Happy New Year everyone, just to let you know that Demotorized now has a chapter about the madness of 2020 which has been attached to the printed and the PDF version. If you have bought the book I will happily email you a link to the extra chapter. Just drop me an email and I will do that. Meanwhile here is a brief extract from the introduction…
“When Demotorized was published in January 2020 it suggested that motorists had been in a war for an arbitary 200 years and that it was going to get worse. Well, in 2020 the authorities, doubled, tripled quite possibly quadrupled down on anyone with a car. Not just in Britain but all around the world. Britain though, has had it pretty bad, not least the ban of conventionally fuelled vehicles, never mind the extra parking restrictions and the effective theft of usable road space.
“Publishing Demotorized was an interesting experience. Some readers, more famiiar with my nonsensical ramblings about used cars and motoring history regarded it as my ‘serious’ album. Never mind, I was trying to reach a wider audience and tell them what was going on. Probably the best exposure was probably a face to face interview on James Delingpole’s podcast. When it was still possible to travel in 2020 he was interested enough to meet me for a long chat. Got some very interesting responses to that, largely positive, the simple fact is that driving and owning owning a car is now a political act.
“Apart from that high profile podcast there was a few magazine reviews, a radio appearances, but not a great deal of traction. The motoring media wasn’t especially keen on what I had to say.
“I even entered the RAC Motoring Book of the Year with Demotorized and the fact that the RAC didn’t respond to the back of the book questionnaire, so it was hardly surprising that they overlooked it. Motoring magazines were not keen on stories that highlighted the bum deal car owners and users were getting which was surprising. Some other journalists accused me of going full tin foil hat on this subject. I was far more polite to them than they were to me. As 2020 wore on the facts and actions of the authorities supported my ‘mad’ position rather strongly. Didn’t boost my freelance workload though.
“I was a regular on a few BBC radio shows and that pretty much stopped. An alternative view that does not reflect the mainstream narrative is unpopular. Maybe the Chinese Communist party should bear some responsibility for what happened in 2020 and in turn we ought to reconsider buying car shaped products from Chinese owned companies. That includes Volvo, Lotus, MG and the people who make a London Taxis. The only outlet I had was my own Free Car Mag. This previously successful five year old publication was a financial victim of 2020s Government sponsored economic meltdown, but I have kept it running. All of a sudden the ‘Free’ in the title actually meant something and I have repositioned it as the only car magazine on the side of the ordinary tax paying motorist. Not the car industry that hates them and just wants their money, or the motoring media which simply wants advertising and free loan cars….”
Buy Demotorized to read more…
