
Sill funny very though, in parts.
Again I am sure that was done for 'comedy' effect.They did a similar piece a few years back when they raced a Scooby against some little Jap car where it displayed the same characteristics.
Oh, of course, but they could at least get their terminology right when doing it, it wouldn't affect the comedy value at all. Tiff did somehting similar way back when discussing, IIRC, an esprit they were modifying, IIRC he said "listen to the wastegates" or something similar when the noise he was discussing was clearly the BOVs they had fitted (I dont remember it exactly, but I remember being mildly irritated that a motoring journo and racer would not know the underlying technology).
Cars are ace.
Cars are ace.
They are. So are bikes. The two can work nicely together!
Many years back, JC overtook me in a nice red sports car, when I used to commute to work in Cheltenham.
Wish all the other car owners in Che. gave me the same amout as space as he did when he passed.
He is playing a part on TG & playing it well if you ask me 😉
[i]It's been rubbish since Noel Edmonds left [/i]
Sadly he is still on the box. I can attest to this because my wife *records*, yes, she RECORDS that bizarre program that he's in where people choose numbers at random and the audience claps them for it.
And I'd get put in prison if I murdered her!
I'm a keen cyclist, but when I'm in my car, I f****g hate other cyclists...
The feeling's mutual 🙂
Cars are indeed ace but the emotions and ideas they elicit in some folk aren't.
Sadly he is still on the box. I can attest to this because my wife *records*, yes, she RECORDS that bizarre program that he's in where people choose numbers at random and the audience claps them for it.And I'd get put in prison if I murdered her!
8)
Jeremy Clarkson in comment about cyclists shocker
In other news the sky is mostly blue and healthy dogs have 4 legs
Any particular reason why you watch it? oh yeah:
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mrmo - Member
"i really wish the media would actually get one single fact straight, road tax does not exist, and that it was replaced long ago by Vehicle excise duty"
TBH I wish more cyclists would realise nobody gives a crap. "Get off the road, you don't pay any vehicle excise duty" isn't as catchy but the result's the same whatever you call it- "We drive on the road and as a result have to pay tax, you cyclists don't".
It's still balls of course, just that it's balls for a different reason, banging on about the name of the tax doesn't win us any friends I think.
dogbert, that's a tad harsh 🙁
its just chav tv, ignore it
Road fund licence is a licence to use a motorised vehicle on the road when that vehicle emits a certain amount of CO2. The roads aren't paid from from this fund. Roads are paid for out of council tax by local authorities. Road fund licences are based on engine emissions. Toyota Pious owners (sic) don't pay any road fund licence fees either. Just like cyclists don't. This is due to us not emitting enough CO2 to register on the road fund licence scale. Will electric car owners be berated for 'not paying road tax' like cyclists often are?
If the Road Fund Licence is to be equated to a tax at all then it is a CO2 emissions tax. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the road or how they are paid for.
I suspect it will be cancelled before too much longer, or at least re-vamped, it needs it.
Why, because you don't like it?
It's a worldwide hit with 10's of millions watching it and buying crap merchandise. It's probably BBCs biggest earner so I doubt they'll throw it away because a few on STW keep watching it depsite not liking it.
Chris Evans had it right on Radio2 this morning. Clarkson plays Clarkson, just like Steve Coogan plays Alan Partridge. People just don't seem to understand it.
People just don't seem to understand it.
Yet they still watch it and complain about him.
Cars are ace. 😀 people are not. 😥
dogbert, that's a tad harsh
In retrospect you're right, my apologies, no heating in the house has got me a bit tetchy 🙁
Will electric car owners be berated for 'not paying road tax' like cyclists often are?
Yup. They already are.
And the RFL was originally a road tax, but hasn't been for a while as you say 🙂
Mark - Resident Grumpy
"Road fund licence is a licence to use a motorised vehicle on the road when that vehicle emits a certain amount of CO2. The roads aren't paid from from this fund. Roads are paid for out of council tax by local authorities."
Again, it makes absolutely no difference what you call it. The roads are paid for by tax, the fact that it's not ringfenced doesn't change this, the driving-specific taxes go into the tax pool, and roads are paid for out of it.
Roads aren't specifically paid for out of council tax of course, which spoils your tax pedantry a little. Trunk roads are paid for by central government, and local roads are paid for from the overall council budget, which is partly council tax and partly central government funding. Which comes from various tax sources including those driving taxes.
Clarkson does it wind you up, get a sense of humour or reach for the remote. Made me laugh as I new he was been controversial on purpose because Hampster cycles.
I love how people get so pedantic about car tax. It still amounts to the same thing. Call it what you like, but its another tax on the motorist to go along with the fuel duty/tax and all the rest of it. Call it Road Fund Lisence or Vehicle Excise Duty or whatever the hell you like, it amounts to the same thing. The change to VED was/is just another attempt to give it a coat of greenwash.
Clarkson is Clarkson, its what he does and if you don't like it, don't watch it.
It's not a tax on the motorist if it doesn't affect all motorists. It's a levy on emissions of vehicles.
We all pay into the central pot. Not all of us equally. The money that funds roads comes out of that pot. It's a nonsense for ignorant motorists to claim they have more right to the road since they pay VED. The scale of charges linked to emissions would logically indicate that the more CO2 you emit the greater your right to drive on the road. Or equally that the more you earn and therefor the more tax you pay the greater your right to the road is.