On BBC1 early evening magazine show 'The One Show' on 30th November 2011, guest Jeremy Clarkson made the following remarks: ‘I do sometimes use the train to come to London but it always stops in Reading. It’s always because somebody has jumped in front of it and somebody has burst. ‘You just think, why have we stopped because we’ve hit somebody? What’s the point of stopping? It won’t make them better.’” These remarks are both irresponsible and insensitive, and made worse by the fact they were made during a family show at 7pm. Whether Mr Clarkson was 'joking' or not the effects of the comments cannot be underestimated when in 2009 alone 5675 people in the United Kingdom took their own lives. In a week in which we learned that a high profile sports star had tragically ended his life Mr Clarkson s remarks were decidedly distasteful. Suicide impacts on families, wives, husbands, parents and children left stunned and bewildered by the death of their loved one in such tragic circumstances, and it is time that the BBC took responsibility for the behaviour of the people to whom it pays very large salaries. It is proposed therefore that the BBC both reprimand Mr Clarkson and that they 'dock' his salary by a significant amount and donate it to the The Samaritans ( http://www.samaritans.org ) whose volunteers deal with callers every minute in emotional distress and contemplating suicide, and whose work in preventing death is phenomenal and understated. They have also produced a booklet 'Reducing Suicide at Railway Stations', which is an invaluable resource.

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