RE: Top Gear comes 'to rest' indefinitely
Discussion
pb8g09 said:
je777 said:
Well, people were whining about the licence fee.
I have over a dozen foreign friends who are based in the UK. They all mock BBC News. (They also all massively criticise the NHS - because, as with the BBC, it's not a sacred cow for them, so they see it for what it is: underfunded and dreadful.)
I'll bite. The NHS isn't unfunded, it's just (like many public services), poorly uses much of the funding it gets. Up to 7 layers of management in Finance departments is utter bonkers but very common. They should be sorting that out first, but they can't because the media would love to lay into a government for 'cutting NHS heads when they're already understaffed', despite the vacancies and the admin areas being totally unlinked. I'm a liberal, not a lefty nor a conservative, but you can't just keep throwing endless pots of cash at something that is failing.I have over a dozen foreign friends who are based in the UK. They all mock BBC News. (They also all massively criticise the NHS - because, as with the BBC, it's not a sacred cow for them, so they see it for what it is: underfunded and dreadful.)
Edited by je777 on Tuesday 21st November 16:37
It's a deliberate Tory policy to make the NHS not function well, then claim it doesn't work, then privatise it. (They've literally written pamphlets about privatising it.)
And New New Labour are following suit.
I like Freddie and I enjoyed him in TG, I'm really sad he was so injured, I do hope he's able to get over it psychologically, even if the scars remain.
He ended up capsizing and suffering facial injuries as a result.
Example of the sort of thing that can go wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLZzYM7KGbQ
Personally I'm not sure I need any more detail than that tbh, it's enough that I can easily imagine roughly how it happened, and draw the appropriate lesson, if driving a three wheel car be aware that it can tip over and may not protect you if it does, and drive accordingly.
CarlosSainz100 said:
Why is there a big mystery still over the actual 'incident'?
When Hammond crashed we got to find out exactly what happened, but with this everyone seems to have taken up the code of omerta.
Freddie Flintoff was driving a three-wheeled Morgan around the TG Test Track.When Hammond crashed we got to find out exactly what happened, but with this everyone seems to have taken up the code of omerta.
He ended up capsizing and suffering facial injuries as a result.
Example of the sort of thing that can go wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLZzYM7KGbQ
Personally I'm not sure I need any more detail than that tbh, it's enough that I can easily imagine roughly how it happened, and draw the appropriate lesson, if driving a three wheel car be aware that it can tip over and may not protect you if it does, and drive accordingly.
I was shocked to see Freddie's face at the cricket recently and that had healed quite a bit, and hopefully a bit more to go and wish him well
I was very bored long before the latest presenters, by the 'segments' of three dudes in some sort of car challenge & pretend its not scripted, and fast forwarded these parts. Enjoyed Chris reviews though.
It was an institution though, and I often look at repeats shocked at how long ago they were and how young I was then
I was very bored long before the latest presenters, by the 'segments' of three dudes in some sort of car challenge & pretend its not scripted, and fast forwarded these parts. Enjoyed Chris reviews though.
It was an institution though, and I often look at repeats shocked at how long ago they were and how young I was then
je777 said:
It's not even close to impartial, albeit it is more impartial than other mainstream media sources, but that is saying literally nothing.
I could provide multiple examples of impartiality, but you could also look that up for yourself. But here are two - and these are academic research, not journalist garbage.
One piece of academic research showing anti-left wing BBC bias:
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/journals/cadaad/w...
Another piece of academic research showing anti-left wing BBC bias:
https://www.gold.ac.uk/news/media-reform-coalition...
I never said it was 100% impartial in practice.I could provide multiple examples of impartiality, but you could also look that up for yourself. But here are two - and these are academic research, not journalist garbage.
One piece of academic research showing anti-left wing BBC bias:
https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/journals/cadaad/w...
Another piece of academic research showing anti-left wing BBC bias:
https://www.gold.ac.uk/news/media-reform-coalition...
You said the BBC was state news. Which it isn’t. You said it’s an arm of the government. Which it isn’t.
Then you admitted that it’s more impartial than other UK mainstream media. Which clearly contradicts your notion of it being state-run propaganda. It can’t be both.
It clearly has its biases (the most obvious one, to my mind, being its pro-Royal bias) but that isn’t the same as it being a tool of government.
If Corbyn had become PM in 2019, do you think the BBC would have been fawning over him now he was the political establishment rather than an outsider? I thought not.
