My Wonderful Day at Wembley
- 24 May 2012
Oh West Ham we love you. Despte you making us tear our hair out, despite you being the most wonderful but frustrating team, we still come back for more. And today showed both sides of West Ham, but who cares? We are Premier League, I say we are Premier League! And there were m...
Attorney Drops Hain & Biteback Contempt Prosecution
- 17 May 2012
HAIN AND DALE WELCOME ‘VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AS NORTHERN IRELAND ATTORNEY GENERAL DROPS PROSECUTION FOR ’SCANDALISING’ JUDGE After the decision today of the Northern Ireland Attorney General to drop his pending prosecution of the former Secretary of State for Northern Irela...
Top Ten Things You'd Never Hear Theresa May Say
- 23 Apr 2012
I must get a new diary . People say we’re the Nice Party Oh, forget the ECHR, we’re an independent country, just put him on the plane (I presume I can’t say Sod) I like a beard on a man Brodie Clark is coming to dinner ...
BNP Candidate Gives Second Preference To...
- 20 Apr 2012
On Thursday night I presented my radio programme from the 24th floor of the Heron Tower, right in the heart of the City of London. It was the venue for the Sky News London mayoral debate. Little of note emerged from the debate with Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and Brian Padd...
Saturday Diary: A Chance for Nick Clegg to Put His Foot Down
- 7 Apr 2012
The government has got itself into yet another unholy tangle this week over secret courts and surveillance powers. I have never quite understood why it is that when opposition politicians get into power, they almost immediately become authoritarian and fans of increasing go...
Where's Andy Coulson When You Need Him?
- 1 Apr 2012
“Where’s Andy Coulson when you need him “ joked one Tory MP to me yesterday. At least I think he was joking. Yes, it’s got that bad. Downing Street has, at times, seemed rudderless over the last ten days, as it has been buffeted by various political squalls, which, added toget...
And in a Packed Programme This Morning...
- 1 Apr 2012
Starting a new radio show is always a bit daunting, even when you’ve been doing one for a year and a half. Doubly so when you are taking over a slot previously inhabited by two friends. This morning I broadcast my first show in the 10am-1pm slot on LBC 97.3, having taken over ...
We Need an Apology, Transparency & Immediate Reform of Party Funding
- 25 Mar 2012
In this country we like to think of our political system as being relatively free from the sort of corruption you often read about elsewhere. But the truth is, where money is concerned, there will always be a perception of wrongdoing even if there is none. If you want to make ...
A Very Political Budget From a Very Political Chancellor
- 21 Mar 2012
Well, no one can say that wasn’t an eye catching budget, no matter what you think of what was announced. It was a deeply political budget, from a deeply political Chancellor. It reminded me of a Nigel Lawson budget, and I mean that in a good way. And it was a budget from a Cha...
This Government Has a Quasi-Socialist Approach to Business
- 3 Mar 2012
What is it with politicians? Why do they think they can run businesses better than those of us who do? Thebest thing government can do is leave businesses to innovate, create jobs and make profits. Yes, profit. That’s what pays the tax that funds all the services government wi...
RIP David Rathband
- 1 Mar 2012
At about 1.20am this morning, I was giving final approval to the new Biteback Publishing website when I happened to look at Twitter. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. David Rathband had taken his own life. It was as if Raoul Moat had risen from his grave and taken his ...
So What If Vicky Pryce Pleads Guilty?
- 23 Feb 2012
So, Chris Huhne takes over from Mr Frederick Goodwin as the nation’s whipping boy. But like Fred, Chris Huhne has yet to be convicted of any criminal offence. If I were a Liberal Democrat activist (what an awful thought) I would no doubt be arguing that his political career sh...
In Conversation With David Sullivan
- 22 Feb 2012
ID: David, you’ve had two years at the club now. If you knew then, what you know now, would you still have done it? DS: Just. Just, I think. It’s been a harder time than we imagined. Both from a financial point of view and a football point of view. We shouldn’t have got relega...
Public Drunkenness Can Never Be a Social Norm
- 21 Jan 2012
Last night I apparently trended worldwide on Twitter. It was quite an experience being at the centre of a Twitter storm. Twitter is a very spontaneous medium. Many have come a cropper by posting something in haste and then repenting at leisure. It’s certainly happened to me in...
Gay Marriage, 'Bigoted' Tories & Irresponsible Journalism
- 17 Jan 2012
There is nothing the media and the Labour Party love better than trying to make out the Conservative Party is still the ‘nasty party’. Not just seen as the ‘nasty party’, but IS the ‘nasty party’. And their means of doing it is to imply that the Tories are institutionally homo...
Labour Can't Afford to Lose the Likes of Harris & Bozier
- 16 Jan 2012
Tom Harris’s sacking as Labour’s new media tsar illustrates exactly what’s wrong with modern politics. Basically, anyone who displays a sense of humour has to be got rid of. Yesterday, Tom posted a Downfall spoof poking fun at Alex Salmond and one of his advisers, Joan McAlpi...
TV Review: The Sunday Politics
- 15 Jan 2012
The main question from a viewer’s perspective on any new TV show is this: Is it better than what went before? On the basis of the first ever Sunday Politics I would say the answer is a cautious yes. Andrew Neil is now without a doubt the best political interviewer on British T...
Why I Cried On the Radio Last Night
- 13 Jan 2012
Yesterday evening on LBC I achieved two firsts. I spoke to one caller for a whole half hour, and fifteen minutes later I wept. Live on radio. Really. Like Alastair Campbell, I have always been a little lachrymose. I have even been known to shed a tear watching Emmerdale. Perh...
Film Review: The Iron Lady
- 11 Jan 2012
I am probably one of the worst possible people to review this film objectively. I know some of the main characters personally, and Margaret Thatcher is my political inspiration. But I am going to give it a go anyhow. When I first heard about this film, the initial publicity s...
Is Parliament Becoming Relevant Again?
- 11 Jan 2012
I remember one day during the summer of 2003, while the Hutton Report was in full swing, appearing live on Sky News for a full half hour, live on College Green. Much as I like hearing the sound of my own voice, I did question why Sky had thought my pearls of wisdom were worth ...