It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 29: When a Caller Says Jews Should Get Over the Holocaust
- 15 Jul 2015
It’s not often I shout at a caller or stun them into silence, but that is what happened tonight on LBC. I was conducting a phone-in about the 94 year old Auschwitz guard who was sentenced to four years in prison today in a court in the German town of Lueneburg. I started off b...
Concert Review: Roxette at the O2
- 14 Jul 2015
So, how to get from Leicester Square to the O2 to get there in time for the start of Roxette’s first concert in London for several years. My LBC show finished at 8, at two minutes past we were out of the door heading to the car park. At 11 minutes past we were heading eastwa...
ConHome Diary: Feeling Dirty About Fox Hunting & Ann Widdecombe
- 10 Jul 2015
Half way through George Osborne’s budget speech I began to wonder what all the fuss was all about. Most of the measures that he had announced had either been leaked or he had announced in his Andrew Marr interview. I should have had more faith in the political abilities of the...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 28: Should You Ever Disagree With a Fellow Presenter On Air?
- 9 Jul 2015
Earlier today my LBC colleague James O’Brien discussed the Tube strike on his morning show. He launched an impassioned defence of the strikers and an attack on employers. I could hardly believe what I was hearing, so I thought I’d take him to task on my Drivetime show. He are ...
My Personal Memory of 7/7
- 7 Jul 2015
I don’t know if you remember where you were on the morning of the 7th July 2005 when you heard the news of the terrorist bombings in London. It seems a lot longer ago than ten years to be honest. And yet it also seems closer. I remember virtually everything about that day. I ...
Restaurant Review: Shepherd's of Westminster
- 3 Jul 2015
When I first came to Westminster in the mid 1980s there was a restaurant in Marsham Street called ‘Lockets’. As a lowly researcher, it was always a treat to be taken there. At some point it was sold to Michael Caine and it became Shepherds. It then closed down a couple of yea...
Why Wahhabi/Salafist Mosques Should be Banned From Receiving Foreign Funding
- 28 Jun 2015
I’m not a great fan of the “something must be done” knee-jerk response to a terror attack or tragedy. It invariably leads to the wrong thing being done and the consequences can be felt for years afterwards. What is needed is calm, cool reflection on what has happened. So what ...
ConHome Diary: Wasn't Timmy Mallett Available to Chair Network Rail?
- 26 Jun 2015
Listening to Nick Ferrari interview Nick Clegg yesterday, I started to wonder about his future. I doubt very much he will stand at the next election. It must be pure torture for him to sit in the House of Commons struggling for space alongside the hordes from north of the bord...
Four New Blockbuster Books From Biteback For Your Summer Reading
- 21 Jun 2015
Over the next fortnight Biteback has four cracking books coming onto the market. I don’t normally use this blog to push Biteback books, but I’m going to make an exception here, and you will understand why when you read on… Tomorrow sees The Times start its serialisation of Ro...
ConHome Diary: If the Charleston Shooter Had Been a Muslim...
- 19 Jun 2015
Sometimes you wonder how perfectly sensible politicians score such obvious own goals. How David Lidington thought it was at all sensible to try to persuade Tory MPs that the government should be given full authority to rig the EU referendum is anyone’s guess. The surprise was ...
On This Day I Got Married
- 12 Jun 2015
Seven years ago on Monday, John and I entered a civil partnership. You can read about the day HERE if you’d like to. It really was a perfect day. Today we converted our civil partnership into a marriage. In effect it is backdated to 15 June 2008, so we’ve now been married fo...
ConHome Diary: My Strange Dreams About Nigel Farage & Norman Lamb
- 12 Jun 2015
On 4 July I am chairing the first Conservative mayoral hustings for Conservative Way Forward. I’m amused that The Spectator’s Steerpike column is building this up as an Iain Dale v Ivan Massow confrontation. Hey ho. I suppose it might sell a few tickets! As well as Ivan Massow...
Attitude Column: The Joys of Equal Marriage
- 11 Jun 2015
Seven years ago this month my partner and I got married. Well, at least we thought we did. The reason I say ‘thought’ is that for us, entering a civil partnership was indeed the same as getting married. For us the implications were the same. Yes, it was a legal contract, but i...
LISTEN: LBC's Four Minute Election Night Montage
- 6 Jun 2015
This is a four minute montage of some of the best bits from LBC’s election night coverage. It’s quite stirring in places. And it brings back a lot of memories. It’s a night which will live with most of us for a very long time.
ConHome Diary: Why I Will Always Be Grateful to Charles Kennedy
- 5 Jun 2015
A couple of left wing friends of mine are still literally grieving at the election result. It’s really affected them in a bad way. I keep saying they should move on and get over it but the truth is that their reaction, I think, displays a certain arrogance which is more preval...
A Tribute to Charles Kennedy
- 2 Jun 2015
Charles Kennedy was a man beset by grief on two counts. He died grieving for the loss of his father who died in early April, at the start of the general election campaign, but he was also grieving over the loss of his seat after a parliamentary career lasting thirty-two years...
ConHome Diary: The Tale of Harriet Harman's Fine Pair (Of Shoulder Pads), Zac Goldsmith for London Mayor & Ben Harris-Quinney Suspended From Tory Party
- 29 May 2015
There is a growth industry in this country and it is for very expensive lawyers to send out letters threatening to take people to court for libel. Nick Cohen writes about this in this week’s Spectator ]. He’s been threatened by Carter Ruck for writing a thoroughly researched a...
ConHome Diary: Praise be to Lynton Crosby!
- 22 May 2015
So James Chapman has been recruited by the Chancellor as his Director of Communications. It’s a big loss for the Daily Mail, where he has been an excellent political editor. It will trigger quite a substantial reshuffle in the lobby, which is always amusing to watch. If I was ...
The New Iain Dale Political Books Podcast - Subscribe Now on iTunes!
- 21 May 2015
I used to host the LBC Book Club hour, which was highly popular. Unfortunately, it was discontinued last year, so I have decided to start a new podcast, called the Iain Dale Political Books Podcast. The idea is to talk to a political author about their own book and maybe also...