Ten People Who Are Having a Bad Election
- 1 May 2010
A couple of days ago I published a list of Ten People Who Are Having a Good Election. So you won't be suprised if I now balance things up. These are ten people who perhaps haven't had the best of times over the last month... Gordon Brown Needs little explanation. He's head...
Telegraph Column: This Was Supposed to be the Internet Election
- 27 Apr 2010
This was supposed to be the election when internet politics came of age, when the blogosphere and social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook had a real impact on the campaign. But it hasn't turned out like that: far from being an important player, the internet has become ...
Ten People Who are Having a Good Election
- 26 Apr 2010
Andrew Neil Ubiquitous. His Daily Politics morning reports have been incisive and entertaining and he always seems to ask the question the politician doesn't want to answer. A pity he isn't chairing the debate tonight. Michael Gove The Tory Party's emerging safe pair of h...
A Gay Row That Exposes Bradshaw's Hypocrisy
- 23 Apr 2010
I get very frustrated when the likes of Ben Bradshaw try to play politics with gay issues and try to make out as if all Tories are latent homophobes. I gather tonight Little Ben was at it again after an interview David Cameron gave to Gay Times and which was picked up by Chann...
These Attacks on Nick Clegg Will Backfire
- 22 Apr 2010
What a terrible indictment of the British press we see this morning. The Mail runs a spurious story about Nick Clegg making a supposed Nazi slur against Britain. The Expressreckons he wants us to be overrun by immigrants. The Telegraph accuses him, of well, properly declaring ...
Campaign Spotlight: Dagenham & Rainham
- 15 Apr 2010
I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours this afternoon campaigning in Dagenham & Rainham for my friend Simon Jones, who is seeking to oust Jon Cruddas. I was out with a team of eight canvassers (including Baroness Noakes) in a fairly nice part of the constituency on a new...
High Court Finds Against Leading Labour Blogger
- 8 Apr 2010
Alex Hilton has not had a good day if my reading of this interim judgement in the High Court is correct. Reading between the lines, it could have severe implications for all bloggers. In short, he is being sued because of an article posted on Labour Home which intimated that s...
My Consistently Inconsistent Advice on Dealing With Michael Crick
- 7 Apr 2010
Earlier on today a couple of commenters - Scary Mary and Grim Reaper - spotted an apparent inconsistency in what I wrote in THIS blogpost comparing Gordon Brown's electoral strategy to Michael Foot's compared to THIS one which ventured some advice to first time candidates. ...
Drowned Out By Mandelson's Crisps
- 6 Apr 2010
I suppose my chief memory of today has to be the moment I was drowned out on national radio ... by a packet of crisps. It wasn't any old packet of crisps. It was a packet being consumed, nay, chomped on by no less a personage than the First Secretary of State himself. Peter Ma...
And Do It Begins...
- 5 Apr 2010
After what seems years of waiting, it;s finally happening. The election is on. As I sit here tonight, two thoughts come to mind. I think of all the candidates up and down the country, many of whom have been campaigning in their patches for up to four years. The next four weeks...
Ten Lords a Leaping
- 4 Apr 2010
ConservativeHome have rather kindly included me on their list of 100 potential peers today. I don't delude myself that there's much chance of that actually happening, but it did provoke an idea for a blogpost. I support a fully elected House of Lords, but until that actuall...
The Perils of Saying Something Nice
- 3 Apr 2010
Last night I was in Oakham, Rutland to chair an election hustings organised by the Federation of Small Businesses, and a very lively event it was too. The panel consisted of local MP Alan Duncan, his Labour and LibDem opponents and two local businesspeople. The evening started...
Twenty Great Things About the 1980s
- 3 Apr 2010
1. Margaret Thatcher. 2. Labour couldn't win an election. 3. Putting the Unions back in their box. 4. Enabling millions of people to buy shares for the first time. 5. A-ha & Alphaville. 6. Audi Quattros. 7. Ejecting the Argentinians from the Falklands. ...
Why I Disagree With Chris Grayling on B&Bs
- 3 Apr 2010
Fasten your seatbelts. Just before I went down to the studio to talk about Labour posters on the Stephen Nolan Show I saw the breaking story about Chris Grayling. Tomorrow's Observer has a recording of him saying that he felt that the rights of bed and breakfast owners to refu...
EXCLUSIVE: Returning Officers Threaten to Strike Over Election Counts
- 1 Apr 2010
The row over election night counting threatened to worsen last night, as Returning Officers revolted over Government plans to force them to hold counts on election night itself, rather than the next day. I can reveal that more than 100 Returning Officers have signed a lette...
A Promotion for TV's Shane Greer
- 1 Apr 2010
I'm delighted to announce today that Shane Greer will be replacing me from 1 May as Managing Director of Biteback Media, the company which owns Total Politics Magazine. Shane has been instrumental in the success of the company in its first two years, and having established ...
Speech: Politics, Speeches & Audiences in the Age of Celebrity
- 31 Mar 2010
Last week I spoke to a group of speechwriters. Several people have asked if I would post my speech, which took as its subject “Politics, Speeches & Audiences in the Age of Celebrity”. Here's an abbreviated version... The best speeches are made like I sing in the shower....
Why the A21 Must Be Dualled
- 25 Mar 2010
Anyone who knows the A21 between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells will know what a treacherous road it is. It's the bit where the dual carriageway goes down to a single lane each way, near Pembury (where we live). There's a steep stretch of hill with a bend half way up. About ...
Hanging up on BBC London
- 22 Mar 2010
I don't normally go on BBC Radio London, and my experience just now reminds me why. I've always been taught that as a radio presenter, if a guest hangs up on you, it reflects very badly on you. You've clearly failed to control the interview. I was invited on to Eddy Nest...
In Praise of Vodafone
- 15 Mar 2010
Remember about a month ago I wrote THIS post about my mobile phone bill? It was £2,500, and it turned out the next month's was even more. I twittered about it and was contacted by Vodafone's web relations team. To cut a long story short, they have spent the last month trying t...