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Mannahnin wrote:...or from Lichtenstein. [shakes fist]

Clarkson was a bit of a dick, but it was clearly a joke. Overreacting people are overreacting.

Indeed. Its the secret tunnels from Switzerland to Leichtenstein, alowing them to harnass the Dark Land's powers, that kep them free from Red Skull during WWII.

Help me out, isn't this the car guy? Is he a big deal over there?

Yes, he's the big tall funny guy on Top Gear. Yes, he is very popular and funny, but has a history of saying dickish things and went through a scandal not long ago cheating on his wife, IIRC.

Frazzled wrote:

Help me out, isn't this the car guy? Is he a big deal over there?

Yes.

No, not really, but he's well known/national broadcaster.

Slow news day + he has ....2.... IIRC new Xmas DVDs out.



You can't buy that level of PR. Fair play to him.

Least he dropped the stupid and thoroughly pointless "super- injunction" against his ex wife.

I'm sorry, I was distrcated by the legs. What were we talking about again?

Frazzled wrote:I'm sorry, I was distrcated by the legs.

Indeed. Phwoaaaar!

That's also a great display of the difference between the tabloid and broadsheet papers in the UK.

I'm sure someone once said something along the lines of "I love getting complaints, it tells me I'm doing my job right".

reds8n wrote: That's also a great display of the difference between the tabloid and broadsheet papers in the UK.

Indeed. Legs like that normally appear in the broadsheets only on A Level results day.

He's a cretin for saying such a thing but when I heard his comment on the news, in context, it did sound like he was using his sometimes well out-of-the-box humour

Brother-Captain Scotti wrote:He's a cretin for saying such a thing but when I heard his comment on the news, in context, it did sound like he was using his sometimes well out-of-the-box humour

He was taking the mick out of the BBC, and had his comments taken out of context. Take out the media and execute them in front of their families for twisting his words and causing him all this trouble.

Kilkrazy wrote:

reds8n wrote: That's also a great display of the difference between the tabloid and broadsheet papers in the UK.

Indeed. Legs like that normally appear in the broadsheets only on A Level results day.

Particularly if said students have just got into Cambridge

Well as an update Clarkson has apologised for his remarks since very few people can take a joke or a hint these days.

THough from his comments I got two thoughts from it. First that yes, shooting people infront of their families is a bit OTT but the main thought was his point. Union chiefs are lazy buggers with fat salaries and gold-plated diamond-encrusted pensions and expenses who cry everytime the Government wanted to make them have reasonable wages like everybody else. Current Union chiefs can't handle it and should be removed, which is what I thought Clarkson was getting at. Notice how during Labour's power Unions barely cried, more like threw wild parties. Conservatives roll in and propose reasonable changes and Unions begin crying outrage again.

But as usual the media missed this and took said lines to heart, reforged them into something evil and now Clarkson is getting calls for resignation again. Surprise surprise.

How many serious complaints do you think the BBC would've recieved had he made those comments on something like 'Have I Got News For You'?

It's as if everything said outside of a renowned comedy programme must be taken absolutely 100% seriously.

mattyrm wrote:

English Assassin wrote:To see an overpaid buffoon like Clarkson condemning nurses, teachers and public servants for exercising a legal right in defence of a contractual entitlement (and indeed to hear him utter the words 'public service' with such distaste) on the BBC, is more than a little distasteful.

Go with a bunch of your trendy friends and see a "right-on" comedian like Ben Elton and see some of the disgustingly offensive things they say about the Royal Family or David Cameron or anyone unlucky enough to go to a private school (but not anyone from the labour party even though they all go to private school as well). Its far far worse than this bloke comically saying "line em up and shoot em!"

Of course, the BBC wouldn't then give air time to someone needlessly over reacting and demanding they take legal action against said comedian. It's a joke, people tell jokes that certain people find offensive/hilarious depending on their political/religious beliefs every single day of the week. You don't see the Pope demanding action against the any number of comedians who say truly offensive things about the Catholic church. When they call the Royal family deeply offensive names you dont see staunch Royalists like me going on telly and demanding "action".

