Julia Hartley-Brewer As You've Never Seen Her Before...
- 26 Sep 2014
Please enable Javascript to watch this video All LBC presenters are doing ‘Fake Some Noise’ for the new Global Radio ‘Make Some Noise’ charity. This is Julia’s.It’s brilliant. I have recorded one as well, but having seen Julia’s I think I might redo it. I’ve done 99 Red Ball...
ConHome Diary: Don't Even Ask, to Get On My Top 100 People on the Right List!
- 26 Sep 2014
I write this on the train back from Manchester having spent three days at the Labour Party conference. It was an odd affair. It was the quietest and most downbeat pre-election conference I think I have ever been to. Try as they might, they just couldn’t get the atmosphere goin...
ConHome: Despite the'No' Vote, Cameron Is Still On The Skids
- 19 Sep 2014
The devil in me really wanted the Yes Campaign to win. Not because I would necessarily have supported them, but because it would have been fascinating to see the fallout from a Yes result. We’ll never know now, but would the dire warnings of the Better Together campaign really...
EDP Column: On Scottish Independence My Heart Says Yes, My Head Says No
- 13 Sep 2014
My middle name is Campbell. My Christian name is spelt the Scottish way. I am a quarter Scottish. Believe it or not, I am a direct descendent of Robbie Burns through one of his illegitimate children. Strangely, though, I feel little affinity with the country of my ancestors. W...
ConHome Diary: Let's All Have a Referendum on Whether Scotland Should Keep the Pound
- 12 Sep 2014
So I wonder which crass Damian McBride wannabe in Downing Street was so stupid to send this text to Tim Montgomerie, late of this parish. It read: “Tim, “Just seen your Tweet. Do you want to be a Tory MP? No chance now.” Anyone who knows Tim knows that he has never wanted to b...
Remembering 9/11
- 11 Sep 2014
Thirteen years ago today, Al Qaeda committed a terrible act of terrorism in the United States, something which has gone down in history as 9/11. I think we all remember where we were when we found out about it. I was sitting at my desk on the balcony at Politico’s talking to ...
Attitude Column: The Idea That Gay Men Are More Likely to be Paedophiles Is Absurd
- 6 Sep 2014
Here we go again. Back in the 1960s and 1970s most people, bless them, took the view that the words ‘homosexual’ and ‘paedophile’ were more or less interchangeable. If your predilection were of the male on male variety you didn’t particularly differentiate between men and boys...
ConHome Diary: Will Cameron Have to Quit Over Scotland?
- 5 Sep 2014
So, only 13 days until Scotland decides its future. This referendum may have a far wider impact than just north of Hadrian’s Wall. Goldman Sachs are warning that the Pound may go into freefall, but the other impact could be on David Cameron and as a consequence the date of the...
Interviewing Joan Rivers
- 4 Sep 2014
I’m so sad to hear of the death of Joan Rivers. I saw her do a stand-up show in the 1990s but in October 2012 I had the honour of interviewing her on LBC. We decided it might be safest to pre-record (!) but she was absolutely charming. I don’t mind admitting I was petrified. ...
Two Days in Belgium
- 3 Sep 2014
Twenty years ago I took my father on a trip to the Normandy beaches, along with several other family and friends. It was a couple of weeks before the 50th anniversary of D-Day was commemorated. I am not exaggerating when I say it was one of the most memorable and enjoyable we...
ConHome Diary: The Day I Said No to Douglas Carswell
- 29 Aug 2014
Having been on holiday all week in Norfolk I am finding it slightly difficult to think of what to write about this week, so bear with me. * I am given to understand that while on his summer holidays in France, labour leader Ed Miliband has sprouted facial hair. How I would lo...
The Ice Box Challenge Has Run Its Course
- 26 Aug 2014
This more or less sums up my response to the Ice Box challenge. When it started I thought it was fun, and it was. It raised awareness of Motor Neurone Disease and that is a good thing. But it’s gone on too long now. So enough already. And yes I have donated.
ConHome Diary: Mayoroplane
- 22 Aug 2014
If each part of this diary column had its own headline, this one would be titled ‘Mayoroplane’. Back in 2008 in those halcyon days when Boris was a virgin mayor of London, he attracted his very own stalker. At every public event, or mayor’s questiontime, the same man would app...
Roger Lewis: "Lezzos all have big chins ... And Iain Dale is a C**t"
- 21 Aug 2014
Remember THIS blogpost from a week ago when I revealed I had decided to withdraw a book publishing contract from a man called Roger Lewis because of a homophobic review he had written for The Spectator? Just to remind you what he wrote in a review of a biography of Dusty Spri...
Attitude Column: Vanity, Vanity, All Is Vanity
- 20 Aug 2014
OK, I admit it. I am as vain as the next man. And let’s face it, nowadays men are probably just as vain as women, and in many cases even more so. Whether it’s about our hair, skin, beard trim, or the way our pubes look, we care. Not just care, but care obsessively in many case...
The BBC's 'Ting Tong' Hypocrisy - I Won't Defend Janice Atkinson But the BBC Need to Answer Questions
- 19 Aug 2014
Well I never thought I’d see the day when I’d feel sorry for Janice Atkinson. And it still hasn’t happened. However, the hypocrisy of the BBC never ceases to amaze. Yesterday BBC South East were outraged, outraged I tell you, by UKIP MEP Janice Atkinson calling the Thai wif...
This Is What I Wrote About Julian Assange 4 Years Ago ... Every Word Of it Remains True Today
- 18 Aug 2014
Four and a half years ago, in December 2010, I was asked by the Mail on Sunday to write a column on Julian Assange. When it appeared I was traduced and slagged off by his many supporters. How could I not understand what a hero he is, I was asked? Very easily, as it happens. An...
ConHome Diary: Shazbot & Why Mark Simmonds is a Moron
- 15 Aug 2014
Every summer it’s the same. David Cameron disappears on holiday and Nick Clegg then does the same. Do their diary secretaries not talk to each other? The clue is in Clegg’s job title of Deputy Prime Minister. When the PM is away he should deputise. But he never does, because h...
Biteback withdraws book offer to author following 'homophobic' review
- 14 Aug 2014
From Bookbrunch by Liz Thomson Biteback has withdrawn the offer of a book contract to Roger Lewis following a homophobic review of a Robson Press [Biteback’s sister imprint] title on the late Dusty Springfield. Writing in the Spectator, Lewis began: “Call me a crazy old ph...
A Tribute to Katy Scholes
- 9 Aug 2014
No, she hasn’t died, but she has left Biteback after five years, and we are all very sad. However, she has got a brilliant new job on Adam Boulton’s programme at Sky News and we all wish her well. I am convinced that within five years I will hear the phrase “This is Katy Schol...