Cheer up! It's not all bad

[Banquo's Ghost]

I thought you might enjoy one of the great rants of our time.

Then you have the chaps and chapesses who can’t stand the constant raids on their wallets and their privacy. They can’t understand why they are taxed at 50% on their income and then taxed again for driving into the nation’s capital. They can’t understand what happened to the hunt for the weapons of mass destruction. They can’t understand anything. They see the Highway Wombles in those brand new 4x4s that they paid for, and they see the M4 bus lane and they see the speed cameras and the community support officers and they see the Albanians stealing their wheelbarrows and nothing can be done because it's racist. And they see Alistair Darling handing over £4,350 of their money to not sort out the banking crisis that he doesn’t understand because he’s a small-town solicitor, and they see the stupid war on drugs and the war on drink and the war on smoking and the war on hunting and the war on fun and the war on scientists and the obsession with the climate and the price of train fares soaring past £1,000 and the Guardian power-brokers getting uppity about one shot baboon and not uppity at all about all the dead soldiers in Afghanistan, and how they got rid of Blair only to find the lying twerp is now going to come back even more powerful than ever, and they think, “I’ve had enough of this. I’m off.”

The worst of it is, that it's all true.

[InsaneApache]

Just read that. He's a card isn't he?

I had a rant very similar to his last Friday to my wife and her mate. The thing is, when I see the eyes glaze over, I usually know it's time to cease and desist. This time however, they both joined in. The UK is buggered.

Still I always have the option of sleeping on a couch in Corfu. Greece might be a police state but you can still have a fag with your beer and the weathers not too bad either.

Clarkson for president, you know it makes sense.

[Fragony]

Now that is a proper rant. Look at the bright side, Brown might just not declare a national emergency next elections making elections impossible.

[Subotan]

Jeremy Clarkson is a . Hopefully he will off and get out of this country, so we never again have to listen to his arrogant, selfish, narcissistic rubbish again.

Mostly, though, I hate [Peter Mandelson] because his one-man war on the bright and the witty and the successful means that half my friends now seem to be [thinking of emigrating]

Well, at least he'll still have one left.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Well at least that prevented a peptic ulcer.

[Husar]

And you can’t go to Germany ... because you just can’t.

I was so interested to see what he would come up with for Germany, only to get ... that!?!?

I must say I've had similar thoughts to his, I always thought there's a lot wrong in Germany but at least it's not as bad as Britain.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Y'all are reading the wrong newspapers.

[Pannonian]

I thought you might enjoy one of the great rants of our time.

Then you have the chaps and chapesses who can’t stand the constant raids on their wallets and their privacy. They can’t understand why they are taxed at 50% on their income and then taxed again for driving into the nation’s capital. They can’t understand what happened to the hunt for the weapons of mass destruction. They can’t understand anything. They see the Highway Wombles in those brand new 4x4s that they paid for, and they see the M4 bus lane and they see the speed cameras and the community support officers and they see the Albanians stealing their wheelbarrows and nothing can be done because it's racist. And they see Alistair Darling handing over £4,350 of their money to not sort out the banking crisis that he doesn’t understand because he’s a small-town solicitor, and they see the stupid war on drugs and the war on drink and the war on smoking and the war on hunting and the war on fun and the war on scientists and the obsession with the climate and the price of train fares soaring past £1,000 and the Guardian power-brokers getting uppity about one shot baboon and not uppity at all about all the dead soldiers in Afghanistan, and how they got rid of Blair only to find the lying twerp is now going to come back even more powerful than ever, and they think, “I’ve had enough of this. I’m off.”

The worst of it is, that it's all true.

Out of all these, the campaign against hunting with dogs can be pointed to as the result of the liberals. The economy can be argued to have been mismanaged, although how it could have been managed better is uncertain. The rest, however, is the result of populist and popular policies (other than the hunt for WMDs, which was the result of going step by step with US foreign policy). The congestion charge was aimed to keep London's streets clear for Londoners - suburbanites may not like the charge, but they don't live in London. The roads and ever more extravagant cars are a continuation of Thatcher's policy of a car for every family and more. Conservative Britain will not allow an easing up on drug laws, while taxes on drink and cigarettes have been an accepted constant for decades. Train fares? Blame privatisation. The Albanians? The usual complaints about a misbehaving social underclass, except that the ranter has thrown in the racial stereotype as well.

If he doesn't like these things, he should wear a badge and knock on doors, because most of it is the result of government policies that were popular with voters, and continue to be popular with voters.

[HoreTore]

Who the hell ever drives in a city with more than 300.000 inhabitants anyway?

Designing a city for 10 million with enough driving and parking space for everyone - now that is true waste.

[Pannonian]

Who the hell ever drives in a city with more than 300.000 inhabitants anyway?

Designing a city for 10 million with enough driving and parking space for everyone - now that is true waste.

