In his most recent Sunday Times column, the 65-year-old former Top Gear presenter has been left fuming by the UK’s “broken future full of nothing about taxation, crime, and disease.”
TV star Jeremy Clarkson has opened up about whether he would consider leaving the UK, describing it as a “doomed” nation.
The former Top Gear presenter, 65, expressed his frustrations with the country’s “broken future full of nothing but taxation, crime, and disease” in his recent Sunday Times column. He pointed to the “flatlining” economy, “stagnant” housing market, and “ineffective” police force as reasons to consider emigration.
Clarkson, who also hosted The Grand Tour, has faced numerous challenges in 2025, branding it the “worst year ever” for his Cotswolds farm due to relentless heatwaves and drought. Recently, he disclosed that his farm has been under lockdown for at least two months because of a bovine tuberculosis outbreak among his cattle.
In the midst of these issues, Clarkson pondered whether he should seek sanctuary in places like Dubai, Europe, or Australia.
In his column, he wrote, “It’s simple to convince yourself that Britain is now an unsalvageable basket case, a country that has slipped into a pair of Fairy Liquid butter pants and is currently hurtling down the slide of doom into a broken future full of nothing but taxation, crime, and disease.”
Clarkson criticized the “forms and requirements” for moving to Australia, New Zealand, and America as “obvious choices” but claimed they were “tiresome”.
Before choosing Dubai as a potential option, he rejected other nations like Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Portugal, and Switzerland.
“No income tax. Petrol 50p a litre. The police do what they’re” Clarkson penned, “What’s not to like? I used to enjoy Dubai back in the early Nineties when there were no people in it and only one hotel. But today, it feels like the bastard love child of Las Vegas and Mickey Mouse.”
The TV presenter argued that despite the UK’s current “awful” climate, it’s better to stay put than to relocate. “If you move abroad, in three-and-a-half years you will be living in another country, and God knows what it will be like there then.
In three and a half years, you’ll be surrounded by your friends and family, whereas if you stay here. He argued that the horror of [Keir] Starmer will have vanished.
This summer, Clarkson has faced a series of challenges at his 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. In July, the motoring journalist revealed that the farm had been hit with the infectious disease, bovine tb, from a pregnant cow.
It’s “awful, it’s awful.” He told Times Radio that you have a test on the cows every six months, and after that, you sort of become blasé. It’s a real threat. The vet then says, “I’m really sorry this one’s failed,” as he did yesterday lunchtime.
So that implies that we are now completely locked up and that the situation is dreadful. Clarkson confirmed that the closure of his adjacent farm shop, which he had previously owned, is still “unaffected” by the setback and continues to be in operation.