This is just more of the truly staggering hypocrisy I expect from lefties, union mobsters and anyone who writes for the Guardian.

Well done, you've managed to encapsulate everything that's wrong here, the worst part of which is the reduction of all political discourse to "for or against". The right to take industrial action is enshrined in law: whether or not you (or Clarkson) agree with the reasons invoked in this particular instance, it is a legal right, and one worthy of defence. But it's much easier just to trot out some tired stereotypes about "union mobsters" the Guardian and Ben Elton, eh? (Also, seriously, Ben Elton? You need to update your rhetoric; the only thing for which I know of him is writing that diabolically poor Queen musical. Why not have a crack at 'That Was The Week That Was' while you're at it?)

There is something seriously wrong with the political climate when pointing this out gets me labelled as "trendy" and "right-on". (For the record, I went to a public school - note to Americans, that means a particularly old private school, work in academia, and, shall we say, don't vote Labour.) What is relevant to the complaint is less the BBC's commitment to impartiality as its concern for quality; Clarkson's remarks were simply embarrassing, lowest common denominator stuff, and, whether or not he intended it, exceedingly - and unhelpfully - polarising. As a public figure he has a responsibility - as the BBC does as a broadcaster - to ensure that statements on a current affairs programme (even lowbrow rubbish like The One Show) are within the bounds of civilised discourse. What Clarkson has instead done, as this thread rather sadly demonstrates, is turn a debate between the government and civil service over pensions, into a popularity contest between himself and the trades unions.

It does warm my cockles to see massively overpaid media personalities (paid from the public purse, mind you) attacking actual public servants. It's bloody brilliant.

If being a public servant was so awesome, there'd be a lot more people trying to get into it. As is, piles of your teachers are not from the UK, at the very least.

Da Boss wrote:It does warm my cockles to see massively overpaid media personalities (paid from the public purse, mind you) attacking actual public servants. It's bloody brilliant.

Did you read the transcript of the full section of the program (above)?

Nope? Has it all been blown out of proportion? If so, I will retract my post!

Da Boss wrote:Nope? Has it all been blown out of proportion? If so, I will retract my post!

It is actually on the previous page, but yes

Since when has almost anything in the media ever not been skewed and blown out of proportion by the media?

Da Boss wrote:It does warm my cockles to see massively overpaid media personalities (paid from the public purse, mind you) attacking actual public servants. It's bloody brilliant.

If being a public servant was so awesome, there'd be a lot more people trying to get into it. As is, piles of your teachers are not from the UK, at the very least.

Yes, love the way the second the Conservatives got in, the public sector was suddenly a bunch of leeches drinking our fill from the public purse. The vast majority of us aren't paid all that much. I'm a transport professional, yet earn under the average wage. The way the media portray it, we're sucking the country dry with our greed. The point is, nobody goes into the public sector for a decent wage. They go to make a difference and do a job they believe in.

Another big attraction for me was the stability of the job, in fairness. The private sector is a lot less stable for most people. Silver: Looking at that I am amazed this even made the news. Then I remembered that we are dealing with the british press.

Da Boss wrote:Another big attraction for me was the stability of the job, in fairness. The private sector is a lot less stable for most people.

Teaching aside, I can't see the public sector being remotely stable for the forseeable future

Flashman wrote:Yes, love the way the second the Conservatives got in, the public sector was suddenly a bunch of leeches drinking our fill from the public purse. The vast majority of us aren't paid all that much. I'm a transport professional, yet earn under the average wage. The way the media portray it, we're sucking the country dry with our greed. The point is, nobody goes into the public sector for a decent wage. They go to make a difference and do a job they believe in.

I think they were just looking for something they can cut to save money in the long run. Public sector pensions do "cost" a fair bit, though I personally am of the view that they should be protected. Certainly when politicians have final salary pensions (of their, generally, much larger salary), pay in about 2/3 as much for 2/3 as long as everyone else and are constantly voting themselves more it is extremely bad show to try and rip away pretty much the only good thing about working in the public sector.

