Join my Fantasy Football League!
- 11 Aug 2013
Each year, I run a Fantasy Football League. Hundreds of people take part each season. Today I am launching next season’s league and inviting you to take part and submit a team. Click here. When you’ve registered your details, follow the instructions to select your team. When...
Attitude Column: Are You Born Gay Or Is It a 'Lifestyle Choice?'
- 10 Aug 2013
This is my first regular monthly column for ATTITUDE MAGAZINE, Britain’s leading gay lifestyle magazine, which appeared in the August issue. Seeing as it’s been out a few weeks now I thought I’d give it a wider audience. I’ve always known I was gay. Well, when I say always, ...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 17: Why I Like Polly Toynbee
- 10 Aug 2013
If you were drawing up a list of the 20 nicest MPs, Labour’s Alan Johnson would get more than his fair share of nominations. He is a formidable politician who surely still has a future in front line politics. But last Friday, when I was interviewing him about his new book, Thi...
LISTEN AGAIN: Alan Johnson Talks About His Childhood
- 5 Aug 2013
On Friday I interviewed former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson about his book, THIS BOY, which covers his somewhat unusual childhood. What a thoroughly nice guy, and what a fascinating story. Listen HERE
A Weekend in Norfolk
- 4 Aug 2013
As a child I used to love mucking around in the garden. I had my own vegetable patch and loved to help my mother pottering around in her green house. But once I entered my teenage years, any affinity to gardening went out of the window. But last week something peculiar happen...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 16: How Big Is Wee Dougie's Sword
- 2 Aug 2013
It’s interesting that Lynton Crosby is being blamed for virtually everything the government does now – good or bad. This is a good thing. It means that it’s clear that he frightens the living daylights out of the opposition. The latest manifestation of this phenomenon is these...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 11: Interviewing Badly Briefed MPs
- 30 Jul 2013
It’s never a good idea to issue a spur of the moment press release as inevitable you will live to regret it. That’s what happened to Labour MP Barry Gardiner today. In the prep for our show on LBC today, we noticed a tweet from a Labour council candidate, Matthew Kercher. It r...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 15: Can Kevin Rudd Imitate Lazarus?
- 26 Jul 2013
As the Australian election campaign cranks up a gear, Kevin Rudd, the new Australian Prime Ministerseems to be attracting quite a bit of media hostility. The Aussie media, having encouraged him to overthrow Julia Gillard, is now turning on him. The Australian Spectator has cal...
LBC 97.3: Iain Dale Talks to Gyles Brandreth About Happiness & the Royal Baby
- 22 Jul 2013
This week I am standing in for Nick Ferrari, presenting the LBC Breakfast show. Today I had a rather hilarious encounter with Gyles Brandreth, who was supposed to be coming in to talk about his new one man Edinburgh Fringe show, but that all went awry when news of the royal ba...
Book Review: DOMINION by C J Sansom
- 20 Jul 2013
If you are a fan of counterfactual history, and you wonder what might have happened in May 1940 had Lord Halifax become prime minister rather than Winston Churchill, then you will love this book. The author, C J Sansom, is a strange cove. he rose to prominence with a highly s...
LBC 97.3 Drive: This Is What We Do...
- 10 Jul 2013
if you’ve never listened to my radio show, have a quick listen to these three audioboos from yesterday’s show. Because this is what we do… (And if you listen to only one, make it the last one. Especially if you want to know how I can be ‘cured’ of being gay!) listen to ‘Far l...
Book Review: 'Strictly Ann' by Ann Widdecombe
- 7 Jul 2013
I first met Ann Widdecombe at Politico’s, the bookshop in Westminster I used to own, in April 1997. She came in and bought ten copies of Derek Lewis’s account of his time as director of HM Prison Service. She plonked them on the counter, I looked her squarely in the eye and ra...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 14: Five MPs Who Won't Get Promoted But Should
- 5 Jul 2013
What is it with Tory MPs at the moment? There must be something in the air. Last week Crispin Blunt ‘mwah mwah’d’ me, and this week I got a bear hug from Mark Pritchard, who had come into the LBC studio to talk about MPs’ pay. It’s just not British! Anyway, credit to Pritchard...
Winning Radio Presenter of the Year - Who'd Have Thought?!
- 4 Jul 2013
I’ll try to keep this short. Last night at the Arqiva Awards I won Radio Presenter of the Year. That has to rate as one of the proudest moments of my life. I was up against Real Radio’s Dixie & Gayle and Absolute’s Frank Skinner. To be acknowledged like that by your peers...
James Purnell Can't Justify His Salary or the BBC's Move to Salford
- 2 Jul 2013
listen to ‘'Are you really worth twice as much as a Cabinet Minister?' – Iain Dale to the BBC's James Purnell’ on Audioboo Have a listen to this from an interview I did yesterday with James Purnell, the former cabinet minister and now the Director of Strategy and Digital at ...
Discussing Mental Health on the Radio
- 30 Jun 2013
Since I have been presenting on LBC (nearly three years, since you ask) one of the subjects I have covered a lot is mental health. Last year the programme was shortlisted for the Mind Media Awards for best radio programme. We didn’t win. but were delighted to attend such an ...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 12: Osborne & Cameron Don't Care About Marriage Tax Breaks. Good
- 28 Jun 2013
Digby Jones is someone who knows how to give ‘good interview’. I talked to him about deficit reduction shortly after George Osborne had sat down on Wednesday. He was keen to emphasise that ringfencing health, education and aid spending was fundamentally wrong, especially healt...
Listen: Michael Gove's 'Whopper'
- 27 Jun 2013
listen to ‘'I hear you're more of a Whopper man Mr Gove!'’ on Audioboo From an interview I did with Michael Gove this afternoon. We had been discussing new school buildings, but I decided to end the interview on a lighter note and talk about George Osborne’s burger eating ha...
In the Case of The Bow Group v Iain Dale... Round 2
- 25 Jun 2013
I warn you now. Reading this blogpost may make you lose the will to live. Back on 24 May I incurred the wrath of the Bow Group’s chairman Ben Harris-Quinney when I wrote this in my ConservativeHome Diary. I’m not quite sure what has happened to the Bow Group. It seems to ...
Book Review: 'Goodfella' by Craig Bellamy
- 23 Jun 2013
Craig Bellamy is a player than opposing fans love to hate. It ought to be because he’s a bloody good player, but the real reason is that people think he’s just a bit of a nasty piece of work. It’s true. He can be, but this book shows there’s more to Craig Bellamy than the sna...