Upstaging Trade Unions: Young Activists Take Lead With an Online Insurgency and Direct Action
Nicholas Jones explains the new trade union radicalism.
Read more
Nicholas Jones
Nicholas Jones is a former BBC political correspondent.
Latest posts
Paying Cash For Stories: A Demeaning Trade
Nicholas Jones take Trevor Kavanagh to task over his protest that the Sun’s journalists were treated like an “organised crime gang” by the Met.
Read moreJeremy Hunt's Hypocrisy
Nicholas Jones finds it strange that Jeremy Hunt calls for regulation of press content free of political interference, but no promise that politicians will refrain from meddling in media ownership.
Read moreRecent posts
-
Alastair Campbell at Leveson Inquiry: Great Theatre Mr Jay, Shame About The Questions
- May 15, 2012
Nicholas Jones thought that Mr Jay's questioning of Alastair Campbell was poor at the Leveson Inquiry.
0 comments
-
Leveson Inquiry: Money Talks
- Feb 28, 2012
Nicholas Jones is not surprised so many rival journalists were beaten by the Sun’s exclusive stories.
0 comments
-
Arthur Scargill Relives Battle of Saltley Gates With Defiant Message
- Feb 11, 2012
Nicholas Jones reckons Arthur Scargill will never agree to an Ian Paisley-style reconciliation.
1 comment
-
The Demonising of Fred & Arthur
- Feb 4, 2012
Nicholas Jones has seen it all before. Before Fred Goodwin, it was Arthur Scargill's turn.
1 comment
-
Ed Miliband’s Fight Back
- Jan 18, 2012
Nicholas Jones reckons that confrontation with the trade unions is a life-line for Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.
1 comment
-
The Iron Lady and the Art of Intimidation: How Margaret Thatcher Kept Interviewers Under Control
- Jan 16, 2012
Nicholas Jones reflects on a rare moment of familiarity when interviewing the former Prime Minister.
0 comments
-
David Cameron’s Links With The Murdoch Press: Only Superficial Probing At The Leveson Inquiry
- Jan 10, 2012
Nicholas Jones analyses Kelvin Mackenzie's appearance at the Leveson Inquiry.
0 comments
-
Wining And Dining Police Officers: Not For The Faint Hearted
- Jan 9, 2012
Nicholas Jones reflects on his own misdemeanours in the light of Dame Elizabeth Filkin’s warning that police officers should refrain from accepting alcohol from journalists.
0 comments
-
Leveson Inquiry: Focus Shifts to Collusion Between Politicians & Media Proprietors
- Dec 27, 2011
Nicholas Jones says the fall-out from the News of the World scandal is edging closer to David Cameron
1 comment
-
Government by leaking rules OK
- Dec 22, 2011
Nicholas Jones gives a frank explanation of how Cameron & Co are singing from Alastair Campbell’s hymn sheet on media manipulation.
0 comments
-
Tim Collins No Stranger To “Gullibility”
- Dec 9, 2011
Nicholas Jones thinks Tim Collins should have learnt from his blunder over John Major’s “Back to Basics.”
1 comment
-
Yvette Cooper Delivers A Master Class In Not Answering The Question
- Dec 5, 2011
Nicholas Jones reckons Yvette Cooper mastered the art of spin during her performance with Andrew Marr.
5 comments
-
A Missed Opportunity
- Nov 30, 2011
Nicholas Jones reckons that more probing questions should have been asked during Alastair Campbell’s evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.
7 comments
-
Nick Clegg’s Troubles Compounded By Mixed Media Messages
- Nov 24, 2011
Nicholas Jones thinks Clegg has to make clear the Liberal Democrat's successes in government if they are to fair well at the next election.
2 comments
-
Freddie Starr’s Exit From I’m A Celebrity – A Reminder Of Fabricated Story Lines
- Nov 18, 2011
Nicholas Jones found the infamous Freddie Star headline amausing, but he thinks it symbolises the decline of journalism.
1 comment
-
Will St Paul’s Protest Avoid A Repeat Of The Occupy Wall Street Eviction?
- Nov 16, 2011
Nicholas Jones is shocked by the brazen way the St Paul’s protestors are playing to the cameras.
1 comment
-
Arthur Scargill: Is This the End of the Road for King Coal?
- Oct 30, 2011
Nicholas Jones wonders whatever became of Arthur Scargill.
2 comments
-
A Battle Royal on the Underground?
- Oct 26, 2011
Nicholas Jones thinks the issue of driverless trains could be incendiary for the transport unions.
3 comments
-
Leveson Should Take Heed Of Police Misjudgement Over The Guardian
- Sep 22, 2011
Nicholas Jones looks at the decision of the Metropolitan Police to abandon using the Official Secrets Act against the Guardian and the implications for the Leveson Inquiry.
0 comments
-
How Tony Blair Seized the Day
- Sep 10, 2011
Nicholas Jones explains how Tony Blair rose to the occasion and became the first world leader to react to the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
1 comment
-
Politicians Meeting Media Proprietors: A Draft Code Of Conduct
- Aug 25, 2011
Nicholas Jones takes a look ahead to the Leveson Inquiry which opens in September, and suggests what should be included.
0 comments
-
The Leveson Inquiry: A Last Chance?
- Jul 14, 2011
Nicholas Jones asks if Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry is a last chance at last to expose hidden collusion in the media.
1 comment
-
The End of Taxpayer Funded Union Officials?
- Jun 28, 2011
Government gets tough: Is it end of the road for shop stewards paid for by taxpayers? asks Nicholas Jones.
0 comments
About Nicholas Jones
Having been described as “that tick* Nick Jones” in Alastair Campbell’s diaries, there could perhaps be no better advertisement for a political correspondent who did all he could to expose the skulduggery of Tony Blair’s spin doctors and the vacuous nature of the New Labour rebranding.
Nicholas Jones, an industrial and political correspondent for the BBC for thirty years, has written extensively about the often troubled relationship between politicians and the news media.
His book on the last general election, Campaign 2010: The Making of the Prime Minister charted David Cameron’s astute self-promotion and his close relationship with the Conservatives’ former director of communications Andy Coulson.
Jones predicts trouble ahead for the coalition government as it encounters mounting opposition from the trade union movement once public spending cuts start to hurt, a timely reminder of his most recent book, The Lost Tribe. It poses the question, Whatever happened to Fleet Street’s industrial correspondents?
Jones continues to offer a personal and independent assessment of events and issues affecting life at Westminster and the ethics of journalism. Expect too a continuing insight into the black arts of media manipulation. So spin doctors, Beware!
* Tick: “parasitic insect...unpleasant or despicable person” (Oxford English Dictionary).