The revolution can't come soon enough.

SilverMK2 wrote:The revolution can't come soon enough.

When they line them up against the wall, Osborne is mine

Oh hang on, that could be construed as being offensive

Flashman wrote:

Da Boss wrote:It does warm my cockles to see massively overpaid media personalities (paid from the public purse, mind you) attacking actual public servants. It's bloody brilliant.

If being a public servant was so awesome, there'd be a lot more people trying to get into it. As is, piles of your teachers are not from the UK, at the very least.

Yes, love the way the second the Conservatives got in, the public sector was suddenly a bunch of leeches drinking our fill from the public purse. The vast majority of us aren't paid all that much. I'm a transport professional, yet earn under the average wage. The way the media portray it, we're sucking the country dry with our greed. The point is, nobody goes into the public sector for a decent wage. They go to make a difference and do a job they believe in.

Of course they do.

Anyway, moving on... It was funny! It was funny because it was a joke! Y'know, 'haha'? Remember that? I also loved the one about the miners from the previous page. My retort to the irate ex-miner would probably have been along the lines of ' So, you didn't starve to death then? Good for you.'

Flashman wrote:

Da Boss wrote:It does warm my cockles to see massively overpaid media personalities (paid from the public purse, mind you) attacking actual public servants. It's bloody brilliant.

If being a public servant was so awesome, there'd be a lot more people trying to get into it. As is, piles of your teachers are not from the UK, at the very least.

Yes, love the way the second the Conservatives got in, the public sector was suddenly a bunch of leeches drinking our fill from the public purse. The vast majority of us aren't paid all that much. I'm a transport professional, yet earn under the average wage. The way the media portray it, we're sucking the country dry with our greed. The point is, nobody goes into the public sector for a decent wage. They go to make a difference and do a job they believe in.

I didn't know UK government workers were all altruists. The ones in the US sure aren't.

Albatross wrote:

Flashman wrote:
Yes, love the way the second the Conservatives got in, the public sector was suddenly a bunch of leeches drinking our fill from the public purse. The vast majority of us aren't paid all that much. I'm a transport professional, yet earn under the average wage. The way the media portray it, we're sucking the country dry with our greed. The point is, nobody goes into the public sector for a decent wage. They go to make a difference and do a job they believe in.

Of course they do.

Well I do And I shall carry on until the UK transport system is working perfectly

I don't consider doing a job that makes me feel good about myself to be altruism at all, just enlightened egoism.

Frazzled wrote:I didn't know UK government workers were all altruists. The ones in the US sure aren't.

it is because we are all godless commies...

Flashman wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:The revolution can't come soon enough.

When they line them up against the wall, Osborne is mine

Oh hang on, that could be construed as being offensive

I call dibs on killing Clegg...
It will be slow and oh so painful...

Flashman wrote:

Albatross wrote:

Flashman wrote:
Yes, love the way the second the Conservatives got in, the public sector was suddenly a bunch of leeches drinking our fill from the public purse. The vast majority of us aren't paid all that much. I'm a transport professional, yet earn under the average wage. The way the media portray it, we're sucking the country dry with our greed. The point is, nobody goes into the public sector for a decent wage. They go to make a difference and do a job they believe in.

Of course they do.

Well I do And I shall carry on until the UK transport system is working perfectly

Man, in that case, feth pensions! If you can pull that off they should give you a small Carribbean island!

Incidentally your union boss, Bob Crow, earns over £130k per year plus expenses totaling around £10k, which puts him on par with the Prime Minister.


I'm sure he just does it for the love, though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

purplefood wrote:

Flashman wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:The revolution can't come soon enough.

When they line them up against the wall, Osborne is mine

Oh hang on, that could be construed as being offensive

I call dibs on killing Clegg...
It will be slow and oh so painful...

He'd probably kick your head in, mate. As would Cameron. They're both fairly big blokes who work out every day, and who no doubt know their way around a Rugby ball. You'd get minced.


No offence.