Damian McBride & Me: How the Book Came About
- 28 Mar 2013
Four years ago I appeared on the Today Programme talking about Carol Thatcher and her use of the word ‘gollywog’. She had just been fired from the ‘One Show’ for having the temerity to liken someone’s hair to that of a ‘gollywog’. This is what I wrote on my blog at the time… ...
Welcome to the Glenda Slagg School of Commentary
- 24 Mar 2013
What an astonishing reaction there has been to Boris Johnson’s car crash of an interview with Eddie Mair this morning. It’s so typical of our ‘hero to zero’ society. In a way it’s rather pathetic. Some people are seriously positing that after that interview there is no way Bo...
A Tribute to James Herbert
- 21 Mar 2013
James Herbert was one of the greatest British novelists of recent times. His death on Wednesday robs us of a truly talented writer. I first started reading his horror novels as a teenager. The Rats and The Fog were masterpieces of their genre. He never really got the recognit...
Shock Horror! I'm a Right Wing Libertarian!
- 20 Mar 2013
My Political Views I am a right social libertarian Right: 4.78, Libertarian: 3.99 Political Spectrum Quiz As if I was in any doubt… My LBC producer Matt, who is the son of a Labour politician, thinks I am heading to defect to New Labour. This might give him pause for thought...
A Political Geek's Wet Dream - Coming to you Soon on CD
- 20 Mar 2013
Later this year, my company Biteback Publishing, will be publishing a mammoth CD Box Set of Great Parliamentary Speeches, 1978-2013 – thirty five years of great parliamentary oratory. It will also hopefully be available as a download on iTunes, and we’re also contemplating an...
Budget Preview: Don't Expect Anything Radical
- 20 Mar 2013
Let me predict the headline the Chancellor would like to see in tomorrow’s Daily Mail… PERSONAL ALLOWANCES RAISED TO £10k A YEAR EARLY It’s a measure which has the double attraction of keeping the LibDems happy and giving his own activists something to trumpet on the doo...
Is This The Day Oliver Letwin Effectively Shut Down This Blog?
- 18 Mar 2013
As Catherine Tate’s ‘Nan’ might say: “What a fucking liberty”. David Cameron was once a daily reader of my blog. Whether he reads it now, I have no idea. If he does, it might not be for much longer. Why? Because if what I read is even 50% correct, I may well be forced to clos...
Confused of Tunbridge Wells
- 18 Mar 2013
Sophy Ridge reports that a deal on press regulation was struck in the early hours of the morning. Present, she says, were Ed Miliband. Oliver Letwin, and four members of Hack Off. If that is true, just watch it unravel this afternoon. Tory MPs don’t trust Oliver Letwin’s backb...
Cyprus: Could There Now be a Run on Spanish, Italian & Greek Banks?
- 17 Mar 2013
Well if I lived in Spain. Greece or Italy, do you know what I would be doing tomorrow? Trotting off down to my local bank and withdrawing all my savings and then either stuffing it under my mattress, putting it into a German bank, or buying property or gold with it. Future hi...
My First Week on Iain Dale at Drive
- 16 Mar 2013
Radio listeners are a very conservative bunch. They are fairly resistant to change. Whenever a programme director makes a change to a schedule he or she knows there will be howls of disapproval. I remember the furore that was caused when Jeni Barnett left LBC after her contrac...
Dogging in Tunbridge Wells
- 16 Mar 2013
[ This is how I spent Saturday afternoon. Me, Bubba, and some much needed zzzzzzs.
Cameron's Motherhood & Apple Pie Speech Lacked Red Meat
- 16 Mar 2013
Watching David Cameron’s speech at the Conservative Spring Conference was a slightly strange experience. The words came out but they were just that – words. There was an absence of passion, and only at the end, when there was a desultory attack on Labour did he become at all ...
Archbishop Softens Line on Gay Marriage
- 12 Mar 2013
Several of the papers have picked up my interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday, but they have concentrated on what he said about bankers’ bonuses. I think they missed the main story, and that was on gay marriage. It seemed to me that His Grace really softened hi...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter: No 5 - Turbulent Priests
- 11 Mar 2013
And yes it’s true, I did say it. As someone tweeted… Not many people can claim to have said that on their first day in a new job. Good work! Hey ho. At least it gave people a laugh, I suppose. I thought I had rescued it and corrected myself having only said the ‘cu’ ...
Join Me For Iain Dale at Drive From 4pm...
- 11 Mar 2013
Well, today’s the day. At 4pm I start my first Drivetime programme. Up to now I haven’t been nervous about it at all. After all, I’ve presented around 2,000 hours on the radio in the last two years, so I ought to be used to it. But let’s not pretend that this isn’t a show whi...
A Difficult Mothering Sunday
- 10 Mar 2013
Those who lose loved ones dread ‘firsts’. The first birthday without them. The first anniversary of their death. The first Christmas. Today was the first Mother’s Day my sisters and I have spent without our beloved mother, Jane. She died on June 9th last year. Not a day goes ...
Jo Shaw: A Principled Resignation
- 10 Mar 2013
This morning on my LBC Sunday morning show (only two of those left – sob) I interviewed Jo Shaw. Who? I hear you cry. Well until this morning she was LibDem parliamentary candidate for Holborn & St Pancras. This evening she isn’t. She isn’t even a party member any longer....
May the Force be With Theresa?
- 9 Mar 2013
It’s a mark of how much trouble Number Ten is in that a speech like one Theresa May gave this afternoon at the ConservativeHome conference is automatically interpreted as a bold leadership bid. Back in November Tim Montgomerie asked her to close his Victory 2015 conference. U...
Feel Good Video of the Day No 1
- 9 Mar 2013
Make sure you watch this till the very last second. I defy you not to roar with laughter.
Will the Media Now Take UKIP Seriously?
- 8 Mar 2013
George W Bush’s greatest political asset was that his opponents, especially in Europe, continually underestimated him. Nigel Farage enjoys the same advantage. His enemies view him as a spiv who, in the end, will be found out. It’s very lazy thinking. The news that Farage has...