Clarkson's Farm 2

[Tedx]

Who'd be a farmer eh?

[monabri]

Where's that Welshman?

[Mike4]

I watched the first series but frankly, he was just messing about at it and the results were predictable.

Should I bovver with this series? Is it any different?

[SalvorHardin]

I watched the first series but frankly, he was just messing about at it and the results were predictable.

Should I bovver with this series? Is it any different?

Yes. Clarkson does similar stuff to series 1, plus he gets some cows and then has to deal with a TB outbreak in the area. There's less general farming because the show ends up being dominated by his battle with the local authorities, quangos and NIMBYs.

They all want to stop him from starting up a restaurant which will also help out many other farmers. So he bends the rules by exploiting lots of loopholes.

It's government policy to encourage farmers to diversify, yet the council consistently stops him from doing so often using dubious means (e.g. the council accepts as true the blatant lie that Clarkson wants to build a 500 acre car park to host approximately 70 customers).

Series 2 is a testament to the increasing difficulty of getting any new economic activity off the ground because of bureaucracy and NIMBYs. It's a good advert for investing overseas.

[mark88man]

The basic plot is a privileged older gentleman doesn't get exactly what he wants - although its a complete nightmare for surrounding communities - and throws his toys out the pram and blames everyone for everything

[pje16]

I watched the first series but frankly, he was just messing about at it and the results were predictable.

Should I bovver with this series? Is it any different?

Depends if you find it funny
I think Kaleb is priceless
worth watching for him alone.

[SalvorHardin]

The basic plot is a privileged older gentleman doesn't get exactly what he wants - although its a complete nightmare for surrounding communities - and throws his toys out the pram and blames everyone for everything

About six miles away from Diddly Squat there is a massive farm shop with a garden centre, restaurant, car park, wellness retreat and several other large facilities. It's a hypermarket compared to Clarkson's corner shop.

It is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is owned by a billionaire. It's what gave Clarkson the idea for his own farm shop. Oddly enough the council are perfectly happy with it.

Clarkson sums it up:

"As far as the farm is concerned, it's split pretty neatly between those who have a house number - you know, 22 Oak Avenue or 3 Grove or whatever - who tend to support us, because we bring business to the area and jobs for their kids... If they've got a house name, they tend not to like us, because they tend to have moved here from London quite recently, and they don't want crowds of people coming to the farm shop, so that seems to me to be the split."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/0 ... oners-who/

[pje16]

It is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is owned by a billionaire. It's what gave Clarkson the idea for his own farm shop. Oddly enough the council are perfectly happy with it.

Having watched series 2 it is quite clear the council are anti-Clarkson
if you don't think so watch the episode with the road cones.

[BullDog]

It is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is owned by a billionaire. It's what gave Clarkson the idea for his own farm shop. Oddly enough the council are perfectly happy with it.

Having watched series 2 it is quite clear the council are anti-Clarkson
if you don't think so watch the episode with the road cones.

I am left with the overwhelming impression that what Clarkson wants to do with his farm is exactly what's required in many rural areas. His land agent says that as a result of subsidy loss many farmers are no longer going to be able to carry on. I believe him. The meeting with neighbours who farm all say they're desperate to increase their business with his restaurant ideas. The government is telling farmers they must find new sources of income. They're right. But the county council is self evidently massively against Clarkson. Why do they believe it when a fancy London barrister says Clarkson wants a 500 acre car park, half his total land area? Why do they refuse him permission to lay a stone access track on his farm when it has been previously unknown to refuse such permission? And so much more. I don't especially like Clarkson, but the points raised in series 2 of his farm are really very serious indeed.

[dionaeamuscipula]

It is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is owned by a billionaire. It's what gave Clarkson the idea for his own farm shop. Oddly enough the council are perfectly happy with it.

Having watched series 2 it is quite clear the council are anti-Clarkson
if you don't think so watch the episode with the road cones.

I have never watched it, but given that the series is made by Con Dao Productions (sole director: Jeremy Clarkson) it is probably fair not to draw any conclusions of veracity based on it.

DM

[pje16]

Having watched series 2 it is quite clear the council are anti-Clarkson
if you don't think so watch the episode with the road cones.

I have never watched it, but given that the series is made by Con Dao Productions (sole director: Jeremy Clarkson) it is probably fair not to draw any conclusions of veracity based on it.

DM

watch the episode with the road cones

[AsleepInYorkshire]

I watched the first series but frankly, he was just messing about at it and the results were predictable.

Should I bovver with this series? Is it any different?

Yes. Clarkson does similar stuff to series 1, plus he gets some cows and then has to deal with a TB outbreak in the area. There's less general farming because the show ends up being dominated by his battle with the local authorities, quangos and NIMBYs.

They all want to stop him from starting up a restaurant which will also help out many other farmers. So he bends the rules by exploiting lots of loopholes.

It's government policy to encourage farmers to diversify, yet the council consistently stops him from doing so often using dubious means (e.g. the council accepts as true the blatant lie that Clarkson wants to build a 500 acre car park to host approximately 70 customers).

Series 2 is a testament to the increasing difficulty of getting any new economic activity off the ground because of bureaucracy and NIMBYs. It's a good advert for investing overseas.

We've binge watched this over the weekend.

As Salvor says this series has gained traction as its underlying theme is the amount of hipocrasy our system has created. At one point, the local authority put plastic do not stop bollards up, for 2km to prevent visitors to the farm shop parking on the verge. At the same time they turned down Clarkson's application to build a car park - which I believe amounted to a bit of stone in a field that Clarkson owned.

