Don't get me wrong, I like to read Mike's articles in the Daily Telegraph and Auto Express but he seems so low and depressed about modern motoring that I think we should do something to lift his mood a bit.
Even his picture in Auto Express looks like that of a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I don't know in which part of the country he lives but could we not throw a surprise party for him where we pick him up in a nice Lambo and take him for a few drinks with some nice ladies, maybe well out in the country where he can enjoy a bit of traffic-free motoring (before the drinks, obviously).
It just seems so sad that a well-meaning lad has reached such a nadir in his life.
If we don't do something soon, I can see him spending the rest of his life on a bicycle or, even worse, a scooter.
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He's not as grumpy as me!
Seriously, I think he wears the look of someone who is fighting the good fight for motorists, is not taken in by Government bluff but is frustrated by the lack of reason given in considering his views - looks like a battler to me - and I reckon he enjoys the battle. Let's not make him too happy and contented!
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He's probably permanently hacked off with sharing his name - but little else - with a multi-millionaire rock star.
Can you imagine being called Paul McCartney and not being one of The Beatles?
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Who, in the the wide world of sports, is the rock star Mike Rutherford?
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Who in the the wide world of sports is the rock star Mike Rutherford?
Guitarist with prog rock band Genesis - the one with the beard in fact...
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"with prog rock band Genesis"
Not to mention the 'Mike' of Mike and the Mechanics (a better outfit, IMHO). I have to admit when I first saw the thread title, I thought it was about him, and wondered briefly why he was so upset!
Which rather confirms ifithelps's point...
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Beaten to it, but this tinyurl lark takes me a while and I don't want to get ticked off by PU for not using it.
tinyurl.com/rh7jz
Loads of websites, that's the official one.
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Don't need to usee tinyurl for every link - only if they are overly long and cause page display problems.
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doctorchris said: >> If we don't do something soon, I can see him spending the rest of his life on a bicycle or, even worse, a scooter. >>
I don't think so. He's clearly looking for the deal of his life. I think that will turn out to be an auto Perodua Myvi for just over £6k and he'll never look back.
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"throw a surprise party for him where we pick him up in a nice Lambo and take him for a few drinks with some nice ladies"
I could be a grumpy for a bit, if that's the outcome! :-)
Sorry, I mean :-(
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As long as these are not the same "nice ladies" that are [were] friends with Max.....
Edited by Screwloose on 02/05/2008 at 00:47
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"friends with Max"
And with friends like that, who needs enemies? It must have cheered Ron Dennis up, though.. :-)
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I read the article in this week's Auto Express as well.
What annoyed me was the way he brushed his initial comments aside ie the state of the economoy, everyone who has debts are feeling the pinch but then brushed the people with debts aside as "the minority" and concentrated on the driver being punished more.
I have debts, I am feeling the pinch, I am a driver but I don't intend buying a new car so the new car tax (which the article was about) isn't going to hit me as bad as interest rates, property prices and fuel prices (but I can choose to not use the car).
He believes he is the driver's "champion". I think he is a motoring journalist!
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He believes he is the driver's "champion". I think he is a motoring journalist!
At least he does point us in the direction of genuine deals and offers, unlike most of the motoring journalists who just use clichés - corners on rails, plenty of midrange grunt, capacious boot...
Actually it seems the bearded Mike Rutherford does indeed have a motoring link - he played in the orchestra playing instruments made up from parts off a new Ford Focus!
Perhaps we should get tickets to the show for the other Mike...
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So we here we go again. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the guy, but his article in today's Daily Telegraph tells us no more than the front page of the paper has said for the past week, nor does it say anything that he's not said before.
He used to come up with some interesting information about the finances of the motor industry and where to find the best motoring deals. Great stuff! I run a Panda 4x4 and aim to keep my costs as low as possible by various means including careful buying when it comes to servicing, parts, tyre insurance etc. as well as driviing economically and avoiding speeding and parking fines.
