UNQUESTIONABLY, if Freddie Flintoff could go back in time to December 13, 2022, he would.
He would not get into a Morgan Super 3, without a helmet, and loop around the Dunsfold Aerodrome.
The decision to compensate Freddie Flintoff for his life-altering smash last year is a moral minefieldRex Features
Ben Parkinson, the most seriously wounded veteran of the war in Afghanistan, had to launch a judicial review to see his £152,000 raised to £546,000Bradley Page – News Group Newspapers Ltd
Had this magical time-travelling wand been waved, Freddie would, today, be in the peak of physical and mental health.
There is no money in the world that can compensate for the trauma, the endless surgeries, the devastating impact his Top Gear crash must have had.
But, in the eyes of the BBC, there is — £9million, in fact.
The decision by BBC Studios to compensate the Ashes hero for his life-altering smash last year is a moral minefield.
But, on the subject of minefields, members of the Armed Forces risk life and limb on a daily basis.
They get a fraction of this amount for even worse injuries.
Families are given a relative pittance when their loved ones DIE in service.
The Army Dependants’ Trust is a charity providing discretionary cash grants to dependants of soldiers who die in service.
According to the website, the family can receive up to £15,000 in the event of death.
Which makes a mockery of compensation culture.
While on the Government website, it says those injured in the line of duty get between £1,236 and £650,000.
Ben Parkinson, the most seriously wounded soldier to survive the war in Afghanistan, had to launch a judicial review which saw his paltry MoD compo increased from £152,000 to £546,000.
Ben lost his legs, broke his back and suffered life-long brain damage when his Land Rover hit a mine in southern Afghanistan in 2006.
He will need care for the rest of his life.
As a result of his fight for justice, another 2,700 veterans saw payouts increase by £10million.
The world is skewed.
Of course, BBC Studios was damned if it did and damned if it didn’t.
In today’s thorny world of duty of care, quite simply the organisation must be seen to be doing the right thing. Even if it’s retrospectively.
It’s important to note this huge, seven-figure pay-out is not being footed by the licence fee payer as BBC Studios is Aunty’s corporate arm.
Hell and back
And Freddie was entitled to every penny.
Indeed, he could have got double this amount had he decided to sue the corporation privately.
But he didn’t. He did the honourable thing.
Twitter was divided after the story broke.
For every “good for him, take them for every penny he can get”, people pointed out this was a multi-millionaire who willingly got into a sports car and knew, surely, what he was getting himself into when he signed up to Top Gear; a blokey, bants-heavy show that glorifies an already dangerous sport.
A show that revels in making the extreme even more extreme.
And one that’s already seen the near death of another presenter, Richard Hammond, left comatose following his high-speed horror smash.
As one user wrote: “I got a small sum after a life-changing accident, it took 6+ years to settle.
“The stress and scrutiny wasn’t worth it because the sum isn’t life- changing.
“The joys of being poor and not famous.”
Another added: “Saddened.
“Firemen wouldn’t ask for compo if they got burned, the world has gone crazy for years.”
Two investigations were launched, the first cleared BBC Studio of negligence.
The second remains ongoing.
Will we ever see the footage and judge for ourselves who was at fault? Probably not.
While Freddie’s package — which includes much-needed therapy — was settled in just ten months, mere mortals generally wait years for any kind of injury compensation.
The high-profile nature of the star’s accident meant his case was undoubtedly expedited.
Which must be galling for veterans, those injured for simply serving their country (for a fraction of Freddie’s salary).
Alas this is the problem with fame, how we lionise it.
Freddie deserves every penny. He’s been through hell and back.
We still don’t know the extent of the toll of this accident.
He’s not spoken publicly and, by all accounts, is a shell of the man he once was.
But the problem is where does this now stop?
All of us, surely, will be too scared to take a risk — employers, small buildings owners, too scared to put a foot wrong for fear of being shut down.
DON’T KNOCK MADGE
MADONNA is 65. And still giving people the gig of their lives.
