My Top 100 Songs of All Time 26-50
- 14 Oct 2018
To view 51-75 click HERE. And for 76-100 click HERE. To see 1-25 click HERE. 26. Denis Blondie 27. The Number One Song in Heaven Sparks 28. The Day Before You Came Abba 29. Search for the Hero Inside Yourself M People 30. I Like Chopin Gazebo 31. Into the Fire ...
My Top 100 Songs of All Time 51-75
- 14 Oct 2018
To see 76-100 click HERE. To see 26-50 click HERE. To see 1-25 click HERE. 51. Candle in the Wind Elton John 52. My Love, My Life Abba 53. Grow Kubb 54. Both Sides Now Clannad & Paul Young 55. American Pie Don McLean 56. Alone Heart 57. Our Town James Ta...
My Top 100 Songs of All Time 76-100
- 14 Oct 2018
Sunday evening used to be the time when we’d all listen to the radio and find out who the number one now. Nowadays no one really cares. It’s easy to forget what an appointment to listen it really was for anyone under the age of 30. Anyway, given I decided I wasn’t go to think ...
Interviewing a Hero - Kevin Keegan
- 13 Oct 2018
Over the years, I’ve got to interview quite a few major league celebrities, who have been vague heroes of mine. Joan Rivers is one that springs to mind. Joan Collins is another. I tried not to be too much of a fan boy, and by and large succeeded. Or at least, I think I did! H...
Two Ways Conservative Conferences Need to Change
- 10 Oct 2018
I’m getting heartily sick of conferences in Birmingham and Manchester. Because of the cost of accommodation many party members are put off attending. They just can’t afford it. One of the joys – if that’s the right word – of going to Bournemouth or even Blackpool was that anyo...
The Teachers Who Inspired Me
- 6 Oct 2018
I was flicking through Twitter this afternoon and came across a tweet from Jeremy Corbyn, which he posted on International Teachers Day, yesterday… On #InternationalTeachersDay I wanted to share this clip of Ian Wright talking about an inspiring teacher.It's incredibly moving...
The Three Podcasts...
- 2 Oct 2018
As many of you know, I have three weekly podcasts running at the moment and you’d do me an enormous honour if you’d try each of them out. And if you like them, subscribe so you’ll automatically get new episodes on your phone each week. ‘For the Many’ has been going for a ye...
The Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives of 2018
- 1 Oct 2018
Each year for the last eleven years I have convened panels to compile lists of the Top 50 Liberal Democrats, the Top 100 Most Influential People on the Left, and the Top 100 Most Influential People on the Right. This year, due to workload, I have wimped out of doing the Lib...
Political Counterfactual: The Day Michael Portillo Became Prime Minister
- 29 Sep 2018
I wrote this political counterfactual back in 2004, as the lead chapter in the [‘Prime Minister Portillo & Other Things That Never Happened’](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prime-Minister-Portillo-Things-Happened/dp/1842750690/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=153...
Imposter Syndrome & Dealing With Insecurities
- 28 Sep 2018
Max Foster, my CNN Talk colleague has started a new podcast called Cloutology. In each episode he’s going to talk to people about how they achieve success in their careers and what their insecurities are. Here’s 30 minutes of me explaining how I try to deal with my own career ...
Men Are Raped Too - It Nearly Happened To Me
- 27 Sep 2018
This whole article is probably going to come under the category of ‘Too Much Information’, but on CNNTalk today I revealed that I was once the victim of a sexual assault, which could have turned into something far worse. It’s not something I have spoken about in public before,...
The Consequences of Keir - Could He Now Be Reshuffled?
- 25 Sep 2018
Sir Keir Starmer may have had a bit of a moment this morning when he was cheered by Labour conference delegates for going off script and making clear his view that any future referendum could include the option of remaining a member of the EU. But might it turn into a somewhat...
The Porn Conundrum & Why Monkey Spanking Has Never Been Cheaper
- 25 Sep 2018
Let me pose a question to you. If straight men enjoy watching lesbian porn, is it not reasonable to assume that straight women enjoy watching gay men go at it on their BluRay screens? You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But try as I might among my female friends and workmates I can’...
Book Review: Alan Johnson - In My Life
- 23 Sep 2018
I might as well get this out of the way right from the start. This is the best book I’ve read this year. Anyone who doesn’t buy it will never know what they’re missing out on. This is Alan Johnson’s fourth autobiographical book. The other three have been bestsellers and it wo...
What Norfolk Means To Me (And Being Interviewed by a Guinea Pig)
- 23 Sep 2018
What is your idea of perfect happiness in Norfolk? Walking along Mundesley beach (pic below). When I was at university in Norwich in the early 1980s I used to drive out there at midnight from time to time and just wander along the beach listening to the waves crashing again...
Some Political Gaffes For Your Delectation
- 22 Sep 2018
Back in 2007 Norwich North MP Ian Gibson experienced what is commonly known as ‘foot in mouth’ incident, when he appeared to describe the whole of the county of Norfolk as ‘inbred’. It was the latest in the line of political gaffes which have damaged and sometimes ended the ca...
Six Weeks in the Autumn - My Very Personal Diary From 2002
- 21 Sep 2018
I was trying to find a database file on my laptop earlier, and stumbled across a Word file called ‘Diary’ from November 2002. I opened it out of curiosity and found 7,000 words from a diary I clearly kept over six weeks from the autumn of that year. Suffice to say, it brought ...
When Peter Hain and I Nearly Ended Up in Prison Together
- 21 Sep 2018
It was six years ago this week. “There’s a letter from the Attorney General of Northern Ireland for you,” said my assistant, Grant Tucker. “Apparently he wants to send you and Peter Hain to The Maze”. And so it began. Six months of legal wrangling that ended up with the Gover...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 63: Interviewing Michael Foot
- 20 Sep 2018
Thirty five years ago, in the middle of the 1983 election campaign, I was heckling Michael Foot at a packed election meeting in a disused church in Norwich. He, of course loved it, and I helped turned a pedestrian election speech into a humdinger. I wrote to Michael Foot af...
How I Might Have Become a Lebanese Hostage
- 19 Sep 2018
I was reading an article on the train home about modern day Beirut. My thoughts immediately turned to a visit I made to Lebanon some 26 years ago, in 1992, not long after the British hostages had been freed. Indeed, I was told during my visit to Beirut that I was the first Bri...