Yes, off on his Easter Hols with the Mrs & kids. He has got, 'A few bob in the bank' - don't you know !!..... Or, so he informs us, most days

I am finding TS a relaxing listen. It's not all about him, as with James.

JO'B's human interest shows are mainly interesting....but... he really should be kept away from his....Know- it-all political topics.

I would like to try the new Talk radio show - but am unable to find it, in my location. It is not on my Sky/Internet radio list.

Happy Thursday to you all x

PS...Will you be missing 'Mystery hour' & James' many self -congratulating rounds of applause

I used to love Mystery Hour until James even managed to ruin that with his 'oh, I know this one' to every bloomin' question.

The whole idea of MH is that someone phones in with a question and someone else phones in with the answer ... Not James trying to answer them all !!

Another example of how his ego has taken over.

It is the radio equivalent of the Daily Mail...... They realise that by bashing minorities - the majority of listeners are not affected.....the presenters are a pretty poor bunch, that is not to say they aren't mildly entertaining, they just appear to be very limited in knowledge and common sense.

It is like a nursing home for ex tabloid "journalists".

Likewise. And when someone proves that James' answer is not actually correct (they have called in with the correct answer) you can almost hear the insincerity of the fake congratulations dished out said presenter: he doesn't like it up him, does he?

I was amused to hear one of Stapleton's callers - Sadiq, take a pop at LBC and its presenters for being obsessed with Muslims and Islam. The discussion was about YSL's ex partner criticising stores such as M&S for selling the Burkini because it represented quote" the enslavement of women" unquote.

Stapleton's final remark was that as a news story, it's better to be looked over than to be overlooked (especially when we're dealing with Islam).*

*My comment in parenthesis.

Islam-orientated topics get listeners fired up which gives the station some good confrontations between presenters and callers. Then they can plaster the sound bites on their website with the clickbait headlines "John Schools Caller on Muslim Extremism", "Caller Socks It to John on Why Burkinis Are Islamophobic" and "John Clashes With Caller on Shariah Law" etc etc etc.

Good to hear Iain Dale back this evening.

Is Steve being serious, ironic or is it an April Fool 'joke'? A rare moment of self-awareness? (I think GMB is Good Morning Britain, not the Union)

Steve Allen ‏@steveallenshow 4m4 minutes ago Richmond, London
I assume me GMB couldn't find anyone who knew anything about showbiz, so they drag in some guy who repeated the newspapers,#shoddy

I can access his tweets on my second Twitter account, the one I haven't been blocked from!

Morning all.

Good show from Nick Ferrari again this morning. He always handles the medical stories well with compassion and understanding. The dreadlocks conversation was an interesting one and it was good to hear differing views. Nick also read out my text on the subject; my first contribution to LBC!

twitter should give "icons" to pin on twitter homepages to display a badge of honour in being blocked by certain people. i would display it on mine.

ironic it sounds, april fool it no doubt was!

it seems their daily schedule is set by the 'news' in the daily mail, telegraph, times. read those and you have the next 24/48hrs of broadcasting.


sadiq was accurate with his comments. if being looked over is always negative (which it is with lbc) then its probably better to be overlooked.


i think that many callers dont see that they are often 'sneakily' manoeuvred into making comments that can be used in their soundbites

Theo Usherwood was excellent this morning on NF's show. His investigative journalism uncovered that Sadiq Khan is being backed by the Labour activist group Momentum (though one doesnt need to be a Labour member) and he even had a secret recording from the open meeting.

Keep it up Theo

I have followed Ferrari's career for over 3 decades, he is a dinosaur of a journalist - a knee-jerk reactionary....a chemistry professor could explain why water is clear, yet Ferrari would ask but why is it really?? if it went against his own opinion.

I appreciate he is a bit clueless, he says so himself when he talks to experts on Islam, Muslims or Immigration...He was criticising "Chelsea Tractors" causing congestion,he then realised he used to own a Porsche Carrera....

