Here is an hour long compilation of my 'best bits' of 2020 on LBC And here is my Christmas Day show with Jacqui Smith where we named our People of 2020.
This is a list of 250 Tweeters I have most enjoyed during 2020. This is the seventh year I have compiled this list. I follow about 4000 people on Twitter. Anyway, these are the ones who have entertained, informed, educated, annoyed and, most of all, made me laugh most this...
I've probably read fewer books this year than ever before, which is odd when you think about the circumstances. I've got piles of unread books I've bought on my bedroom floor. I've read three books in the last few days, so I'm beginning to pick up the pace. Two of them feature...
This column first appeared on Reaction. Mrs Brown’s Boys, BBC1 This week we learned that Mrs Brown’s Boys had been renewed by BBC1 for – wait for it – another five years. Perhaps it’s the circles I move in, but I have yet to find a single person who watches it, let alone...
This column first appeared on Reaction. Kay Burley at Breakfast, Sky News I had intended to review Kay Burley’s breakfast show today, but events have scuppered me. Or rather, Kay herself has scuppered me. Her 60th birthday celebrations (60? Never!) have made some Cumming...
This article first appeared on Reaction. All or Nothing, Tottenham Hotspur, Amazon Prime “Iain, I’m going to make you feel empathy with Tottenham Hotspur and within six hours you’re also going to have a sneaking liking for Jose Mourinho.” No, not the words of a hypnotist...
This article first appeared on Reaction. The rise in popularity of TV subscription services like Netflix and Amazon Prime is, in no small part, due to the popularity of bingeworthy series such as Outlander, You, House of Cards, and, of course, The Crown. The Crown, in pa...
Cornwall with Simon Reeve, BBC2 I’ve become a bit of a Simon Reeve groupie. It was several years ago that I encountered one of his travel programmes where he was travelling around some far flung neck of the woods and I was instantly entranced. He’s a slightly gawky thirty-s...
Location Location Location, Channel 4 There’s nothing more pleasurable than a bit of property porn on TV, and Channel 4 is certainly the place to get it. They pioneered the genre with Location, Location, Location twenty years ago and it’s sprouted several offshoots since, a...
Today is publication day for my new book THE PRIME MINISTERS 1721-2020 - THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF POLITICAL LEADERSHIP. It was lovely to get an invite to mark the occasion to go on the TODAY PROGRAMME to talk about what makes a great Prime Minister. This isn't in the book, b...
This column first appeared on Reaction. The Nice Terror Attack and the EHRC Report into Antisemitism in the Labour Party, Sky News & BBC News Channel The problem with breaking news for any broadcast organisation is that you often have very little information to go o...
This article first appeared on Reaction. Top Gear, BBC1 The new series of Top Gear is a revelation. It’s got back to its roots, and then some. I could never understand why the country’s premier car show was tucked away on BBC2, but now, after several decades it’s finally...
Back in early January Jacqui Smith and I were invited to appear on Pointless Celebrities (insert your own joke here), so off we tootled to the BBC Elstree Studios, not quite knowing what to expect. In my case, I had never even watched the programme, so wasn't wholly familar wi...
This article first appeared on Reaction. The Comey Rule, Sky Atlantic Jim Comey was Director of the FBI when Donald Trump came to power. Indeed, some say that without Comey, Trump might never have won the election. It was he who ordered that the inquiry into Hillary...
This article first appeared on Reaction. Reasoned with Darren Grimes, YouTube and all podcast platforms Darren Grimes has a certain reputation – most of it thoroughly undeserved. His reputation should be as one of the most articulate voices for Brexit in the country...
This coming weekend I'm speaking at four events discussing my book WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG, and then another couple before the end of the month... Friday 16 October, Bristol Festival of Ideas, 12.30pm This is an online event, where I'll be interviewed by Marg...
This article first appeared on Reaction. Trump v Biden: The First Presidential Debate, Sky News, CNN & BBC This was never going to be an edifying hour and half of prime-time television, and it certainly wasn’t. Some pundits reckoned Joe Biden would score a win j...
This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph. Back in the not-so-distant past, the job of Conservative Party Chairman was one that every single Conservative MP hankered after. In the Thatcher government it held the status in Cabinet of being almost on a par with ...
Some weeks ago I was accused on Twitter of being a Tory stooge and worse by someone I didn't know. I defended myself. Richard then DMd me to apologise. Since then, we've developed a somewhat bizarre but really nice online friendship. Yesterday was National Poetry Day, and h...
This article first appeared on Reaction. Brunel: The Man Who Built Britain. Channel 5 A few weeks ago I wrote about the unpredictable quality of Channel 5’s multifarious and omnipresent royal documentaries. Some are complete tat, whereas others combine original rese...