The issue to my mind isn't actually about Clarkson but the BBC, which seems happy to allow anti-TU/leftist sentiment to be normalised in this way DESPITE its supposed policy of non-bias. Put it this way, do you think they would let a guest on The One Show get away with a similar comment advocating the execution of all bankers/Tory voters/etc., no matter how ironic or tongue-in-cheek it was intended to be? I doubt it somehow, especially if it was one of their in-house 'star turns'. And let's not forget that probably almost every one of the 2 million people who went on strike on Wednesday belongs to a licence-fee-paying household.

Those of you calling for clarksons job and or prosecution really do seem to have suffered a sense of humour failure. Go away get a life you only have to listen to the next line "Some of us Have to work for a living" There is your massive hint that he is being ironic and using extreme outspoken statements to humorous effect. Its what he does and partly how he makes his living.
Get a sense of humour or batteries for the remote control!

Sticks and stones......what a storm in a teacup!
These people who would gag the likes of Clarkson are the same kind who have censored free speech through the ages with their puritanical views. It is their kind who have brought about oppression and suppressed others liberty to speak as they please. Freedom of speech is a human right regardless of who it offends. Let's start by shooting the politically correct lobby.

I can't help but think of those two young lads sitting in prison cells at this very moment for inciting (but taking no part in) rioting. They will be there for the next 4 yrs or so. For some reason David Allen Green believes execution is a far less severe crime, citing a number of poorly reasoned "concern" such as "Which law firm is supplying the advice?" Why that is a concern I no idea...Worse, if Clarkson gets away without punishment will will only have to endure more of his infantile behaviour in future.

Gosh. We are discussing whether expressing one's opinion should be a crime.

Welcome to Orwellian Britain.

To those who want Clarkson sacked, please get a life....

@TC "Anders Breivik is a fan of Clarkson"

So they must be similar kinds of people, is that it?

Unbelievable..

Cameron is part of a spectrum. I realize it is a tactical error but the demonization of any group seen as 'left' is terrifying.

Anders Breivik is a fan of Clarkson, remember. This sort of behaviour sets the tone and culture of our society, making such attacks (77 murdered because they were 'cultural marxists' and supported 'multiculturalism') much more likely.

I am a public sector worker, and I was neither shocked nor outraged by Clarkson's comments. The man is a tedious boor, and this precisely the kind of witless drivel I expect from him. I don't call for his dismissal or arrest, though I think his absence from our television sets would substantially enhance the quality of our viewing.

While we're on the subject, George Osborne should also be shot. I don't mind if his family isn't watching though.

Twitter a joke about blowing up Robin hood Airport, get time and lose job.

Facebook a comment about the riots ( and not participate ) get 4 years.

Go on TV and call for the execution of people in front of their families and...

Can you not see the hypocrisy?

please don't let political bias towards David Cameron's friend influence your response to what are indefensible comments by Clarkson. It is not as if he has not made them before. Being a petrol head does not excuse Clarkson from allowing rational decent thoughts from entering his brain.

But the public purse doesn't pay this clown a fortune. The public purse makes a lot of money out of this clown. Of course I am not talking about the public purse. I am talking about the BBC, which is free and independent, is it not?

I'm constantly amazed that JC acts like a stupidity tablet on reasonable people. It's a joke.

Dave Gorman gets it spot on

http://gormano.blogspot.com/2011/12/jeremy-clarkson-should-be-lined-up-a...

I've watched in despair over the past 30 years as the left has consistently failed to learn about PR. Unison should have ignored Clarkson and so should Miliband.

This has endless points in it to bring up:

It must be a really slow news day.
Clarkson has an airtight contract that protects him from getting sacked without getting paid off by the BBC.
His ratings are down. So what better way to jack them up than to "shock" his audience?
The BBC would never sack him. Instead, they'll wait it out as the complaints keep pouring in. Then, if Ofcom steps in, THEN they'll either issue a "formal reprimand". Or, sack him.
It's all a pr stunt by the BBC.
Is Clarkson a BBC employee? Or, does he have his own production company and supply content to them?
Clarkson and the BBC know that this kind of stuff generates tons of comments on websites. Then, said sites can use this to charge higher ad rates.
Having a go at Clarkson is like having a go at Paxman. Some people just can't exist without that.
If Clarkson was sacked, what would the trolls bitch about?
Nice to see blatant spammers like sdfhgdfh back in action. Slipped by the New Statesman screeners, did you?
Finally, the BBC will say free speech. If you don't like it, turn it off.

