WATCH: Jacqui Smith & I Debate the EU Referendum
- 26 May 2016
Jacqui Smith and I debate the EU Referendum on Sky News. hattip to @liarpoliticians
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 44: What to Put In And What to Leave Out
- 20 May 2016
This week, in case you hadn’t heard (!), I won Radio of the Presenter of the Year at the 2016 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards. This is the entry compiled by my producers Jagruti Dave and Matt Harris. John Suchet, Frank Skinner, Christian O’Connell and Boogie & Dingo wer...
ConHome Diary: Interviewing the PM, Winning an Award & the Coming Reshuffle
- 20 May 2016
So there I am, at the Roundhouse in Camden, shortlisted for Radio Presenter of the Year, thinking that I haven’t got a hope in hell of winning. I was up against Frank Skinner, Christian O’Connell, John Suchet and the unlikely sounding duo of Boogie & Dingo. Nope me, neit...
ConHome Diary: Tories Must Heed the Sadiq Warning & Farage Would Outperform Boris & Gove in Debates
- 13 May 2016
What a pity Vote Leave are getting their knickers in a twist with ITV over the fact that ITV have asked Nigel Farage to be on the same programme as David Cameron, rather than one of the big beasts of Vote Leave. It’s symptomatic of the splintering of the OUT side of the argume...
TV Review: Peston on Sunday
- 8 May 2016
I’m told that only a couple of months ago, ITV executives were pulling their hair out over Peston on Sunday. No one seemed to have the faintest idea what the programme should be, let along its contents. The only certain thing was that Peston on Sunday was its name and the sta...
ConHome Diary: The Dangers of TTIP, Gove Pillow Talk & How We Have 'Misunderestimated' The Donald
- 6 May 2016
If I were Dominic Cummings (and there’s a thought) I’d be deploying the acronym TTIP as a major part of the LEAVE campaign. The Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership is a very boring sounding free trade agreement between the US and the EU. From what I know about it,...
LISTEN: Is the TTIP Really That Bad?
- 4 May 2016
Make up your own minds, but I think it’s a democratic outrage.
My Predictions and Analysis For Thursday's Elections - Will it be "Operation Kenneth Baker" for Labour?
- 2 May 2016
LOCAL ELECTIONS Thursday matters. Clearly it matters to the thousands of candidates up and down the country. Win, and their lives change. Lose and they go back to their normal lives. But it’s not through the prism of local candidates that we will judge these elections, it’s t...
ConHome Diary: Is the London Mayoral Race Really Over & How Obama Backfired
- 29 Apr 2016
Well that went well then. President Obama’s visit seems to have turned people marginally against the REMAIN campaign, with the latest batch of polls showing a narrow LEAVE lead. I can’t say I am surprised. Virtually every ‘normal’ person I have spoken to, and by ‘normal’ I mea...
ConHome Diary: The 'Leave' Campaign Needs to Unite and Up Its Game
- 23 Apr 2016
If you are part of a campaign to try to say something, you don’t just have to win the argument, you have to win people’s hearts and minds. As usual, the Republican movement got it totally wrong yesterday on the Queen’s 90th birthday. Instead of wishing Her Majesty a happy birt...
LISTEN: Sir Nicholas Soames Rips Boris a New One (Time and Time Again)
- 22 Apr 2016
I interviewed Sir Nicholas Soames this afternoon about Boris Johnson’s article in The Sun this morning. I certainly got more than I bargained for. He ripped Boris a new one, time and time again. “Not fit to be leader,” was one of the kinder comments. Have a listen. And her...
ConHome Diary: SexChem on Sky News, Why Evan Harris is a Twat & Does Yvette Owe Zac's Team An Apology?
- 15 Apr 2016
I am a Sky News addict. The channel has some excellent presenters but recently the double headed morning show has become compulsive viewing. Colin Brazier and Jayne Secker have an onscreen chemistry which is quite unique. They are very flirtatious and clearly enjoy working tog...
Sometimes I feel like I’ve Fallen out of Love With the Book Industry
- 12 Apr 2016
Shall I tell you a secret? Sometimes I feel like I’ve fallen out of love with the book industry. I mean, across the board it’s generally full of pleasant enough people who mean well but, it seems to me, are often damagingly risk-averse, hidebound by outmoded business practic...
WATCH: Polly And I Review the Sunday Papers on Andrew Marr
- 10 Apr 2016
ICYMI, here’s the paper review with me and Polly Toynbee on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. We covered tax affairs, Brexit, second homes the muslim survey in the Sunday Times.
ConHome Diary: The Ghost of Jo Moore Lives On, The Hypocrisy of The Guardian and My Frozen Shoulder
- 8 Apr 2016
On Wednesday afternoon I saw a newsalert flash up on my screen. “Government to spend £9.3 million on sending leaflet to 27 million homes”, it read. No, I thought, that can’t be right. After all David Cameron specifically ruled out the government doing such a thing back in Febr...
27 Years Ago Today the Dock Labour Scheme Was Abolished - And Here's How I Helped It Happen
- 6 Apr 2016
Twenty seven years ago today Norman Fowler announced the Repeal of the National Dock Labour Scheme in the House of Commons. I had been working for the National Association of Port Employers and, with Nicholas Finney, had been masterminding the lobbying campaign to get rid of t...
My Donald Trump 'Downfall' Video - DONALD TRUMP CONFRONTS HIS DOWNFALL
- 2 Apr 2016
</embed> There’s nothing I like more than making a ‘Downfall’ video. So I made one about Donald Trump. It’s about time someone did. Do share on Facebook and Twitter! UPDATE: Apparently this video can only be seen if Chrome is your browser – it won’t work on Firefox...
ConHome Diary: Silencing John Humphrys & The Thatcherite Who Believes in Nationalisation
- 1 Apr 2016
If I was compiling a Top Ten List of Ultra Thatcherites, and you know how I like my lists, Monmouth MP David Davies would be fairly high on it. So when I interviewed him about the steel crisis in Port Talbot, imagine my surprise when he told me he would be in favour of tempora...
ConHome Diary: The Defenestration of Suzanne Evans & The Rise of Michael Gove
- 25 Mar 2016
UKIP has finally flipped. On Wednesday morning they suspended Suzanne Evans for six months due to her so-called ‘disloyalty’. The aim of this was twofold – to take her off their GLA candidates list and to prevent her standing for the leadership if Nigel Farage quits after the ...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 43: Interviewing a Friend Who's Become the Enemy of Another Friend
- 25 Mar 2016
I was on a panel the other day with Marina Hyde, the Guardian columnist. She said she never goes to media or political parties because she thinks if she speaks to any well known people or becomes friends with them she wouldn’t be able to write what she wants about them in ...