No doubt if the BBC marketted pornography and public executions it would raise a few quid. But Clarkson is such a plonker that he is doing England's image no good at all. Irretrievable harm, I should have thought.

As a columnist, he is funny. I find him distressing as a TV personality. Not because of anything he says. Its just that you know 14 year old boys are watching this and are thinking that boorishness, sexism, and insulting behaviour are tied up with being a grown up.

Go the sump classes of any comp in the land, and you'll find kids getting JC's Christmas video in their stocking on Xmas day. He's a really bad example of how to behave and how to talk to your fellow man.

He's bad news.