Latest news with #JamesO'Brien
The National
a day ago
- Politics
- The National
David Lammy claims he's shrugged off 'impostor syndrome'
DAVID Lammy has revealed that someone in the UK thinks he is doing a good job as Foreign Secretary – him. In a spectacularly self-indulgent interview with LBC's James O'Brien, Lammy said he had shrugged off the 'impostor syndrome' which had dogged him his whole life until he was made a Cabinet minister. His reign at the Foreign Office has seen a brutal man-made famine sweep across Gaza, while Britain continues to arm Israel, and the White House imposing tariffs on the UK as part of Donald Trump's war on international free trade. READ MORE: 'He belongs in The Hague': Keir Starmer fiercely criticised over Gaza speech Lammy's blunders include referring to Israel's plans to herd Palestinians into a concentration camp in Gaza as a 'sticking point' and referring to members of Benjamin Netanyahu's government as 'extremists' as UK-made arms still flowed to Israel. On the other side, he has been criticised in the right-wing press for accusing Israel of breaking international law – which it obviously is, but that is not the official government line. He had to row that one back and blamed jetlag for speaking out of turn. 'Something just fell off my shoulders. There was this sense that I'm the right guy in the right job at the right time.' @DavidLammy opens up to James O'Brien about having imposter syndrome at every stage of his life, until he became Foreign Secretary. — LBC (@LBC) July 25, 2025 In a statement on the collapse of Bashar Al-Assad's regime in Syria in December, Lammy seemed to reveal that he didn't know where the country was as he referred to the risk of it falling into anarchy 'like Libya next door'. In the same statement, he also referred to Sudan as being 'not far away', which is true if you think that a distance of almost 2000 miles means somewhere is reasonably close. READ MORE: Kemi Badenoch: Pictures of starving children haven't shifted my support for Israel Speaking on O'Brien's profoundly missable Full Disclosure podcast, Lammy said: 'I have, up until relatively recently, impostor syndrome at nearly every critical stage of my life and certainly, on a more personal level, at the moments in nearly every decade of my life struggled with anxiety. He added: 'I literally walked into No 10, the Prime Minister asked me to be Foreign Secretary, I walked into the Foreign Office and – I'm going to get emotional again – and it just fell off my shoulders. 'I had arrived and there was a powerful sense that I was the right guy, in the right job, at the right time to do this and a certain kind of innate confidence in my ability to do this that has carried me through and continues to this day.' Bully for him.
Spectator
5 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
James O'Brien's apology isn't enough
When the story of how the British media responded to the October 7 atrocities is told, there will be a number of villains. High up on the list will be James O'Brien. The LBC host is smugness personified most of the time, but gets even higher on his horse whenever Israel is the topic, which it is frequently. Obviously. Things reached a new low this week. On Tuesday, O'Brien read out a text from someone called 'Chris'. This person said his Jewish wife had, as a child, attended something called 'Shabbat School'. There she was taught that one Jewish life was worth thousands of Arab lives and other racist, dehumanising concepts. 'There is a danger perhaps,' O'Brien said in his very serious voice, 'that we only ever hear one side of the dehumanisation and propaganda processes.' The problem, of course, is that Shabbat School is not real. No Jew has, to my knowledge, ever even used the phrase 'Shabbat School'. Jews do many things on a Shabbat – the day of rest observed from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday – including going to synagogue and visiting friends and family. They do not go to school. Indeed, Jews are not meant to do anything resembling work on Shabbat, including writing, making teaching or attending classes rather difficult. Consequently, children mostly go for their Jewish education on a Sunday morning. I remember attending these Cheder classes. We were taught by earnest, religious young women how to read Hebrew and about the festivals, but mostly we counted down the minutes until we could go home again. Some more liberal denominations do now offer Jewish education on a Saturday morning, allowing parents to sit in the synagogue service undisturbed. Does it seem likely that those teaching in such communities would be comparing Arabs to cockroaches, as the nonsensical text message claimed was happening? All this should have been an immediate red flag to both O'Brien and his producers. That it wasn't appears to suggest how keen that show is to air things that are anti-Israel and, ultimately, anti-Jewish. To make matters worse, the clip of O'Brien reading this message was pushed out on LBC's official X channel. It was later removed, but by that point the damage was well and truly done. A big-name host on national radio had aired a blood libel against the Jews, seemingly without questioning the information in front of him. That blood libel was spread on social media, where it was probably seen by more people than ever tuned into the original broadcast. It all puts Jews in the UK in danger at a time when simply sitting in a Kosher restaurant can be enough to get you harassed and attacked. Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, told me: 'These comments are absolutely vile and it beggars belief that they were read out on air when they are clearly false and obviously antisemitic.' Reflecting on her personal experience, Pollock explained: 'I attended a Jewish primary school, Hebrew classes as a child and was immersed in Jewish education. Not once did I hear such vile assertions about another group of people – and I have never heard of anyone else hearing it either. I cannot believe James O'Brien and LBC thought it appropriate to promote this hatred.' Meanwhile, Andrew Gilbert, a vice president of leading communal organisation the Board of Deputies, called on O'Brien to be taken off air. He's right. This should not have been a matter of 'deputy heads will roll', with his producers taking the flak. While they certainly have questions to answer, O'Brien is the ultimate arbiter of what gets read out on air and he should not have been allowed back on the radio the following day. This being the UK in 2025, he was. Having avoided sanction, it wasn't until nearly two hours into his show yesterday that O'Brien said sorry. The LBC host said he regretted 'taking those unsubstantiated claims (in the text) at face value'. His apology is too little, too late. Over the last twenty months, Jews have endured torrents of hatred from all manner of media outlets. We couldn't even watch clips from a music festival without being bombarded with hate. This week was the nadir though. A well thought of and seemingly intelligent host read out, and took at face value, a message that would have made Goebbels proud. He then kept his job. It's a disgrace.
