Film Review: Green Street
- 11 Apr 2006
Imagine you're a film director and you're making a movie about football hooliganism. You need to cast someone as a hooligan. Who comes to mind first? Elijah Wood, the world's most famous hobbit? Yeah right. But that's indeed who plays the lead in this fantastic film. I've had ...
Scrap PartY Conferences?
- 5 Apr 2006
In an interview with Petronella Wyatt in the Daily Mail this morning George Osborne says the Conservatives might scrap their annual conference altogether. The quote reads: "We might scrap the big autumn conference altogether. We need to face issues about the future of Britain ...
My Evening With Cliff, Lulu and Lord Ashcroft
- 2 Apr 2006
Last night I attended what must surely be one of the parties of the year, if not the decade - Michael Ashcroft's 60th birthday bash. It was a total privilege to be there. However I describe it, I won't be able to do justice to the evening. If I live to be 90 I doubt whether I ...
My Weekend in Washington DC
- 27 Mar 2006
Well I never did get to the Holocaust Museum on Saturday. I didn't get out of the hotel until mid afternoon due to the Michael Hintze exclusive, which most (but naturally, not all) of the papers were good enough to credit me with. So by the time I drove down there it was impos...
EXCLUSIVE: LOAN TORY CHOOSES THIS BLOG TO GO PUBLIC
- 26 Mar 2006
Note to journalists: If you use any quote from this story I'd be grateful if you'd source/credit it properly! The man behind the £2.5 million Tory loan "revealed" in The Times today will come as a big disappointment to anyone looking for a Tory-troubles story. I can exclusi...
My Top Ten Political Sitcoms
- 24 Mar 2006
These are sitcoms, so I haven't included Have I Got News for You or Rory Bremner. I've also only managed to think up 8, so can you think of any political sitcoms I have missed! 1. Yes Minister /Yes Prime Minister Unrivalled comedy expose of the civil service at its finest....
The Man Responsible for the Rise of Edward Heath
- 9 Mar 2006
Sir Walter Bromley-Davenport was the Tory MP for Knutsford, and an opposition whip shortly after the war. Once, seeing an unfamiliar figure leaving the building, he assumed this was a Tory MP trying to evade a three-line whip. When the man refused to stop, Sir Walter kicked hi...
My Ten Political Heroes
- 9 Mar 2006
My Top Ten Political Heroes Some of my political heroes won't surprise you, but others will. This sort of thing is very personal and any such list will inevitably be dominated by contemporary figures from one's own political life, and also heroes in history. Mine is no diff...
My Top Ten Political Diaries
- 8 Mar 2006
On Sunday night Gyles Brandreth starts a new mini-series on the art of writing political diaries. You can hear it at the fag-end of the Westminster Hour at 9.45pm. So I thought I'd do a top ten of my favourite political diaries. I'm not sure what this means but I do detect a t...
Anne Diamond and my Nude Interview
- 7 Mar 2006
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Anne Diamond. In fact I have just finished reading her autobiography. It's quite a traumatic read in places, as she details the terrible death of her son Sebastian, who she found dead in his cot one morning. She's obviously never comple...
My Top 10 Political Movies
- 7 Mar 2006
Now I readily admit that my movie tastes are somewhat shallow - unlike my politics, of course! I go to the cinema to have a laugh, have a cry or to see some 'action'. I do not like intellectual films which you have to think about - you know, the kind of things which you'd be o...
Stranded on the M25
- 7 Mar 2006
I'm in Norwich at the moment, having just attended a funeral. Three and a half hours it took to get here... I was stuck on the M25 in the slow lane when I noticed a woman in the fast lane who had steam coming out of the back of her MG. She got out to look at it, leaving her el...
My Top Ten Political Novels
- 2 Mar 2006
My Top Ten Political Novels Paul Linford has posted his Top Ten Political Books. So always being one to jump on a bandwagon (!) I thought I'd follow his lead, but give you my Top Ten Political Novels instead. My definition of a political novel might be different to some peo...
An England Team of West Ham Players
- 11 Feb 2006
Footballers are not renowned for their great intellects, but West Ham's 21 year old captain Nigel Reo Coker (pic left) is different. Read THIS interview in The Independent and make up your own mind. He's probably been the Hammers' best player this season, certainly the most co...
EDP Diary: Tony Blair's Leadership Travails
- 9 Feb 2006
So Ian Huntley tried to kill himself again this week. I cannot imagine many people would have shed a tear if he had succeeded, and I count myself among them. Of course the very people who will write letters to this newspaper castigating me for such a callous, “unchristian” vie...
Older & Wiser: Ridding the Tory Candidates List of Ageism
- 3 Feb 2006
Having reached the ripe old age of 43 I find that the leader of my Party is four years younger than me. What hope is there?! Will the Conservative Party come to mirror society’s obsession with youth and decide to pick its Parliamentary candidates who are broadly speaking on th...
The Delusions of a West Ham Fan
- 29 Jan 2006
Having witnessed West Ham's 4-2 drubbing of Blackburn yesterday (what a shame Jack Straw was in Davos...) I dreamt last night that the Hammers reached the FA Cup final and became the first team to play at the New Wembley. It would be fitting for them to do so as they were also...
EXCLUSIVE: Did His Credit Card Statement 'Do' for Simon Hughes?
- 27 Jan 2006
Something has been bugging me about the Simon Hughes issue. In a post below, I stated that The Sun had got hold of his phone records. However, I now understand that it may have actually been his credit card records which The Sun obtained. I think therefore that Simon Hughes mi...
Seven Things Meme
- 27 Jan 2006
Oh well, here goes... 7 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE 1. Get elected 2. Write a proper book 3. Persuade my partner to take more holidays 4. Have enough money so I don't continually worry about it 5. Learn to play the Piano 6. Finish the Robert Caro books on LBJ 7. Lear...
Simon Hughes Deserves Both our Condemnation and Understanding
- 26 Jan 2006
And then there were two. Only Chris Huhne and Ming Campbell remain as serious contenders in the LibDem leadership race following Simon Hughes's outing in today's Sun. It's not the fact that he's gay that's the problem. It's the fact that like Mark Oaten and Charles Kennedy he ...