Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Downing Street message for Jeremy Clarkson

Guido beat me too it because I had to leave the office and catch a train, but this latest video on the Downing Street YouTube channel is a brilliant example of how crazy the bunker has become.
What on earth is happening in there to make them think that wasting their time and resources on making this would be seen in a positive light?

Update: Apparently, according to those bastions of hilarity and outrageous humour at the Guardian, I am joyless. To this I say bollocks. That video is now juxtaposed with a video that wishes the families of French soldiers well after their deaths in Afghanistan. It's hardly befitting of the highest office in the land, satire and jokes should be left to the satirists, not Downing Street.

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dizzy

Pls , if you will, study this document and let us have your thoughts?

It PROVES that nulab were FORCED into devolution by the UN!

tinyurl.com/5n4xnf

Anonymous said...

If I were the 10 Downing Street petition team I would just have put out a plain text response saying the democratic method for selecting the PM in the UK is through the party in power choosing their leader and all its MPs in turn being elected at the 2005 General Election with a lot more votes than Jeremy Clarkson got signatures on his 10 Downing Street petition.

To try to discredit Clarkson and make him look like a petrol head loony compared to the supposedly lofty former UK PMs (judging from the classical music used followed by the engine revving to represent Clarkson) is stupid when we all know Jeremy would be a lot more dynamic and charismatic as a leader and PM than Gordon Brown could ever be.

Capvermell

Anonymous said...

It's pretty good for a sixth form media studies project isn't it?

Anonymous said...

They ought to stick with pretending to run the country. Doing comedy does not work for them. That's the job for the Liberals, it comes naturally to them.

Anonymous said...

You do have to adore the logic of spending our money on a video that essentially tells us that we're really stupid. I'm looking forward to the next video mocking those who want the Red Arrows at the Olympics, a General Election, or build a Veterans' hospital. Go on Gordon, sway the public with your delicious sense of humour.

Null said...

This is laughable.

Mind you, it is about as useful as as the rest of the £100,000 site...

Anonymous said...

"Adding comments has been disabled for this video."

Yeah, I'll bet it has.

Anonymous said...

check out the site right now. It says it has a "message of condolence to France following the deaths of ten French soldiers in combat with the Taliban east of Kabul." but has that next to the Clarkson video. Nice condolence!

Anonymous said...

'wasting their time and resources ---'?

surely OUR time and OUR resources !

and the rebuttal is not even clever or funny

Unknown said...

Oh get over it. Everyone is being a little humourless. How much would this have "cost" the taxpayer - probably ziltch. And the idea that the author of this videa should have been "running the country" instead is just silly. The government gets roundly criticised for failing to engage via the internet and then for getting it completely wrong, so it puts out an amusing viral in response to a light hearted petition - so what?

Anonymous said...

Well said, Dan. The other posters are so humourless they make Gordon Brown seem like a light entertainment personality of the year winner by comparison.

dizzy said...

We should note something esle as well, whilst the world leaders have been concerned about Georgia, Brown's output is this?

Anonymous said...

Jeremy Clarkson is a prize eejit, those who signed the petition must have had their brains removed. And this video is perfectly harmless and looks like it cost about 5 quid.

Anonymous said...

Get a life.

Zanet Design Ltd said...

according to webxact
Jeremy Clarkson is to be made Uk Prime Minister...

they have the video response in full, but its reported that the response is an annoyance as it cost the tax payer

not sure on that - lets ask Jeremy!!!

http://www.webxact.co.uk/2008/08/jeremy-clarkson-is-to-be-made-uk-prime.html

Anonymous said...

Get over yourself Dizzy, it's just a video.

Anonymous said...

Balls. Harmless fun.

dizzy said...

Get over myself how exactly? If you don;t like my opinion on something then bugger off and don't read it. The video is a pathetic pointless use of resources and guess what, it's not even in the amusing. If it had had a pictue of Clarkson with a giant cock on his head and his mouth depicted as a vagina it might have been though.

dizzy said...

"Balls. Harmless fun."

Are you talking about Ed and do you have a rumour to spill about illicit sexual relations?

Anonymous said...

Teacup
in
a
storm
a

10 minutes work and some stock video/music. How much do you actually think this cost?

Noone takes you as seriously as you do.
Twat.

Anonymous said...

Dear Dizzy why so serious? Keep the mouse in the house.

Anonymous said...

Many people seem quite frothed up about this which seems ridiculous to me - all this 'waste of tax-payers money' nonsense is just more hysterical Daily Mail-style outrage - winding yourselves up about something so trivial to the point of it being a matter of national pride is, on one hand, pathetic, on the other - hilarious.

It's nothing - a bit of fun in response to another bit of fun - it wouldn't have cost anything, you're just annoyed because it mocks your Pope Clarkson. I don't mind him, personally, he's a caraciture and he knows it - many people on here seem to think he's the messiah, which is very odd.

Anonymous said...

Christ, lighten up....

I don't want to sound like some major defender of the government because I'm not, but it's hardly a bloody movie - just a 50 second clip, easily makable in a lunchtime or spare half an hour. It's a humorous response to a humorous petition.

To turn the argument back on yourself, there's clearly a hell of a lot more important things to criticise the Government for than a 50-second light hearted youtube clip.I'm sure it hasn't diverted attention away from the economy, or inhibited No.10 in any way whatsoever.

This really is grumbling at every opportunity, you should keep up the good work with the criticisms that are actually relevant!

dizzy said...

