Clarkson seems like a [posterior] but he's doing more to help UK farmers than anyone else in the country at the moment. All those farm subsidies vanished. And the red-tape they must endure is even worse than what I go through. (I don't bother applying for grants. I don't have that kind of time. And hiring a grant writer is a gamble.)
I'll admit that I watch ALL these farming shows -- particularly the Victorian/Edwardian/Tudor/etc. Farm series. I pick up a tip every single episode -- something that even if it doesn't apply to me now, might in the near future.
Yes, he's a
[posterior], but I can readily say from interactions on the TUG BBS, so are you and so am I (and I could include quite a few other TUGers). Over the course of my life, I've learned to be careful about labeling people as a
[posterior] because when I examine things closely, the things that make me most upset with another people are very often traits that I don't like but actually possess.
It is a "reality show", and as other have pointed, everything is actually quite scripted
. Before they shoot a season, they clearly have decided what is going to happen that season, they've done research on what is involved and how it will script over the season, they've identified and contracted with the people who are going to be involved in those portions of the show. When the animals break through a fence, that can't be a surprise, because the video crews are already mobilized to capture that.
However, they also marvelously weave in unforeseeable elements, particularly the weather. So in at least some areas the scripting is also dynamic.
But this all takes place against the reality of the constraints and bureaucratic realities of conducting farming operations. So, yeah, he probably is doing a great deal to help UK farmers. And not just UK farmers, because I think people in other countries can appreciate the issues.
