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, ...
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...