Blog
WATCH: My Hour Long Interview with West Ham Legend Clyde Best
- 10 Mar 2026
I have a treat for you. Clyde Best is a true West Ham legend. He can legitimately be described as Britain’s first star black footballer, and a real role model for the black players that followed him into the professional game in the 1970s and 1980s. He came to this co...
Iran and the Consequences of International Law
- 1 Mar 2026
It’s astonishing how many experts on international law there seem to be. They all seem to know it, chapter and verse assume that any action taken by the USA or Israel must, by definition, breach international law. And that tells you all you need to know about their motivations...
Why the Gorton * Denton By-Election Result Matters
- 27 Feb 2026
Some by-elections are remembered for decades – think Oxford 1938 - Orpington 1962, Glasgow Hillhead 1981 – and others fade into obscurity almost as soon as the result is declared. Watching Labour representatives on the media this morning try to dismiss this as a normal resu...
Press Announcement: Biteback to Publish Iain Dale's Unfiltered Autobiography 'HAVE I SAID TOO MUCH?'
- 23 Feb 2026
BITEBACK TO PUBLISH IAIN DALE’S UNFILTERED AUTOBIOGRAPHY Biteback Publishing has acquired Iain Dale’s searingly honest autobiography, offering a rare, honest look at failure, imposter syndrome and the art of broadcasting. Award-winning broadcaster Iain Dale has led a...
How to Unclog our Courts
- 22 Feb 2026
On Tuesday morning I was at Crawley Magistrates Court, where I pleaded (or is it ‘pled’?) guilty to a speeding offence from last September. I was already on nine points when it happened, although three of those had already come off my licence in November. That doesn’t count th...
In Defence of Matthew Doyle
- 16 Feb 2026
There is one thing above all that Keir Starmer is brilliant at, and that’s throwing colleagues under a bus, and failing to take responsibility himself for things that go wrong. It’s something that means he has very few people around him who are totally loyal to him. They know ...
Book Review: The Next World War by Peter Apps
- 3 Feb 2026
My generation has experienced a rarity in British history. We’ve never really faced the prospect of a European or World War. You could argue the nuclear arms race in the 1980s was the closest we came to it, but it was never really a serious prospect. And when the cold war ende...
When Political Tribes Splinter
- 1 Feb 2026
I understand why so many people are disillusioned with politics and politicians, but that being said, politics never fails to amaze, even if it doesn’t inspire. We live in an age of political fluidity, where party allegiances no longer mean an awful lot. Political parties have...
'Fisking' Yasmin Alibhia-Brown on Margaret Thatcher
- 31 Jan 2026
Back in the 2000s many bloggers used the art of ‘Fisking’ as a way of explaining why a MSM newspaper columnist was wrong. The term emerged in the early 2000s blogosphere and is named after Robert Fisk, a well-known Middle East correspondent for The Independent. Bloggers began ...
Starmer Fails the 'Great Expectations' Test
- 24 Jan 2026
Eighteen months really is a long time in politics. Yesterday I was clearing out some papers and came across a copy of the New Statesman from 12 July 2024. It was their post-election issue. I flicked through it and was astonished by the...
Trump on Greenland: Can't. Shan't. Won't.
- 18 Jan 2026
Yesterday, Donald Trump did what he does best. He surprised us all by saying he would impose tariffs on various European countries, including the UK, unless they all acceded to his desire to buy or take over Greenland. He’s behaving like the child bully who makes threats if he...
Jenrick: Cutting Off the Head of the Snake
- 15 Jan 2026
If you want to kill a snake in the grass, the best thing to do is cut its head off. That’s what Kemi Badenoch has done to Robert Jenrick, and it’s not before time. I make it my business to have good relationships with politicians across the political spectrum, and it’s rare...
Iran: And the Media Looks Away
- 11 Jan 2026
The established media comes in for a lot of criticism nowadays from the both hard right and hard left, and indeed some in between. “You’re biased,” they scream. “You’re legacy media,” they accuse. And much more besides. I reject most of the criticisms made, but this week I’...
Q&A with The Irish Times
- 11 Jan 2026
Interview by Ronan McCreevey How did you get to edit a book about Irish taoisigh? I started my original podcast with British prime ministers in 2021 because it was the 300th anniversary of Robert Walpole being our first prime minister. I commissioned 55 people to write e...
New Year, New Innovations for my LBC Radio Show
- 6 Jan 2026
New year is a good time to start afresh, so we've got two new innovations for my LBC eveninf radio show. We're extending Cross Question, our political panel show to four days a week, starting this week. Our first Thursday CQ will feature four LBC presenters - Tom S...
The Consequences of Venezuela
- 3 Jan 2026
For those of us on the centre-right, who have always regarded our alliance with the United States as central to our defence and security policy, today is a difficult day. While no one would bemoan the departure of the brutal and illegitimate Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro,...
My Ten Predictions for 2026
- 30 Dec 2025
These were my predictions for 2025. Let's see how I did... 1. Donald Trump and Elon Musk have the mother of all fallouts CORRECT 2. Netanyahu will not be prime minister of Israel by the end of 2025 INCORRECT 3. The CDU wins rhe German election and eventually forms a ...
A Weekend in Stockholm - Roxette, an Old Ship, Abba & A Superb Meal
- 7 Dec 2025
There’s nothing like going to a new country for the first time, and absolutely loving it. I’ve just come back from a couple of days in Sweden, which for some inexplicable reason I had never visited before. The ostensible reason was to go to a concert by Roxette, at the ...
A Tribute to Brian Hayes - a Legend of Speech Radio
- 1 Dec 2025
It was in the interval of watching a Cliff Richard concert in Cardiff last night that I learned that Brian Hayes had died at the age of 87. I knew he was ill, but it was still something of a shock, following hot on the heels of learning that one of my footballing heroes, ...
Rachel Reeves & the Consequences of Hubris
- 30 Nov 2025
I’m writing this having just watched the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, try to tell is that she wasn’t lying or misleading us about the need for £26 billion of tax rises in the budget, and that she had been consistent all along. Bollocks. It was a confident performance by Reeve...