to be bemused by the reaction to Jeremy Clarkson's strike comments

[fizzwhirl]

I mean, have the people who are getting all wound up about it actually watched it?

He was being completely tongue-in-cheek. He starts off by saying how nice it's been to have empty streets. Then pretends to pull himself up with the comment that 'we have to balance it though don't we, because this is the bbc', and then he makes up the most extreme anti-striker view he can think of, which is what everyone is quoting.

Even if you took it literally (which would be a very strange thing to do!), he explicitely says that it's not his view.

IT WAS IRONY!

The generous part of me wonders whether the unions are just upset because he was being rather dismissive of the effect of the strikes - he certainly wasn't being respectful and taking them seriously. But I can't help thinking that actually they're just showing genuine inability to evaluate and understand.

Karen Jennings from Unison said it was almost like Gadafi making a comment about a demonstration! And she was being serious!!! Riighhhtt... so, a celebrity making a joke is the same thing as a dictator using foreign mercanaries to slaughter his people?! I suspect the Libyans would have preferred Jeremy Clarkson...

Personally, I think it's Karen Jennings who should be sacked - not for making a comment which is more offensive than the one Jeremy Clarkson made, but just for not having the slightest clue!

slug he was no more advocating the strikers' death than he was advocating that we should have a strike every day because it made travel easier.

WATCH THE BLOOMIN' CLIP. Whether it's a joke or not is moot.

But your post mainly riled me because I fail to see how a rant about Clarko can be hijacked into your trauma walking down the street. And the fact that I worry what you said to your daughter - given YOU obviously don't understand the remark/irony etc. No wonder she'd had nightmares.

Anyway, will bow out now, having exactly the same argument with some public sector rellies and it's getting boring.

Oh I saw it. I know he was being his usual self absorbed twattish persona who says what he likes and to hell with it.

BUT This was 7:30 pm on a magazine style programme on th BBC. He should not have said it then because it is before the watershed. Jonathon Ross and Russel Brand lost their jobs for making equally offensive remarks at an inappropriate time.

The linking with sexual harassment is because it is part of the same pattern of behaviour. The creation of a personal that allows someone to be as offensive as they want and expect to be excused because they are "a character" or "don't really mean it" does nothing to assage the damage that it does to the recipients.

So just how far are you prepared to let him go? What happens when he makes a remark on TV that directly affects you and yours? What about all those brainless idiot boys young men who see Clarkson, see him venerated as "funny" and "a national treasure" and model their behaviour on his? Remember this is a man who is not above bringing out a superinjunction to stop his wife finding out about his affairs. He can dish it out but he sure as hell can't take it.

I didn't see it - can't stand the One Show esp Alex 'I'm Welsh I am' Jones

Good old Jezza, telling it like it is!