In the exchange I had with her, she did seem perplexed as to where this had come from. It’s not nice to see someone getting slagged off unfairly… especially if they’re giving up there time as a fund raiser.
I wonder if his anger is more to do with them being successful in gaining further funding?
On reading this then I really think peeps should be careful about what they write, -
Emma Freud has personally refuted what has allegedly been said and from what I can see there is not a stitch of evidence to show otherwise.
If she had nothing to do with the dropping of the footage then what is being written is very unfair.
Some1 forwarded the supposed e-mail (taken from here) from emma freud to rick hulse and this is his reply:“Hello G***
Thanks for sending me the copy of an e-mail allegedly sent to me by Ms Emma Freud. I can confirm that no such e-mail has ever been received.
As to the content of Ms Freud’s e-mail I can also confirm that the piece on the NABD was actually completed and originally included as the lead piece in the section on disability on the year in question.
I have a copy of the original complete section supplied to me at the time by the director involved in the project. It was an excellent piece.
I can also confirm that the same director informed me of the decision to axe this piece and that it had been due to an objection first raised by Ms Freud.
As to the claim in her e-mail that the CEO of comic relief said “but he did say that Comic Relief were very proud of the grants which they had given you” I can only say wake-up and smell the bullshit.
The NABD has never received ANY grants in any form from Comic Relief. Following the decision of Comic Relief to axe the item about disabled bikers the trustees of the NABD made the decision never to have any dealings with that organisation again.
Despite Ms Freud’s assertion that there may have been any number of other reasons for the piece being axed I can see no reason why the director of the piece would choose to claim that she instigated it if it were not true.
As she has now seen fit to suggest that the NABD have received grants from comic relief and claim that her statement is taken from an alleged e-mail to myself I leave you to make your own assumptions as to the veracity of the situation.
On the general matter of the fuss raised by people over-reacting to my blog (which has been published in magazines and forums two or three times in the years since this happened, without so much fuss) I can only say that it is unfortunate.
My intention was to inform/remind bikers of the attitude shown by comic relief to bikers many years ago so that they could consider this when asked to get involved in fundraising for red nose day.
I did not intend it to be turned into a witch-hunt or a lobbying campaign by well meaning, if slightly misguided people over-reacting to it. Indeed I think this is reflected in my choice to write the blog under my pen name of Professor Pierre O’****** as it was never intended to be an official NABD publication.
I hope this clarifies the situation and that at some point we are able to go back to the important work of ensuring that disabled people can enjoy the freedom and independence of motorcycling.”
