Lions Led by Donkeys - How the Tory Leadership Has Let Down the 'Poor Bloody Infantry'
- 16 Jun 2024
Lions led by donkeys. That was the title of a book by the late Alan Clark on the men who fought for Britain in the First World War. He could have also used the phrase ‘The poor bloody infantry’. It’s the Conservative leafleters and canvassers I most feel sorry for. When you’re...
Looking Forward to the Fowey Festival, 17-18 May
- 6 May 2024
I first appeared at the Fowey Festival at least 20 years ago. My role was to interview Ann Widdecombe about one of her novels. I fell in love with the place and went back to Fowey a couple of times afterwards. Last year I spoke at the Festival and on my way back br...
The Local Election Results: Some Reflections
- 5 May 2024
Over the last 43 years I’ve taken part in local elections first delivering leaflets, then as a canvasser, then a candidate, an election agent and latterly as a commentator and broadcaster. They never fail to surprise and entertain, and this year was no different. Over the y...
Israel/Gaza: Can't Make This Stuff Up
- 4 May 2024
A listener sent me this little polemic, which he had found on Twitter and then edited. It makes some interesting points, whatever stance you take on the conflict. Can’t make this stuff up Barbaric terrorist organisation attacks a democratic country, murders over a th...
My Review of TEN YEARS TO SAVE THE WEST by Liz Truss
- 21 Apr 2024
I don’t know about you, but I am fed up with book reviewers who lazily review the author of the book rather than the book itself. Many of them have clearly read barely a page of the book they’re supposed to be writing about, and instead vent their prejudices about the...
Me and My Books
- 12 Apr 2024
The Daily Mail runs a feature on Fridays called Me and My Books. This week they asked to contribute. Well, it would have been rude not to! WHAT BOOK… …are you reading now? I’ve got two on the go. I haven’t read a novel in years, but a few weeks ago I in...
Iain Becomes a Non-Executive Director of the Lending Standards Board
- 4 Apr 2024
I'm delighted to announce that today I'm joining the Lending Standards Board as a non-executive director, alongside Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and charity leader Caron Bradshaw. The LSB is the self regulatory body for the banking and financial servi...
Announcing my 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Line-up
- 2 Apr 2024
This will be the fourth year I have hosted IAIN DALE ALL TALK at the Edinburgh Fringe and I'm delighted to be back! There are so far 13 shows booked, all at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre running from 3-11 August. A few more shows will be added over the next few...
A Lovely Weekend in Dublin
- 1 Apr 2024
I can honestly say that last weekend in Dublin was the most enjoyable I have had in many a month. Just about everything went right, and I didn’t even have any travel disasters. On my taxi journey from the airport to the hotel the driver decided to give me a lesson in Irish pol...
A Few Thoughts on the Political Consequences of the Budget
- 10 Mar 2024
Pre-election budgets are normally quite exciting both in their content and in their delivery. But to be exciting a budget needs a few surprises and at least one rabbit. It needs a bit of theatricality in the delivery. This budget had none of that. Virtually every measure had b...
The Consequences of George Galloway
- 3 Mar 2024
Dear all On a personal level I’ve always found George Galloway to be engaging company. We’ve had our run ins, but always parted as, well, maybe not friends, but… I remember one particularly feisty encounter on his Mother of all Talk Shows programme on a Friday night on...
The Fate of Mr Speaker
- 25 Feb 2024
Within the next 24 hours it is entirely possible that the House of Commons could be without a Speaker. I’m not predicting it will happen, but it’s not impossible to imagine Sir Lindsay Hoyle standing up at 2.30pm to announce that he feels he has lost the confidence of the Hous...
The End of Tory Days - My Analysis of the By-Election Results
- 17 Feb 2024
This article first appeared on Telegraph Online. Government loses two by-elections. Ordinarily that barely rates a headline. These, however, are not ordinary times. Poll after poll shows Labour heading for victory in the general election, and the results from Wellingborough...
A Tribute to Steve Wright
- 14 Feb 2024
It was just before 5pm. I was interviewing Lord Bilimoria for my ALL TALK podcast when I caught sight of a news alert on my phone. I couldn't believe what I was reading. Steve Wright had died. My brain went in several different directions. But I had to keep interviewing Lord B...
Moyes & Sunak: Brothers From a Different Mother
- 11 Feb 2024
I’m sitting here on my sitting room sofa, a dog either side of me, watching West Ham take an absolute tonking at home to Arsenal. As I write the score is 0-6. What an utter embarrassment. Sunak out! Sorry, I mean Moyes out! Or do I? Because what I am feeling now is the same fe...
Derek Draper's Funeral: The Gathering of the New Labour Clans
- 4 Feb 2024
Political parties are like tribes. They defend their own. And in times of stress they circle the wagons and whatever the facts are, whatever the pressures, whatever someone has done wrong, they find excuses and explanations. I was once a very tribal being. Much less so nowaday...
Would you fight for your Country?
- 28 Jan 2024
My generation has been lucky. We’ve never had to fight a war, unlike those of my father’s and grandfather’s generation. Indeed, my Great Uncle, Clifford Norden, was killed only ten days before the end of World War I. This week the head of the British Army, Sir Richard Sande...
The Loan Charge Scandal Could be Bigger Than the Post Office
- 22 Jan 2024
Some of you may have heard of the Loan Charge. Most of you probably haven’t. Mark my words, it is a scandal which eclipses the Post Office scandal, of which it is very redolent. It has, however, affected far more people, most of whom are wholly innocent of the charges against ...
'For the Many Live' Comes to Dublin on 24 March
- 10 Jan 2024
I first went to Dublin in the mid 1990s when I had the pleasure of being one of the first people to see Riverdance performed live, at the Eurovision Song Contest. I’ve been back several times since and have grown to love the city. So when I was approached at last y...
My Predictions for 2024 (And how my 2023 Predictions Turned Out)
- 31 Dec 2023
Before we get onto my predictions for 2024, let's see how I fared when I made my 2023 predictions this time last year. The answer is not well. A pathetic 2.10! Worst ever. 1. Jeremy Hunt won't be Chancellor at the end of 2023. NO 2. Inflation will be under 6% by the en...