George Hook has it in for us.

Páid

He made the following comments this morning Via Twitter;

At 7 am this morning on the N11 every cyclist ignored the bus lane. We paid for the lane so why can we not use it as we wish?? -- George Hook (@ghook)

Why cannot motorists use the cycle lanes as the two-wheel riders want to use the road?? -- George Hook (@ghook)

Personally I think it's very irresponsible of him to be suggesting that drivers use cycle and bus lanes.

He's on Newstalk at 4:30pm.

seamus

He's been at it for years. He got burned about two years ago when he offered to donate €100 for any proof that any cyclist stopped at red lights.

So he got sent videos and emails from all over the place and in the end admitted defeat and offered to donate €1,000 to some charity.

Still didn't stop him cranking on though. He's a troll, ignore him and he'll go away.

le petit braquet

He's starting his programme with a rant on the self same subject

Beasty

The guy is completely clueless - so set in his ways there's no point in attempting to rationalise a lot of what he says. As seamus said - best ignored

seamus

Let him rant away. See Hooky likes to think of himself as a current affairs broadcaster, when in reality he's just an old-fashioned radio preacher.

When he hosts "debates" on his show, what he does is side strongly with his chosen point of view and spend the entire time firing questions at the other guy while letting his favourite talk away unhindered.

When it appears that Hooky's side is losing the debate, he'll go on a nice long rant espousing his point of view, then close the debate and go to a break.

Listening to him will only make you disappointed for society because you'll be led to believe that George Hook's point of view has won every debate.

hardCopy

I challenged him before on twitter and by text to try cycling into work himself some day, no response. I even offered to sponsor him for charity if he would do it.

Páid

hardCopy wrote: »

I challenged him before on twitter and by text to try cycling into work himself some day, no response. I even offered to sponsor him for charity if he would do it.

I would pay to see that.

a5y

I love how he thinks cyclists shouldn't use the parts of the road they're least likely to get hit by a car because they aren't paying enough tax.

I find that really appealing.

He's such a wise man.

The country would be so much worse off without him and his opinions.

hardCopy

The sad thing is, when talking about rugby he complains about how there's no place for the fat kid in modern rugby as there was in the past. Well George, encouraging cycling will do more to help childhood obesity than giving out about the current state of rugby.

Lumen

He apparently stated earlier in the year "I hate cyclists with a passion".

Whilst I wouldn't like to make a crass generalisation, I suspect that the feeling is mutual.

He's not even clever enough to be classified as a troll, he's just a simple-minded idiot.

Johnny86

I do like to refer to this blog whenever anyone brings up the road tax thing - even if it is a british perspective, its the same here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/nov/22/cycling-road-tax-confused

The main point from it is (british perspective)

"the link between the annual vehicle tax paid by drivers and the money used to build and maintain roads was abolished in 1937, a process first begun by none other than Winston Churchill in 1926. Since then the money has come from various general and local taxes. Those little discs you put in the windscreen are vehicle excise duty (VED), which based on emissions, meaning ultra-efficient and electric cars, among others, pay nothing"

plus a lot of cyclists have cars and pay road tax also!!

Hungrycol

I don't listen to the radio on my bike on the rare occasions I do have headphones in but I do catch some of his Movie review programme in the car on Wednesday evening on my way to races which I enjoy. He's soooo old fashioned in his views and "best ever" film and actor choices are so old and dated. He's like your grandfather who hates everything modern*... like electrickery.

*except Sky, but thats cos I'm sure he got a lotta wonga for that ad!

Dermot Illogical

Help! I'm being savaged by a sheep!

hardCopy

Johnny86 wrote: »

I do like to refer to this blog whenever anyone brings up the road tax thing - even if it is a british perspective, its the same here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2011/nov/22/cycling-road-tax-confused

The main point from it is (british perspective)

"the link between the annual vehicle tax paid by drivers and the money used to build and maintain roads was abolished in 1937, a process first begun by none other than Winston Churchill in 1926. Since then the money has come from various general and local taxes. Those little discs you put in the windscreen are vehicle excise duty (VED), which based on emissions, meaning ultra-efficient and electric cars, among others, pay nothing"

plus a lot of cyclists have cars and pay road tax also!!

From an Irish perpective, motor tax in 2008 came to 1.1 Billion, this was topped up by 500 Million in the Local Government Fund.

Kildare County Council received 26.4 Million from the Local Government Fund when they had a road budget of 31 Million.

