It struck me that this knee-jerk response from the BBC clearly showed that whilst it is very happy to reap the benefits of 'risk-taking' - Top Gear is highly successful - it was not prepared to deal with the consequences.

If you're going to undertake risky activity, then you have to be prepared for the consequences - no matter how small the likelihood of it occurring are.

This is nothing new from me, I'm sure I've bored you silly on several occasions about this. In this case, it seems the programme makers, the presenters and everyone else involved with the programme were aware of the risks, prepared to deal with them, and fortunately, Richard looks like he's going to make a very good recovery. Unfortunately, other parts of the BBC - probably the bean counters - are now questioning the future of it. My message to them is to get real - they've reaped the benefits of this programme for sometime, now it's time to pay the cost. But cancelling it all together is wrong.

I've lost friends through kayaking, climbing and motorbiking. Each time, someone who had no idea of the risks involved has told me that I should give up the activity because it's ' clearly too dangerous'. Thankfully, I've learnt to ignore these and continue to kayak, climb, whatever I want to do. I do this with eyes open to the true risks involved - knowing that I'm far more likely to die driving to work than from anything else, but accepting that there are very real risks to my life in the activities I partake in (fortunately very rare).

Jeremy Clarkson has written an excellent article on the accident, the recovery and the issues it has brought to the surface. WARNING: Don't read it if you think risky activity shouldn't be allowed to happen - you might be offended.

Risk taking brings benefits - my life is richer for the kayaking, climbing, snowboarding that I do. I'm sure Richard Hammond finds his life enriched by his activities, and look at how much all of our lives and the lives of endangered animals were enrichened by the life of Steve Irwin.

Risk taking allows us to develop, to benefit - let's hope the constant pursual of a nanny state doesn't forget that.