The bluster don’t work
23/03/2023
Jim is not convinced by Boris Johnson’s Partygate evidence, but doesn’t rule out Tory MPs saving his career. He also asks if Republicans could undermine Ukraine’s war effort.
Lord Michael Heseltine: The best prime minister we never had
25/11/2022
A political giant for more than five decades, the man who many believe to be ‘the best Prime Minister we never had’, Lord Michael Heseltine, joined DIB boss Frank McKenna in the Downtown Den this week.
A Baptism of Fire
10/11/2022
Rishi Sunak has not enjoyed much of a honeymoon period as Prime Minister. Frank McKenna reflects on the baptism of fire the new man in Number 10 has had to face.
Worse and worse
13/10/2022
Jim comments on the worsening crisis for the government, analysing the latest wrong moves of the Prime Minister and wonders if it will end in the unthinkable.
Gone… The worst Prime Minister in history
08/07/2022
Jim doesn’t pull his punches in calling the departing Prime Minister, the worst in our history. He reviews his controversial career and ends with a warning that the political drama may not be over as we wait for the Durham police’s decision on Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy.
Drip… Drip… Drip
01/06/2022
Jim examines the efforts to unseat the Prime Minister as speculation grows that their could be a vote on his future soon. He also has some reflections on the Platinum Jubilee.
Laying down friends for his life
27/01/2022
Jim looks forward to how the Prime Minister will handle the Gray Report and probably survive. He also asks if Bury South Labour Party will be free to decide if defector Christian Wakeford represents them at the next election
Grimmer and grimmer
30/04/2020
Could we be facing a year of Corvid crisis with all its implications for social and business disruption? That’s the fear that Jim expresses this week as he sees few lights at the end of the tunnel. He also speculates what might have happened if David Miliband had become Prime Minister 10 years ago.
Need for clarity
09/04/2020
This week Jim fears the lock down is here to stay,and calls for proper rules to be in place when the Prime Minister is ill. He also looks at Labour’s new team.
Judges to stop No Deal?
26/09/2019
Might the Supreme Court be called in again to tame Boris Johnson? Jim asks what’s behind the contradictory government mantra that it will respect the No Brexit law whilst getting out by October 31. Jim also reports from Labour’s radical conference and says the Manchester economy will not be hit because the Commons has voted to sit during the Tory conference in the city.
The Northern Convention – Devo promises but no cheers for Boris
19/09/2019
DIB London chair and former MP Simon Danczuk reports his observations from last week’s convention.
The Northern Powerhouse
20/06/2019
There’s me, Tony Wilson, Steve Roberts from Granada, Ruth Turner, who goes on to work for Tony Blair, Frank McKenna and a couple more, all sat in a bar in Manchester. It sounds like the start to a bad joke, which in some respects, it probably is.