In short, motor tax falls far short of covering the cost of road maintenance, so George's fat arse is cruising on tarmac paid for by cyclists' income tax and VAT. (Not to mention the fact that most cyclists pay motor tax anyway, how else would we get our bikes to races?)

http://www.cartell.ie/2010/02/cartell-asks-where-does-our-motor-tax-go/

CramCycle

Very funny a few months ago when he was talking to American investors about coming over here and he made a comment to an MD for a huge company (for a brake parts supplier for cars) coming over here.
He stated that he doesn't wear his brakes down as much since he doesn't slow down when he sees cyclists but they wouldn't have that problem in America (because they have no cyclists?!?!).
The guy turned round and informed George that he cycled to and from work every day, he hoped he never met anyone like him while he was in Ireland as it would put him off coming here and he really hoped that his multi billion business that they were considering bringing to Ireland would not have to deal with anyone else with his attitude again.

George went to ads.

awec

Anyone who starts a rant with "why cannot motorists" doesn't deserve to be taken seriously anyway.

Hermy

The worst of it is his own driving leaves a lot to be desired.

monument

CramCycle wrote: »

Very funny a few months ago when he was talking to American investors about coming over here and he made a comment to an MD for a huge company (for a brake parts supplier for cars) coming over here.
He stated that he doesn't wear his brakes down as much since he doesn't slow down when he sees cyclists but they wouldn't have that problem in America (because they have no cyclists?!?!).
The guy turned round and informed George that he cycled to and from work every day, he hoped he never met anyone like him while he was in Ireland as it would put him off coming here and he really hoped that his multi billion business that they were considering bringing to Ireland would not have to deal with anyone else with his attitude again.

George went to ads.

That's brilliant.

Why isn't it on YouTube?

mcgratheoin

Hungrycol wrote: »

*except Sky, but thats cos I'm sure he got a lotta wonga for that ad!

Funny that, cos when Sky won the rights to the Heineken Cup he ranted on and on about how Sky would kill the game...

Cape Clear

Egos are an awful thing!

CillianL

'Woe to him who considers his opinions to be facts'

lifehacker

what a gob****e

Tombo2001

didnt know he was an anti cyclist but it doesnt surprise me.

the thought does occur though, his audience is 'drivetime' radio......cyclists (literally) arent listening to him. he has nothing to lost and everything to gain by slating cyclists to an audience of drivers. preaching to the converted.

Dave!

CramCycle wrote: »

Very funny a few months ago when he was talking to American investors about coming over here and he made a comment to an MD for a huge company (for a brake parts supplier for cars) coming over here.
He stated that he doesn't wear his brakes down as much since he doesn't slow down when he sees cyclists but they wouldn't have that problem in America (because they have no cyclists?!?!).
The guy turned round and informed George that he cycled to and from work every day, he hoped he never met anyone like him while he was in Ireland as it would put him off coming here and he really hoped that his multi billion business that they were considering bringing to Ireland would not have to deal with anyone else with his attitude again.

George went to ads.

Would love to hear this!

Used to listen to George, but I'm sick of him at this point. Seamus has him spot on above. Nearly worth making a complaint to the BCI on account of his bias. Very irritating. He had a debate about organic food recently, and completely sided with the organic guy. That was the last straw for me.

Then, a week later I caught him closing another segment on organic food, so out of curiosity started listening back on the player. It appears he wasn't actually doing a segment on it, but was just giving an organic guy an opportunity to broadcast some ideas, while I'm sure George fired softballs at him. I actually just turned that off after 30 seconds, so it's possible I'm being unkind and he challenged the guy strongly. If anyone heard it, feel free to correct me.

doozerie

Smug and smugger.

The word "git" is implied after each.

kerash

He's a motormouth moron idiot stupidface dumbass.

GT_TDI_150

Suppose he'll be asking to dig up pavements and allow cars in pedestrian zones next, sure pedestrians and cyclist dont pay tax to build/maintain roads?!?

Kn000b!!

Etc

George hates cyclists, I hate lanky geriatric, self opinionated old bores who like hearing themselves more than their guests on their radio program.

And for what it's worth he mentions regularly that his son is an avid cyclist !!

Joey Joe-Joe Jr

Hook is an irritating clown who I cannot stand.
It deeply annoys me that idiots like him are given airtime - why?
Because it means that there are thousands of other idiots who actually want to listen to his moronic, self righteous warblings.

Note: I held these opinions before I was aware that he had anti-cyclist tendencies.

Seweryn

Listening to this Tw@at will make your blood boil...

robindch

hardCopy wrote: »

[...] when talking about rugby [...]

