Oxford News
Top Gear legend James May opposes UK super rich ‘wealth tax’
The TV star hosted the BBC motoring show from 2003 until 2015 before moving on to Prime Video’s The Grand Tour until 2024.
Both shows saw him present alongside Richard Hammond and Oxfordshire farmer Jeremy Clarkson, who owns both Diddly Squat Farm, between Chipping Norton and Chadlington, and The Farmer’s Dog pub near Burford.
The 63-year-old was in Oxford last year with his live theatre show, Explorers: The Age of Discovery, which he performed for one night only at the New Theatre.
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When asked on LBC radio whether he agreed with Gary Lineker’s position in the “Proud to Pay” letter, 63‑year‑old Mr May replied: “No.”
Presenter Tom Swarbrick pressed him to explain, and Mr May said: “I already pay loads of tax. Am I supposed to volunteer to pay some more?”
Mr Swarbrick pointed out that it is possible to hand over extra money to the taxman, telling him: “Well, you can do, of course. You can pay whatever you like to HMRC.”
Mr May responded: “You absolutely can. You could pay your whole income to HMRC if you like. And those people who say, I’d gladly pay an extra 2 per cent tax if it went to the homeless or military veterans or the disabled or whatever. There are plenty of people who will take that extra 2 per cent from you if you wish to donate it.”
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Mr Swarbrick then asked: “So you don’t feel that there is a patriotic argument for millionaires to pay more in tax, however that is defined or alighted upon?”
And Mr May replied: “I mean, wealthier people already pay more tax. The rate increases, and it’s a greater absolute amount as well if you have more income.”
Mr Burnham, who became prime minister this month, has refused to rule out a wealth tax, saying in an interview with Lineker that his government may ‘ask for a little more’ from those who can afford it.
Mr May’s comments come after the TV presenter flunked a driving test retake in Salisbury, more than four decades after he first passed.
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A video posted on YouTube channels The Passenger Seat and James May’s Planet Gin shows the TV star head out on the roads to sit the current version of the test in a dual-control car with an instructor.
The mock examination was conducted from Salisbury Driving Test Centre, near where Mr May owns The Royal Oak pub, as well as where he resides.
Mr May followed official test routes as if he were a learner, and despite already holding a full licence, revealed he wanted to compare the modern assessment to his original in 1980.
“Now, I do of course already have a licence. It was 1980 when I last took a test, and things have moved on a lot since then; the test is apparently very different,” he said.
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“I haven’t revised for it. I haven’t learned anything about it. I’m just going to do it and see if I can pass.”
During the test, he was clocked at 46mph in a 40mph zone and 33mph in a 30mph area, with the speeding offences enough on their own to constitute an automatic fail.
Despite the unsuccessful outcome, Mr May laughed off the result, treating it as an experiment rather than a serious setback, and thanked viewers for joining him on the ride.
He rounded off the video with a wry sign-off: “Do as I say, not as I do.”
On Wednesday, September 2, it was the Concours judging and private viewings to dominate the agenda for the day.
Twelve Concours classes were held across almost a century of motoring, including The Golden Age of Motoring, 100 Years of Carrrozzeria Touring, La Dolce Vita, 60 Years of the Lamborghini Miura and Passione Ferrari.
Two new classes also made their debut for 2026, Rare Breeds of the Digital Age and Hypercar Heaven, which recognise the growing importance of contemporary performance cars within the international collector market.
Judging will take place across Wednesday and Thursday, with the show field bringing together a 70-strong collection of classics, supercars and hypercars from around the world.
Some of the cars include Aa Maserati 8C 3000, Alfa Romeo Sprint Berlinetta, a one-off Maserati 3500GT Spyder Prototipo by Vignale, a very early Porsche 356 Split Window Coupé, Aston Martin DB3S, Lamborghini Miura P400S, Bizzarrini 5300GT, Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 Cabriolet, Bugatti EB110 Prototype, Aston Martin Valiant Prototype and the extraordinary Bugatti Bolide, one of just 40 produced worldwide.
Helen Pike has decided to step down as Master of Magdalen College School at the end of the 2026/27 academic year, the school in east Oxford announced in March.
MCS is one of the top performing schools in the country, ranking in the top 20 independent secondary schools in The Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide 2026.
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The new academic year will start next week, with Ms Pike preparing for one more year in charge before she hands over to her successor, who will take over in September 2027.
