Over the weekend, two titans of British political radio faced off on Twitter – in the blue corner was Mike ‘concrete growing‘ Graham and in the red corner was James ‘boisterous boozer‘ O’Brien. In a now deleted tweet, Graham accused O’Brien of being a “paedo apologist and a plank” – James responded by threatening legal action. Co-conspirators may have thought that Graham was referring to James O’Brien’s promotion of convicted child abuser Carl Beech’s now discredited allegations. For which James still hasn’t apologised.
The whole affair did remind Guido of an “astonishingly illuminating” discussion James previously had on LBC. In a sensitive heart-to-heart, James questioned a man called John who spoke of his paedophilic desires. Over the course of the interview, O’Brien praised John’s “breath taking” courage, said he should take “pride” for not acting on his fantasies. He also compared John resisting his desires to a husband resisting the urge to cheat and agreed there should be less stigma around offering psychological help. Co-conspirators can watch the full phone-in here.
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This morning, TalkRadio veteran Mike Graham interviewed carpenter and Insulate Britain spokesperson Cameron Ford, clearly hoping for an easy win and a funny clip for Twitter. After interrogating the campaigner for all of 30 seconds and failing to get a rise out of the perpetually calm activist, Graham became visibly frustrated. Graham’s final mode of attack was accusing the carpenter of harming trees for a living. An unfazed Cameron quickly pointed out that his job was sustainable because trees grow back. Graham’s response was to insist you can grow “other things” too – claiming, bizarrely, that you can even grow concrete. Who knew? Following an unbearable and incredibly awkward silence, the TalkRadio presenter cut the interview in a huff.
The embarrassing exchange might have gone away unnoticed if TalkRadio had left well enough alone, yet for some unknown reason they posted the humiliating clip on social media. For the eco mob this was the ‘gotcha’ moment they’d long been hoping for. Does someone at TalkRadio have it in for Mike?
They subsequently published a cartoon of Mike presiding over a crop of cement with the caption ‘let it grow’. The only thing that should be growing is Mike’s embarrassment…
TalkRadio’s Mike Graham took to twitter last night to slam Sky News’ coverage of Afghanistan by questioning the credibility of former sports presenter Martha Kelner.
Nothing personal but pretty terrible for @SkyNews to be relying on former sports reporter @marthakelner to give us the benefit of geo-political analysis on the #BidenFailure - shows how far the media has fallen. Next up the #ManCity @HKane transfer saga. pic.twitter.com/fHG0JateTR
— Mike Graham 🇬🇧 (@Iromg) August 16, 2021
Beth Rigby was quick to jump to her colleague’s defence, commending her superb “analysis of Biden’s speech”.
Couldn’t disagree more. @marthakelner is a superb, award-winning journalist. And her analysis of Biden’s speech was spot on. https://t.co/913dlAI5lu
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) August 16, 2021
Things escalated pretty quickly when goading Mike insulted Beth’s journalistic skills:
Comes as no surprise Beth. Any chance you’ll ever ask a decent question at a media briefing? Or apologise for being a reckless hypocrite? I’ll wait. It’s just a job.
— Mike Graham 🇬🇧 (@Iromg) August 16, 2021
Mike wouldn’t let the issue drop, and continued to insult those rushing to tweet in Beth’s defence. Beth attempted to hit back with a sassy retort:
The only solution is to have Mike ask the questions at the PM press conferences AND front up coverage of the White House https://t.co/tlxlW5RCSu
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) August 16, 2021
However, it was Mike who managed to get the last laugh, slamming Beth for her suspension from Sky News last year:
Unlike Beth I’ve covered the White House. Also unlike Beth I’ve never been suspended from my job for reckless, hypocritical behaviour. https://t.co/3ACzJNLt5D
— Mike Graham 🇬🇧 (@Iromg) August 16, 2021
Guido wonders if there will be any hope for #PositiveTwitterDay which this year will be taking place on Friday, August 27th…
In tonight’s LIVE with LITTLEWOOD:
- SACRED COW In the current climate, is it possible to critique the NHS?
- LEVEL PEGGING How do we rebalance the UK economy?
- UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE Can government protect free speech on campus?
Join host MARK LITTLEWOOD for 60 minutes of scintillating discussion with talkRadio’s MIKE GRAHAM; The Independent’s Chief Political Commentator JOHN RENTOUL; DEHENNA DAVISON MP, the Conservative member for Bishop Auckland, and KRISTIAN NIEMIETZ, Head of Political Economy at the Institute of Economic Affairs, and author of the IEA report Viral Myths: Why we risk learning the wrong lessons from the pandemic.
Be sure to join in the debate, LIVE – TONIGHT at 6PM – here or on YouTube.
On tonight’s LIVE with LITTLEWOOD:
- Rishi Sunak’s plan to protect jobs – will it work?
- 10pm curfews and £10,000 fines – can they defeat the virus?
- Keir Starmer – how has he measured up during the crisis?
Host Mark Littlewood will be joined by talkRADIO’s Mike Graham; Centre for Policy Studies Director Robert Colvile; former MEP Patrick O’Flynn; Spiked’s Joanna Williams; politician Suzanne Evans; economist Andrew Lilico, the IEA’s Steve Davies, and free speech champion Toby Young.
JOIN IN THE DEBATE – LIVE at 6.30 – HERE or on YouTube.
