Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

I’m no fan of Clarkson, but…

...he certainly shouldn't be booted out for a relatively amusing description of Gordon Brown as a 'one-eyed idiot'.

I have a feeling Jeremy and I wouldn't see eye to eye on a great deal of things, but I still do think he can be pretty funny sometimes. And so what if he slagged off the Prime Minister? Isn't that allowed any more? Is Gordy too much of a weakling to take a bit of abuse? In the name of all that is good and decent in the world, it's just some bloke off the telly making fun of the most powerful person in Britain. Do we really think that the Prime Minister can't fight his own battles? And if he can't, why the bloody hell is he Prime Minister in the first place?

But then the problem is that it all comes back to the BBC - they've become such a scapegoat, such an outlet for people's outrage and dissatisfaction with almost anything, that I wouldn't be surprised if the duty log at Shepherd's Bush were full of complaints about the snow. Jesus Christ, it's just the BBC. Yes, they're tax-funded and therefore we, as "stakeholders" (*vomits*) have a right to challenge them when they do bad stuff or have a say in what they broadcast.

Yet it's thickness beyond belief, and so typical of New Labour, to try and lump Clarkson in with the Carol Thatcher business. They're entirely different things. Clarkson slagged off the PM; Thatcher called a mixed-race person a 'golliwog'. That's nowhere near the same thing in the slightest. You can't just try and force the BBC not to have people on telly that you don't like; otherwise I'd be ringing them up every five minutes to complain about the dreary shower of fuckwits who keep turning up on News 24. And besides, don't MPs have anything better to do than go bleating on about some bloke off the TV? Seriously, aren't there more vital things for them to be spending their time on at the moment, given that the country's going down the toilet pretty sharpish?

Or perhaps that's the point - regrettably, it's been shown that if you combine a bit of outrage with a tablespoon of Auntie, and stir vigorously, you can knock almost anything off the top of the news. I'm sure the usual suspects will be crawling out of their caves to grumble and whine about the fact that the Beeb accidentally broadcast a bit of that jumped-up shit actor Christian Bale having a sweary rant. Now as you can probably tell I don't mind a bit of swearing, but I understand there are those who don't want it over their Ready Brek. Fair enough. It was a clear mistake - let's say sorry, make the necessary changes to try and investigate how it happened and why it can't be allowed to happen again, and let's move on. Same with the fuckwittery of ITV over the footy the other night, though as I pointed out at the time, they really can't be trusted with our national game.

The trouble is, there are genuine issues going on in the world right now - the UK has been implicated in torture this week, for one. And the economy's heading into the slushy brown stuff as fast as the bloke in the beaten-up Volvo I saw on the M4 this morning. Yet what are the media obsessed about? Someone being a bit upset with the BBC. For fuck's sake, let's grow up a bit, shall we? And let's not let those who have a vested interest in us not discussing the torture, the economy and so forth, get away with distracting us at this crucial time.

So let Clarkson get on with it. Otherwise the phrase 'one-eyed' could be applied a little bit more metaphorically to our media.

*little update* I can understand some people being annoyed with Clarkson using the term 'Scottish' but on the other hand, I really don't think that it's in the same racial category as golliwogs.