I don't listen to radio much and never to him, but I lose the will to live when he's talking about rugby. Is it just me or does he talk at about 75% of normal speed, tying together an interminable series of coma-inducing cliches, thusly:

GH wrote:

Well, what's going wrong here is dat dey haven't scored yet and ye have to score if you want to win de game its what de game is all about and dey're not doing dat at de moment i tink dey're well able to get de ball over de line but ye have to have de ball near de line to be able to do dat and dey haven't been able to do dat since any time dey had de ball, dey've givin it away [etc, etc, etc]

Jeez....

Lusk Doyle

The reason that he is still on air is due to ratings and sponsorship. He gets both with the "controversial" viewpoints he takes. Simple. Money is the decider.

I do listen to his show for the guests because the topics are quite interesting a lot of the time. Can't stand him though.

I actually shouted at the radio yesterday when he started sh1t€ing on about cyclists again :mad:

He read out a text about the amount of cars that break red lights and point blank refused to accept that cars do it an awful lot of the time. I drive approx 50 - 60k a year and I'd cycle approx 6 - 8k a year. I see it all - both sides do it in equal measure IMO from what I see but his arrogance of opinion irks me seriously :mad:

robindch

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

Simple. Money is the decider. [...] I do listen to his show for the guests because the topics are quite interesting a lot of the time. Can't stand him though.

Then turn the radio off.

Your life will be a nicer place without him and he'll lose listeners, means lose sponsorship, means lose money.

Bunnyhopper

George Hook has it in for us.

Yay - that means we're doing something right

monument

Or just tune into Today FM -- Matt Cooper cycles. He also has a passion for helmets, but at least he cycles.

Genghis

I listen to George, usually while cycling and I find his cycling rants amusing. They don't bother me as such, I take them for what they are - stereotypical car-driver opinions (there are a few GH-types at work too, who like to let me know about cyclists they encounter commuting to work).

Anyone else remember the time George decided he'd sign up to do a triathlon for charity? It was 4-5 years ago. The idea lasted about 2 weeks. Not sure if he got as far as actually mounting a bike before he packed it it, think the knees gave in during his first 'run' sessions.

CramCycle

Dave! wrote: »

Would love to hear this!

The article/piece was on some Irish private companies/managers, paying for representatives from big american companies who rumour had it wanted to break into the European market, they were then showing off our work force, access to Europe, tax rates in an effort to entice them.
It seemed like a great idea and I was well impressed that these guys were doing it off their own back and were getting more done in less time than the IDA and had no government backing whatsoever.
They had Newstalk at the events to talk to people, so I think a few presenters over the day talked to the organisers and a select few from the big companies, in a Q&A style, why they need us and we need them scenario.
It was great until that comment by George that really came out of left field with no real relevancy, the MD had talked about the benefits of setting up a manufacturing plant here for steel brake parts, how it would be a potential hub for there expanding European consumer base (ie their entire company in Europe would hopefully run from here one day) and then George comes out with a statement about us not using our brakes as much as the Americans (or at least he didn't) because of this pesky vermin on the road (his words), that they probably didn't have, called the cyclist.
This MD head was clearly spun and you could hear his tone and demeanour change, like having a chat with someone over a pint and you realise they are a bigot and you just want to squirm away slowly and not get involved/dragged in, because if you do, it will not ended well.
If anyone remembers the name of the meetings/conference they might find it on the NT website, never used the website myself so unsure how long their records go back, it was in the last 6 months anyway I think.

On a seperate note, he was thanking Paul Kimmage for the traffic updates as he cycled around Dublin, as the canals were blocked yesterday evening.

artois

CramCycle wrote: »

Very funny a few months ago when he was talking to American investors about coming over here and he made a comment to an MD for a huge company (for a brake parts supplier for cars) coming over here.
He stated that he doesn't wear his brakes down as much since he doesn't slow down when he sees cyclists but they wouldn't have that problem in America (because they have no cyclists?!?!).
The guy turned round and informed George that he cycled to and from work every day, he hoped he never met anyone like him while he was in Ireland as it would put him off coming here and he really hoped that his multi billion business that they were considering bringing to Ireland would not have to deal with anyone else with his attitude again.

George went to ads.

Hook at his best!!

I cycle along the N11 to and from work, where the cycle lanes are good I use them but if the cycle lane is broken up with entrances and rubble I use the bus lane.

It never ceases to amaze me how road engineers can design lovely flat roads for cars(which have sophisticated suspensions) but when they design a cycle lane for a simple bike they make sure that the cycle lane goes up and down every curb and through every manhole. A good example of the Dunlaoghaire Rathdown cycle lane designers stupidity is the installation of speed bumps on the steep uphill section of the cycle lane as you come up to Loughlinstown roundabout.

