Theatre Review: An Evening With Don Black
- 17 Aug 2008
A few weeks ago my partner suggested we get tickets for a concert at the Palladium, organised by Radio 2. My heart sank. It was a Tribute to Don Black to mark his seventieth birthday. Who's Don Black, I said. I got a contemptuous look, which in itself is nothing unusual :). ...
The Any Questions Experience (1)
- 16 Aug 2008
I must admit I don't normally get nervous before appearing on radio or TV, but yesterday was different. There's enormous potential to make a complete dick of yourself on ANY QUESTIONS, and the thought of the four hour drive home afterwards thinking I had done really badly nagg...
Telegraph Column: Cameron's Scottish Conundrum
- 16 Aug 2008
It’s not often that Scottish Conservatives get the opportunity to make a difference, but on Tuesday it happened – and they flunked it. For a party which is polling under ten per cent of the vote it was a serious misjudgement to ally themselves with Labour and the LibDems and t...
Trancript of Iain's First Appearance on Any Questions
- 15 Aug 2008
CHAIRMAN: JONATHAN DIMBLEBY PANELLISTS: TIM SMIT CBE Chief Executive, The Eden Project IAIN DALE Political Commentator, blogger...
The Perils of Predictions
- 12 Aug 2008
Five years ago, in the autumn of 2003, I wrote a magazine article predicting who would be at the top of politics ten years hence, in 2013. Reading through it now, I rather wish I hadn't! While some of predictions have indeed come true, Mystic Meg I clearly ain't! I helpfully c...
A Supermarket Tale of Two Norfolk MPs
- 26 Jul 2008
Norwich North Labour MP Ian Gibson was on the Today Programme this morning bemoaning the fact that he now gets shouted at in supermarkets by angry constituents and it's all Gordon Brown's fault. Later on this morning, Mid Norfolk Tory MP Keith Simpson was dragooned into sho...
A Landmark Day for Northern Ireland Politics
- 25 Jul 2008
I remember bitter debates at Conservative Conference sin the 1990s when Northern Ireland Conservatives were effectively banned from organising in the province. Lawrence Kennedy put some powerful arguments forward and eventually persauded the party to relent. Although electoral...
Film Review: Thank You for the Movie
- 25 Jul 2008
Yesterday was my partner's birthday, so as a special treat (!), we went to see Mamma Mia (the movie) at the Leicester Square Odeon with a couple of friends. To be honest, having enjoyed the stage version so much, I wasn't expecting much, but I was so wrong. I won't bore you wi...
The Future of Party Conferences
- 24 Jul 2008
My post yesterday about the cost if policing party conferences has sparked off quite a debate, with the majority of commenters saying that they are worth the price of the escalating policing costs. Many make the point that if the parties cancelled the conferences for this reas...
Has David Davis's National Debate Been Sparked?
- 8 Jul 2008
When David Davis resigned his seat he said he wanted to speak a national debate on 42 days and the surveillance society. Despite not having a serious opponent he has managed to get across quite a large part of the national media. If some new poll evidence is to believed, peopl...
In Conversation with Morgan Tsvangirai
- 6 Jul 2008
This interview appeared in Issue 2 of Total Politics Magazine in August 2008. You won the election in March. Do you now feel you have been cheated out of the Presidency? This is not about me. This is not about the MDC. My concern, and that o...
Ray Lewis & the 'Uncle Tom' Hating Leftists
- 4 Jul 2008
There's nothing the left hate more than a black person who does well in the Tory party. They look at successful black or Asian Tories and shake their heads in bewilderment at how such itelligent people can't see what they perceive as the real truth. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown gave t...
In Praise of Cardiff
- 4 Jul 2008
Having barely been to Wales in the first forty years of my life, over the last few years I have paid many visits to Cardiff. Admittedly three of the visits were to watch West Ham in two play-off finals and a Cup Final! I spent Thursday evening and most of Friday in the Wels...
Total Politics Update
- 30 Jun 2008
Sarah Mackinlay, the editor of TOTAL POLITICS, and I have just been giggling like a couple of schoolkids. On our way home (she lives in Kent too) we stopped off in W H Smith at Charing Cross to see how many copies of the magazine they had sold. As we approached the shelf someo...
Book Review: Cherie Blair's Autobiography
- 29 Jun 2008
Cherie Blair is a woman who people have very strong feelings about. She attracts adoration and loathing in equal measure. She was widely seen as something of an embarrassment for some of her antics (supermarket sweep, singing in China etc) and yet there was always a feeling, e...
Boris & His Absent Backbone
- 22 Jun 2008
For those of a sensitive disposition, be warned. I am going to pour a bucket of the brown stuff over the Mayor of London. This evening Boris Johnson "let go" one of the most decent, loyal, honest members of staff a politician could ever hope to find. His Chief Political Adviso...
David Davis & Gay Rights
- 16 Jun 2008
I wasn't going to post anything until tomorrow, but I am so angry at an attempt by the Gay rights group Stonewall (aided by their puppet, little Ben Bradshaw) to paint David Davis as some sort of anti-gay bigot, that I feel I have to respond. Stonewall are sending round an ema...
Our Perfect Day
- 16 Jun 2008
I promised to post a few pictures from the event at Wadhurst Castle yesterday, so here they are. Several of you have asked why I was in Peterborough today rather than on holiday. Er, the first issue of Total Politics is published next week. Not a good time to go away. That wil...
David Davis Resigns
- 12 Jun 2008
So, now that the dust has settled, what are to make of it all? The news media is in meltdown mode as they struggle to come to terms with the enormity of what David Davis has done. Instant conclusions are naturally being drawn, but many of them are very detached from reality. ...
Caroline Spelman is a Decent & Honest Woman
- 7 Jun 2008
The baying mob is once again in evidence. Its victim this time is Caroline Spelman. A more unlikely candidate for condemnation is difficult to think of. No one seriously believes Caroline Spelman is - or ever was - on the make. I remember when Caroline Spelman was first ele...