Concert Review: Mango Groove at the Hammersmith Apollo
- 8 Mar 2015
Well I have never been mentioned on stage before at a pop concert, but it happened last night when Mango Groove’s lead singer Claire Johnson dedicated the song ANOTHER COUNTRY to me. You could have knocked me down with a feather, but it was hugely appreciated. You see, I recko...
DOWNFALL VIDEO: Nick Clegg Says Sorry
- 6 Mar 2015
Nick Clegg Entschuldigt Sich from Iain Dale on Vimeo. Miranda Green just asked on Twitter if I was behind this Downfall video, made after Nick Clegg’s apology for the tuition fees promise a couple of years ago. Guilty as charged, Miranda! I haven’t seen it for some time, bu...
ConHome Diary: Will Col Bob Stewart Resign His Seat?
- 6 Mar 2015
On Wednesday afternoon I wondered if my eyes and ears had deceived me. I had watched Prime Minister’s Question Time and thought that Ed Miliband had trounced David Cameron. On both immigration and the TV debates Cameron didn’t seem to have any answers and for once Ed Miliband ...
Counterfactual: Ed Miliband Refuses to Debate with Cameron in Election Campaign
- 5 Mar 2015
It has just been reported by the BBC that Ed Miliband has refused to take part in any election debates with the Prime Minister during the election campaign. The Leader of the Opposition said that in 2010 the election debates had sucked the life out of the campaign and that ...
Will the Broadcasters Blink?
- 5 Mar 2015
Frit. Coward. Hypocrite. Just three of the words being thrown at the Prime Minister over his refusal to debate head to head with the Leader of the Opposition. He’s offered to take part in a single, eight-way, debate but only if it takes place before the election campaign start...
Attitude Column: Cucumber Plays Into Far Too Many Gay Stereotypes & Is a Bit Bananas
- 4 Mar 2015
I wanted to enjoy Cucumber. I really did. I was a massive fan of Queer as Folk back in the late 1990s and expected great things from Cucumber. As someone in his early 50s I thought it would be a really good thing for a new drama to look at life for the slightly older gay man....
The Why Vote Books Sales Update: UKIP Voters Are More Computer Friendly & Green Voters Kill More Trees
- 3 Mar 2015
Back in the autumn Biteback published a series of books called “Why Vote…” covering the four main political parties. In January we added ‘Why Vote Green’ to the list. I’ve calculated sales up until the end of February, and these are the figures. UKIP 26.7% Labour 23.5% Conse...
ConHome Diary: No Dave, I Won't Stand for Kensington (Not That You've Asked!)
- 27 Feb 2015
My interview with Ed Balls on Wednesday seems to have created a bit of a stir. According to the Huffington Post it was “the most cringeworthy LBC interview in, well, recent days.” Personally, I thought it was a hoot. You see Ed Balls had come top of a Mumsnet survey of sexy MP...
EXCLUSIVE: Bruno Waterfield to Leave the Telegraph
- 21 Feb 2015
Yesterday we learned that top investigative reporter Holly Watts is to leave the Telegraph for The Guardian. Another day, another journalist departs Telegraph Towers. I can exclusively reveal that highly respected Brussels Editor Bruno Waterfield is the next one to leave. He...
Why the Public & Private Sectors Can And Must Work Together in Healthcare
- 21 Feb 2015
THE private versus public sector debate has bedevilled health policy for some time. It lies at the very core of the failure of politicians to provide the leadership the NHS needs. The ‘public good, private bad’ mindset which is held by many politicians on the left is equally m...
ConHome Diary: Fancy Talking About Male Genital Mutilation?
- 20 Feb 2015
It’s always bittersweet for a publisher when you see a book that you turned down being published. You wonder if you made a mistake and if it will in fact turn out to be a bestseller. That’s happened to me this week with the publication of William Waldegrave’s memoir A DIFFEREN...
Attitude Column: What's Wrong With a Bit of Gratuitous Nudity?
- 15 Feb 2015
We British have a very strange attitude to the human body and showing it in public. I’ve never quite understood why. Perhaps it’s an innate puritanism that runs through our society, alongside a rather quaint hankering after Victorian times where a woman exposing a bare ankle w...
ConHome: How I Escaped a Lynching in Newcastle
- 13 Feb 2015
Ed Miliband’s troubles with the business community were highlighted by his no-show at the British Chambers of Commerce annual shindig. The fact that both Chuka Umunna and Ed Balls made speeches was ignored by a media looking for any opportunity to stick the boot in. The fact t...
Interview With Kent on Sunday: "I’ve got a brilliant job which I love; I wouldn’t think of going back to politics"
- 9 Feb 2015
Last week I met Sarah Linney, a reporter with Kent on Sunday. This interview is the result. You can find it on their website HERE At Portcullis House – a parliamentary building in Westminster just across the road from the House of Commons which bulges with the offices of MPs...
My New Book: The NHS - Things That Need to be Said
- 8 Feb 2015
Writing a short polemical book about the NHS when, inevitably, the readers of the book are bound to know far more about the subject than I do, is perhaps not the wisest thing for a political pundit and broadcaster to do. Let me explain why I have written this book. Each and e...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 20: RAJAR - What Goes Up... May Come Down
- 7 Feb 2015
What goes up, must come down. That doesn’t apply just to Christmas decorations and share prices, but to radio audiences too. Every quarter we get listening figures courtesy of RAJAR. They instill fear into every radio presenter and producer, because those are the measure that ...
ConHome Diary: Feeling Sorry For Ed Balls (No, Really)
- 6 Feb 2015
I suspect I am alone here, but I did feel a twinge of sympathy for Ed Balls this week after forgetting the surname of a man he had just spent the evening with at a Labour fundraising dinner, and who runs Labour’s Small Business Advisory Group. I couldn’t believe it became such...
General Election Predictions: Seat By Seat - Now Published As An eBook
- 3 Feb 2015
Several people suggested I should release my seat by seat predictions as an eBook, so that’s exactly what I have done. I also included various lists of seats – you know how I like a list :). It’s 432 pages long. Anyway, you can order it for only £1.59 Buy the eBook from Pol...
CAMPAIGN ADS: Israel: The Bibi Sitter
- 3 Feb 2015
I’d love to see a British political party adopt this style of ad. Strangely I can see Nick Clegg doing it, but maybe not Cameron or Miliband.