Doing the right thing

BBC's Top Gear motoring programme may not be to everyone's taste, the presentation may grate to those of a more delicate disposition, the childish whims of Richard Hammond may irritate, although this is normally balanced by the reasonable, yet slightly cynical, tones of James May. Some of the things Jeremy Clarkson comes out with may also lean towards xenophobia. But one thing is for sure, I was impressed with the show last Sunday. Along comes the news section, with a preamble along the lines of how all other news had to be ignored because of the death of a great. Here I was, thinking to myself, "Oh no, they're going to get on the George Best bandwagon...", and instead they dedicate the time to a retrospective on Richard Burns. Thank God SOMEONE felt the need to mention his passing; how his friends and relatives felt about the unwarranted focus on an old footballer who cared so little for life that he managed to screw it up not once, but twice, as opposed to on a young man (Richard Burns was only 34 when he passed away) really striving to survive, it is easy to surmise. Whoever donated that liver to George Best must be turning in their grave, thinking about the criminal waste when that liver could have gone to someone else who really wanted it and would have taken care of it. Anyway, in conclusion, I was beginning to think that no-one was going to mention Richard Burns in the media (other than specialist publications), and I am glad he got a decent send-off, with clips of him doing what he did best, driving a selection of WRC cars very accurately and quickly through a forest.

http://www.richardburns.com/