What Counts as Work?
- 1 Sep 2024
I’ve come to the conclusion that we all have different definitions of what the word ‘work’ means. Traditionally it’s meant being paid for your time to fulfil tasks for your employer – being rewarded for working 9-5. Until the last few decades most people would have been involv...
A Taster from THE DICTATORS - My Essay on General Galtieri
- 22 Aug 2024
On 5 September, my new book, THE DICTATORS, is published. It contains 64 essays on 64 different dictators from Ancient Rome to the present day. I think it's the best book in the series, which started with THE PRIME MINISTERS, so far. You can order a copy HERE. I have wr...
What a Lazy Good For Nothing I am. Allegedly.
- 18 Aug 2024
Some people really do have a bloody cheek, especially when they are on social media and think they can get away with blatant lies. Yesterday, I went to see West Ham play Aston Villa with Jacqui Smith at the London Stadium. I posted a rather nice picture of us on Twitter. ...
Obsessing About the Olympics
- 11 Aug 2024
Twelve years ago I spent one of the most memorable nights of my life, taking my niece Philly to the Olympic Stadium. I got two tickets in the ballot for the second Saturday night, the night when we won three gold medals in the athletics. We saw Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg...
Whatever Happened to My Gallbladder, and My Six Days in Hospital
- 9 Aug 2024
It was the evening of Saturday 27 July. I was spending a relaxing weekend in Norfolk on my own, or at least that was the plan. At 7pm I went next door to catch up with out neighbours, Howard and Diane. We sat in their garden having a few drinks and some rather nice Waitrose ca...
Liverpool Philharmonic Cancels 'For the Many' Live Event with me, Lisa Nandy & Jacqui Smith - A Statement
- 27 Jul 2024
Over the past few years Jacqui Smith and I have hosted more than 20 ‘For the Many Live’ events all over the country. Two of them have been in Liverpool. We have been looking forward to another one with the new Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, as out special guest on 22 ...
Why Biden Must Go
- 17 Jul 2024
Napoleon Bonaparte always wanted ‘lucky generals’. In political terms, so-called ‘lucky politicians’ are more often than not, those who the history books consider a success. Joe Biden, it could be said is both lucky and unlucky – unlucky in the sense that he came to the presid...
Why Suella Braverman Must Be Stopped
- 10 Jul 2024
This article first appeared on iNews Never speak ill of a fellow conservative. This was sentiment Ronald Reagan echoed a few decades ago about his fellow Republicans. It seems, however, that despite being a self-described Thatcherite, and despite more than four decades of a...
The Future of the FOR THE MANY Podcast
- 7 Jul 2024
We all know that all good things come to an end at some point, and so it is with this era of the For the Many podcast. Why? Because Jacqui has been elevated to the House of Lords and has been appointed Minister of State for skills, further and higher education. I've discov...
It Was Piers Morgan Wot Won It & Other Lessons for the Conservative Party
- 5 Jul 2024
The best way to get the same outcome is to repeat the mistakes you’ve made in the past. And that’s what is about to happen to the Conservative Party. The last thing it needs after suffering such a crushing defeat is an immediate leadership election. Peter Lilley said shortl...
My 10 Predictions for the General Election
- 30 Jun 2024
Perhaps my enjoyment of this election campaign has been coloured by my dalliance with becoming a candidate at the start of it, but can anyone truly say they’ve enjoyed it, whether they’ve been a participant or an observer. The only “moments” of the campaign are when someone ha...
Is Starmergeddon Coming for the Tories?
- 23 Jun 2024
There are still ten full days of campaigning to go, yet virtually everyone on the right has given up hope of anything that will dent Labour’s seemingly impregnable likely majority. So naturally the papers are full of articles about what happens to the Tories in the aftermath o...
Lions Led by Donkeys - How the Tory Leadership Has Let Down the 'Poor Bloody Infantry'
- 16 Jun 2024
Lions led by donkeys. That was the title of a book by the late Alan Clark on the men who fought for Britain in the First World War. He could have also used the phrase ‘The poor bloody infantry’. It’s the Conservative leafleters and canvassers I most feel sorry for. When you’re...
Looking Forward to the Fowey Festival, 17-18 May
- 6 May 2024
I first appeared at the Fowey Festival at least 20 years ago. My role was to interview Ann Widdecombe about one of her novels. I fell in love with the place and went back to Fowey a couple of times afterwards. Last year I spoke at the Festival and on my way back br...
The Local Election Results: Some Reflections
- 5 May 2024
Over the last 43 years I’ve taken part in local elections first delivering leaflets, then as a canvasser, then a candidate, an election agent and latterly as a commentator and broadcaster. They never fail to surprise and entertain, and this year was no different. Over the y...
Israel/Gaza: Can't Make This Stuff Up
- 4 May 2024
A listener sent me this little polemic, which he had found on Twitter and then edited. It makes some interesting points, whatever stance you take on the conflict. Can’t make this stuff up Barbaric terrorist organisation attacks a democratic country, murders over a th...
My Review of TEN YEARS TO SAVE THE WEST by Liz Truss
- 21 Apr 2024
I don’t know about you, but I am fed up with book reviewers who lazily review the author of the book rather than the book itself. Many of them have clearly read barely a page of the book they’re supposed to be writing about, and instead vent their prejudices about the...
Me and My Books
- 12 Apr 2024
The Daily Mail runs a feature on Fridays called Me and My Books. This week they asked to contribute. Well, it would have been rude not to! WHAT BOOK… …are you reading now? I’ve got two on the go. I haven’t read a novel in years, but a few weeks ago I in...
Iain Becomes a Non-Executive Director of the Lending Standards Board
- 4 Apr 2024
I'm delighted to announce that today I'm joining the Lending Standards Board as a non-executive director, alongside Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and charity leader Caron Bradshaw. The LSB is the self regulatory body for the banking and financial servi...
Announcing my 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Line-up
- 2 Apr 2024
This will be the fourth year I have hosted IAIN DALE ALL TALK at the Edinburgh Fringe and I'm delighted to be back! There are so far 13 shows booked, all at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre running from 3-11 August. A few more shows will be added over the next few...