Working from home today, was in the kitchen with radio on, BBC6 (Radcliffe & Maconie) when a joke thread turned into a tasteless rant against cyclists.
As I entered the room, there was a 'true life' story about sticks of rock with the word 'pervert' through them. Then Mark Radcliffe said 'Speaking of perverts, I was driving down a narrow country lane the other day, and was held up by a bunch of lycra clad cyclists..." (Stuart Maconie issued a hasty "steady on!" at this point) Apparently they were club riders, blocking the lane while having a drink. Radcliffe then went into 'ironic' mode, fantasising about driving his vehicle right through the offending cyclists. "That'll teach them to mess with me while driving my monster truck!"
Okay, so it was a silly jest, but I found it in very bad taste, almost Jeremy Clarkson in style. Maybe Radcliffe's appearance on Grumpy Guide to Driving had a galvanising effect, or maybe that's just the Clarkson 'licence to rant' effect. I have to admit being very surprised by this and a bit offended.
I e-mailed the show with a mild-mannered complaint. Having received a standard autoreply I think I will now make a formal complaint. I'm sad about it because normally I enjoy this show.
You will be able to catch the show later on iPlayer here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0100rp6
If anyone else feels like complaining, you can do so here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
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