The Wonderful Story of Christian the Lion
- 11 Jan 2014
Grab a Kleenex and watch this… And this is the full story… And this is a US TV interview with the owners of Christian. And this is an interview I did yesterday on LBC with John Rendall ostensibly on the closure of the Harrod’s pet shop, but it was mostly about Christi...
Video of London in 1927 - In Colour
- 11 Jan 2014
This is the first colour film ever shot of London, in 1927. The quality is astonishing. But what is even more surprising is that not a lot has changed! Fascinating.
Why I Have Quit My ConHome Diary Column
- 10 Jan 2014
Last year I didn’t have a two week holiday. Yes, I took time off, but only a few days at a time. By the end of the year I was completely exhausted. Knackered. It was mostly my own fault in that in addition to my two jobs at Biteback and LBC I would take on other work too, and...
Remembering Simon Hoggart
- 6 Jan 2014
Simon Hoggart was one of the people who sparked my interest in politics back in the late 1970s. Along with Frank Johnson he was brilliant in poking fun at politics and politicians in his Punch sketches and I remember one of the first political books I ever bought was his coll...
The Wonderful Country Paintings of Cornelia Fitzroy
- 4 Jan 2014
Original paintings never quite look as good on a computer screen as they do in real life, or perhaps it is my photography, but I wanted to introduce you to a wonderful Norfolk artist called Cornelia Fitzroy. A couple of years ago I bought a painting of hers called THE RED HOU...
My Ten New Year's Resolutions Are...
- 31 Dec 2013
Continue to lose weight. Target 16 stone by June, 15 1/2 by end of the year. To up my exercise. More golf, start running and a bit of rowing. Try to resist getting involved in Twitter spats. Think of a way of raising £5k for charity. To be a better husband to Simmo....
Ten Predictions For 2014
- 30 Dec 2013
UKIP will win the European elections Nigel Farage will resign as UKIP leader in the second half of the year Jeremy Paxman will leave Newsnight. Eddie Mair or Nick Robinson will replace him. Abba will reunite for a one-off concert. Scotland will vote No. Belgium ...
How Did My '10 Faces of 2013' Do?
- 29 Dec 2013
A year ago I rashly predicted that these ten people would all go to bigger and better things during 2013. So, was I right? ALISTAIR GRIFFIN Griffin is a singer/songwriter who was behind the Olympics Gamesmakers song ‘I Wish For You The World’ and the Formula 1 theme ‘Just Dr...
Book Review: A Series of Unrelated Events by Richard Bacon
- 28 Dec 2013
I had intended to write this review last night but decided instead to watch The Inbetweeners movie on Channel Four. Someone suggested on Twitter that I should write this review using words from the Inbetweeners. In theory this would be clungingly possible. [See what I did the...
20 (Good & Bad) Personal Reasons to Remember 2013
- 24 Dec 2013
I was given the opportunity to present Drive on LBC after two and half years presenting the evening show. More HERE Buying our new house in Lammas in Norfolk. Winning Radio presenter of the year at the Arqiva awards in July. 2013 was the first year without my darling ...
My Top 100 Tweeters of 2013
- 21 Dec 2013
Each new year I do a list of people whose tweets I have most enjoyed during the previous 12 months. I follow about 1300 people on Twitter but these are the ones who have entertained, informed, educated, annoyed and, most of all, made me laugh most this year. In previous years...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 36: Good Year? Bad Year?
- 20 Dec 2013
I hate the Daily Mirror. Always have. Always will. It employs people who laughingly call themselves journalists but effectively just contribute to a Labour propaganda sheet. And their editor is no better. I hadn’t heard of him until Wednesday evening. His name is Lloyd Embley....
ConservativeHome Diary Week 35: Snogging Jacqui Smith & Other Stories
- 13 Dec 2013
Can anyone explain what our revered Deputy Prime Minister was doing at the Nelson Mandela Memorial Service on Tuesday? No, me neither. I thought his job was, er, to deputise and run the country in the Prime Minister’s absence. He said he had never met Nelson Mandela so quite w...
Liberty Launches Anti-Tory Advertising Campaign
- 10 Dec 2013
This is an advert from the civil liberties group Liberty, headed up by Shami Shakrabarti. It appeared as a full page ad in tonight’s London Evening Standard. It is a disgrace. It’s inaccurate and partial and does Liberty a great disservice. It’s so partisan and inaccurate tha...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 34: Why Can't We See the Chinese For What They Are?
- 6 Dec 2013
Am I alone in feeling queasy at the way David Cameron has been crawling to the Chinese this week in a craven attempt to gain their favour? “We will be the main advocate of China in the West,” he announced on Monday. Pass the sick bag. I completely accept we have to do business...
Attitude Column: The Christmas Dilemma
- 4 Dec 2013
I have been with my partner for 18 years and yet until last year we had never spent a Christmas together. I had always gone to my parents’ in Essex and he to his parents in Kent. In later years he’d make an escape and join me at my parents in the evening, but neither of us fou...
The NHS: Things That Need to be Said...
- 4 Dec 2013
I must be mad. When will I ever learn? I have just accepted an invitation to give a lecture on the NHS to 50 doctors, surgeons and consultants from a London hospital in late January. Why on earth can’t I just learn to say ‘no’? I don’t do a lot of speeches nowadays. My job me...
Would You Like to Help Save the Gay Hussar?
- 30 Nov 2013
The purpose of this blogpost is to invite you to become part of an exciting new venture designed to secure the future of the Gay Hussar restaurant in Soho, a favourite hangout of politicos for decades. I am doing so on behalf of a group of diners and staff, the Goulash Co-ope...