Goodbye Clarkson; burnt by his own flame

Today it was announced that Jeremy Clarkson has indeed been 'dropped by Top Gear'. In other words the BBC have sacked their most valuable asset and you can't argue that it was the only option.

I absolutely love Clarkson and it is because of his controversial humour that I watch Top Gear. I have always believed that he is the one character out of the three that leads the show. James May and Richard Hammond are necessary to assist him but you could argue they are replaceable. I don't think you will find another Clarkson and here is why I think so.

Some claim Clarkson provides a link to the old fashioned british humour that we don't see as much anymore. His attitude towards global warming is refreshing in a climate where everyone is 'green' obsessed. I am not saying that global warming is something that should be ignored but when it is being rammed down your throats it is sometimes quite nice to hear someone mocking an issue we are told will end us all.

His way of addressing the audience, his strong and controversial opinions and his sheer manner cannot be ignored and it leads us to listen to him. In a society whereby everyone in the media is trying to say something to gain popularity or to abide by political correctness, I think in Clarkson we had that one figure who did the opposite. What is unfortunate is that it is because of this that we might not be seeing him for a while.

He has had his entire career riddled with controversy which, for me at least, lead me to follow him even more. I found myself being fascinated in what he was going to say or do next. To be honest I don't really have much interest in cars or anything like that. I only watched Top Gear to see what the three did or had to say. And even though I have watched every episode to date I can't help but watch the endless repeats on Dave and it looks like that is all I will be able to do now.

However, in the end it is a huge shame that this whole thing has happened but lets face it, if you punched a colleague at work you would not expect to have your job. The BBC had been put in a position whereby they either thought of the commercial side of things or their values. Obviously the BBC prides itself of being incredibly middle minded and politically and this leads to us saying goodbye to Clarkson but only for the time being. He will be back and he will be more loved for it. Another channel will buy him and I'm pretty sure Hammond and May too and will be seeing his humour and refreshing personality on a television pretty soon.

So to finish off I say thank you Mr Clarkson for everything you have contributed to my Sunday evenings and I think most of all, smashing Piers Morgan in the face and shutting him up for a bit.

How coursework lead to the discovery of the creepy housemate

Though this blog will most likely go out during mid-afternoon it is important to establish that it begun at 1:36am.

The reason for this is that my body clock over the past week has become completely distorted because of that old foe... the coursework deadline. And what better way to spend this peculiar time of night than writing a blog about the state it has left my mind in and what I have discovered harbouring in the house.

Firstly, I understand that some irritating and patronising few reading this might state 'but Matt, you shouldn't have left it to last minute' (goes out specifically to my dad who loves making this point). Yes it was set ages ago, but due to seminars on novels I am writing about having only recently happened, I wasn't going to begin the work to find out I had been wrong and needed start all over, DAD.

I have currently spent 10 hours in three days in the library. Might not sound like a lot but considering the other 62 hours were spent reading on relevant academia on the work done in those 10 hours, I think I have balanced it quite well. Reading academia for those not familiar with the term just means reading published articles on your essay topic to realise you cannot write anything near as good.

I much prefer coursework to exams and English does favour this. For example for the whole of my second year I have not had to endure one exam to my relief; mainly because I am crap at them.

But the problem with having an extensive piece of work is that it has the great ability to change your patience from a solid 8 to a complete zero. Your diet will become incredibly pizza orientated and will screw with your sleeping pattern. Even now it has got to 1:53 am and I am still wide awake.

Now the time is 16:52 as I finish it up and though it has been a few days since the deadline I have found that my sleep is still a little muddled. However, I have found that one certain individual awakens at this time of night (around 12am) and goes about his 'nightly' life.

We have someone living with us who never socilaises with us and the only time we see him is when he is skyping his American girlfriend, to which he attempts to imitate her accent with complete cringeness. His actual name will be hidden but that doesn't matter as we refer to him as Paddy, not that he knows this... The reason behind this name is because of Patrick Swayze who played a ghost in the film 'Ghost', a rather peculiar nickname but certainly has relevance.