OK, I'm lucky that I don't need a big car for a family as they're grown up and have their own motors. However, neither do I need a powerful car since I find that I usually catch up with them at the next red light, roundabout or traffic jam.
I just wish he either leave his crusade to the front page of the paper or run for Parliament where he might just effect change.
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I don't dislike the guy, but his article in today's Daily Telegraph tells us no more than the front page of the paper has said for the past week, >>
True. But maybe there are people who read Rutherford who don't spend too much time on reading the front page. Haven't read today's piece but didn't his slot used to be called "Mike and money" or somesuch? In which case, he's fulfilling his brief. There are only so many times you can tell people what a good deal a Panda or a Ka is.
Anyway. If you own and shell out for running a car, what's there to be cheerful about?
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Honest John writes a column that used to be about buying, selling and running cars.
Last time I looked, it was just a political rant about speed cameras/humps/jobsworths and anything else with the very loosest connection to motoring.
Yet we on this forum get lectures about politics threads from the mods.
Of course, if we all towed the party line and agreed with all of HJ's opinions, there might not be so much, er, moderating, going on.
Come on HJ, back to basics and stick to the topic - we've got to.
Edited by ifithelps on 10/05/2008 at 14:56
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If you read the one and only "lecture" on politics in recent memory, its purely a cut and paste from the long ago written site policy on the subject- as its been said before politics and motoring are intertwined these days. There is no ban on politics, the only ban is on the silly name calling brand of politics which annoy other posters and turn them away from the site.
Edited by Pugugly on 10/05/2008 at 15:36
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PU wrote: '...the one and only "lecture" on politics in recent memory was purely a cut and paste from long ago....'
Point taken - but I'm standing by the rest of it.
As the song didn't quite go: 'It's my post and I can if I want to, can if I want to....'
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A fair point. At one time he did concentrate on "whole life" ecological costs of cars and the Jeep range won on this agenda. It is better for the environment to run a car for many years as manufacturing a car is much more damaging than running it.
However, running cars for years and maintaining them carefully does nothing for the economy because the various players in the car industry stop losing money, pay off workers etc. However, most of our new cars are imports, so, unless you buy a Nissan, Toyota or a few other marques this is irrelevant.
So what is my conclusion? Run economical cars to reduce oil imports. Try to buy UK manufactured cars but if you buy imports, run them for many years to encourage work for UK workers to carry out repairs and servicing, in addition, pattern spares are often UK made. Minimise taxable costs on your car as this government will only waste the money on admin hungry projects such as the NHS ( I know cos I've worked in that wasteful "industry").
We live in a country that depends for it's wealth on a historical exploitation of poor nations. We are now resting on our Laurels. India and China are finding their feet. They may use economical means to put us down or even, in extreme, war. Our wealth creation depends not on entrepreneurs but a bunch of heavy drinking, drug-taking burnt out guys in the City who practice a form of gambling rather than financial acumen.
Sorry for my rant. Maybe I should take over "Chris the money" in the Sat Telgraph.
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Mike has written this week in Autoexpress with advice for Boris about running the transport system in London.
He's made some good points and suggestions. However he suggests taxing bicycles and insisting that they carry number plates.
A bureaucratic nightmare and I feel a step towards the Stalinist state that Mike obviously wants to resist and dismantle.
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Well doc, you have made the diagnosis. Aren't you going to prescribe Prozac?
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He he, but I think he needs more than just drugs. A bit of ECT maybe or a move to the Scottish Highlands where he can really enjoy motoring again.
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Who is Mike Rutherford anyway?
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Motoring journalist, used to write in the Telegraph Sat motoring section as Mike the Motor, now under his own name. Weekly column in Autoexpress with a cartoon picture that looks as if he is both sad and angry.
He's probably a really well-balanced, happy family man with 2.4 children and a Labrador.
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Thanks dc. Never really noticed him though. I quite like Andrew English and James May, and always look at what John Whitmore has to say (although I don't always entirely approve), but the best thing in it usually is our own leader's column...
My bid for OBN celebrity...
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