TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson writes about life as a farmer

TV personality Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that life as a farmer is harder than he anticipated – thanks to all the red tape.

Mr Clarkson purchased a farm on the Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire borders a couple of months ago.

In his column in the Sunday Times, Mr Clarkson writes about the difficulties of farming in the way he had hoped to.

“He [Gordon Brown] will give me cash money if I promise to make a trout lake, and even more cash money if I don’t grow anything that could be turned into food. Quite how he squares this in his head when half the world is starving, I have no idea,” he said.

“And nor do I understand why the forms I have to fill in to get this cash money are longer and more complicated than the instruction manual for a nuclear power station.”

Read the column in full on the Sunday Times website and share your thoughts on its contents on the forums.