#BrownCarGuy – News, Views & Reviews!
Tomorrow, something unusual happens. Lent begins for Christians. Ramadan begins for Muslims. Two great traditions, drawn from different scriptures, different histories, different spiritual traditions – and yet arriving on our calendars almost side by side. Both are seasons of restraint. Of discipline. Of reflection. Of giving something up. And so I want to suggest something radical.
A few days ago, headlines were dominated by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, co-owner of Manchester United. Founder and driving force behind the INEOS Grenadier, the same INEOS that is also part-owner of the Mercedes F1 team, and, oh, by the way, he is one of the richest men in Britain. His estimated net worth hovers around £17 billion, according to recent Rich Lists. This Knight of the Realm made remarks suggesting the UK was being “colonised” by immigrants. He referenced unemployment, claimed nine million people were on benefits, and linked immigration levels to economic strain.
Continue reading “Billionaires, Colonisation & the Grenadier – Shortsighted or Shenanigans?”
Whenever Lord of the Flies resurfaces, as it now has with a dramatic new television serialisation, we are invited to revisit the same bleak conclusion: scratch the surface of civilisation and out spills the savage. Remove teachers, police, governments, parents, and apparently we revert to painted faces, sharpened sticks, and ritual murder before it’s coconut milk time.
Valentine’s Day. The one evening of the year when restaurants are overbooked, hotel prices are outrageous, roses are in short supply, and otherwise sensible adults suddenly decide the most romantic place on earth is the back seat of a hatchback in a dimly lit supermarket car park. But it that actually legally allowed? Before you head out tonight, watch the full breakdown below – because it could save your blushes, and what feels harmless and romantic could, in certain circumstances, fall under careless driving, public order offences, or Highway Code breaches.
Let me start with a statistic that should stop every UK motorist mid-scroll. According to the latest RAC research, one in four UK drivers has been the victim of car crime in the past twelve months. Not one in four luxury car owners. Not one in four people who park badly or leave laptops on their seats. One in four drivers, full stop. And if you live in a town or a city, it gets worse. In urban areas, nearly half of all motorists report some form of vehicle crime.
Everything looks real. Until it isn’t. Cars, content, even people are now being designed, edited and improved by artificial intelligence – and the automotive world may never look the same again. If you’ve found yourself squinting at your phone lately thinking “Hang on… is that real?”, congratulations. You are officially living in the age of artificial intelligence.
Not the flying-cars, robot-butlers kind. No. This is the more unsettling version. The one where cars are being designed by algorithms, photos are being “improved” beyond recognition, videos are faked convincingly enough to fool journalists, and voices can be cloned while their owners are fast asleep. Welcome to the great reality wobble.
Somewhere between the fifth AI-generated video you didn’t trust and the third car launch you instantly forgot, it dawned on us: we might be living in the uncanny valley… and it’s a charged congestion zone!
That unsettling sense of digital déjà vu is where this latest BCG Podcast begins. I’m joined by Sy from Drivers Union, and together we tumble headfirst into a bonkers tangled conversation about AI, cars, car culture, Bond, books, events, identity and the creeping suspicion that none of us quite know what’s real anymore – including ourselves.
What happens when you sit down with a former London emergency response driver who used to pilot ambulances faster than some supercars, a man wearing an Iron-Man helmet and a car guru who ends up explaining urinal etiquette? You get a BCG Podcast so outrageous, so packed with jaw-dropping real-life stories, and so wonderfully unhinged that you absolutely cannot miss it. This episode genuinely blindsided me – and I was in it.
I know that I’m pigeon-holed sometimes. And I know why. I love cars, especially big hairy monstrous motors that smoke their tyres and obliterate decibel detectors.
Yes, my name is Shahzad and I’m an Autoholic. I confess the thrum of a V8 turns me on, octane is my cologne, and a gear-snatching, wheel-twirling thrash up a twisty road is my therapy. Cyclists are annoying, traffic cameras are the enemy, and the Highway Code is a quaint little booklet that’s just the right thickness for the wobbly leg of my coffee table.
And most damning of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this.
Stardate: Right-Here-Right-Now
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved Star Trek. Not because of the phasers, photon torpedoes, or the occasional red-shirt casualty (though let’s be honest, those were fun too). No – it was the future it promised. A future built on intellect, compassion, curiosity, and progress. A future where humanity finally grew up, stopped arguing about nonsense, cured disease, ended hunger, explored the stars – and had the decency to put cup holders on shuttlecraft.
Continue reading “The Future We Promised Ourselves – And Why We’re Not at Warp Yet”