Why I Can't Accept the Orwell Prize
- 1 Apr 2009
I've given this a lot of thought, and have made the decision to withdraw from the Orwell Prize. As you know, last week I was shortlisted for the prestigious literary award. At the time, I was incredibly proud of the achievement and was delighted to receive congratulations from...
Obama Saw My Sister's Beaver
- 31 Mar 2009
My sister lives near Saffron Walden, on the Stansted flightpath. Seeing as I have nothing better to do (being stranded at Leicester station) I thought I would share with you a text message I received from her this afternoon... "AIR FORCE ONE JUST FLEW OVER MY BEAVER" I...
The Expenses Issue is Getting Out of Hand
- 30 Mar 2009
I was going to write this post twenty minutes ago, but thought I had better calm down. I had just spent nearly an hour doing a phone-in programme with BBC Radio Wales. I have never experienced an angrier group of people in any programme I have taken part in. Every single calle...
HSBC - The Listening Bank?
- 30 Mar 2009
I got a call from HSBC this morning. This is how the conversation went. HSBC: I just need to check your postcode. ME: No you doubt. HSBC: It's for security. ME: I don't have an account with you. HSBC: Well, it's for security, sir. ME: But I don't have an account with...
My UKIP Hidden Agenda
- 29 Mar 2009
So, Stuart Wheeler has been summarily shown the door by the Conservative Party. Good. Actions have consequences, as Mr Wheeler (as he will now forever remain!) must have known. No responsible political party could have allowed one of its donors to give a large amount of money ...
An Email to Damian McBride
- 27 Mar 2009
This is a copy of an email I have just sent to Damian McBride, the Prime Minister's Head of Strategy. On the Daily Politics yesterday, Guido Fawkes made an allegation that McBride had given Derek Draper his marching orders on how to trash my reputation as a blogger, and...
Is Twitter for Twats?
- 10 Mar 2009
Twitter is a form of social media which some people in the political and media world really do seem to have an issue with. Rachel Sylvester in this morning's Times launches a tirade against people who use Twitter, relying on clapped out psychologist Oliver James to make her po...
Concert Review: Elaine Paige
- 8 Mar 2009
Elaine Page is probably the star name of British musical theatre over the last thirty years. She seems to have starred in virtually every hit musical to hit the West End, since her first lead as Eva Peron in Evita in the mid 1970s. I remember going to see Evita on a school tri...
Where Were You When You Heard Margaret Thatcher Had Resigned?
- 26 Feb 2009
The New Stateman has a Thatcher Special this week - yes, you did read that correctly. One of the features is a WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU HEARD SHE HAD RESIGNED. They have edited my contribution, so I thought I'd give you the unedited version here... The night before Margaret ...
Review: Margaret
- 26 Feb 2009
I can't decide if I enjoyed that or not. In some ways it was a gross caricature, in others it was a pretty accurate portrayal of a political assassination. The trouble with political dramas based on real events is that they inevitably involve a large degree of exaggeration - b...
Rwanda: The Shaming of Donald Steinberg
- 24 Feb 2009
I was going to write this blogpost last night, but I was so angry I decided it was best to sleep on it. Bad decision. I'm still fizzing with anger. Yesterday evening I was invited by TIME Magazine's excellent London Bureau Chief Catherine Mayer to attend a screening of an impo...
A Fire at the Farm
- 21 Feb 2009
Well, if you've been following my Twitter feed you'll know that it's been quite an evening at Dale Towers near Saffron Walden. We've been spending the weekend with my parents at their farm (where I grew up) in Ashdon. At about 9pm my partner John went out for a smoke and ca...
Why Speaking the Language of the Left Won't Work
- 19 Feb 2009
Harriet Harman's desire to appear more left wing than she really is, is not only a reflection of her desire to be a leadership player when the time comes, she calculates that it will resonate with the country as well as her party. Jon Cruddas makes a similar calculation in his...
My Sunday Newspaper Shame
- 15 Feb 2009
On Friday I caused a bit of havoc on my Twitter feed by saying this... Oh dear, looks like I am going to be exposed in a Sunday newspaper for a misdeed of my youth. Gulp. It's all rather embarrassing. I was inundated with messages on email and via Facebook of the "we'l...
The Draper Slo-Mo Car Crash Continues
- 14 Feb 2009
Draper's having another one of his hissy fits over Guido's Friday Caption competition. And he is DEMANDING - yes, demanding, that I and ConHome remove our sidebar links to Guido. How very student union of him. He even shows graphics demonstrating that we link to Guido. What Dr...
25 (More) Random Things About Me
- 8 Feb 2009
1. When I was 9 I stuck a pitchfork through my big toe. 2. My Saturday job was mucking out my Dad's pigs. I was paid 10p per hour. 3. At primary school my friend threw a lump of plasticine at me from the other side of the classroom. It went straight into my mouth. 4. If I c...
What The Twitter Is Draper Up To?
- 6 Feb 2009
In his bizarre attempt to become the blogosphere's Mr Popular, Derek Draper's latest wheeze is to "follow" every single one of my Twitter followers. Some might consider this to breach Twitter's own rules. While I have been out this afternoon I have been deluged with Twitter...
Misunderstood, Funny or Racist
- 5 Feb 2009
There's a very interesting thread on my West Ham Blog on a post headed "The Evils of Racism". I wrote it yesterday in response to the West Bromwich Albion fan forum The Stirrer, Bob Piper and Ministry of Truth who had written more about the Radio 4 interview and my remarks con...
Banned by Draper - My Life's Work is Complete
- 4 Feb 2009
Derek Draper should take some of his own psychotherapy. Having spent yesterday ranting at junior interns at the Taxpayers' Alliance, it seems that his Victim of the Day today is me. This is what he has just twittered... LabourList has suspended Iain Dale from our blogroll u...
25 Random Things About Me
- 3 Feb 2009
Well if it's good enough for John Prescott, it's good enough for me. And I suppose it just proves that blogging is about me, me, me :). Anyway, here are 25 random things you probably never knew about me, and probably never wanted to know. Tough. 1. I worked for a year as a ...