WATCH: The LBC Labour Leadership Hustings Debate
- 22 Jul 2015
This is the complete video of the 90 minute long LBC Labour Leadership Debate with Andy Burnham, Yvetter Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Kendall, hosted by me. It’s in three parts. What did you think? Have to say I really enjoyed it. I’m told in the Green Room afterwards ...
LISTEN/WATCH: Live from 7pm Tonight on LBC, the Labour Leadership Hustings
- 22 Jul 2015
Just to let you know that this evening (Wednesday) I will be hosting a 90 minute Labour leadership hustings on LBC Radio. It will be broadcast in HD on LBC.co.uk. You can listen in London on 97.3FM, nationally on DAB radio or on TV on Freeview channel 732 or Sky TV channel 01...
Attitude Column: Why Do We Have to Be Labelled?
- 20 Jul 2015
What’s in a name? Who do we all have to have a label? We’re all individuals, aren’t we? I’ve just been reading about the new acronym that is supposed to replace LGBT. Apparently we’re now all supposed to say LGBTIQ, or even – wait for it – LGBTIQQAA. Nope, me neither. For the...
ConHome Diary: London Mayoral Campaign - Sunlight is the Best Form of Disinfectant
- 17 Jul 2015
ConservativeHome has been doing some sterling work this week in exposing the secrecy of CCHQ in the London Mayoral selection. Quite why CCHQ feels the need to act like an arm of the North Korean regime is a question only they can answer. Surely party members have a right to kn...
LISTEN: Half an Hour With Michael Dobbs
- 17 Jul 2015
Every week I now do a political books podcast for Politicos.co.uk. You can download on iTunes, Soundcloud or Sticher. I’ll also always post them on here from now on. This week I talk to Michael Dobbs for half an hour about all sorts of things, including HOUSE OF CARDS as wel...
WATCH: Interview with Zac Goldsmith
- 16 Jul 2015
Earlier this week I interviewed Zac Goldmsith about his London mayoral ambitions. It was a very revealing interview in which Zac refused point blank to apologise to Sir Howard Davies for his remarks on the conduct of the Airports Commission and said for the first time he wou...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 29: When a Caller Says Jews Should Get Over the Holocaust
- 15 Jul 2015
It’s not often I shout at a caller or stun them into silence, but that is what happened tonight on LBC. I was conducting a phone-in about the 94 year old Auschwitz guard who was sentenced to four years in prison today in a court in the German town of Lueneburg. I started off b...
Concert Review: Roxette at the O2
- 14 Jul 2015
So, how to get from Leicester Square to the O2 to get there in time for the start of Roxette’s first concert in London for several years. My LBC show finished at 8, at two minutes past we were out of the door heading to the car park. At 11 minutes past we were heading eastwa...
ConHome Diary: Feeling Dirty About Fox Hunting & Ann Widdecombe
- 10 Jul 2015
Half way through George Osborne’s budget speech I began to wonder what all the fuss was all about. Most of the measures that he had announced had either been leaked or he had announced in his Andrew Marr interview. I should have had more faith in the political abilities of the...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 28: Should You Ever Disagree With a Fellow Presenter On Air?
- 9 Jul 2015
Earlier today my LBC colleague James O’Brien discussed the Tube strike on his morning show. He launched an impassioned defence of the strikers and an attack on employers. I could hardly believe what I was hearing, so I thought I’d take him to task on my Drivetime show. He are ...
My Personal Memory of 7/7
- 7 Jul 2015
I don’t know if you remember where you were on the morning of the 7th July 2005 when you heard the news of the terrorist bombings in London. It seems a lot longer ago than ten years to be honest. And yet it also seems closer. I remember virtually everything about that day. I ...
Restaurant Review: Shepherd's of Westminster
- 3 Jul 2015
When I first came to Westminster in the mid 1980s there was a restaurant in Marsham Street called ‘Lockets’. As a lowly researcher, it was always a treat to be taken there. At some point it was sold to Michael Caine and it became Shepherds. It then closed down a couple of yea...
Why Wahhabi/Salafist Mosques Should be Banned From Receiving Foreign Funding
- 28 Jun 2015
I’m not a great fan of the “something must be done” knee-jerk response to a terror attack or tragedy. It invariably leads to the wrong thing being done and the consequences can be felt for years afterwards. What is needed is calm, cool reflection on what has happened. So what ...
ConHome Diary: Wasn't Timmy Mallett Available to Chair Network Rail?
- 26 Jun 2015
Listening to Nick Ferrari interview Nick Clegg yesterday, I started to wonder about his future. I doubt very much he will stand at the next election. It must be pure torture for him to sit in the House of Commons struggling for space alongside the hordes from north of the bord...
Four New Blockbuster Books From Biteback For Your Summer Reading
- 21 Jun 2015
Over the next fortnight Biteback has four cracking books coming onto the market. I don’t normally use this blog to push Biteback books, but I’m going to make an exception here, and you will understand why when you read on… Tomorrow sees The Times start its serialisation of Ro...
ConHome Diary: If the Charleston Shooter Had Been a Muslim...
- 19 Jun 2015
Sometimes you wonder how perfectly sensible politicians score such obvious own goals. How David Lidington thought it was at all sensible to try to persuade Tory MPs that the government should be given full authority to rig the EU referendum is anyone’s guess. The surprise was ...
On This Day I Got Married
- 12 Jun 2015
Seven years ago on Monday, John and I entered a civil partnership. You can read about the day HERE if you’d like to. It really was a perfect day. Today we converted our civil partnership into a marriage. In effect it is backdated to 15 June 2008, so we’ve now been married fo...
ConHome Diary: My Strange Dreams About Nigel Farage & Norman Lamb
- 12 Jun 2015
On 4 July I am chairing the first Conservative mayoral hustings for Conservative Way Forward. I’m amused that The Spectator’s Steerpike column is building this up as an Iain Dale v Ivan Massow confrontation. Hey ho. I suppose it might sell a few tickets! As well as Ivan Massow...
Attitude Column: The Joys of Equal Marriage
- 11 Jun 2015
Seven years ago this month my partner and I got married. Well, at least we thought we did. The reason I say ‘thought’ is that for us, entering a civil partnership was indeed the same as getting married. For us the implications were the same. Yes, it was a legal contract, but i...