There is little about Jereny Clarkson I like. Indeed, I'm trying to find anything in his high-octane, petrol propelled promotion of carbon guzzling technology with which I could agree, and so far, I've found nothing. He is a person who promotes himself by shock value. He thrives on making controversial and offensive statements. They get him noticed and he therefore increases sales of his programmes and DVDs. He must be rubbing his hands with glee about Unison's response to his comments yesterday about shooting strikers.
Unison should have dismissed it as the ravings of an over-the-top right winger. They should treat him as someone who makes noises as he does to compensate for something otherwise lacking in his life. They should not act as if his comments are a surprise. Think of all the additional sales all the publicity will bring for the DVD he was promoting on television yesterday. The cash till must be ringing in Clarkson's ears. Calling for his sacking simply added petrol to the fire of publicity.
One final point however. I think it rather unwise of Unison to call for the summary sacking of a person. Whatever happened to disciplinary procedures and employment law that gives employees threatened with dismissal the right to put their case? I would have thought that was something Unison would want to protect, not throw out of the window. Unless, of course, Unison take the view that those with a different world view to their own have no right to job protection.
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