I believe Hook's comments are dangerous as I have encountered N11 bus drivers(I assume who George Hook's main fan base) and taxis drivers behaving in a much more aggressive manner towards me when I cycle in the bus lanes. Careless comments from HOOK like the one above will result in a gullible driver injuring a cyclist.

For the record I also pay road tax and leave my car at home as often as I can which means there is usually one less car on the N11 sitting on front of Hook.

Lusk Doyle

artois wrote: »

Hook at his best!!

I cycle along the N11 to and from work, where the cycle lanes are good I use them but if the cycle lane is broken up with entrances and rubble I use the bus lane.

It never ceases to amaze me how road engineers can design lovely flat roads for cars(which have sophisticated suspensions) but when they design a cycle lane for a simple bike they make sure that the cycle lane goes up and down every curb and through every manhole. A good example of the Dunlaoghaire Rathdown cycle lane designers stupidity is the installation of speed bumps on the steep uphill section of the cycle lane as you come up to Loughlinstown roundabout.

I believe Hook's comments are dangerous as I have encountered N11 bus drivers(I assume who George Hook's main fan base) and taxis drivers behaving in a much more aggressive manner towards me when I cycle in the bus lanes. Careless comments from HOOK like the one above will result in a gullible driver injuring a cyclist.

For the record I also pay road tax and leave my car at home as often as I can which means there is usually one less car on the N11 sitting on front of Hook.

Motor tax.

Iwannahurl

seamus wrote: »

Let him rant away. See Hooky likes to think of himself as a current affairs broadcaster, when in reality he's just an old-fashioned radio preacher.

When he hosts "debates" on his show, what he does is side strongly with his chosen point of view and spend the entire time firing questions at the other guy while letting his favourite talk away unhindered.

When it appears that Hooky's side is losing the debate, he'll go on a nice long rant espousing his point of view, then close the debate and go to a break.

Listening to him will only make you disappointed for society because you'll be led to believe that George Hook's point of view has won every debate.

He'd make a great Mod for certain Boards forums!

CramCycle

artois wrote: »

I believe Hook's comments are dangerous as I have encountered N11 bus drivers(I assume who George Hook's main fan base) and taxis drivers behaving in a much more aggressive manner towards me when I cycle in the bus lanes. Careless comments from HOOK like the one above will result in a gullible driver injuring a cyclist.

I am not a strong cyclist but give me a tailwind on the N11 and there is no such thing as a DB that can keep up with me between Donnybrook and the section before it splits onto the M11.

I listen to GH all the time because despite all my annoyance at the man, he does what alot of other presenters don't do, he reads out the anti-GH texts, ackknowledges them, and never really tries to disagree with them, just casually comments that your entitled to your opinion, he never changes his but at least he ackknowledges the right and existence of other peoples opinions.

He knows he is a character, he knows his job relies on being this character and that often entails annoying people, its a job, if it was mine, I, ashamedly, would be much the same to pay the bills, apologies can come in a biography and after retirement.

Raam

I hate that numpty he has on, whatisface... the over-opinionated republican American know-it-all. I turn off when he comes on.

seamus

Michael Graham. I actually enjoyed him once I realised that he knows that he's trolling.

He's a poor man's Jon Stewart, but you can't take him seriously because you know he doesn't take himself seriously.

Lusk Doyle

Raam wrote: »

I hate that numpty he has on, whatisface... the over-opinionated republican American know-it-all. I turn off when he comes on.

Michael Graham from Boston. Republican.

Edit: Seamus is the man for the quick fire round!

Raam

Yeah, listening to him justifying the dropping of atomic bombs in Japan was a troll too far for me.

Lusk Doyle

They should do a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome thing with the two of them. Two mean enter. One man leaves. Then he gets knocked off for being a twat :pac:

Raam

There is a clip of him engaging with our president, before he was president. To the youtubes!

Raam

Here is some of it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5OWRRJh-PI

Jawgap

Is there any irony in the fact he's a brand ambassador for Peugeot?

Obviously Peugeot don't want to sell many cars to cyclists, but at least I know his reg no. now ;-)

dave_o_brien

Raam wrote: »

Here is some of it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5OWRRJh-PI

That is excellent, and makes me very proud of our Michael!

Raam

dave_o_brien wrote: »

That is excellent, and makes me very proud of our Michael!

There is a version with the full exchange which is probably better to listen to but I couldn't find it. I didn't look too hard, mind.