Telegraph Column: Ireland & Brexit, Bisexuality & Boris's Holiday
- 13 Oct 2021
This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph. The Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney, is never short of a few words. And they are words which generally make a situation worse. Given the issues facing Ireland, the UK and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protoco...
A Tribute to James Brokenshire 1968-2021
- 8 Oct 2021
No father of young children should have to die at the age of 53. To say the death of James Brokenshire is a tragedy is an understatement. All I have been able to think about over the last few hours, after I learned of James's death, is the sense of utter desolation that Cathy ...
My Take on Boris Johnson's Conference Speech
- 6 Oct 2021
It’s a wrap. Or is it rap? The party conference season has closed, and Boris Johnson has walked off stage to the usual standing ovation, even if he didn’t hang around to bask in it. A kiss with Carrie and then off the stage, through the crowds and into the prime ministerial li...
Women's Safety: What Now? Where are the Changemakers?
- 30 Sep 2021
"Please ask them what they’re going to do about the massive failings other than be sad". Those were the words of Jess Phillips, directed at Priti Patel and Cressida Dick today, although she should have also directed them at Sadiq Khan, given his oversight role over the Met. ...
When Letting a Speech Speak For Itself Is Not Enough
- 26 Sep 2021
Party conferences are often thought to be a waste of time. All they do is give the media an excuse to fuel divisions within parties, whether real or imagined. In his new book MUST LABOUR ALWAYS LOSE, former Labour MP suggests they should be abolished. Given how the first two d...
Twenty Years Since 9/11 by Daniel Forrester
- 11 Sep 2021
Ten years ago I commissioned my best friend Daniel Forrester to write an article for my then comment website, Dale & Co, to mark the tenth annoversary of 9/11. Since then, he has added to it each year since. This version was published on Medium yesterday. By Daniel For...
Where Were You on 9/11?
- 10 Sep 2021
On Saturday the world will mark the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on America. It hardly seems possible that it was so long ago. I guess we all remember where we were when it happened. I was sitting at my desk on the balcony at Politico’s talking to my boo...
Telegraph Column: Zoom Parliament? Never Again
- 8 Sep 2021
Rachel Johnson once accused her brother of using the Commons Dispatch Box as a “bully pulpit”. It was intended as an insult but this week we will find dozens of MPs doing much the self-same thing, and a very good thing too. For 18 months we have experienced a neutered Parliame...
In Defence of Max Sebald
- 22 Aug 2021
There’s nothing in this country we love to do more than to tear down our heroes. And what better place to do it than in a book review? I tend to shy away from writing book reviews because they tend to say much more about the reviewer than they ever do about the book itself....
Austin Mitchell 1934-2021: A Tribute
- 18 Aug 2021
Maverick is a word which is often used in a pejorative manner, especially when it’s used to describe a politician. It was a word which was often used to describe Austin Mitchell, but in his case I think it was used in an affectionate manner. He embraced the word himself and hi...
Biden's Shameful Afghanistan Decision Will Define His Presidency
- 16 Aug 2021
When Joe Biden announced a few months ago that all US troops would be out of Afghanistan by September 11th, I denounced it as the worst example of gesture politics. September 11 2021 is the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks which provoked President Bush persuading NATO and ...
How Priti Patel Becomes Prime Minister - From the New Book 'Prime Minister Priti & Other Things That Never Happened
- 16 Jul 2021
Counterfactual history has always fascinated me, and this week Duncan Brack and I have published our fifth book of politically themed counterfactual essays titled 'PRIME MINISTER PRITI & OTHER THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED'. It contains 23 essays and I have written the title ...
The Lessons We Can Take From Euro 2020
- 12 Jul 2021
I’m writing this on what can genuinely be described as the morning after the night before. It’s not exactly a feeling of grief, but certainly a feeling on intense loss. Last night was probably the only chance I will get to witness England winning a major tournament, and in...
The Consequences of Matt Hancock's Resignation & Have we Reached 'Peak Johnson'?
- 26 Jun 2021
When I woke up at 5.25am on Friday, I checked my phone and saw the front page of The Sun. I actually exclaimed: “F*****g hell”, as opposed to “F*****g hopeless.” I was due on air on Good Morning Britain an hour later with Jacqui Smith. We were both staying in the same hotel so...
Reaction Media Review 55: GB News
- 22 Jun 2021
GB News Back in 2006, YouGov’s co-founder Stephan Shakespeare and ConservativeHome founder Tim Montgomerie (now of this parish) conceived of an idea to start a political TV channel on the internet, with a decidedly right of centre tinge. This was in the days before sma...
Reaction Media Review 54: Quickly Kevin Podcast & Euro 2020
- 19 Jun 2021
Quickly Kevin, Will He Score? Podcast I listen to ten or a dozen podcasts each week and I’ve now worked out that more than half of them are about football, rather than politics. Make of that what you will. The latest addition to my regular staple of podcasts is ‘Quickly Kev...
The 12 Podcasts I Listen to Every Week
- 12 Jun 2021
I have about 50 podcasts which I subscribe to in my Apple podcasts library on my phone. Some I dip into, some I listen to every episode religiously. Here are the 12 podcasts I make sure I listen to reach week. There was a time when most of these would have been political podca...
Reaction Media Review Column 53: Piers Morgan, Matt Forde & Keir Starmer
- 8 Jun 2021
Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, ITV The Political Party Podcast with Matt Forde “You should get Keir to do more of these non political and more personal interviews,” I said to his press officer after he spent ten minutes talking to me and Jacqui Smith about his memories of ...
We Need to Have a Word About Deaths
- 2 Jun 2021
So, no new Covid deaths were reported yesterday for the first time since last March. As a former Prime Minister might have put it, just rejoice at that news. Well it is of course fantastic news, but should it affect the decision Boris Johnson must make in the next two weeks a...
Reaction Media Review 52: Dan Snow's History Hit & A Gay & A Non Gay
- 1 Jun 2021
Dan Snow’s History Hit podcast Over the last twenty years there has been an explosion of interest in history, not just British history, but all sorts of different kinds of history. The podcast genre is absolutely ideal to capitalise on this. I’ve already reviewed ...