*Iain Dale. Internet TV*

The “A-list” Tory candidate, Iain Dale, took time out of his schedule to talk to us today about Blogging and Internet TV.

Trailed in the lecture notes as “…one of Britain’s leading political bloggers”; Mr Dale’s talk dealt with the phenomena of “the new media”.

As well as being an acclaimed blogger (The Evening Standard list him has being in the top 200 most influential people in London), Iain Dale is a founder and presenter of “18 Doughty Street”, the first online politics show. So whether you agree with them or not, his opinions on the subject are well worth listening to.

Iain Dale on 18 Doughty Street




While I found much of what he had to say very informative and interesting, especially his concerns for the standard of political debate on British TV today, the problem I have with Iain Dale and 18 Doughty Street is the unashamedly right-wing nature of his politics. To be fair, in neither his blog, nor on his TV station, he does not pretend to be anything other than what he is: a Thatcherite Conservative. Personally, such a political persuasion is an anathema to me. Anathema is probably an understatement! To me Thatcherism represents and extols the baser qualities in man; greed, jingoism, selfishness...! Indeed, one of the great ironies of Mr Dale's talk was that he continually banged on about "empowering the little man". To my mind Maggie did more to dis-empower "the little man" than any other British politician in living memory!

Though I disagreed vehemently with his politics, I did find him to be a personable and interesting character.

So will I be tuning in to 18 Doughty Street? Maybe
Would I want to go for a pint with Iain Dale? Probably not.