Clarkson says New Zealand is the real holy land

Motoring programs are not usually something I follow that much.  However something that links Israel and New Zealand needs a mention.

Jeremy Clarkson, of Top Gear has written to say that New Zealand is the real holy land

With characteristic humility, Clarkson uses his newspaper column to advise God that he made a mistake when choosing the Middle East as his religious base.

"If you were God and you were all-powerful, you wouldn't select Bethlehem as a suitable birthplace for your only child because it's a horrible place.

"And you certainly wouldn't let him grow up anywhere in the Holy Land.

"What you'd actually do is choose New Zealand."

You know, in some ways I actually agree.  Israel is a rugged place.  Nobody else but the Jews want to live there, really.

If God really were all-knowing, continues Clarkson, "children at Christmas time today would be singing 'Oh little town of Wellington' and people would not cease from mental fight until Jerusalem had been built in Auckland's green and pleasant land."

Perhaps the most startling compliment, however, is Clarkson's claim that if God had got it right, "Jesus would have been from Palmerston North", a stark deviation from the verdict of his countryman John Cleese, who once said the North Island city should be renamed "suicide capital of New Zealand" because "if you wish to kill yourself but lack the courage to, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick".

I actually think Clarksons comments could be related to the high number of Born again Christians in Palmerston North, including those that have been predicting the second coming for a while now :-)

Clarkson is better known for mean-minded and borderline racist insults than glowing compliments.

In 2007 he attracted flak for not only calling the Malaysian-manufactured Perodua Kelisa the "worst car in the world", but suggesting that it had been built by "jungle people who wear leaves as shoes".

In 2005 he gave a Nazi salute while reviewing a car from the German company BMW, and said the vehicle's satellite-navigation "only goes to Poland".

My feeling is that you can't take any of these comments too seriously...