In Loving Memory of Mary
- 4 Jan 2013
A couple of days ago I was emailed by a friend who wanted to draw my attention to an appeal launched by 25 year old Duke Safo. He wants to raise £5,000 in order to be able to finance, er, his mother’s funeral. His Mum died in November at the very young age of 48. He is auctio...
Six Pounds Down, Eight To Go!
- 4 Jan 2013
As readers of old will know, I have constant battle with my weight. A couple of weeks before Christmas I had my flu jab and promised the doctor I’d get down to 16 and a half stone by mid March. That would entail losing a stone. Having been ill most of Christmas and the New Ye...
West Ham Player Appears On Cover of Gay Magazine
- 3 Jan 2013
It really is something that there is not a single ‘out’ footballer in the world of professional football, not just in this country but throughout Europe and probably the world. West Ham winger Matt Jarvis is this month’s cover boy on Attitude Magazine, the UK’s leading glossy...
Mark Pack Reviews My New Book, 'The Blogfather'
- 3 Jan 2013
Mark Pack has reviewed my new book THE BLOGFATHER on his own blog. He’s kindly given me permission to repeat it here, warts and all. A selection of Iain Dale’s blog posts from 2004-2012, The Blogfather is a potted history of one of the pioneering political blogs in the UK wh...
Anyone Would Think That Rail Fare Rises Were New!
- 2 Jan 2013
Watching Labour Transport spokeswoman Maria Eagle touring the TV studios today, you’d think Labour had never put rail fares up during their time in office. If only that were true. Since 2004 fares have risen by inflation plus 1% under a formula put in place by, yes, you guess...
Book Review: My Fight With Life by Leon McKenzie
- 2 Jan 2013
No one thinks of footballers as people who are likely to be suffering from depression, but after the suicides of Gary Speed and Robert Enke, people are waking up to the fact that even people earning tens of thousands of pounds a week and seen as heroes can suffer from depress...
Good People Doing Nothing...
- 1 Jan 2013
Before West Ham home games it has become a pre-match ritual for me to visit Ken’s Cafe, just down Green Street from the stadium, for a pre-match fry-up. Jo Phillips and her grandson Marlowe join me, and we catch up on the gossip over Sausage, Beans & Chips. We queue up an...
Happy New Year!
- 31 Dec 2012
I will be glad to see the back of 2012. It has been without doubt the worst year of my life. I think 2005 is the only year which could compete with 2012 for twelve months of unalloyed personal misery. I failed to win the North Norfolk seat at the election by a massive 10,600...
Ten Faces To Look Out For in 2013
- 31 Dec 2012
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 Drive’. His latest album ‘Albion Sky’ is just brilliant and I predict great things for him in 2013. OLLY MANN Olly Mann is o...
McGuinness to Trouser £20k Severance Payout
- 31 Dec 2012
So Martin McGuinness has announced he is resigning as an MP, causing a by-election in the seat of Mid Ulster. It would be hard for him to be sorely missed seeing as he has never actually taken up his seat. He refuses to swear the oath, yet has claimed millions of pounds in exp...
The Cruelty of Families
- 30 Dec 2012
Christmas can be a very lonely time, especially for the elderly. I hear time and time again on my radio show of people whose families just aren’t there for them. They’re too busy with their own lives to worry about their elderly parents, let alone visit them. I just don’t unde...
Is Paul Goodman Right? Are the Tories a 2015 Write-Off?
- 30 Dec 2012
It is a brave man who predicts an election result two and a half years away from polling day, but that it what Paul Goodman has done in today’s Sunday Telegraph . Paul is a shrewd observer and one of my favourite pundits. He may have been a loss to the Commons, but he is a mu...
My Top 50 Favourite Tweeters of 2012
- 30 Dec 2012
Each new year I do a list of people whose tweets I have most enjoyed during the previous 12 months. I follow about 1100 people on Twitter (I think it might be time for a cull, but I know how upset people get when they are unfollowed!) but these are the ones who have entertain...
Arise Sir Hector, Arise Sir Peter - The Spoils of Failure
- 29 Dec 2012
At about quarter past midnight last night, I lost it a bit on Twitter… You see, an honours system is only worth having if it is respected by the people. and not devalued by those responsible for bestowing honours. So who the effing hell thought it ws a good idea to give a Kni...
Whatever Happened to Enya?
- 29 Dec 2012
She’s sold 80 million albums worldwide, is one of Ireland’s leading exports and a massive talent, yet Enya hasn’t released a new album since Amarantine back in 2005. A new album was rumoured in 2011 but nothing has happened. I have every song she has ever released and would l...
DVD Review: Borgen
- 28 Dec 2012
Until this Christmas I had never seen an episode of Homeland, Borgen or The Killing. I’m one of those people who binge out on DVD box sets rather than watch a series an episode at a time. Many happy Christmases have been spent feasting on five or six episodes at a time of the...
The All New Iain Dale's Diary ... Er, Why?
- 27 Dec 2012
“You’re like a dog returning to its own vomit,” said a friend when I told her I was going to restart my blog. Charming. But yes, after a two year interlude, I am indeed returning to writing my own blog and winding up Dale & Co. Let me explain. When I announced, back in De...
Glad to See the Back of 2012
- 24 Dec 2012
It’s only natural, with Christmas approaching and a new year on the horizon that we all think about the year that has gone by. I will be glad to see the back of 2012. It has been without doubt the worst year of my life. I think 2005 is the only year which could compete with 20...
Book Review: 'Team, It's Only Radio' by John Myers
- 24 Dec 2012
I’m a comparative newbie to the world of radio, even though it has always fascinated me. It’s a world full of strong and eccentric personalities, very weird business practices and over-regulation. But it wasn’t always like that. In decades gone by it was even worse. In this s...
No More Sky News Paper Reviews
- 21 Dec 2012
Well that’s a bit of a bugger. For at least 13 years now, I have been doing newspaper reviews on Sky News, but that is about to come to an end. In January they are changing the way they do it and I would have to commit to doing both the 10.30pm and 11.30pm slots. Trouble is, ...