Now, can we please get back to talking about Top Gear now?
je777 said:
You're right about the management, but it's also underfunded (numerous sources of that - you can just google nhs funding over time).
It's a deliberate Tory policy to make the NHS not function well, then claim it doesn't work, then privatise it. (They've literally written pamphlets about privatising it.)
And New New Labour are following suit.
Last comment I'll make on it as I don't want to derail this topic, but we have to remember why the NHS existed in the first place- to keep people alive and get them back working. It was never set up as a service for mental health, fertility treatment, gender changes, sexual health teaching, treating overweight or pissed up teenagers etc. and so forth. As a result, it means cost of running it is significantly higher than the business case it originally sat on. I won't go into the merits of all the aforementioned treatments, but there has to be an acceptance that if you want to 'offer' all these 'products', it's going to create big issues on affordability- that maybe only privatisation can fix.It's a deliberate Tory policy to make the NHS not function well, then claim it doesn't work, then privatise it. (They've literally written pamphlets about privatising it.)
And New New Labour are following suit.
I like Chris Harris, I even thought that Rory fella was alright. They were fun and had genuine knowledge of cars. The previous trio had the rare combo of friendship, genuine interest and car knowledge that was topped off with an ability to be entertaining. Since their departure, the show has always felt forced and unnatural. That 6 presenter lark with Sabine, Eddie Jordan and all that lot was a joke and as much as I like Matt LeBlanc as a person, this wasn't the show for him. Introducing an ex-cricketer and the front man for Greggs was never going to end well. Harris is personable and, from what little I saw, was really good on camera. There's something left in the brand name for Top Gear but the BBC need to decide what it is. Faffing about with cars isn't going to work any more. YouTube is full of that with better end product. The broad nature of cars from repairs, racing, road trips, modifying, nut and bolt restorations, resto mods and the thousands of other facets all make it difficult for a single brand to cover the whole lot. Top Gear might be better dividing into multiple parts with the biggest sections of car culture and going from there.
RazerSauber said:
I like Chris Harris, I even thought that Rory fella was alright. They were fun and had genuine knowledge of cars. The previous trio had the rare combo of friendship, genuine interest and car knowledge that was topped off with an ability to be entertaining. Since their departure, the show has always felt forced and unnatural. That 6 presenter lark with Sabine, Eddie Jordan and all that lot was a joke and as much as I like Matt LeBlanc as a person, this wasn't the show for him. Introducing an ex-cricketer and the front man for Greggs was never going to end well. Harris is personable and, from what little I saw, was really good on camera. There's something left in the brand name for Top Gear but the BBC need to decide what it is. Faffing about with cars isn't going to work any more. YouTube is full of that with better end product. The broad nature of cars from repairs, racing, road trips, modifying, nut and bolt restorations, resto mods and the thousands of other facets all make it difficult for a single brand to cover the whole lot. Top Gear might be better dividing into multiple parts with the biggest sections of car culture and going from there.
Have to say I agree almost entirely. Irked me occasionally that Harris seemed to have been encouraged to ham it up a bit.fantheman80 said:
I was shocked to see Freddie's face at the cricket recently and that had healed quite a bit, and hopefully a bit more to go and wish him well
Although it never made it to air I was part of some filming for TG a couple of years ago and Freddie was the host. He seems like a lovely bloke, absolutely as he comes across on the TV, and he made the effort to make his way round all of the drivers who took part for a proper chat over the course of the day. I was relieved to seem him out and about in public again as without going into it I had heard some details of the accident through a pretty short grapevine and it sounded grim. I imagine that such a positive recovery was far from guaranteed.
abz24 said:
je777 said:
I could go on (and on).
Please don't. Its tedious. 
t' posts, ad infinitum. I guess the adenoidal-voiced bores will have to find something else to moan about now. Maybe something they can 'pull the trigger on', then come on here and tell us about.Craikeybaby said:
I am intrigued to see what Chris’s Harris and the BBC have in store in the future.
Chris Harris is heavily involved with the Collecting Cars auction platform which also has loads of content on YouTube including a fantastic weekly podcast which is well worth a listen/watch. He’s also just released an autobiography.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Clarkson, may, Hammond era…. Part of my youth and indeed it worked because they were actual friends and actual enthusiasts
The follows ups never worked because they weren’t mates or enthusiasts or both.
BBC has too many environmental/ car hating agendas to fill to want to do such a show again.
The follows ups never worked because they weren’t mates or enthusiasts or both.
BBC has too many environmental/ car hating agendas to fill to want to do such a show again.
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