The BBC was right to sack Jeremy Clarkson

There’s no cause so disreputable it cannot find adherents. And, failing that, apologists. Take, for instance, the apparently simple case of a powerful man – powerful in status more than physique – who assaults one of his junior helpers.

In ordinary circumstances – that is, if this assault took place in a cheese factory or on a farm or in an insurance brokerage – everything would be pretty bloody simple. It’s not really OK for senior folk – even if they are the talent – to start lamping their subordinates. Said lamper would ordinarily – and quite properly – risk their job by hitting their junior colleagues.

I guess my view is weirdly stupid, however. I mean, it had never occurred to me that Jeremy Clarkson was sacked for being too right-wing. Now that Rod Liddle – whose own cruiserweight credentials need no further burnishing – has pointed this out, however, I feel a complete heel.