Ferrari is a 90s relic.

'Viz', 'Loaded' all gone, but still somehow Ferrari hangs around.

Is he is an example of pre-internet Fleet Street journalism?

If so then give me Buzzfeed journalists any day, even those who have just been promoted to covering current affairs from posting pictures of kittens.

If you enjoy being talked down to by the local UKIP pub bore, Ferrari is your man.

He has nothing to offer in the 21st century.

Absolute nonsense. Nick Ferrari can move from light-hearted to heavy subjects at an instant. This may seem easy, but comes with years of experience.

The listening figures tell you that he is extremely popular with listeners. Just because you don't like him, that doesn't mean he cannot appeal to a wide selection. If he was a "UKip bore" he would not pull in the numbers he does. Think how diverse London is and this proves the point.

Maybe it seems easy because it is easy...? I don't see that as a particular talent, personally.

Well when they try it on the One Show, you can almost hear the grinding of the gearbox.

If you say so...

Personally, I think reports of Ferrari's talents are highly overrated.

Well you'd expect that from some of the chief muppets that front that show to include the fog horn Alex Jones and Matt somethingorother. Ghastly pair.

I can understand people don't like his style or some of the subject matter, but he is very good at handling his show. I don't like James O'Brien, but I can see that he is skilled at what he does.

-- guess what ??

-- naah you'll never guess it.

-- Iain Dale discussing religious gender segregation

-- and Islam wasnt mentioned once ... ok just kidding

they all have their basic template around which they slot in topics they choose to discuss.

listen a few times and the style, questions, responses of each presenter are highly predictable. so in essence it is very easy to be the host , same formula day in day out and in the case of lbc its pretty much the same limited issues.

the highlight of any show is when a caller undermines that formulaic template.

A bit like your posts.

I think you're completely wrong here. Ferrari certainly has strong opinions (which I admire because it encourages debate and sets him aside from the bland, colourlessness of many other presenters) but he does admit when he's wrong if callers correct him or win the debate. If only James O'Brien did this...

Of course, in the media sometimes there are knee-jerk reactions, but if you have a problem with that then I suggest you stay away from the news altogether because knee-jerk reactions are characteristic of all media, not just Nick Ferrari. And Ferrari often makes very good points and presents good analysis of the issues at hand with his guests, experts and callers. But at the end of the day, Ferrari's show is a fast-paced breakfast show designed to cover as many interesting stories and take as many interesting calls as possible. If you want more in depth analysis of the stories, then that is covered later in the day by James O'Brien and Shelagh Fogerty.

I think when Ferrari has scientists on to talk about discoveries he is very respectful of what they have to say and asks interesting questions. He certainly doesn't try to argue with them. And in his arguments with politicians and callers he is usually right and represents the views of most people.

He's certainly not clueless and knows a great deal about a lot of subjects. But experts in their field of course know more than he does about a particular subject which is why he has them on the show, and that is the nature of the programme- a guest or two guests with differing opinions present their arguments, then Ferrari usually gives his own opinion on the item, and then he goes to calls on the subject. It's that along with a paper review interspersed with news and travel updates. A winning format which makes him the most listened to radio host in London.


This is a load of cobblers (as Ferrari would say). Ferrari presents a show which hundreds of thousands of people listen to and enjoy. He has built a loyal listener base who trust him.

The "Buzzfeed"/clickbait reporters you speak of are people like Stig Abell who are regularly complained about on here.

Ferrari is a master of his trade and no other presenter on the station could do his job half as well as he does.

Viz magazine still exists and has a fairly high readership by the way.


When Ian Payne covered for Ferrari for two weeks over Christmas, many posters on this thread complained about how bad he was and how they had realised that Ferrari was far, far superior.

If anything, Ferrari is underrated and it seems that many people only realise his brilliance when he is on holiday and someone else has an attempt at hosting the breakfast show.

I hope that was a joke! I for one think that soma has made some very valid and interesting contributions to this thread.