Israel is Right to Defend Its People
- 29 Dec 2008
Hamas are a bunch of murderous thugs. Over the past few years they have fired 5,000 rockets on Israel from residential parts of the Gaza strip, killing and injuring dozens of innocent Israelis. Israel has done its best not to react, but in the end their patience has snapped - ...
Ten Predictions for 2009
- 29 Dec 2008
Ten Predictions for 2009 1. There won't be an election. 2. Unemployment will top 3 million by the end of the year. 3. Damian Green will not face charges. 4. Ed Balls will be Chancellor by the end of the year. 5. Ken Clarke will join the Shadow Cabinet. David Davis won't...
Ten Bloglines You Won't See in 2009?
- 27 Dec 2008
WOULD THE PM MIND MOST AWFUL IF I SOLICITED HIS RESIGNATION? Devil's Kitchen CONGRATULATIONS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ON HIS INAUGURATION Donal Blaney WHY WE ARE BACKING LIVERPOOL FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP Dizzy & Norfolk Blogger IAIN DALE CAN STUFF HIS LINKS Tom Harris ...
Revisiting Christmas Way Back When
- 24 Dec 2008
I find that as I get older I find it far more difficult to get into the Christmas spirit. Not because I am at all Scrooge-like, before you get the wrong idea, but more because I suppose I'd quite like Christmases to be exactly how I remember them as a child. Not going to happe...
My Book of the Year - Nicky Campbell's 'Blue Eyed Son'
- 23 Dec 2008
I feel a bit bereft. You know that feeling when you finish a book that you never wished would end? I've got that now. This instant. Four years ago I bought a book I probably thought I'd never end up reading. You know, one of those books which looks quite interesting, but there...
Why Doesn't the Pope Just Join the BNP & Have Done With It?
- 23 Dec 2008
The Pope considers homosexuality as "damaging to the future of the world as the destruction of the rain forests". I wonder if he thinks it is as damaging to the world as the Nazi Party was. This all comes on top of his comments from earlier this year, when he described homosex...
I'm Trying to Keep the Economy Alive, But...
- 22 Dec 2008
I just went down to Curry's to buy a 160GB iPod. No luck. Apparently they only make a 120GB one now, or so they told me. That's no good to me. I have more than 30,000 songs on my hard drive. So I went next door to PC World. Excellent. They had one on display, although no stock...
How (Not) To Deal With Abusive Thirteen Year Olds
- 20 Dec 2008
It's odd being me sometimes. This lunchtime I popped down to the BBC South East studios in Tunbridge Wells to do a quick live piece on their lunchtime news programme. They then wanted to do a recorded package for the evening news programme. The reporter took me out into Calver...
Blocked by Tom Watson
- 18 Dec 2008
Well this was a bit of a surprise. As you know, I am a bit of a late convert to Twitter. I don't follow the Twitter activities of a huge number of people (around 50) but I tried to add Labour blogging Minister Tom Watson to that list this afternoon. But up came the following r...
Will Young to Appear on Question Time
- 18 Dec 2008
Last night on Radio 5 Live's Stephen Nolan Show I took part in a 15 minute discussion on ... wait for it ... whether it is right for Will Young to appear as a guest on Question Time. Question Time had issued an embargoed press release about him appearing on a show in the New Y...
Will Derek Draper Be "Labour's Iain Dale"?
- 17 Dec 2008
My invite to Derek Draper's blogging breakfast seems to have got lost in the post. Guido and Harry Phibbs have all the details so I won't go into inordinate detail. But one thing struck me about the whole event. Doesn't it just illustrate the differences between the two phi...
Whatever Happened to my Telegraph Column
- 5 Dec 2008
Thanks to those of you have been emailing asking what's happened to my Daily Telegraphcolumn. I started it in February 2007 and have been writing it every fortnight since then, alternating with John Kampfner. However, the Telegraph have decided (and I rather agree with them) t...
Jacqui Smith Appears to Give the Police Carte Blanche
- 30 Nov 2008
I have just been watching Andrew Marr's interview with Jacqui Smith. At the end of the Major government, many Cabinet Ministers appeared on TV and were seen as totally out of touch with public opinion. The interviewer would say something was white and they would say it was bla...
Can British Bloggers Make Money Out of Blogging?
- 29 Nov 2008
The latest issue of the British Journalism Review has a fairly lengthy article by me on whether UK bloggers can make money from their blogging activities. Although it has only just been published, the article was written three months ago. Links to all the blogs mentioned can b...
LibDems Look Into the Abyss Over £2.4 Million Donation
- 28 Nov 2008
Michael Brown, the man who gave the LibDems £2.4 million, has been convicted of fraud, following an early conviction of perjury. The Electoral Commission has said it will now reopen its investigation as to whether the donation was permissible in the first place. If it finds th...
I Fancied Esther Rantzen
- 27 Nov 2008
I seem to have created a bit of a stir with my latest Twitter/Facebook status update. For those who missed it, this is it... Iain is wondering if it is wrong to admit that as an eleven year old, he fancied Esther Rantzen Now, perhaps it deserves a little - but not too mu...
Neatly Avoiding the 45 Tax Bear Trap
- 26 Nov 2008
Sunder Katwala on the Fabian Society's Next Left blog is trying to stir up a bit of trouble over the 45p tax issue. When it was announced I wrote a post saying that the announcement of a new higher rate signalled the end of New Labour. In the comments we had this exchange... ...
Perhaps It's Time to Legalise Prostitution
- 20 Nov 2008
Over the last ten years, the nature of prostitution in this country has changed, with a growing number of the women involved in it being trafficked into this country for the specific purpose of pimping them out for sex. That's not to say it wasn't an ugly business before - it ...
Message to Yasmin: Demonising Families Is Not the Answer
- 17 Nov 2008
This lunchtime I had the anguish pleasure of listening to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown tell Jeremy Vine that in the field of child protection, it is families who are the problem rather than the solution. Even for Yasmin, that was a corker. In her opinion families just can't be trusted...
Lynne Feathertone is Right: Heads Must Roll Over Baby P
- 16 Nov 2008
Earlier this morning on Sky News, LibDem MP Lynne Featherstone called for heads to roll in the Baby P investigation. Specifically, she said that senior officials in the Children's Services department of Haringey Council should be sacked. She went on to put a lot of blame on th...