It has been a year since Keir Starmer summoned “the sunlight of hope” and declared an end to 14 years of misery.
Dewy-eyed hacks could barely contain themselves. Krishnan Guru-Murthy signalled the end of “personality-driven” politics, and claimed it would be so tranquil in Westminster that it would be a “challenge” for broadcasters to cope. Andrew Marr even insisted a “wall of money” would come pouring into the country, and we were all lucky enough to live in a “a little haven of peace and stability” now that serious people were back in charge. Obviously James O’Brien welcomed the return of the grown-ups.
It would take some time to adjust to ‘The Quiet’ era of politics. How’s that going?
James O’Brien has been discussing the Trump administration on his show today. LBC notes that he “draws a parallel between JD Vance and Joseph Goebbels.” Here we go…
“Most of the people who’ve been whining about the West for years because they don’t like foreigners have actually ushered in precisely the thing they claimed they didn’t want – the destruction of the West in its traditional form. I think it might have been Goebbels: “Accuse others of what you yourself will do.” So in in the arena most obviously of shutting down freedom of speech the idea that JD Vance can accuse us having problems with free speech while students in the United States are literally being snatched from the streets and locked up for writing editorials in student newspapers is is frankly extraordinary.”
Godwin’s law in full effect there – though Starmer’s Chagos chum Philippe Sands pipped O’Brien to the post. O’Brien has also been seriously struggling with yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on the Equality Act. Co-conspirators will be full of sympathy…
Last night the LBC team came first place at the glitzy Premier League-sponsored ‘Ultimate News Quiz’ event compèred by Gary Lineker and Martha Kearney. Jolly James O’Brien lifted the trophy cup…
This morning on LBC a bandaged O’Brien explained he “managed to skid on some ice on the way to work this morning and fell off my bike” after his “extraordinary victory.” How to be Up-Right coming out soon?
O’Brien struggled to find words at times during his show, for example when elucidating the former Marine Corps career of Vice President J.D. Vance for listeners. Guido, who enjoyed his commute this morning in the six degree London sunshine, offers commiserations to O’Brien for his inopportune accident and hopes the wound heals soon…
As BBC Verify’s 63-strong team is busy producing its vital public service fact-checking (Are top honours winners too posh and too southern?), Guido has decided to step up to the plate and provide verification services when required. Guido Verify is hereby launched.
James O’Brien’s show continues to cement its reputation as the least-well-informed radio show in the country. Last week O’Brien confused the Munich Crisis with the invasion of Poland in one of his diatribes…
This time Sadiq Khan took a break from campaigning against Brexit to talk about how awful Reeves’ plan to expand Heathrow Airport is:
“I forgot people affected by this not just those affected by the noise and the air and carbon emissions but also villages destroyed, homes destroyed, I mean the surface links he will have to increase by 50%. I mean at the moment to give you an idea there’s a cap of 480,000 flights a day – they want to increase that according to their plans to 720,000 and that means villages being destroyed, and homes being demolished.”
Clearly Khan foresees total armageddon if a third runway is built. His maths is interesting, though. Guido Verify has examined the claims.
If 720,000 flights left Heathrow every day there would be 30,000 planes shooting off every hour which is of course 500 per minute. 8.3 per second. O’Brien did not challenge Khan on his sums and nodded along…
Khan may have intended to refer to the annual flight cap – useful to get these details right if you’re going to take matters before a judge. What is it about LBC and maths…
Raging lefty James O’Brien took to LBC today to pontificate on Trump’s latest involvement in the Ukraine crisis and his call with Putin. Dispensing his infinite wisdom, O’Brien declared that the historical context of events since before World War II is “impossible to exaggerate.” He sneered that those “getting their knickers in a twist” over Trump’s actions are displaying “historical ignorance.” Reading out a listener’s message that “Liberals seem to really love war, violence, and money-wasting,” O’Brien smugly attempted a history lesson on appeasement:
“So, to take it back to 1939, Hitler has invaded Poland, Neville Chamberlain has suggested that we should just let him keep it, and as long as he promises not to do anything else, then we can stop all the raging wars and stop spending billions of pounds.”
Wrong. Chamberlain had in fact guaranteed war with Nazi Germany if Polish independence was threatened six months before Hitler invaded Poland. O’Brien somehow managed to confuse the events of 1939 with the Munich Crisis of 1938, when Chamberlain pursued appeasement by allowing Hitler to annex the Sudetenland—something any GCSE student would know. For all his grandstanding on historical literacy, O’Brien could use a lesson or two himself…
Sadiq Khan is finally “putting out the hand of friendship” to Donald Trump nearly ten days on from his election win – having first claimed many Londoners would be “fearful” after around 75 million Americans voted for him. Speaking through gritted teeth to LBC’s Chief Bore James O’Brien, the Mayor of London insisted he would generously give Trump “the benefit of the doubt“. Trump must be grateful…
“…Clearly, we know from his record when he was President between 2016 and 2020 and also some of the things he’s campaigned on, there are anxieties that Londoners have, which my job as the Mayor is to articulate those… I think the three things that even Donald Trump’s supporters would agree with is his policies are protectionist, nativist, and unilateralist…
Now JD Vance, Elon Musk and others may have changed their mind about Trump, I haven’t but I’m giving the President-elect the benefit of the doubt and let’s hope, fingers crossed, this President, during this term, is different from the last one…”
In fairness to Sadiq, he’s hardly the only one in Labour who’s had to eat humble pie since last Tuesday…
Andy Haldane, Burnham’s recent adviser on the economy who has not taken up a No10 job, told Andrew Marr on LBC:
“The market now suspects that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better TikTok videos…
imposing windfall taxes on oil & gas or on banks or upping capital gains tax would […] repeat the mistake that Rachel made […] The Achilles heel, the fiscal Achilles heel of this government thus far has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”
