My New Book: The NHS - Things That Need to be Said
- 8 Feb 2015
Writing a short polemical book about the NHS when, inevitably, the readers of the book are bound to know far more about the subject than I do, is perhaps not the wisest thing for a political pundit and broadcaster to do. Let me explain why I have written this book. Each and e...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 20: RAJAR - What Goes Up... May Come Down
- 7 Feb 2015
What goes up, must come down. That doesn’t apply just to Christmas decorations and share prices, but to radio audiences too. Every quarter we get listening figures courtesy of RAJAR. They instill fear into every radio presenter and producer, because those are the measure that ...
ConHome Diary: Feeling Sorry For Ed Balls (No, Really)
- 6 Feb 2015
I suspect I am alone here, but I did feel a twinge of sympathy for Ed Balls this week after forgetting the surname of a man he had just spent the evening with at a Labour fundraising dinner, and who runs Labour’s Small Business Advisory Group. I couldn’t believe it became such...
General Election Predictions: Seat By Seat - Now Published As An eBook
- 3 Feb 2015
Several people suggested I should release my seat by seat predictions as an eBook, so that’s exactly what I have done. I also included various lists of seats – you know how I like a list :). It’s 432 pages long. Anyway, you can order it for only £1.59 Buy the eBook from Pol...
CAMPAIGN ADS: Israel: The Bibi Sitter
- 3 Feb 2015
I’d love to see a British political party adopt this style of ad. Strangely I can see Nick Clegg doing it, but maybe not Cameron or Miliband.
Media Monkey Business, Rory Bremner and the Political Book Awards
- 2 Feb 2015
I am still scratching my head over a complete bizarre diary story in The Guardian’s Media Monkey column, concerning Rory Bremner’s hosting of last week’s Political Book Awards. Here it is. To the Paddy Power Political Book awards 2015 at London’s Imax cinema, where the win...
My First Park Run (And How Greg Clark MP Kicked My Sorry White Ass)
- 31 Jan 2015
I’ve never done a park run before. And to be honest I wasn’t wholly looking forward to it. I wouldn’t know anyone, no doubt I’d be wearing totally inappropriate gear and I’d be very slow. I set myself a goal of doing it in under 45 minutes, but wasn’t wholly confident I’d do t...
LISTEN: 25 Minutes With Sir Nicholas Soames Talking About His Grandfather, Sir Winston Churchill
- 30 Jan 2015
Earlier this week I recorded a 25 minute interview with Sir Nicholas Soames. We spent the entire time talking about his grandfather, Sir Winston Churchill. I think you’ll rather enjoy it, Listen HERE
ConHome Diary: Why I Wear Garish Ties on TV
- 30 Jan 2015
The Political Book Awards have been going for three years now. I started the event three years ago because I felt there was a real gap in the market for it. Political literature has always been seen as the black sheep of the literary family. Publishers tend to shy away from po...
VIDEO: Rob Ford & I Discussing the Political Books of the Year on the Daily Politics
- 29 Jan 2015
So this was my third appearance on the Daily Politics in ten days. Doesn’t that merit keeping a Daily Politics mug?!
We're Looking For a New Office
- 28 Jan 2015
Biteback Publishing is looking for a new home. We’ve been at Westminster Tower by Lambeth Bridge for several years now but our lease runs out in the summer and we are looking to move to a new abode. We need space for 15 people and require a meeting room and kitchen. I reckon ...
Those Election Predictions Summed Up
- 27 Jan 2015
LBC have posted a mini version of all my election predictions HERE
ConHome Diary: The Green Manifesto Will Make UKIP's Look Sane
- 23 Jan 2015
I’m not really sure how any politician can introduce plain paper packaging on cigarette packets and still maintain with a straight face that they are Conservatives. What’s next? Plain packaging on cans of lager? Mars Bars? Packets of crisps? It’s the nanny state writ large. If...
Surely QE in the Eurozone Is BAD News for the UK Economy, Not Good? Eh, Chancellor?
- 22 Jan 2015
So the European Central Bank has injected one trillion euros into the Eurozone economies, despite the articles of the Eurozone expressly forbidding it. I imagine this was at the insistence of the Germans originally. Needless to say the ECB has found a way around this, as is th...
Attitude Column: Why Would Anyone Go on a 'Gays Only' Holiday?
- 20 Jan 2015
Nowadays, I would no more think of going on a gay-only holiday than I would think of going on a beach holiday to North Korea. But then again, perhaps those types of trips aren’t aimed at me. What put me off this type of holiday was a boat trip in Florida I took in 1993. I had ...
Chuka Umunna Was Right to Walk Out of Murnaghan Interview
- 19 Jan 2015
I have never understood why politicians allow themselves to be walked all over by smart-arse interviewers. They are far more in control of the interview than the interviewer. This morning Dermot Murnaghan was interviewing Chuka Umunna about David Cameron’s economy speech. Ne...
Nick Clegg Takes Me To Task For My LibDem Seat Prediction
- 18 Jan 2015
Oh Nick, Nick Nick. Much to my surprise Andrew Marr quoted my prediction from the Independent on Sunday that… The one prediction I am 100% confident in making is that the Liberal Democrats will lose more than half of their seats. Now, I do have form on getting LibDem s...
General Election Predictions: The Final Results - We're Heading For a Three Party Coalition or a Second Election
- 18 Jan 2015
This is the final result of my seat by seat predictions, which I have been posting on here over the last month… Conservative 278 (-29) Labour 301 (43) Liberal Democrats 24 (-33) SNP 18 (12) UKIP 5 (5) Plaid Cymru 3 (-) Green 1 (-) Respect 1 (-) DUP 9 (1) Sinn Fein 5 (-) SD...
General Election Predictions 75: Teesside
- 18 Jan 2015
This is the seventy-fifth in a series of blogposts (scroll to the bottom of the article for the others) which will seek to predict the outcome of every seat in the run-up to the next general election. The notion of a universal swing in May 2015 can be totally discounted. Each ...