Ruth Kelly

mm1

Did anyone else witness her stunning performance on BBC Breakfast this morning, launching "Bikeability"?

Q: "Secretary of State, do you cycle?"

A: "My family love cycling"

"Do you cycle?"

"I'm waiting for my husband to buy the bike he promised me for Christmas."

"Do you cycle to work?"

"No, I'm driven in the Minesterial car."

Almost as imporessive as her performance at Education, having necer attended a state school and chosing to exercise the Blair / Abbott option when it came to schyooling her own children.

el_presidente

mm1 wrote:

Did anyone else witness her stunning performance on BBC Breakfast this morning, launching "Bikeability"?

Q: "Secretary of State, do you cycle?"

A: "My family love cycling"

"Do you cycle?"

"I'm waiting for my husband to buy the bike he promised me for Christmas."

"Do you cycle to work?"

"No, I'm driven in the Minesterial car."

Almost as imporessive as her performance at Education, having necer attended a state school and chosing to exercise the Blair / Abbott option when it came to schyooling her own children.

Apart from anything else I think her membership of Opus Dei should preclude her form office given their extreme views on various issues.

hammerite

mm1 wrote:

Did anyone else witness her stunning performance on BBC Breakfast this morning, launching "Bikeability"?

Q: "Secretary of State, do you cycle?"

A: "My family love cycling"

"Do you cycle?"

"I'm waiting for my husband to buy the bike he promised me for Christmas."

"Do you cycle to work?"

"No, I'm driven in the Minesterial car."

Almost as imporessive as her performance at Education, having necer attended a state school and chosing to exercise the Blair / Abbott option when it came to schyooling her own children.

I work for a company involved with Home Information Packs, and after seeing her performance on that front this really doesn't surprise me.

But then Gordon Brown on GMTV a few months ago got asked about his green credentials. The only thing he could think that he was doing was composting!

gumball3000

There has to be a certain ammount of common sense here.

I do less than Gordon Brown, when it comes to being green. I don't have a compost heap and I don't use public transport. The mrs does recycle glass and cans though. Therefore I suggest I am not put forward to represent my country on Environmental issues.

Putting someone in charge of "Bikeability" who doesn't own a bike is as stupid an idea as I have heard in a long while. At least give it to someone that has ridden a bike in the last month or so.

It is about as clever as booking Daphne and Celeste to play at the Reading Festival. We know what happened there. They had bottles of urine thrown at them.

Ruth Kelly, be warned. You, and your party are retarded at times. Given a choice of looking up "Bikeability" on the net or hunting for footage of the two American Pop Cheerleaders being bottled, I know where I am heading..... You tube...

pedylan

Surely a government of "all the talents" could involve someone who is actually knowledgeable and committed to cycling to head up Bikeability.

Even if someone from Sustrans won't do it I'm sure that David Cameron, whose at least had his photo taken on a bike, could help. :twisted:

gumball3000

Exactly. I would be happier for the Government to appoint anyone from the Party that actually has a credible interest in what they are supposed to be promoting. It would be far better to have a non mainstream back bench MP who has done a time trial here and there and may have ridden a sportive trying toget people on bikes, rather than a better known woman who appears to have little intention of actually riding a bike at any stage.

All well and good being photographed doing something once. I just means that you will get photographed NOT doing it, time and time again.


Surely to god, the first thing said to Ruth Kelly, when she was given the job was.....if you haven't got one....GET A BIKE......

It makes the whole idea look like a monkey's ar2e before it has really started.

Taxi for Kelly!

geoff_ss

It's a pity, really, when you consider that the Labour party had (has?) its own cycle club for many years. IIRC you had to be a party member when you rode with the Clarion. I don't think it still applies.

Geoff

McBain_v1

The Labour spin machine just isn't as sharp as it once was :roll:

ricadus

Kelly gets asked these kind of tricksy questions because the media know she is nothing more than a quick-thinking opportunist with no particular socialist principles. If she had been born 10 years earlier she might well be a paid up member of the Conservatives instead.

feel

Ruth Kelly is obviously a very clever person, at least she always makes me laugh :roll:

I always used to think that politicians must have some qualities even if they weren't immediately apparent and then along came Ruth Kelly just to prove me wrong.

nwallace

pedylan wrote:

Even if someone from Sustrans

Given the attitude of some Sustrans representatives towards other forms of transport and their concept of "safe" I think I prefer the Non cyclist approach.

mm1

[she is nothing more than a quick-thinking opportunist with no particular socialist principles. If she had been born 10 years earlier she might well be a paid up member of the Conservatives instead.[/quote]

Absolutely. A former Education Secretary with no personal experience of state education, who exercised the Bliar / Abbott option when it came to educating her own children. I doubt she has any experience of public transport, let alone cycling.

OffTheBackAdam

What do you mean no socialist principles?
How about no principles at all, like the rest of this mendacious shower that are "running" the country.

richardast

I have some work colleagues who met her in person a year or two ago.
They're generally pretty anti-Labour, but said that she came across as a genuinely decent, honest person - nothing like what they were expecting.

Just to go against the grain, I believe that we elect our leaders to make decisions and get on with whatever job they're told to by their boss.
If they're putting in 18 hour days and working most of their weekends it doesn't worry me how they get to work or what hobbies they have.

At least they're putting money towards cycling and raising the profile.
Is that not what we want?

gkerr4

i have to admit - I met her a couple of years ago at a secondary school I was working at - she was doing a visit as the sec for education.

she did come across as fairly normal it has to be said. I expected her to just do a quick whistlestop tour - quick fly round and off - but she stayed for a good couple of hours and asked some pretty in depth questions. She wanted to know about anti-bullying policy and procedure, peer mentoring and was very interested in our IT systems. she wanted to meet some kids too - I was actually pretty impressed.

feel

No surprises to me in either of the above posts. I am sure she is very personable and plausible in person, look at her career. It is when you hear her speak about policies that i laugh/cry

Sorry i'll try to stick to cycling.