Jeremy Clarkson

[Peoplesoft bloke]

It's a bit rich bemoaning the lack of interest in engineering when your entire career is founded on sneering at almost every car ever made in the UK and pronouncing German and Italian ones superior at all times, often against the evidence.

[DimPrawn]

It's a bit rich bemoaning the lack of interest in engineering when your entire career is founded on sneering at almost every car ever made in the UK and pronouncing German and Italian ones superior at all times, often against the evidence.

The Unions destroyed the British car industry and everyone knows it.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

The Unions destroyed the British car industry and everyone knows it.

That is total rrrrs - they had a hand but they didn't do it alone.

Linky

[Bob Dalek]

Nice reasoned argument there. What do you suggest instead? Moonbeams?

No. But think for a moment about the cost of doing it safely:
1. Nuclear plants are just too tempting for naughty bearded types. One good explosion is, in effect, a dirty bomb. And probably means decommissioning the plant. Have to build another. And good security is expensive. How do we deal with policing the security?
2. The more of 'em we have, the bigger the "Where the f--k do we put the waste?" question becomes. It's an on-going debate, but the "solution" will be, er, expensive.
3. Monitoring (and I mean level 1 diagnostic type stuff) is required to prevent nasties. Cracked pipes, thermostats working OK, rods that get stuck, etc. It's an explosion that'd be the biggest threat, spreading "magic moonbeams" for miles around. Remember, "experts" think they have it all sewn-up. They don't. The day that Buncefield went Pop! I heard a leading light in the oil business absolutely trounce any idea that it was anything to do with mismanagement, human error or mechanical failure... you see, he said, we have such fantastic safeguards in-place. Hmmm… someone overfilled a tank, and kaboom!!! So, super-excellent safeguards are, again, expensive (and probably worthless) .
4. Transporting the waste. Remember the hilarious low-speed crash test that BR did in, I think, the 80s? One good train crash and it's ta-ta to wherever it happens, owing to those pesky magic moonbeams, again. So, very expensive transport methods required.
5. Storage: expensive. Both to create and to monitor.
It never ceases to amaze me that we tinker, literally, with stuff that, when it goes wrong (and it has, again and again) can easily mean utter horror.
We had enormous stockpiles of coal (still do) and could have drastically reduced the pollution aspect, if we’d had the will. Too late now, the mines are, it's said, now too expensive to reopen, as they've fallen to bits, etc.

But by all means, accept the ill-informed word of a telly celeb instead of spending a moment, or two, thinking it through for yourself.

[DodgyAgent]

I'm not denying that he can be funny, he can. And very occasionally I agree with him, but most of the time that's when he's just waffling with no real point to make. He's good at cars, and occasionally life observations.

Generally speaking though he's an un empathetic, small minded/little englander, who, when he gets serious, talks a load of bollocks. He's also extremely polarising, those who love him - white, middle class, middle aged, grumpy old men as far as I can tell - really relate, everyone else thinks he's an absolute tw@t.

Just my 2c.

Still waiting for the example/s to prove your point. Or is he just a little too close to the bones of your own poiltical beliefs?

[BrilloPad]

I'm not denying that he can be funny, he can. And very occasionally I agree with him, but most of the time that's when he's just waffling with no real point to make. He's good at cars, and occasionally life observations.

Generally speaking though he's an un empathetic, small minded/little englander, who, when he gets serious, talks a load of bollocks. He's also extremely polarising, those who love him - white, middle class, middle aged, grumpy old men as far as I can tell - really relate, everyone else thinks he's an absolute tw@t.

Just my 2c.

I agree with most of that! But I am a "white, middle class, middle aged, grumpy old man". I always understood he appealed to young men regardless of colour/class?

Anyway can I ask 2 questions :-

1. But are you happy with the amount of health and safety regulation around?
2. Are you happy with the importance attached to engineering?

IMO Clarkson has said alot of good on both those points!

[BrilloPad]

It's a bit rich bemoaning the lack of interest in engineering when your entire career is founded on sneering at almost every car ever made in the UK and pronouncing German and Italian ones superior at all times, often against the evidence.

In fact he usually twists the evidence to favour british cars where possible.

[Churchill]

In fact he usually twists the evidence to favour british cars where possible.

Evidence, m'lud?

[BrilloPad]

That is total rrrrs - they had a hand but they didn't do it alone.

Linky

WHS

The management did not wake up to the benefits of advertising. The professionals wanted to use BL - but no co-operation! Ford bent over backwards to help. Nearly the same story with Italian Job....

[Diver]

The British car industry was destroyed by the British public who insisted on buying foreign models to the detriment of British industry.
It happened to British products then, it's still happening now.