AutoBlog: STUDY: If you're gonna make us pay for a bloke's writing, it bloody well better be Clarkson

We'll admit up front that this news item is minimally car-related, but bear with us. In response to News Corp's Rupert Murdoch's repeated threats to bury all of his content behind a pay-for-it-wall, the UK's Guardian conducted a poll asking readers which online columnists they'd pay for. The not so shocking result: Jeremy Clarkson, number one. Number two is Charlie Brooker, who we've heard of. The next eight? Not so much. But here's the point.

Jeremy Clarkson writes about cars. The other day, we were arguing with a burned out (and nameless) colleague about our mutual chosen profession. Eventually he blurted out, "You're still working under the delusion that writing a good car review is somehow noble." Not that Clarkson is particularly noble, but the notion that the writer most people (well, British people...) want to read spends his days scribing about powersliding the tires off half-a-million dollar cars is quite heartening. Almost ennobling, really.