In the middle of the night I hear him ponder downstairs to the kitchen whilst his irritating and fake American accent is in its most confidence. I hear the odd 'I love you baby' followed by an incredibly sloppy kiss sound or sometimes if he is feeling rather intimate 'what was that puppy?'. I lie in bed in complete horror that anyone could possibly act in this way.The nearest I get to imitating my Polish girlfriend is by shouting 'eeeshh meeesh' in a Borat accent to describe how the Polish language is thought to by the English, or maybe just me.

I struggle to understand how anyone can live with others without attempting to talk to them or even acknowledge them. We might be a group of guys who constantly take the piss out of eachother but we are a friendly bunch.

I am now forcing myself to wake up earlier so I can go to sleep before he wakes. Mainly so I don't have to endure his poorly executed American accent claiming that he is so in love with her that he feels the need to put his mouth right up to the camera to slobber... yes he does actually do this.

I get that not everyone wishes to socialise with certain people but come on! You can't stay in your room for the entirety of time doing things in front of a camera I am pretty sure would be illegal in most countries knowing of his character.

Yet even though he comes across as an nocturnal 'thing', he has succeeded where the rest of the group has failed. He possess something that usually makes someone an integral part of any friendship group. He has the 'nickname'. And for that he has some respect but I highly doubt he will be making the most of that come tomorrow when all the 'paddies' will be out drowning themselves in Guinness on his name day, St Patricks Day.

So tomorrow I feel it might be appropriate to raise a glass of the black nectar to honour Lord Paddy of the 10th floor and all of his creepy mannerisms. He might not ever speak to us but he has sure lead to us lot giggling and in a way contributing to our happiness.

The next step to the rest of your life

Today I went to a lecture for a module called 'Career and Project Planning' and this yet again reignited that same old fear and question, 'what you are doing as a career?'

When the lecturer spoke about careers I couldn't help but think to myself, 'should I know what I am going to do? Does everyone else know?' The simple answer to this is NO. I have considered teaching, writing, marketing and journalism throughout the last few years. I had even considered becoming a solicitor but after taking A-level Law that quickly changed. But none of these paths ever felt like a concrete decision.

Now it almost seems cliche that in the media there is always that same old saying, 'oh it is so much harder for the youth today' or 'it's a tough world out there'. These seem to me to be both patronising and unnecessarily negative. Those who say this in aim of support seem to make us seem like we are unaware that the economy is shot, politicians are, most the time, snobby, wealthy and old-fashioned idiots and that jobs seem to be impossible to come by. However, whenever you ask about your uncles, aunties or whoevers jobs, they always seem to be in some position doing something peculiar which I have never heard of. Or have you ever asked a mate what their parents do for them to reply, 'I'm not sure really'?

It is only when you sit back and think about what you're going to do that you realise that no matter what you decide to do now or within the next 5-10 years, when you're 50+ you will, 80% of the time, be doing something completely different. So in essence, for the time being the most important thing is to just get some income so you can enjoy your 20s at least with little concern and take your time and explore the different opportunities that are out there.

The best example I can give is that of my auntie. She came out with a degree in art, a degree often discredited as being a waste of time! She has now worked her way up to a position that earns a very respectable salary as head of a marketing team in the company she works for.

I would like to find someone who has come out of uni with a degree in any of the arts to say 'I'm doing this to get into business' or, and perhaps more importantly, for someone to tell me that a degree in one subject will stop me from getting a job in another.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that whether you have 1 GCSE in travel and tourism or whether you have a 1st in Biomechanical science, don't believe that you have to find the career that will be paying for your pension in 50 years time right now!

Just sit back and have a think at something you would like to do long term whilst working in something for the time being. Then when you put yourself in a position that when a opportunity comes about, take it!

I will for the next 2 years be under pressure to find a career path and I will be working hard to find one. But I don't think this ideology of 'sort the rest of your life right now!' will help.

It is a big, ugly world out there but as long as you work hard at whatever job you are doing, or just to get a job, for the time being it wont be so ugly to you. And if you find yourself doing a job you hate, just stick at it but work your arse off to get that opportunity to get to the next step in your career.


For the time being I will fill myself with knowledge of career paths and focusing on getting the degree in the first place. And at the weekends, just do what most university students do...

                                    (This an old photo by the way, now I have one in each hand.)