On The TV, On The BBC

As if to prove that the media tends to hunt in packs, my radio appearance on BBC Radio5Live, then BBC local radio was followed up in the afternoon with more radio gigs, plus an appearance on BBC News 24, the Beeb’s rolling digital news channel.
Having engaged with the great British phone-in public, it was time to go head to head on tv with Mike Rutherford, motoring correspondent of the Daily Telegraph - so no axe to grind there then. (I’m still looking for a newspaper with a Non-Motoring Correspondent. Or a Carfree Correspondent. I know someone who could fit the bill).
So here are a few nuggets:
Mike Rutherford: You need to live in the real world.
Yours Truly: I live in the same world as you Mike, I just choose not to own a car.
MR: Even if, as you say, 80% of the UK’s population live in urban areas, people will need to own a car so they can get away at the weekend.
YT: (the reply I didn’t get time to make) Mike, are you seriously saying that people should own the second most expensive asset they will ever have, so that they can use it on two days a week? Not to mention, last time I looked, the UK’s urban areas were linked with good networks of trains and buses to get you into the country, with loads of cheap fares available at weekends.

Roberto Perrone, Drivetime (!!) BBC Three Counties Radio
RP: Stephen, do you not like driving?
YT: Driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in California in a convertible Ford Mustang with Pink Floyd on the stereo, that’s fine. Trying to drive round the M25 at five in the evening….
RP: Ah, but have you tried the A41?
BBC Radio Merseyside’s Simon Hoban, after a speaker from the Fair Fuel campaign seemed to indicate that the recession was due to the tax paid by motorists on fuel (hello, sovereign debt, banking crisis, credit crunch, anyone).
YT: It’s not just about the cost of fuel. What about all the other costs – depreciation, insurance etc. Where’s the e-petition on those?
Being variously described as “an organisation,” or “a campaign” was a bit weird, but I guess it’s all grist to the mill.