London
The BBC has come under fire for its daredevil TV show Top Gear, after one of the hosts suffered brain injuries in a crash while filming. The show started out years ago as an auto critics’ forum, but in recent years it morphed into a reality show in which host Richard Hammond tests radically souped-up vehicles at extreme speeds. Last week, Hammond shot down an airstrip in a jet-powered dragster at about 300 mph and flipped over. He had to be cut out of the wreckage. Hammond’s co-host Jeremy Clarkson is now battling calls by newspapers and politicians for the show to be banned. “People with beards and dirty fingernails are now saying he should never have been in that car doing that kind of speed,” Clarkson wrote in the London Sun. “Rubbish. A hamster could do it.” Hammond, who insisted on performing the stunt himself, is expected to recover.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Who is paying for Europe’s €90bn EU loan?Today’s Big Question Kyiv secures crucial funding but the EU ‘blinked’ at the chance to strike a bold blow against Russia
-
Quiz of The Week: 13 – 19 DecemberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
What’s causing the non-fiction slump?In the Spotlight Readers are turning to crime fiction, romantasy and self help books as a form of escapism
