New Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR) figures for Q4 2023, now released, make for interesting reading. GB Radio is up 32,000 listeners to 430,000. TalkRadio is also up as BBC listening figures stagnate and the BBC’s local radio stations see a whopping 10% decline from Q3 to Q4. GB News’ combined TV and radio output still comfortably beats TalkTV’s…
Over at LBC Nick Ferrari has overtaken James O’Brien’s listening figures and to take the throne at the station, gaining 45,000 listeners in the last quarter. That’s 35,000 ahead of O’Brien, who is steadily losing listeners…
Guido was browsing Amazon.co.uk for top January deals this afternoon and noticed James O’Brien’s “Mystery Hour” board game had been bought over 1,000 times by hapless Christmas shoppers looking to part with their hard-earned cash. The self-satisfied LBC host’s hundred or so fans can bring his inane insights into their homes for £19.95 with the “the informative, witty, conversational, argumentative board game based on James O’Brien’s Mystery Hour” which features questions like “Why don’t Cadbury Flakes melt in the microwave?”. ‘James O’Brien’s Misery Hour’ might be a better name…
Reviewers who tried to play the game, which is made up of about 250 trivia cards, say they “doubt it will make it to the table regularly. There just isn’t that much to it and it just doesn’t have that wow factor“. On Amazon, a dissatisfied shopper has branded it “probably the most boring & badly designed board game I’ve ever played“, while another says “this isn’t a board game, it’s a bored game. Because that’s what you’ll be after five minutes of playing it“. In that case it sounds like an accurate recreation of O’Brien’s show…
When James O’Brien asked Keir to elaborate on his statement today that “we’d lost our way…not just under Jeremy Corbyn, but for a while” he asked the opposition leader if he had “run this by Ed Miliband” before the speech. Poor Ed’s been a little at odds with the party leadership recently…
Starmer took a bit of time to lay out his response: “No, and I’m not having a go at Ed by any shape or means, he’s a very good colleague got a, he’s one of the central mission drivers… But I mean, I don’t, I don’t want to ignore the fact that we’ve lost four elections in a row and pretending that it was just one dark winter night, four years ago today, I don’t think is realistic“. Don’t just blame Corbyn, dish some out to Ed as well…
The Mayor of London’s annual State of London debate was interrupted by hecklers last night, as audience members grew frustrated with Sadiq’s ULEZ hot air. Khan was repeatedly disrupted by multiple voices in the audience, with one exclaiming “that’s not true” to Sadiq’s air quality stats – he added the Mayor should “stop lying!”. Unsurprisingly, host James O’Brien saw red and had him removed…
This wasn’t an isolated incident, as another disgruntled audience member questioned if it was right “for us to pay”. With the protests out the way, Sadiq was then questioned on the “shockingly poor“ air on the tube. Sadiq insisted the air on the tube “is not breaching any health and safety standards”. Despite the fact King’s College research found tube air was 18 times worse than overground air.
He dismissed these claims by saying comparing subsurface dust to air on the streets was like comparing “apples to watermelons”. Air quality is measured in consistent units and can be held to the same benchmarks – whether it’s underground or not. The World Health Organisation’s recommended safe limit for PM 2.5 air particles is 10 micrograms per cubic metre. At one point in Guido’s own investigation, the platform at Seven Sisters station registered a PM 2.5 reading of 145 micrograms per cubic metre. The Committee for Medical Effects of Air Pollution said a one hour tube ride was as harmful to health as a full day standing by roads in Central London. Sadiq needs to brush up on his dust spin…
Sadiq Khan is still insisting the air on the London Underground is safe, and the “dust in the tunnels and stuff” is nothing to worry about because it’s “not breaking any laws“. Speaking on LBC this morning, Khan was confronted by none other than James O’Brien with research showing the air quality on the Tube is up to twenty times worse than above ground. Research which, while O’Brien claims he “hasn’t checked the provenance of”, is remarkably similar to Guido’s investigation…
Sadiq nonetheless claimed it’s “not true“… although the air “could be cleaner“:
“I’ve seen that flying around as well… that’s not true. There are issues in relation to dust and in relation to the cabins of drivers driving our tubes actually, which is a source of concern to me… it’s not breaking any laws and it’s not a breach of health and safety, but it could be cleaner. That’s why we’re taking steps to clean up the air on the Underground, the dust particles… we’re working with experts to see what more we can do… there’s a lot of dust in the tunnels and stuff…”
The World Health Organisation’s recommended safe limit for PM 2.5 air particles is 10 micrograms per cubic metre. At one point in Guido’s own investigation, the platform at Seven Sisters station registered a PM 2.5 reading of 145 micrograms per cubic metre. The Committee for Medical Effects of Air Pollution (COMEAP) said a one hour tube ride was as harmful to health as a full day standing by roads in Central London.
None of that matters according to Sadiq, because it’s the wrong kind of toxic air… just as he once insisted you couldn’t catch Covid on the tube. We asked a source who is an RMT union representative working on the Victoria Line, who said “Sadiq is either unable to understand or not willing to understand the state of the underground. Particularly on my line, the negligence of City Hall is clearer than ever”. The people who work in the toxic underground don’t seem to agree with the Mayor…
Sadiq Khan held his discounted book launch last night at the Royal Festival Hall, and it didn’t exactly go to plan. At multiple points throughout the evening, a gang of anti-ULEZ protesters heckled and interrupted the Mayor as he spoke to James O’Brien on stage. Khan’s own brother reportedly almost got into a fight with one of them…
At one stage a heckler claimed it was a “lie” that nine-year old Ella Kissi-Debrah’s death was a result of air pollution, though he was soon removed by staff. Another man was escorted out around an hour into the event, with the rest of the group soon following him. Everyone take a breather…
Hat-tip: Ross Lydall
