ConHome Diary: Michael Gove Wanted to Reform Prisons But Liz Truss Seems More Interested in Headlines
- 17 Feb 2017
So unemployment is down a further 7,000. Productivity is up 0.3%. Wages up by 2.6%. All this economic good news continues to be reported with hashtag #despitebrexit. In addition, earlier this week the European Commission made a complete fool of itself by being the only organis...
My Favourite Book
- 12 Feb 2017
My favourite Book Picking your favourite book of all time is an almost impossible task. How can you compare WATERSHIP DOWN with ANIMAL FARM or, dare I say it, THE RATS by James Herbert? How do any of these compare to some of my favourite political tomes like Gyles...
ConHome Diary: Black & White Party Time!
- 10 Feb 2017
I suppose you should try everything once, just to see if you like it, so it was in that spirit that I accepted an invitation to go to the Conservatives’ ‘Black & White Party’ on Monday evening at the Battersea Evolution. Note that it’s degenerated from a ‘ball’ to a party....
it shouldn't happen to a radio presenter
- 3 Feb 2017
This was the tribute I paid to my friend Gordon Aikman, whose death was announced this morning. He has raised more than £540,000 for Motor Neurone Disease Research. He was one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. if you’d like to donate click here
ConHome Diary: Donald, Theresa, Jeremy & Another Hapless Sarah Olney Interview
- 3 Feb 2017
I suspect like many of you, when I heard Theresa May was going to visit Donald Trump, I feared the worst. Although I thought it was right she should go, I doubted whether much good would come of it. I thought also that there was a real risk of it all going wrong, largely becau...
Donald Trump Is So Wrong on Banning Refugees From the Middle East, But The Reaction Has Also Been Ridiculous
- 28 Jan 2017
A lot of cant has been expended on social media in the last 24 hours about Donald Trump’s Executive Order issuing a three month long temporary ban on citizens of seven middle eastern countries from entering the United States. I should say from the outset that I do not agree w...
ConHome Diary: The Worst I Have Ever Felt (And I Don't Mean Listening to Trump's Inauguration Speech)
- 27 Jan 2017
‘They buried a farmer today’. As I wrote in last week’s column, that’s the title of a poem I found on the internet, and rewrote to read at my Dad’s funeral on Monday. It was written by someone in Iowa and most of it fitted my Dad like a glove. And the bits that didn’t? Well, I...
ConHome Diary: Washington in Denial, Theresa May Shows Her Balls & The Fantasies of Trump Supporters
- 21 Jan 2017
I think it’s called the Law of Sod. Having booked our flights to Washington DC to cover the Trump inaugural, within a matter of minutes it is announced that Theresa May’s big Brexit speech would be on Tuesday. At more or less exactly the time our plane is due to take off from ...
WATCH: Why Theresa May Must Accept the Verdict of the High Court & Allow Parliament to Vote on Triggering Article 50
- 16 Jan 2017
This is a short video I made in advance of the Supreme Court decision on Brexit, due on Monday next week, I believe. In it I urge Theresa May to accept the result, if the government loses, and to immediately introduce a one line Bill into the Commons. It’s the first of this...
ConHome Diary: Washington Beckons, Trumpery & Why Southern Rail Is Not Fit to Run a Franchise
- 13 Jan 2017
Next week I’ll be writing this diary from my favourite city in the whole world, Washington DC. It’s my first visit there since the autumn of 2012 when I covered the re-election of Barack Obama. This time I’ll be there as Donald Trump will be sworn in as President during my LBC...
ConHome Diary: Signing Farage, The Worst Christmas of my Life & Interviewing the PM
- 6 Jan 2017
LBC announced a new signing for its presenter line-up yesterday. From Monday Nigel Farage will be presenting an evening show from 7-8pm Monday to Thursday. Given his other interests the show will often be broadcast from Brussels, Strasburg or America. The reaction from the lef...
My Ten Predictions for 2017
- 31 Dec 2016
A daily or Sunday newspaper ceases print publication. John Humphrys announces he will retire from the Today Programme. Labour loses Copeland by-election. Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Hull are relegated from the Premier League. 5.
So Did I Keep my 2016 New Year's Resolutions?
- 30 Dec 2016
These are the resolutions I made a year ago. Let’s see how many of them I stuck to… Not to buy a new car. ACHIEVED Read more for pleasure, rather than because it’s my job. NOT ACHIEVED Do more TV. NOT ACHIEVED Go abroad more often. NOT ACHIEVED Lose another hal...
So How Do I Answer the Question: "Did You Have a Nice Christmas, Iain?"
- 29 Dec 2016
They say ‘honesty is always the best policy’, but I wonder how honest I will be when I go back to work on Tuesday and a caller says: “Did you have a nice Christmas, Iain?” Do I say, “yes thanks, hope you did too.” Or do I tell the truth and say “No I didn’t. My Dad died and I ...
BOOK REVIEW: All Out War by Tim Shipman - Without Doubt the Political Book of 2016
- 27 Dec 2016
You know that feeling you get when you finish a book you never really wanted to end? It’s almost a feeling of grief. That’s what I’ve got as I type this, minutes after finishing Tim Shipman’s majestic ALL OUT WAR. It’s impossible to fully comprehend what happened on June 23 an...
My Predictions for 2016 - How Did I Do?
- 24 Dec 2016
In 2015 I got 8 out of my 10 predictions right. Seeing as 2016 turned out to be the year of the unexpected, I don’t think I’ve done quite as well. Here were my predictions for 2016, made on 31 December 2015… The EU Referendum will be held in July. WRONG (but only by 7...
My Top 100 Tweeters of 2016
- 22 Dec 2016
Each new year I compile a list of people whose tweets I have most enjoyed during the previous 12 months. I follow about 2300 people on Twitter, which is far too many to be honest, but I whenever I try to cull the number I end up giving up because it’s so difficult. Anyway, the...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 53: The Producer King Is Dead, Long Live the Producer Queen
- 17 Dec 2016
If you’ve never worked in radio, you will think I am going completely over the top when I say that the key relationship on any radio show is the relationship between the show’s producer and the presenter. If there’s a good relationship, magical radio can be the result. It ther...
ConHome Diary: Margaret Thatcher's Sexy Voice, Labour's Doldrums & ITV's Puerile Rubbish
- 16 Dec 2016
For anyone under the age of about 45, the name Jim Prior, who died on Monday, probably doesn’t mean much. However, those of us who know our history of the 1970s and 1980s know how significant he was. A key ally to Ted Heath, he was Agriculture Minister in the Heath government ...
ConHome Diary: My Political Comeback, Climbing the iTunes Chart and Why Tim Farron Has Come of Age
- 9 Dec 2016
Wednesday’ House of Commons debate on Brexit was hugely significant in various ways. Somehow the media and other parties seem to think the government doesn’t want to tell us anything and are shying away from any parliamentary scrutiny. So far as I can see, nothing could be fur...