Design, logic and waste had nothing to do with it. The suburban middle class has money to spend on cars and themselves, therefore it's their right to drive themselves anywhere they wish. And not just in a literal sense. Other than themselves and their material needs, what matters most in this world is their children. They will drive their children everywhere, and they will drive society anywhere that is necessary for their children's welfare, or their vision of their children's welfare. Anything that impinges on their children's right to do whatever they want while being free from whatever the real world may impose on them (such as reality) has to change. They are the ones driving Britain towards authoritarianism, not any single political party. New Labour has wholeheartedly pandered to their interests, partly because they are a sizeable constituency that is guaranteed to vote in numbers, and partly because they are so politically active so as to make it political suicide to ignore them (and the Tories won't ignore them either). Such is the result of Thatcher's politics of coupling the middle class, family over society approach, and the me, me, me attitude.

[Subotan]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Design, logic and waste had nothing to do with it. The suburban middle class has money to spend on cars and themselves, therefore it's their right to drive themselves anywhere they wish. And not just in a literal sense. Other than themselves and their material needs, what matters most in this world is their children. They will drive their children everywhere, and they will drive society anywhere that is necessary for their children's welfare, or their vision of their children's welfare. Anything that impinges on their children's right to do whatever they want while being free from whatever the real world may impose on them (such as reality) has to change. They are the ones driving Britain towards authoritarianism, not any single political party. New Labour has wholeheartedly pandered to their interests, partly because they are a sizeable constituency that is guaranteed to vote in numbers, and partly because they are so politically active so as to make it political suicide to ignore them (and the Tories won't ignore them either). Such is the result of Thatcher's politics of coupling the middle class, family over society approach, and the me, me, me attitude

.

*APPLAUSE*

[Jolt]

Who the hell ever drives in a city with more than 300.000 inhabitants anyway?

Designing a city for 10 million with enough driving and parking space for everyone - now that is true waste.

Ahem.

"Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car."
- Elwyn Brooks White

[Kralizec]

Funny.

I can't stand the guy when he's on TV, though.

[CountArach]

Clarkson should stick to Top Gear...

[InsaneApache]

Can't wait to see what Clarkson has to say about that disgusting letter our Great Leader sent to the bereaved squaddies mam. Not to mention that he seems incapable of bowing his head at the Cenotaph.

Turd needs more polish.

[Fragony]

Gimme. I can stand the guy and I am not even British, don't know what it is but I am pretty sure he's not quite right in the head, some sort of narcistic disorder

[Subotan]

Can't wait to see what Clarkson has to say about that disgusting letter our Great Leader sent to the bereaved squaddies mam.

He's half blind, and possibly dyslexic. You're hardly going to get a caligraphic masterpiece.

Not to mention that he seems incapable of bowing his head at the Cenotaph. .

Oh God our transformation into American politics is complete

[InsaneApache]

He's half blind, and possibly dyslexic. You're hardly going to get a caligraphic masterpiece.

I'm sorry. I don't give a flying if he's lysdexic or half blind. Writing a letter to a mother who has lost her son, in a war Brown started and supports, should be one of the most important duties he had to do that day. To send it out with spelling mistakes, (including his name FFS) shows a disdain and contempt for the poor woman and her son. Not just spelling mistakes but with parts of her sons name crossed out and written over. I bet he doesn't write to O'Bama Beach like that!

Oh God our transformation into American politics is complete

I have no idea how old you are but bowing one's head in recognition of the sacrifice of service personell in saving our liberties and freedoms has been the protocol since the first remebrance day.

Honestly some peeps.

I heard on an service website that he hates the army as his lovely wife was porked by a member of 2nd Para a few years back. Not sure if it's true but very funny.

[Vladimir]

Nooo! Where did it go?

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[drone]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Jeremy Clarkson is a national treasure. If he doesn't get knighted soon, it's a travesty.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Oh God our transformation into American politics is complete

If respect is American, perhaps we should look to them for a positive example more often.

[Pannonian]

If respect is American, perhaps we should look to them for a positive example more often.

What IA points to is appearances. Proper respect is measured by how active and former soldiers are looked after, in particular funding and direction of funding. IA's argument to appeals to emotions, and is good for the tabloids (and unfortunately is what elections are fought on), but avoids substance altogether. It's the same kind of political discourse that has led to the domination of the suburban middle class I described above - there is a ground that is politically inviolate, and politicos on all sides try to portray their opponents as violating it, all the while avoiding examining the substance behind that accepted position (since they're just as bad).

[Idaho]

Where did the Albanian comment come from, there are Albanians in the United Kingdom?

I was so interested to see what he would come up with for Germany, only to get ... that!?!?

This is the problem with Clarkson's humour. It relies on an 'other' an externalised figure of hate and ridicule.

There he is representing the best of Britain - the richest and noblest who although they have become filthy rich due to the bad economic practices of the last 10 years, don't want to pony up and pay their share.

I don't know what he is worrying about. They all have clever lawyers and accountants. They probably pay less tax than we do.

Think about how many times people like Jag and Idaho have called take-home pay a government subsidy (because they didn't take 100% of your income, as entitled).

Yeah I say that everyday - in your imagination