Mehdi Hasan is someone who most people on the right love to hate. Opinionated, clever, robust and on the left, he has moved from being a talented writer to a brilliant broadcaster on Al Jazeera. It has just been announced that he is leaving the Huffington Post to take up a full time post with Al Jazeera in Washington DC. It’s rare that I am jealous of anyone, but in this case I will make an exception. I don’t have many regrets in my life, but one of them is that I have never worked in Washington. It’s a city I love and I’ve probably been to visit on twenty or thirty occasions. I know it will never happen now, and that’s fine, but it doesn’t stop me becoming wistful. Mehdi will be a big loss to the British political media. I’ve always thought he would end up standing for Parliament and becoming a leading light in the Labour firmament. But maybe like many others he has come to the conclusion it is a fool’s errand and not for someone whose outspoken tendencies would not be tolerated. I wish him all the luck in the world. We may not agree on much, but I’ve valued his friendship and support over the years, and he’s a thoroughly nice guy.
