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Rebel without a Porsche

Iain Banks has honed his boyish rebelliousness to a fine art, a fact proven by his demonstrations against the Establishment, says Gillian Bowditch

But I have only skimmed this one because it talks about another book of his that I think I want to read, and I don't trust the article not to give away plot points.

Jeremy Clarkson basically calls everyone outside of an 18 inch circle centered about himself (as indeed the entire universe must be) part of the lunatic fringe, a communist, and a hippie.

Clarkson is an immensely entertaining TV presenter and car reviewer who, as far as I can tell, has absolutely no knowledge of, or insight into any other aspect of existence. He fills this yawning void with utterly generic reactionary drivel, which is lapped up with relish by the sort of ignorant cretins who are so sadly over-represented in the UK press.

I think Jeremy Clarkson is incredibly funny and entertaining, but yeah, he should stick to cars because he appears to know fuck all about anything else.

I must admit to being pretty cynical about these celebrity "conversions" to greener cars. When they hand in the keys to their mansions and start living in houses that befit their needs as opposed to the wants of their egos, without climate control, dishwashers and manicured lawns big enough to hold a Rolling Stones concert on, I'll start to think they really care about the environment as opposed to their image. Plus, I have my doubts about the effectiveness of cars like the Prius - there is so much about their environmental performance that depends on the driver that I suspect many of them are actually worse for the environment than the cars they replace. For example, I was in a Prius taxi recently and the driver (a typical leadfooted cab driver) was driving the car in such a way that, according to the on-dash display, he was using more fuel than my 2.7 tonne, diesel-powered 4WD.