It always seems a bit unfair she gets such a slating for the exact reason she was hired.
Don’t need more bland.
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Yeah, Obi 2
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Shall we start with Dame Carol ?
Fast track to cabinet member.
Next PM maybe ??
Word is, Gp Cpt Vorderman now has a regular presenting gig at LBC, starting this weekend.
Guardian link (other news outlets are available)
Notice how they mentioned PLANNED explicitly…
Surprised she’s not mentioned it on her twitter (X, whatever) feed. Mind you, she’s not mentioned the Air Cadets in the last 3 years, so probably not surprising after all!
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Sounds a bit like a football manager leaving a club… ‘by mutual consent’!
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That would be unplanned then…?
Depends on who did the planning.
Will she retain her rank as a “retired@ senior officer?
Of course…and will be eligible for the veterans card too! 
Flicking back through the comments - I can see where @Turbo is coming from…
It’s all well and good that Ms Vorderman was appointed as an ambassador in the hope that her “brand” and that of RAFAC’s might be better aligned…
I even accept and respect her as a positive role model for intelligent, STEM oriented women - but aside from making a handful of public appearances in uniform - I can’t point to a single occasion where she did something, said something or wrote something to positively support and promote RAFAC…
The clearest example of a similar “celebrity” in an ambassador role would obviously be Bear Grylls… and his overwhelming support for The Scouts.
At the very least, you’d like to think that an ambassador would carry a similar amount of favour as even the most basic social media influencer - driving interest and encouraging young people - of all backgrounds.
Can’t help but think “what was the point…?”
Which leads to… “did she achieve it…:?”
If you were to ask any cadets that have joined in the last few years - “on a scale of 0-10 how strongly would you say you were influenced by Ms Vorderman? - I doubt she’d make it to double digits… in fact, I’d go further to say more cadets would reply “who?”
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All boils down to the motive. What you’d ideally want is a super keen ex-cadet / enthusiastic celebrity for whom the accolade and fancy rank would be an afterthought.
The dream would be for RAFAC to be approached by said celebrity rather than having to go looking.
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Didn’t she - through her outreach in the aerospace industry - sort out an all expenses paid trip for some cadets to the F-35 production line in the US? (Or something like it?)
Which kind of casts something of a shadow over anything the rest of them have done…
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So RAFAC has now deleted all social media about this announcement. Vorders not wanting the negative publicity perhaps, or maybe someone realised less publicity afforded to her the better.
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I seem to recall being shown several of her photos taken at RIAT of cadets working at the showground promoting their impact.
There have also been selfies at other events.
I’ve not followed her SM platform but follow enough CFAVs and RAFAC accounts to see them share her posts and engagement
And as @angus and @JoeBloggs highlight played a significant part in a F35 experience in the USA
All that said the argument:
Comes around all the time with the ambassador role.
There appears to be no TORs for the role to understand if this is to promote the organisation, either to the public or industry, to engage with the Cadets themselves and be a celebrity to meet, to act as a role model to the Cadets having ticked several aviation, STEM, diverse (ie female) boxes as part of the organisations aims, to be a “social influencer” directing the spotlight on the organisation by association or even to bridge a void between the organisation and aviation/STEM industry by their celebrity profile appeal bringing the attention of the right people around the table.
No one seems to know what the role is for and ends up being all of the above and more all at the same time.
Without trying to sound like a broken record when i see the RAFAC “fail” in a task i question how do our ACF cousins manage the same situation given we’re both singing from the same hymn book at least given the obvious similarities and then to ask how do the Scouts do it?
And this is where it gets interesting has Carol done significantly less or in a notably different(negative) way than her opposite number in the ACF and Scouts? (Her recent personal political rants in the last 6 months aside?
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I think prior to Covid & under dawn McCafferty I think carol was very active. All the large events be social media presence even would a post of her promoting the air cadets on GMB.
After Covid & the change of commandant I don’t think she was requested or asked to help at which point I think she then started ramping up her political side.
Interestingly if it was a planned 10year or 5year term, the actual end date will be November so perhaps the RAF is jumping before we hit the purda period.
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