Clarkson is still in pole position for Beeb

So, shouldn't he just pack up his turbo-charged 4x4 and go now, then?

It's not to review cars, that's for certain. Top Gear long since gave up seriously trying to do that.

But let's be honest, Clarkson's never going to be sacked, is he? Money talks these days, and the modern-day Top Gear earns oodles of it for the Beeb in an era when its spending power is under pressure.

For some reason, the increasingly juvenile Top Gear is a phenomenon in more than 100 countries, raking in a global audience of 340 million. In the past year, it has accounted for half of the BBC's top 20 most popular shows on the iPlayer.

All of this despite – or more likely because of – Clarkson's abrasive style which has consistently landed him in hot water.

He courts controversy, and revels in it. This is the man who, long before being exposed mumbling the 'N-word' to camera, claimed he would 'rather have bird flu' than drive a Corvette Z06, was blamed for the closure of Vauxhall's plant in Luton after strumming his fingers in silence rather than reviewing the new Vectra, and offended locals with a disparaging remark in Burma last year.

So if a nervous Beeb was going to get rid of him, it would surely have done the deed long ago.

Contrast Clarkson's antics with the predicament facing poor BBC radio presenter David Lowe, a man with a hitherto blemish-free history who was forced to quit after playing vintage tune The Sun Has Got Its Hat On and failing to notice that the aforementioned 'N-word' could be heard faintly at one point in the background.

A mistake, yes, but an innocent one. He didn't utter the word himself, nor was the song on the corporation's banned list. But it was suggested he do the decent thing and step down to 'pursue other interests'.

Because David wasn't even a particularly big fish in his home county of Devon, and added nothing to the Beeb's coffers, he was an easy target for some positive PR. But the injustice of such double standards has delivered quite the opposite.

Talking of exits, the time has come for me to sign off. Not in the face of controversy (though former ITV Daybreak host Matt Barbet did take offence at my comments a couple of weeks ago and let me know about it on Twitter!), but simply to move on to pastures new.

It's been a pleasure to have been involved in the creation of Weekend from the outset, and to have been given the chance to deliver a left-field verdict on the ever-changing world of television.

Thanks for the past year's postbag, and keep the comments coming . . . because with or without the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, the weird and wonderful gogglebox will never be short of controversial talking points.