I did not come away from this article with a very positive opinion on Clarkson. He strikes me as the type of guy who is incapable of recognising a problem that he himself is not personally facing. Climate change wasn’t real until he tried his hand at farming. Driving electric vehicles won’t solve the climate problem, science will (did science not develop the battery technology needed to move away from gasoline cars?). Farmers are struggling and will be forced to sell to millionaires and capitalists (is he himself not the capitalist that bought a hobby farm from a struggling farmer?).

I don’t think he’s seeing his own hypocrisy here. Farmers have been facing these problems for years and no one paid attention. He calls up his buddy in Westminster, immediately gets a full cabinet meeting, and as if by magic the government starts moving in his favour (taking away power from local government, I might add).

This isn’t a black and white issue and there is merit to Clarkson’s point that local government can get captured and corrupted by personal conflicts and interests. But I don’t agree with the image he appears to project as a defender of the common man and poor farmer. He’s a millionaire who has never given a single shit about farmers until he personally owned a farm.