I am not one of Clarkson’s biggest fans albeit I admit he has done some good work on his television shows. And yes, as only Clarkson could do, he’s over exaggerated some of the issues in the program. But overall the local authority are behaving like dictators, like local warlords using the costs of fighting them (bureaucracy) and weaponising them to prevent Clarkson going about what appears to be his lawful business. In response Clarkson used planning laws and took them on.

The saddest part about the program (and this is a spoiler) is that local farmers are struggling. One is paying their bills but not drawing a wage. Another has lost half their herd of cows (60 no) to bovine TB as they cannot cull badgers and are only scraping through with some business they get from Clarkson’s shop. Not one of them was coping well.

And Boris Johnson promised that withdrawal from the EU wouldn’t impact our farmers. The man is a lying low life toad. Where is he now. Being paid millions to talk – as an entertainer. The sort of irony that stinks.

I second Salvor's yes ... you should watch this Mike.

AiY(D)

[pje16]

The saddest part about the program (and this is a spoiler) is that local farmers are struggling. One is paying their bills but not drawing a wage. Another has lost half their herd of cows (60 no) to bovine TB as they cannot cull badgers and are only scraping through with some business they get from Clarkson’s shop. Not one of them was coping well.
AiY(D)

Agreed that was sad
but the show does, in places, highlight jobsworths and “red tape” gone mad

[Rhyd6]

I'm not a Clarkson fan but ask any of the farming community here in N. Wales and they all agree that he has done more to highlight the difficulties farmer's face than any one else and they include the NFU in that. Red tape is strangling enterprise thoughout Britain with people having to jump through hoops to achieve any sort of change.
I too think that Kaleb is great, a man perfectly content with his lot and who knows his own worth. There are many Kalebs throughout Britain but most townies look down on them as being "only farm workers".

R6

[Hallucigenia]

About six miles away from Diddly Squat there is a massive farm shop with a garden centre, restaurant, car park, wellness retreat and several other large facilities. It's a hypermarket compared to Clarkson's corner shop.

It is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is owned by a billionaire. It's what gave Clarkson the idea for his own farm shop. Oddly enough the council are perfectly happy with it.

That in itself suggests Clarkson's portrayal of the council as not wanting rural businesses is a load of crap.

Having grown up (in a "named" house) on the edge of a National Park with friends and family involved in various aspects of the rural business scene, I'm well aware of what it can be like (clue- Oxfordshire has negligible constraints compared to a National Park). I'll always favour residents of rural areas over temporary visitors. IME, in general, although I can't speak for Oxon as I don't have direct experience of them, council planners try to do what they perceive as their best, for the community as a whole. There are always some bad eggs, but in general they're OK.

Given that planning rules in particular can't anticipate every circumstance, there's always grey areas. Which means a lot relies on trust, and building a relationship with planning people. If you act in good faith, and do what you say you will do, then they cut you more slack in the future. Whereas this goes down like a bucket of sick :

So he bends the rules by exploiting lots of loopholes.

We know Clarkson is a spoilt brat who as the "star" has been indulged and is not used to people telling him "no", to the extent that he punches underlings who tell him there's no hot dinner. But it's always cleverdicks that run into problems with planning - loopholes in small things will take you so far, but you always end up with big things in a grey area that rely on a human taking a view. If they don't think they can trust you - or if, say, you've been humiliating them on international TV - then they won't give you the benefit of the doubt.

Not that Clarkson really cares, as selling veg is literally small potatoes to him. The real economic activity here is Amazon pouring millions into his (offshore?) bank account for a TV show. And all good TV shows need a hero and a villain, even if the hero is a multi-millionaire with a huge public platform and the villain is some unlucky council official on £25k whose story we never hear.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Spoiler - this will be part of Clarkson's Farm 3 (if the series is made)

Please don't click on this link if you want to wait to see that series

AiY(D)

[MrFoolish]

It's in Clarkson's interest for things to go wrong and to have run-ins with the council. It makes for good TV. I enjoy the programme, but it's more entertainment than documentary.

[BullDog]

Spoiler - this will be part of Clarkson's Farm 3 (if the series is made)

Please don't click on this link if you want to wait to see that series

AiY(D)

I understand that the recent furore concerning Clarkson elsewhere in the media world has resulted in Amazon pulling the plug. Of course, he might sell the rights to another company but I think it's perhaps unlikely one of the UK terrestrial channels will pick it up. He still has the chair in Who Wants to be a Millionaire though, I think.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Spoiler - this will be part of Clarkson's Farm 3 (if the series is made)

Please don't click on this link if you want to wait to see that series

AiY(D)

I understand that the recent furore concerning Clarkson elsewhere in the media world has resulted in Amazon pulling the plug. Of course, he might sell the rights to another company but I think it's perhaps unlikely one of the UK terrestrial channels will pick it up. He still has the chair in Who Wants to be a Millionaire though, I think.

Series 3 was commissioned in October 2022 and will go ahead. No new "commissions" will be forthcoming from Amazon.

AiY(D)

[BullDog]

Spoiler - this will be part of Clarkson's Farm 3 (if the series is made)

Please don't click on this link if you want to wait to see that series

AiY(D)

I understand that the recent furore concerning Clarkson elsewhere in the media world has resulted in Amazon pulling the plug. Of course, he might sell the rights to another company but I think it's perhaps unlikely one of the UK terrestrial channels will pick it up. He still has the chair in Who Wants to be a Millionaire though, I think.

Series 3 was commissioned in October 2022 and will go ahead. No new "commissions" will be forthcoming from Amazon.

AiY(D)

Ah, thanks for clarification.