Proof that yes, the BBC really has gone corporate.

This analysis of absolutely idiotic in the extreme. The money Unison are spending is to help protect their members, by discouraging influential media personalities from giving direct positive reinforcement to violent right-wing extremists, of the sort who actually have been physically attacking protests in the UK and killing protestors en-masse in Norway etc. It is incredible, but sadly predictable, that The New Statesman's editorial team are frankly too thick to see this. You've been chronically out of touch for years. Wise up!

Both Jez Clarkson and Unison HQ are prats. I'm not particularly shocked or outraged by his comments - after all, he has made a habit of capturing the media's attention by making insensitive and potentially offensive remarks about particular groups of people (usually those the Daily Wail hates).

As for Unison, I'd advise them to stop whinging and get back around the negotiating table. Given a significant chunk of their members are also LGPS members, and the initial proposals for governmental reform of the LGPS were only released recently (and notified to us on Thursday), I can't help but think their decision to ballot for strike action for yesterday was a little premature given that it was made on the basis of what the government was considering at the time, rather than any firm offers.

for God's sake get over the whole issue - watch the interview, he said it as a joke. Dave Prentis is a worm who wanted to give Clarkson some negative publicity because he is a friend of the PM. If anyone felt threatened by Clarkson's comments, they are pathetic. What is wrong with this country?

Hold on Unison... surely, the sole purpose of Jeremy Clarkson is that he spouts stupid, contentious and usually (to some little-Englanders) offensive drivel. If you fail to understand the humour, that's your fault, not his...

@Roon: This just looks like a good excuse to detract the attention to someone else. Clarkson is entitled to say whatever he likes, dont we live in a country where we are allowed to speak freely...??

Er, well only selectively, as the aftermath of the August riots showed: two young men were not only prosecuted but actually imprisoned for years for voicing their opinions - albeit very ill-timed and ambiguous - for allegedly inciting riots even though they didn't actually cause any or take part in any; one subsequently argued it was a drunken 'joke'. Clarkson makes a very sober 'joke' at a time of public-sector demonisation by the government, about executing strikers in front of their families on a family programme, and just has to make an apology!? Do you not see any double standards here? Those being: it's one rule for Cameron's right-wing buddies, and another for everyone else. At the very least Clarkson should be thrown off the BBC - arguably even prosecuted for potentially inciting hatred and trivialising horrific acts which happen every day throughout the world under foreign tyrannies - that's the Unions' argument and I can see where they're coming from. The commentator who says that because the Norwegian mass murderer has since been diagnosed 'insane' (actually, paranoid schizophrenic to be more precise) only emphasizes the force of the argument that therefore people in public positions need to be very careful and more responsible about what they come out with, because there are those in society who do take things more literally. And to the person who says, this is Clarkson, what do we expect? Well, as license fee payers for a public service which hires Clarkson, I'd say it's only perfectly reasonable to say what we DON'T expect is to have to listen to a diatribe of ignorance thinly disguised in 'ironic' humour by a motor-mouth like him - he's not a comedian, he's not a satirist, he's just a speed-junkie hack who is also famous for his right-wing intolerance towards foreigners and minorities - so why should we expect or want his comments on political issues when all he knows about is bloody cars? The One Show made a catastrophic mistake here: why even ask him the question? We now know it was all pre-rehearsed, so the BBC is complicit in this almost laughably crass lapse in taste and choreography. Unfortunately however, it's more than laughable: it's down right offensive and way over the line of decency and taste.

Is this the same David Allen Green that was telling us a few weeks ago what a wonderful person Tom Crone is?

If so I don't think I value his opinion much.

It gets worse. Karen Jennings just said on the lunchtime BBC News in the context of a rant about Clarksons' remarks and the union taking legal advice;

" .. we would want to make sure that any public figure was being careful about what they were saying."

Frightening display of irrational and illiberal thinking. She can't be that stupid to have reached the position she is in so whatever could explain her remarks?

"So it's okay to say I think that David Allen Green should get a bullet through his skull while his children watch?"

What a horrifying thing to wish on me - children.

Otherwise, fine.

"The One Show is broadcast at a time when children are watching -- they could have been scared and upset by his aggressive statements."

The only logical conclusion is to broadcast the One Show at 2am on a Wednesday night on BBC 3, only available to subscribers who type in a pin number which can be purchased by applying in writing at least a year in advance.