The Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives of 2018
- 1 Oct 2018
Each year for the last eleven years I have convened panels to compile lists of the Top 50 Liberal Democrats, the Top 100 Most Influential People on the Left, and the Top 100 Most Influential People on the Right. This year, due to workload, I have wimped out of doing the Lib...
Political Counterfactual: The Day Michael Portillo Became Prime Minister
- 29 Sep 2018
I wrote this political counterfactual back in 2004, as the lead chapter in the [‘Prime Minister Portillo & Other Things That Never Happened’](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prime-Minister-Portillo-Things-Happened/dp/1842750690/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=153...
Imposter Syndrome & Dealing With Insecurities
- 28 Sep 2018
Max Foster, my CNN Talk colleague has started a new podcast called Cloutology. In each episode he’s going to talk to people about how they achieve success in their careers and what their insecurities are. Here’s 30 minutes of me explaining how I try to deal with my own career ...
Men Are Raped Too - It Nearly Happened To Me
- 27 Sep 2018
This whole article is probably going to come under the category of ‘Too Much Information’, but on CNNTalk today I revealed that I was once the victim of a sexual assault, which could have turned into something far worse. It’s not something I have spoken about in public before,...
The Consequences of Keir - Could He Now Be Reshuffled?
- 25 Sep 2018
Sir Keir Starmer may have had a bit of a moment this morning when he was cheered by Labour conference delegates for going off script and making clear his view that any future referendum could include the option of remaining a member of the EU. But might it turn into a somewhat...
The Porn Conundrum & Why Monkey Spanking Has Never Been Cheaper
- 25 Sep 2018
Let me pose a question to you. If straight men enjoy watching lesbian porn, is it not reasonable to assume that straight women enjoy watching gay men go at it on their BluRay screens? You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But try as I might among my female friends and workmates I can’...
Book Review: Alan Johnson - In My Life
- 23 Sep 2018
I might as well get this out of the way right from the start. This is the best book I’ve read this year. Anyone who doesn’t buy it will never know what they’re missing out on. This is Alan Johnson’s fourth autobiographical book. The other three have been bestsellers and it wo...
What Norfolk Means To Me (And Being Interviewed by a Guinea Pig)
- 23 Sep 2018
What is your idea of perfect happiness in Norfolk? Walking along Mundesley beach (pic below). When I was at university in Norwich in the early 1980s I used to drive out there at midnight from time to time and just wander along the beach listening to the waves crashing again...
Some Political Gaffes For Your Delectation
- 22 Sep 2018
Back in 2007 Norwich North MP Ian Gibson experienced what is commonly known as ‘foot in mouth’ incident, when he appeared to describe the whole of the county of Norfolk as ‘inbred’. It was the latest in the line of political gaffes which have damaged and sometimes ended the ca...
Six Weeks in the Autumn - My Very Personal Diary From 2002
- 21 Sep 2018
I was trying to find a database file on my laptop earlier, and stumbled across a Word file called ‘Diary’ from November 2002. I opened it out of curiosity and found 7,000 words from a diary I clearly kept over six weeks from the autumn of that year. Suffice to say, it brought ...
When Peter Hain and I Nearly Ended Up in Prison Together
- 21 Sep 2018
It was six years ago this week. “There’s a letter from the Attorney General of Northern Ireland for you,” said my assistant, Grant Tucker. “Apparently he wants to send you and Peter Hain to The Maze”. And so it began. Six months of legal wrangling that ended up with the Gover...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 63: Interviewing Michael Foot
- 20 Sep 2018
Thirty five years ago, in the middle of the 1983 election campaign, I was heckling Michael Foot at a packed election meeting in a disused church in Norwich. He, of course loved it, and I helped turned a pedestrian election speech into a humdinger. I wrote to Michael Foot af...
How I Might Have Become a Lebanese Hostage
- 19 Sep 2018
I was reading an article on the train home about modern day Beirut. My thoughts immediately turned to a visit I made to Lebanon some 26 years ago, in 1992, not long after the British hostages had been freed. Indeed, I was told during my visit to Beirut that I was the first Bri...
You Can Take the Boy out of Ashdon...
- 18 Sep 2018
I was browsing through some old files on my laptop, when I stumbled across this piece I wrote for the Ashdon village magazine back in the summer of 2013. They say ‘it takes a village’ and Ashdon was my village. It was where I spent the first 18 years of my life. I still regard...
Ten Books I've Enjoyed...
- 18 Sep 2018
Ten days ago I was challenged on Facebook by Jonathan Isaby to think of ten books I’ve enjoyed reading and to post the covers - one every day for ten days, and each day challenge someone else to do so. There was no need to review the book or say why I had enjoyed it. This is ...
Could Theresa May Call a 'Put Up or Shut Up' Vote of Confidence In Herself?
- 17 Sep 2018
I wonder whether Theresa May is considering doing a John Major. OK, it wouldn’t be the first time, I hear you snigger at the back. Could she be considering calling a ‘put up or shut up’ vote of confidence in her time. It would be done on the basis that the ‘leadership issue’ b...
Ten Podcasts I Listen To... (And Why Few Of Them Are Political)
- 16 Sep 2018
The term “podcasting” was first invented by Guardian columnist Ben Hammersley in February 2004. But podcasts didn’t really take off in any meaningful way until years later. I only really started listening to podcasts around four or five years ago. Nowadays, they can be big bus...
The 'Iain Dale's Book Club' Weekly Podcast Has Launched!
- 15 Sep 2018
When I talked to James Rea, my boss at LBC, about moving to the evening show, I said I’d like to present a books hour. He suggested we do it as a podcast so we needn’t be constrained by format, length or commercial breaks. Two months later I am delighted to tell you that we’re...
'Politics Live' - The New Kid on the Political Media Block
- 14 Sep 2018
News junkies are conservative beasts. Whether it’s radio presenters moving to a different slot (!) or political TV shows being axed and then reincarnated, listeners and viewers tend to be very suspicious of change. They jump to conclusions before the first show has even been t...
When You Find Out You've Got a Haitus Hernia...
- 14 Sep 2018
Some of you will have read an article I wrote a few days ago, which explained the fact that I have had a persistent cough for the last month, and in addition I’ve lost a lot of weight, and also lost my appetite. If you missed it, read it HERE. This morning I went into the Spi...