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...
Guardian Media Podcast
- 8 Mar 2013
Yesterday I was a guest on the Guardian Media Podcast with John Plunkett, Roy Greenslade and Matt Deegan. I talk about blogging and my new LBC Drivetime show. You can listen by clicking HERE. My bit starts at 8 mins 45 and finished at 19 mins 30.
Twenty Four Hours
- 7 Mar 2013
This is my very odd life at the moment. Today has been the oddest for a long time. It’s panned out like this… 1am Arrive at Crowne Plaza, Chipping Norton, which turns out not to be in Chipping Norton. Hence it took an hour to find. 8am File my Eastern Daily Press column 93...
The Threats and Opportunities Facing Independent Publishers
- 7 Mar 2013
This morning I gave the keynote speech to 300 independent publishers at the annual conference of the Independent Publishers Guild, at a hotel near Chipping Norton. I was a late substitute for Vince Cable. It turned out to be quite an event. I wouldn’t normally publish the enti...
Me and Diabetes: Becoming an Ambassador for Diabetes UK
- 6 Mar 2013
Don’t laugh but I have finally made it as a cover boy! Back in January Diabetes UK asked if I would become an Ambassador for them and they asked me to be interviewed for their magazine BALANCE. And this cover is the result! I guess I really ought to be some new pictures done, ...
LBC 97.3: End of an Era - Beginning of a New One: I'm Moving to Drivetime
- 5 Mar 2013
As a radio presenter you always get nervous when contract renewal time comes round, and I am no different. I’ve had very good Rajars (audience figures, for the uninitiated) and feel that both my evening shows and Sunday shows have done well in attracting a bit of a new audien...
Ever Wondered Why In These Times of Austerity...
- 5 Mar 2013
In case you haven’t visited it before, there is a brilliant new blog by Conservative Agent Andrew Kennedy. He is the agent for my home constituency of Tunbridge Wells. He’s just written a “blogpost”: headlined ‘Ever Wondered Why…’. He writes… ‘In these times of austerity…’ ...
Cardinal Keith O'Brien: Time to Forgive & Let Him Find His Inner Peace
- 3 Mar 2013
This is the statement just released by Cardinal Keith O’Brien. In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public. Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them. However, I wish to take this opportunity to adm...
You Can't Out-UKIP UKIP
- 3 Mar 2013
I was on the Andrew Marr Show this morning doing the paper review with Clare Share Short and Jude Kelly. Here;s a short clip that @liarpoliticians has posted on Youtibe where I make the point that I don’t think the Conservatives can out-UKIP UKIP. But some of the stories in ...
Theatre Review: CHESS at the Union Theatre
- 1 Mar 2013
Well that was quite an evening. I’m on the train home from seeing CHESS at the very small Union Theatre in Southwark. Because of my working hours I very rarely get to go out in the evening, so it was really nice to do something a bit different. I bought the tickets ages ago a...
The Challenge for UKIP Comes in May
- 1 Mar 2013
No one should deny that the really big winners last night were UKIP. Few people had seen it coming much before Polling Day itself, John Rentoul being an honourable exception. To come second, only 1,711 behind the Liberal Democrats was an incredible achievement, and much of th...
Chess: I Know It So Well
- 1 Mar 2013
Tonight I am going to see the musical CHESS again. It’s the tenth time I will have been to see it since it first opened in the West End in the 1980s. It’s a cold war story, with music by the men from Abba and lyrics by Tim Rice. To be honest I am not a great fan of musicals, ...
Fifteen Things We Learned From Eastleigh
- 1 Mar 2013
I’ll write a more considered piece on Eastleigh later, but here’s something to think about… Fifteen things we learned from Eastleigh. Voters will sometimes forgive a political party anything. Once the LibDems get in, it’s almost impossible to get them out Gran...
The Idea That This Government Believes in Deregulation Is a Joke
- 28 Feb 2013
Yesterday I got an email from our accountants telling us this… From April this year, HMRC are changing the way in which employers have to report payroll information. Previously, employers had to file a return at the end of each tax year with details of all employees, their...