Four months ago, she nearly died.
Instead of pulling a Westlife and plopping herself down on a chair to belt out Like A Virgin, she’s back out on stage, gyrating with young men and women and generally giving it her all.
Even after nearly dying just four months ago, Madonna is back on stage and giving people the gig of their livesSplash News
Those knocking her for being “over-sexualised” need to take a long hard look at themselves.
This is a woman who’s spent her life in the gym –which, presumably, allowed her to get back on tour so quickly – and a woman who’s made a career from being provocative and giving a voice to minority groups.
Let her be Madge.
THE other day, while out for dinner, I saw a couple with their two young kids sitting down to eat, all glued to their phones.
It was sad to see.
Smartphones have already replaced our watches, cameras, calendars, alarm clocks and conversations.
They mustn’t replace the family.
A WINE ABOUT MY EX
A POLL of 2,000 boozers has found wine drinkers typically spend £9 on a bottle for themselves – and £12.50 when hosting guests.
Indeed, I will often buy myself a dirt-cheap, Blue Nun-esque bottle, but always, always, always stock decent plonk on the rare occasion I have visitors.
Clemmie talks about her fury after her ex popped round and opened an expensive bottle of wineBlue Nun
Imagine, then, my unmitigated fury when my ex popped round and casually opened THE MOST EXPENSIVE wine I’d bought in a long time – one purchased to open at the end of Sober October.
I watched on, silently seething, drinking a lime and soda.
Disclaimer: The wheels of the sober October bus have since well and truly fallen off.
Making comedy PC is just big pants
IT’S official – common sense and comedy have upped and waddled out the room.
According to Britain’s most famous scriptwriter, Richard Curtis – the man behind Bridget Jones, Four Weddings And A Funeral and Notting Hill – he’s banned himself from using the word “fat” in any future films.
It’s just pants that Bridget Jones scriptwriter Richard Curtis has banned himself from using the word ‘fat’Entertainment Pictures / eyevine
The adjective, a descriptor, is not PC.
He said: “I remember how shocked I was five years ago I when (daughter) Scarlett said to me ‘You can never use the word ‘fat’ again’.”
“Wow (she was) right. In my generation calling someone chubby (was funny) . . . those jokes are no longer funny.”
Oh, but they are.
Being a chubster isn’t a disability, or something put upon us at birth.
It’s also a corpulent fact.
If we can’t laugh at our tree-trunk thighs (Bridget J) or bemoan a belly roll, we’re just robots.
Skinny, miserable robots.
FOLLOW WILL’S LEAD
A CELEBRITY crusade I can get on board with.
Will Young, he of Pop Idol fame, has set up a petition to ban the use of dogs for scientific testing and research purposes.
Will Young’s campaign to ban testing on dogs is finally something we can all get behindwillyoungofficial/instagram
The sophisticated cognitive abilities of God’s most beautiful creatures mean they are regularly put through “psychological trauma” during testing.
According to Will, who, one assumes, has done his research, a shocking 92 per cent of drugs fail in human trials despite being tested on animals – a figure reiterated by charities including Cruelty Free International.
It needs to stop.
Labour’s Lisa Nandy and Jonathan Ashworth looked like us all at an office partyTwitter
HAVE you ever seen a more office party photo?
Labour’s Lisa Nandy and Jonathan Ashworth looked like us all, four slightly warm Chablis down, arms aloft, tunelessly belting out Pulp’s Common People.
My money’s on Mr Brightside for the Christmas bash.
WALK OF SHAME
WELL I’m the mug who laid a tile in Capt Tom’s family pool.
Figuratively speaking, of course.
Let’s hope Hannah Ingram-Moore is made to do the equivalent of 100 laps round the garden in penanceSupplied
The NHS fundraising hero’s family admitted to pocketing £800,000 from three books he’d written – and submitting planning for the spa complex in the charity’s name.
Let’s hope daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore is now made to do the equivalent of 100 laps round the garden in penance.
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