The first female Master at MCS, Ms Pike guided the board of governors to one of the most significant decisions in the school’s history, to become fully co-educational from 2027.
While there has been a co-educational sixth form at the school for 15 years, the school last month announced it will become fully co-educational over the coming decade.
Ms Pike said earlier: “I love MCS, and it is a perennial privilege to lead this remarkable school.
“Being Master of MCS is a brilliant job, and I am declaring my intention early in order to give MCS the very best opportunity to find the right Master for September 2027. I shall continue to do all in my power to further the fortunes of this wonderful school until then.
“I look forward to a new phase in my own professional life, one that builds on all that I have enjoyed and achieved in my career during the past 30 years.
“Having encouraged many cohorts of pupils to take sensible risks and to do something creative and different when the time feels right, I am doing just that.”
During Ms Pike’s tenure, MCS has been recognised as a Top 20 Independent School and South East School of the Year by the Sunday Times and won Independent School of the Year for Social Mobility.
Thanking her in his letter to the school community, chair of governors, Bob Price, said earlier this year: “Helen is an outstanding leader and will go with our sincere gratitude and warm thanks for her exceptional headship.
“She will leave the school in excellent shape for her successor.”
Recruitment for a replacement for Ms Pike is now under way.
Last month, Ms Pike congratulated pupils on their “outstanding success” in this year’s A-Level exams, after more than a quarter of pupils (43) achieved three A*s or more and 25 secured all A*s.
In total, 39 pupils from the 2026 cohort are heading to Oxbridge, while 22 have secured places to study medicine.
As part of the school’s expansion plans, MCS is preparing to build a new Science, Library and Partnerships building.
A spokeswoman said the new building will offer an exciting opportunity to reimagine the senior school site as staff look ahead to full co-education.
She added earlier: “With a vision to create a sector-leading science building in the centre of Oxford, the development will enable us to support an ambitious and forward-looking science curriculum, expanding to the emerging and rapidly advancing areas of robotics, AI and Big Data.”
Holding banners which read ‘For f**k’s sake, just stop oil’, the demonstrators took to the road in Parliament Square at noon today (Wednesday, September 2).
This was as Andy Burnham faced his first Prime Minister’s Questions, and many of the protestors glued themselves to the road.
The group demanded that the UK government stop approving all further oil and gas developments, and sign a Fossil Fuel Treaty to stop oil and gas extraction.
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Just Stop Oil say that the police are expected to arrest all those blocking the road, and that one lane has been left free of glued-on action takers to permit access for emergency vehicles.
Andy Burnham is due to make a decision on whether to allow more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Reverend James Crote, a Baptist Minister and grandfather from Chesterton near Bicester, said: “Today is my grandson’s first birthday. I have to take action for the sake of his future.
The 69-year-old added: “The government has been dilly-dallying about whether to say yes or no to the Rosebank oil field but, if we want a future for our children, there is no choice – it has to say ‘no’.
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“I am here as a Christian Minister because the Church has to speak out and demand that the government stops approving further oil and gas developments now. It’s time for us all to say ‘For God’s sake, Just Stop Oil’.”
Data from the Met Office indicates that 2026 was the hottest summer in UK recorded history, beating 2025, which was the previous hottest summer on record.
2026 was also one of the driest summers on record, delivering record-low food harvests.
Climbing temperatures have triggered wildfires across the country, and national fire chiefs said the wildfire risk facing the UK is “like nothing we have seen before”.
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Taking action, grandmother Victoria Ann Lynch-Staunton from Leamington Spa, said: “What is happening is beyond a tragedy.”
The 71-year-old added: “I beg everyone to join Just Stop Oil or governments will continue to prioritise endless growth and corporate profit over billions of lives – yours and your children.
“Wake up and smell the coffin. It is the responsibility of all of us to act now!”
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said today: “We are all Just Stop Oil.
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“Every single person who fears deadly wildfires, devastating droughts, and spiralling food shortages is Just Stop Oil.
“The first duty of government is to keep the public safe – but by greenlighting oil and gas drilling, they endanger our survival while corporates and billionaires laugh their way to the bank.
“Every one of us feels alone and powerless in the face of this insanity, but we know there is massive political and public support for our demand.
“So we’re inviting everyone to join us at an online call on 3rd October 2026 – because it’s when we work together that we are powerful and win.”
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