The National
5 days ago
- Climate
- The National
Teenager rescued after being stranded on rock surrounded by jellyfish
Lifeboat crews from RNLI Thurso were scrambled following being alerted to a report of a young male who was stranded on a rock and cut off by the tide near Brough harbour, east side of Dunnet Head, on Monday at around 6:15pm. Volunteers launched the Taylors, an all-weather lifeboat stationed in Thurso, which arrived at the scene at around 6.35pm where they launched a Y boat manned by two crew members. The lifeboat crews said they located the youngster who was stranded on the rock surrounded by deep water and was unable to swim to the shore due to 'a large number of jellyfish'. READ MORE: British Jewish body calls for broadcaster James O'Brien to be 'taken off air' Crews were able to rescue the youth and checked him over before passing him into the care of Coastguard teams who were waiting on the beach. A post on the Thurso RNLI Facebook page said: 'This was the first solo shout for coxswain Rob Frost, a full-time RNLI CAM (Coxswain afloat Mechanic). A relief coxswain/mechanic that provides cover for RNLI stations around the UK coastline. 'This was also the first shouts for volunteers Neil Leslie as mechanic and crew member Rebecca Lynch. 'This successful rescue is a reminder to folk to check their surrounding when going into water and be aware of rising tides. Thankfully on this occasion folk on the shore were aware that the youth was in the water.' The lifeboat returned to Scrabster at 7.30pm was refuelled and made ready for service.
The National
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Sangita Myska speaks out on LBC and James O'Brien amid Israel row
Myska was removed from her hosting role with LBC in spring 2024, around two weeks after a tense interview with Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman, who called her questions 'outrageous' multiple times. The timing sparked claims that the interview with the Israeli representative had led to Myska's departure. Prominent journalists, broadcasters, politicians, and celebrities signed an open letter to LBC expressing 'deep concern' over her sudden disappearance from the station. In March 2025, LBC host James O'Brien hit out at the allegations, suggesting that Myska had remained silent on purpose to allow 'slurs and antisemitic conspiracy theories' about her departure to develop. In a post on social media the day after the O'Brien exchange, Myska said only: "Many of you have shown me immense kindness, support and understanding over the last 24 hours. Thank you x." Now, the former LBC host has issued a longer statement about the affair – saying she is legally restricted on what she can say but she still hoped to "draw a line under the matter". Myska said: 'A few weeks ago, many of you contacted me feeling deeply upset by comments made by my former colleague James O'Brien on his show. For the second time, he publicly speculated about my abrupt disappearance from LBC. READ MORE: Israeli ambassador to UK says EVERY Gaza building is a target 'I wish to make it clear that there are extremely onerous and lasting contractual restrictions that prevent me from discussing the circumstances surrounding my departure. These restrictions were integral to my original presenter agreement. 'The terms are not just restrictive: they remain in place indefinitely. I am not permitted to explain what happened before or after I left. I would have expected anyone associated with LBC to realise that. 'What I can say is this: I left LBC last year. I was not informed in advance that my time at the station was ending prematurely. I was not allowed to say goodbye to my listeners. 'My final sixteen weekend shows were pulled from the schedule without my knowledge, discussion or agreement.' Myska went on: 'It has been suggested, including by James O'Brien on his LBC show, that by remaining silent I deliberately allowed antisemitic conspiracy theories surrounding my departure to develop and chose not to correct them. That accusation is false. It is deeply upsetting. And it goes against everything I stand for as a journalist and as a human being. 'I have – and will always – fight against racism and bigotry including antisemitism. Sangita Myska left her role with LBC in 2024 (Image: LBC) 'These false claims are especially damaging because I cannot respond to them in full. It is unjust for LBC or its associates to speculate publicly about the reasons for my departure while I remain legally silenced. I have now taken formal steps to request that this stops.' Myska went on to refute suggestions from O'Brien that she had been dropped because of poor audience ratings. On his show in March, O'Brien had said: 'We sit in a room every three months, every single person that works here. They show us graphs of how our programme is performing. Everybody knows when someone is vulnerable.' READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon hits back at Scottish Tories amid 'endorsing antisemitism' row However, Myska said she had 'reached record average audiences in excess of half a million listeners a week in two separate quarters – verified by RAJAR, the official and impartial body for measuring UK radio audiences'. 'We created a huge digital footprint. The show grew because people believed in it. We built something powerful,' she added. 'This has been a painful and difficult time. But your support has reminded me that truth matters. Fairness matters. And journalism done properly still matters.' LBC's parent firm Global Media has been approached for comment.
Spectator
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Watch: O'Brien's bizarre migrant stats rant
Another day, another rant by lefty loudmouth James O'Brien. Today LBC's eviscerator-in-chief has decided to take issue with Labour's decision to publish migrant crime league tables, fuming that 'I don't know what else this is designed to do but to feed hatred' before demanding: 'Are they going to publish the fact that the massive majority of crimes in this country are committed by non-foreigners?' Talk about missing the point… Home Office Yvette Cooper has instructed government officials to publish the first detailed breakdown of offences committed by foreign criminals in the UK while they await deportation. The upcoming data dump will help shed light on some of the worst foreign offenders for crimes like violence, robbery and drug dealing – and the figures will reveal which nationalities are overrepresented in the crime stats. Digging by the Ministry of Justice has suggested that Afghans and Eritreans were over 20 times more likely to account for sexual offence convictions than British citizens and as
