Stop press: dinosour recognises himself as such

The culture secretary Sajid Javid was on the news this morning as a new statue of Ghandi is to be unveiled in Parliament Square. Yet the BBC interviewer still couldn't restrain himself asking the culture secretary his views on L'affaire Clarkson. The poor bloke was actually wrong-footed for a moment before recovering himself and pointing out that he was there to talk about someone of marginally greater cultural significance. I'd have liked to hear a little discussion about, say, the irony of the fact that Ghandi is to be placed in Parliament Square despite the fact that he was perhaps one of the greatest advocates of extra-parliamentary action in history. Ghandi's scheme to remove the hated British from India was based on non violent direct action, without which India might still be the jewel in Britain's Imperial Crown.
But no. There was, in the BBC interviewer's mind at least, a far more important area of discussion.


And there you have it. But if you must, let's look at Clarkson. A man is three hours late arriving at his hotel, apparently entirely due to his own actions, then launches into one of his famous hissy fits because there is no hot meal waiting for him. He throws a punch at his producer in frustration, grounds for dismissal in most workplaces, especially considering his track record. But then half a million loyal fans declare undying allegiance to the Politically Incorrect One, these including his personal mate and near neighbour, David Cameron. What it is to have powerful friends... Poor BBC! What will they do now? They don't want to kill their golden goose, but then they must show that Clarkson's bosses are in charge, not him.


And now finally Jezza admits in print that he may indeed be past his sell-by date.


We know Top Gear is one of the BBC's most successful franchises, making millions in no less than 214 countries around the world. But do they all tune in to watch him? I doubt it. I have connections in Palestine, where the programme is a smash, but not because of Clarkson, whom most Palestinians couldn't even name. They love it because of the cars, stupid, not the presenters. So here's my advice Beeb: lose him now, bring someone new in, Damon Hill say, or Martin Brundle, and you'll still make your millions. And put Jezza out to grass, which is where he should have been put long ago.