Should we Ban Strikes in 'Essential Services?
- 23 Oct 2010
By Iain Dale and Nicholas Finney The Government's dire cuts to the public sector, coupled with the actions of the irrepressible trade union leaders like Bob Crow, have suddenly reactivated interest in strikes and perhaps more importantly whether they should be made unlawful...
Concert Review: Cliff Richard 'Bold as Brass'
- 16 Oct 2010
Going to see one of your musical heroes in concert is an experience always fraught with danger. Why? Because frankly, few people in the audience are ever interested in hearing new songs – all they want to hear are the big hits. And so when I went to see Sir Cliff Richard’s 70t...
My First Four Weeks on LBC
- 16 Oct 2010
I’ve now been presenting my LBC show every weeknight for four weeks. I’m doing this in addition to my normal day job, which is running a publishing company, so you can imagine it’s not an easy schedule to juggle. But I love every minute of it. Most of the show is phone in b...
Book Review: The Chris Mullin Diaries Volume 2 - Decline & Fall
- 10 Oct 2010
OK, I am a sucker for political diaries. I can't remember ever reading a set of political diaries which I didn't enjoy. And Chris Mullin's second volume of diaries, DECLINE & FALL, is no exception. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this volume is better than the first....
Top 100 People on the Right 2010
- 1 Oct 2010
The Daily Telegraph publishes today numbers 1-25 in its Top 100 Influential People on the Right compiled by Brian Brivati and me with an expert panel. 50-26 75-51 100-76 Today's installment includes Eric Pickles at number 6, IDS up to 15, Francis Maude up to 4 and a su...
The Any Questions Experience
- 27 Sep 2010
Well I'm in the BBC car driving the 300 miles back to Kent (no, there are no trains at this time of night since you ask) reflecting on my second experience of Any Questions. And seeing as I won't get back to Tunbridge Wells until 3am I thought I'd write a little missive about ...
Thanking Our Troops
- 26 Sep 2010
Last night on my LBC show we discussed the issue of how we treat our armed services, and in particular war veterans. It is never good when a presenter breaks down in tears on air, but last night it nearly happened to me twice. Once when reading out a heartfelt text and another...
Top 100 People on the Left 2010
- 25 Sep 2010
Ed Miliband won the leadership campaign. He has transformed his personal position in the party, altered the political dynamic of the internal party debate and his blessing is now necessary for the shape of the party to come. He largely won the argument on the election and on t...
The Launch of Iain Dale in the Evening on LBC on Monday
- 17 Sep 2010
As most of you will know, over the last few months I have been a stand-in presenter for LBC in various time slots. Well, I'm delighted to tell you that I have been offered a permanent gig and I will be getting my own daily three hour programme. From Monday I'll be taking ov...
Top 50 Liberal Democrats 2010
- 16 Sep 2010
This year has forced a rethink of what it means to be a Liberal Democrat. As the anonymous panel met to compile the list there was a sense in which that crisis of identity was still being played out. Not since the party was welded together from what was left of David Owen’s eg...
Travelling to Arnhem
- 16 Sep 2010
My Dad turns 81 next month. He was nine when the Second World War broke out. For him, the war defined his who life. He was 15 when it ended. To this day he devours every programme he can watch about it. My parents' TV is permanently tuned to the History Channel or the Discover...
How does PC World Stay in Business?
- 4 Sep 2010
There's a reason I hate going to PC World, and yet like a dog returning to its sick, I continue to do so. Today's visit illustrates why I reckon its the chain store with the worst customer service in Britain. It's staffed by acne-ridden, monosyllabic teenagers with barely a GC...
Job Advert: Executive Assistant to Iain Dale
- 1 Sep 2010
Executive Assistant to Iain Dale The Role: Iain Dale is a busy man. He is the publisher of Total Politicsmagazine, a contributing editor to GQ, managing director of Biteback Publishing, editor of Iain Dale’s Diary and author or editor of more than 20 books. And he need...
Crispin Blunt Comes Out
- 27 Aug 2010
Well, I hadn't seen this one coming. Crispin Blunt wishes to make it known that he has separated from his wife Victoria. He decided to come to terms with his homosexuality and explained the position to his family. The consequence is this separation. There is no third part...
New Statesman Diary Column
- 19 Aug 2010
There is clearly little personal love lost between the London mayoral rivals Oona King and Ken Livingstone, who came into the LBC studios recently. Barely had they sat down at opposite mikes than they were jabbing fingers at each other. Neither seemed to understand that it's n...
New Statesman Diary August 12 2010
- 12 Aug 2010
Gordon Henderson, the Tory MP who represents the good burghers of Sittingbourne and Sheppey, must have a political death wish. Having been asked in a ConservativeHome survey which non-Tory politician he most admires, he replied "Nigel Farage" - possibly the answer most likely ...
New Statesman Diary
- 5 Aug 2010
Oona King is operating an innovative online campaign in her bid to beat Ken Livingstone to Labour's London mayoral nomination. She is inviting bloggers to her Docklands campaign centre to find out more about her policies, including, strangely, several right-wing Tory bloggers....
The Joys of Live Phone-in Radio
- 4 Aug 2010
What I love about presenting a phone in based radio show is that you can never predict what's ging to happen. And so it proved tonight. In the first hour of the programme we covered the story about the Advertising Standards Authority ruling in favour of Channel 4's decision...
Anyone for Tennis?
- 25 Jun 2010
There was a time, in the late seventies and early eighties, when I would go to Wimbledon every year, but my interest in tennis waned in the 1990s as the main players just resorted to bashing the ball from base line to base line. Seeing a player come to the net was as rare as a...
A Candidate No Longer
- 17 Jun 2010
Last night I attended a reception at Number 10 and had a brief chat with David Cameron. He said he hoped I would try for a seat at the next election. I explained that that wouldn't be happening and that I had made a decision well before the last election not to try again if I ...