Slight problem here is that you seem to be labouring under the assumption that I have a responsibility to not moan about what I want to moan about on my personal website. Remeber that this is my site, it's not a service, and that video seems to me to be an example of wasted resources by the Downing Street web team especially when placed against the total mess that the website itself is in. They should be spending their time making a website that works properly not making dumbarse videos.

Anonymous said...

If that were the case, dizzy, why not turn comments off? You clearly find any comment critical of you to be irrelevant.

Anonymous said...

I have to say the most ridiculous thing here is that The Guardian chose to link to this blog.

This is the first time I've read this blog and I have to say that your bland whine about this video is as humourless as you believe the video itself to be.

Do you consider yourself to be among the satirists that you refer to? If so there is plenty of material to take aim at today, from the return of Gary Glitter to the BAA monopoly report.

However looking through your blog do I find anything of substance? No, merely whining about inconsistecies between a flickr and a Downing Street photograph and a rehashed story about the MoJ.

When reading your blog, in your own words, "endemic, systematic, and failure spring to mind."

The Guardian let you off lightly by calling you merely joyless.

dizzy said...

I'm not a satirist, I'm just a guy with a website. As for turning comments off I like critical comments, it's not fault if when they are made they are usually wrong. Note this is called sarcasm and arrogance.

dizzy said...

Incidentally, "merely whining about inconsistecies between a flickr and a Downing Street photograph" suggests you didn't read the story and the implication you dick. The first photo was from the Sun and showed that the Sun had blacked out the face of a policeman, presumably because he is some sort of anti-terrorist/special branch person and they would have done it by request. Downing Street on the other hand had published a photo without doing so, that shows sheer incometence on the part of the web team.

So, when reading your comment a second time the phrases "thick as pig shit", "unable to comprehend basic concepts" and "twat" spring to mind.

Anonymous said...

You're not just a guy with a website, you're a prize bell-end too.
Big Love!

dizzy said...

No no no, I'm a dickhead. If you are going to insult me at least make it effective and cutting. "bell-end" has such a teenager trying to be naughty by not swearing feel about it it just makes it weak.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear! Read about this on the Guardian and felt compeleed to .... come over and tell you what an arse you're being by NOT seeing the funny side!

Honestly!

Anonymous said...

@11:43:00 -

Except it's not "Brown's Output", is it?! and it's certainly not being done instead of a response to the crisis in Georgia - or taking time from it - or even diverting people's attention from it in any way whatsoever.

Try as you might, it may be unfunny bollocks, but you can't seriously argue that there's any harm in the making of this piss-poor youtube clip, that's all people are saying...

Anonymous said...

Yes. Yes, exactly Dizzy. Gordon Brown himself put this video together while all the other world leaders were sorting out the Georgia Russia conflict. Who said you were a twat

Anonymous said...

By far the funniest thing on here is dizzy throwing his toys out his pram.

Anonymous said...

Rating insults now Diz.

You really are 12 aren't you?

Anonymous said...

Oh come on, this is going to have taken someone all of 5 minutes to throw together. At least someone in there's kept a sense of humour (yes, we can tell by this year's budget ho ho ho).

Of course we want our politicians to present a generally professional image, and of course this government is pretty much entirely dreadful, but this video is not the demonstration of it. Sometimes it's nice to see the faintest glimpse, however contrived and essentially unfunny, of camaraderie between government and people.

Is this really a big deal?...Really?

I can't believe I'm reading something linked to The Guardian.

Becky

dizzy said...

I love the way a number of the last view comments have been based upon straw man misrepresentation. It makes me feel greatly confident about the intellectual capacity of Guardian readers.

Talisman, I'm actually 32 but I also enjoy a good flame war, and the quality of an insult is vitally important. As too is the ability to subtly take the piss out of those you are engaged in a war of words with.

On the issue of whether this video is a "big deal", apparently it is because the Guardian decided to link to me moaning, thus making it a big deal. I on the other hand just think it is one of multitude of things that indicate where those in the driving seat are going wrong. Of course, if you read some of the post of the last three years reporting on Parliamentary proceedings that don't get covered in papers of record like the GUardian you'd know that.

No please excuse me, I have to go and masturbate.

Anonymous said...

At 7 in the morning? Weird.

I think it's amusing how some people will jump on the government for anything they do at all. Some junior press-officer suffering from a severe case of silly season boredom mocks up a video by splicing together stock footage and a picture of Jeremy Clarkson and the outrage level is the same as when they make serious misjudgements on the economy or whatever.

Should change the name of the site to "Dizzy Doesn't Think". Hahaha.

Anonymous said...

Brown is a disgrace - he will be denying us our cars next - how can that man ever look the great british people in the eye? petrol prices up and its all brown's fault - sack him and get the tories in - petrol will fall in price and we can start to buy bigger and better cars.

Anonymous said...

"I'm actually 32 but I also enjoy a good flame war, and the quality of an insult is vitally important. As too is the ability to subtly take the piss out of those you are engaged in a war of words with."

Given that "So, when reading your comment a second time the phrases "thick as pig shit", "unable to comprehend basic concepts" and "twat" spring to mind." is your idea of a 'subtly taking the piss' you might want to work on that a bit.

Perhaps you could also work your content a bit more as it is, if I may be subtle, "shit".

dizzy said...

If I had ever said it wasn't shit then you would have a point, but I haven't so you don't.

Anonymous said...

Back from your wank then Dizzy? Shabash!!! Hope it was a good one.