Row the Boat
- 21 Dec 2012
Don’t laugh, but this weekend I am going to buy a rowing machine. That’s ‘row’ as in oars, not ‘row’ as in an argument generating machine. It’s a last desperate attempt to achieve some degree of fitness. I used to play a lot of sport – squash, tennis, golf. At one point in my ...
Total Politics Becomes Part of Dods
- 17 Dec 2012
Four and a half years ago we launched Total Politics magazine. Most people thought it would sink without trace. Who would buy a political lifestyle magazine, let alone advertise it, sneered the cynics. Well, today the magazine was sold to Dods. For me it’s a bittersweet moment...
My Sartorial Elegance
- 13 Dec 2012
Just got this email from an LBC listener… Hello Iain, If there was an award for the most smartily dressed man on sky news press review, you would win in by a country mile. Every week you are always immaculately dressed in your tie and suit and you put to shame alot of other m...
The Compassion of Angels
- 11 Dec 2012
Ann Clwyd came on my programme for an hour tonight to talk about the treatment her husband received in hospital in Cardiff in the weeks before he died. She moved many to tears last week in PMQs when she asked David Cameron why so many nurses lacked compassion nowadays. Her voi...
Tragedy in Cromer
- 8 Dec 2012
Like many in North Norfolk I remain in shock, after hearing of the tragedy which unfolded last Sunday in Cromer, when the former mayor Keith Johnson shot his wife and then took his own life. You never think something like this will happen to someone you know. But Keith and And...
The Prime Minister is on the Line
- 8 Dec 2012
So when you pick up the phone and the person say “Number 10 Switchboard here, can I put you through to the Prime Minister?” do you say… A) Can you hold on a minute while I get dressed? B) Remind me of his name again? C) If you really must D) Only if he’s offering a peerage E)...
Should We Really Buy Shares in George Osborne and Sell Balls?
- 7 Dec 2012
James Forsyth wrote in last week’s Spectator that now was the time to buy shares in George Osborne. I mentioned this to a Tory MP this morning, a mere 48 hours after the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement. “Yes,” he said. “They’ve risen from 2p to 4p.” Cuttingly cruel. It is true t...
Zoe Williams Reviews Iain Dale in the Evening
- 29 Nov 2012
here's a quiet, arresting radio revolution going on at LBC between 7pm and 10pm Monday to Thursday. Putatively – and often – it's a political programme, a mellow but rufty-tufty panel-debate between Tory Iain Dale and his guests. That's all pretty straightforward: as Julie Bur...
Top 100 People on the Right 2012
- 1 Oct 2012
As delegates gather in Birmingham for the Conservative Party's annual conference, Iain Dale produces a list of the top 100 powerful figures within the Right. (-) DAVID CAMERON Prime Minister & Leader of the Conservative Party There’s no denying it, Camer...
Top 50 Liberal Democrats 2012
- 25 Sep 2012
Each year the Telegraph assemblies a group of experts to compile a list of the top fifty ranked members of the Liberal Democratic Party and it allies. The ranking is based on the panels judgement of the performance of the politicians over the past year. The great gamble of ...
A PR Lesson Andrew Mitchell Needs to Learn
- 24 Sep 2012
What on earth did he think he was doing? All Andrew Mitchell achieved this morning by talking to the assembled cameras was to give the story more legs. But perhaps it is wrong to blame Mitchell. After all, he was no doubt doing what he had been advised to do by the so called g...
Top 100 People on the Left 2012
- 23 Sep 2012
By Iain Dale & Brian Brivati Cometh the Labour Party Conference, cometh the new Guru. Aside from watching continuous reruns of Bill Clinton’s miraculous speech/sermon/lecture nominating Obama, the top two Ed’s in our list (Miliband and Balls) are still searching for the...
Why Mental Health Has Become Important To Me
- 13 Sep 2012
Mental health remains a subject most people find difficult to talk about. Unless they are affected by it, it’s not something talked about in polite society. Or they are bored by it. I’ve never suffered from depression, or any other form of mental condition, so I have slightly ...
The Carlton Cole Interview
- 17 Aug 2012
The last time I interviewed any West Ham players was back in the mid 1990s, when I spoke to Tony Cottee and Stan Lazirides. To be honest, I don’t find many footballers that interesting. Hanging around Upton Park hoping for a brief word with a player has never been my idea of f...
Manuscript: Talking Politics - Political Conversations With Iain Dale
- 12 Aug 2012
<p. i half-title> Talking Politics Political Conversations with Iain Dale <p. ii blank> <p. iii title> Talking Politics Political Conversations with Iain Dale Iain Dale Biteback ...
Clegg's Bluff Needs To Be Called
- 6 Aug 2012
What follows is written more in sorrow than anger. I was a cheerleader for the coalition in the days it took for it to be negotiated. I take little pleasure in seeing it start to fracture. It was right for the country then, and it is now. But it can only work if both sides act...
The Greatest Sporting Night of My Life
- 6 Aug 2012
I never thought I could attend a sporting occasion which surpassed the 2006 FA Cup Final. And then along came this year’s Championship Playoff Final. Last night I attended the evening session of the athletics at the Olympic Stadium. Well, we all know what happened. It proved t...
Top Ten Ways the Olympic Ceremony Would've Been Different If It Had Been Organised by Aidan Burley
- 29 Jul 2012
Alf Garnett and Vera Lynn dance the Charleston, while the crowd is showered with food stamps and Bird’s custard. Twenty minutes of BUPA nurses jumping up and down on beds Czech athletes ordered to remove blue wellies and replace them with shiny jack...
Let's Reward the Olympic Volunteers With a Medal Too
- 29 Jul 2012
The Olympics are only three days old but one thing that has already shone through is the extraordinary job being done by the 70,000 or so volunteers who are ensuring that people enjoy the Olympic experience. And I am not just talking about those at the Olympic stadium. The tho...