WATCH: Interview With Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian Ambassador to the UK
- 6 Jun 2016
I think I’ve achieved the impossible. Last week I interviewed Mark Regev, the Israeli Ambassador and today I interviewed his Palestinian counterpart, Manuel Hassassian. Both Jews and Muslims appear to think I was fair and rigorous in both interviews. See, miracles do happen....
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 45: When a Listener Emails...
- 4 Jun 2016
Last night I made a new friend. Here is an email exchange with an LBC listener which started at around 10.50pm… LISTENER: 1st time I have listened to your show & I was going to ring in to say that everything I have heard tonight was one sided for the Leave Campaign etc....
ConHome Diary: A Comeback for Dr Fox & Where's Theresa?
- 3 Jun 2016
Last week I wrote that I thought Andrea Leadsom had been a star of the Leave campaign. Let me this week sing the praises of Liam Fox. In terms of putting the Leave case, he has been calm, assured and believable. He hasn’t indulged in stoking up ‘Project Fear’ and has been exce...
WATCH: Mark Regev Interview
- 1 Jun 2016
Here’s my 30 minute interview with Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev. We covered a lot of ground!
Corbyn 'Fly on the Wall' Illustrates Problem With Seumas Milne's Broadcast Media Strategy
- 1 Jun 2016
Vice News have been given privileged access to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the result is this thirty minute documentary. It’s presented by self-confessed Labour Party member and Corbyn supporter Ben Ferguson. It’s all fairly harmless stuff but ultimately tells us l...
LISTEN: Gyles Brandreth on the 'Stairway to Heaven'
- 31 May 2016
My first appearances on LBC were on Gyles Brandreth’s Sunday afternoon arts and culture programme. One of his features was a sort of Desert Islands Discs or This is Your Life feature called ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Well, one week instead of Gyles interviewing a guest, I intervi...
LISTEN: Counting Chickens - Great Election Night Moments
- 30 May 2016
Back in 2001 I was an occasional presenter, with Fi Glover and Charlie Whelan, of Radio 5 Live’s ‘Sunday Service’ programme. I just discovered this recording on an old computer. It’s a documentary I made, which was broadcast on election night in June 2001. It’s a programme a...
The Self Indulgence of Some Tory MPs
- 29 May 2016
All political parties go through spasms, but the Conservative Party seems to suffer from them more than most. It is about to have another one. It was inevitable that the EU Referendum campaign would divide the party. With 143 Tory MPs defying their leader and supporting Brexi...
The Ups And Downs of Life
- 29 May 2016
In December last year I wrote about the Greatest Experiences of My Life, which you can read HERE. It was a rather nice article to write. Anyway, life is all about ups and downs, so I thought it only right to write about things that haven’t been so great in my life. I suspect ...
Why Have I Already Received my Postal Vote?
- 28 May 2016
So, the day after purdah kicks in I receive my postal vote ballot paper. I’m not normally one for conspiracy theories, but I smell a rat. In a general election you get the ballot paper a maximum of two weeks in advance, I believe. So why is it different in the referendum? Cyn...
ConHome Diary: A Good War for Andrea Leadsom & Do I Mix With the Wrong People?
- 27 May 2016
As you can imagine, as a radio presenter I do like to keep an eye on the opposition, so it was with more than a passing interest when I read this tweet from BBC Radio London’s Drivetime reporter Anna O’Neill. We are talking about #bedwetting on Drive BBCRadioLondon</a&g...
WATCH: Jacqui Smith & I Debate the EU Referendum
- 26 May 2016
Jacqui Smith and I debate the EU Referendum on Sky News. hattip to @liarpoliticians
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 44: What to Put In And What to Leave Out
- 20 May 2016
This week, in case you hadn’t heard (!), I won Radio of the Presenter of the Year at the 2016 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards. This is the entry compiled by my producers Jagruti Dave and Matt Harris. John Suchet, Frank Skinner, Christian O’Connell and Boogie & Dingo wer...
ConHome Diary: Interviewing the PM, Winning an Award & the Coming Reshuffle
- 20 May 2016
So there I am, at the Roundhouse in Camden, shortlisted for Radio Presenter of the Year, thinking that I haven’t got a hope in hell of winning. I was up against Frank Skinner, Christian O’Connell, John Suchet and the unlikely sounding duo of Boogie & Dingo. Nope me, neit...
ConHome Diary: Tories Must Heed the Sadiq Warning & Farage Would Outperform Boris & Gove in Debates
- 13 May 2016
What a pity Vote Leave are getting their knickers in a twist with ITV over the fact that ITV have asked Nigel Farage to be on the same programme as David Cameron, rather than one of the big beasts of Vote Leave. It’s symptomatic of the splintering of the OUT side of the argume...
TV Review: Peston on Sunday
- 8 May 2016
I’m told that only a couple of months ago, ITV executives were pulling their hair out over Peston on Sunday. No one seemed to have the faintest idea what the programme should be, let along its contents. The only certain thing was that Peston on Sunday was its name and the sta...
ConHome Diary: The Dangers of TTIP, Gove Pillow Talk & How We Have 'Misunderestimated' The Donald
- 6 May 2016
If I were Dominic Cummings (and there’s a thought) I’d be deploying the acronym TTIP as a major part of the LEAVE campaign. The Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership is a very boring sounding free trade agreement between the US and the EU. From what I know about it,...
LISTEN: Is the TTIP Really That Bad?
- 4 May 2016
Make up your own minds, but I think it’s a democratic outrage.
My Predictions and Analysis For Thursday's Elections - Will it be "Operation Kenneth Baker" for Labour?
- 2 May 2016
LOCAL ELECTIONS Thursday matters. Clearly it matters to the thousands of candidates up and down the country. Win, and their lives change. Lose and they go back to their normal lives. But it’s not through the prism of local candidates that we will judge these elections, it’s t...
ConHome Diary: Is the London Mayoral Race Really Over & How Obama Backfired
- 29 Apr 2016
Well that went well then. President Obama’s visit seems to have turned people marginally against the REMAIN campaign, with the latest batch of polls showing a narrow LEAVE lead. I can’t say I am surprised. Virtually every ‘normal’ person I have spoken to, and by ‘normal’ I mea...