A James O’Brien Reader

 

 

We had a look at some of the hypocrisy of the Press now attacking Farage for his ‘racist’ position on immigration and Romanians, now attention turns to James O’Brien who interviewed Farage in what is called a ‘car crash’ interview…but who was it a ‘car crash’ for?

We ask what motivates him,  are his thoughts based on intelligent rationale or innate, ill-informed prejudice and is he really in a position to place himself on the moral highground and stand in judgement on the likes of Nigel Farage?

 

O’Brien tells us that perhaps those such as he can’t really be judge and jury…though that didn’t stop him smearing Farage……

At the risk of redrawing the parameters of understatement, it is clear that most of the British press has rarely been worse placed to sit in moral judgment on anybody else.

As attention inexorably focuses on the methods, underhand and otherwise, that journalists employ in pursuit of stories, it is crucial that we are not persuaded by attempts to police what actually constitutes a story.  It is not for lawyers, or publicists, or celebrities to determine what is and what is not a viable story. Only facts can do that. The journalist’s job is to find them, to publish them and to fight like cats in a sack against anyone who tries to stop us doing so.

He claims that only ‘facts’ should be allowed to decide what is or is not a ‘story’…well we might look at some of James O’Brien’s ‘facts’ in the next post.

 

 

 

Just how intelligent is O’Brien?  Can he do the maths?

Immigration is still massive…the numbers are astounding:

532,000 people immigrated to the UK in the year ending September 2013, compared to 497,000 the previous year, whilst 320,000 people emigrated from the UK compared to 343,000 the previous year.

The net immigration including UK nationals was 212,000…but the real net immigration, excluding UK nationals was an inward migration to the UK of around 270,000 non-UK nationals.

270,000 new arrivals with different languages, customs, religions and values…all wanting jobs, houses, benefits, to use the NHS, to send their kids to our schools, use their cars on the roads, use water resources and energy supplies.

 

So the maths is important.

 

Just how good is O’Brien at maths?  LBC tells us itself:

James O’Brien’s seven-year-old daughter asked for help with her maths homework – and he realised he had no idea how to do it.

So can you do a maths question aimed at a seven-year-old? Try the problem below…
Faye is trying to crack the code to open this safe in the wall. She has been given the following clues:

The code has four digits.
The first and second digits add up to make a multiple of 6.
The third and fourth digits add up to make the same multiple as above.
There is a difference of 6 between the first and second digits.
The third and fourth digits are the same.
There are no zeros in the code.
The first digit is the smallest of the four.

Can you work out what the code is?
Could you do it?

James O’Brien couldn’t do that simple problem….no wonder he has no problem with mass immigration….he just can’t work out what the problem is.

 
Whilst O’Brien is more than happy to fling casual accusations of racism at Farage he’s not so keen to be accused of it himself:

Accusations of anti-semitism shouldn’t really be filed alongside most of the above. They should, given the history of persecution, be much more carefully and judiciously employed.  But they aren’t. Quite the opposite. To accuse someone of it is, whether the accuser realises it or not, to posit the notion that the accused is somehow sympathetic to the perpetrators of the holocaust, prone to judge a human’s worth according to their ethnicity or origins, prejudiced to the point of blind hatred.

How heart-breakingly bizarre, then, to hear two apparently intelligent women accuse me of it today

 

 

O’Brien’s interview with Farage wasn’t a fact finding opportunity, O’Brien had already made up his mind.  O’Brien is pro-immigration, and pro-Labour….

 

And so it begins…
Posted by James O’Brien on July 03, 2013 at 13:40PM
With foreigners and the unemployed being successfully but fraudulently portrayed as the root of all our country’s ills, it’s time for the Tories to turn their attention to why Labour, who seem to have surrendered to this toxic narrative, won’t be able to fix things.
If Miliband & co are to mount a meaningful defence against what looks like a looming portrayal of unions as the root of all that’s wrong with Labour they will have to provide a proper answer to this question. It will, moreover, involve doing what they have abjectly, shamefully, tragically failed to do with welfare and immigration. They are going to have to contradict the Tory line, loudly and confidently, explain the reality until it breaks through the barriers to understanding erected by an almost exclusively anti-union media. They are going to have to tell the truth and shame the Devil, who for the purposes of this challenge is probably Lynton Crosby.

 

 

O’Brien likes ‘real’ people…except of course when he actually meets one in the shape of Farage who represents the views of the majority of the people in this country, including many immigrants…..

 

I don’t like interviewing politicians. It’s not a party political position, I don’t like interviewing any of them.
They are so cossetted and insulated and briefed and adept at distraction and prone to waffle that, as a radio presenter ordinarily offered five or six minutes tops, it rarely seems worth my while to let them read their PR notes out loud, answer any questions but the ones I ask and glide glibly over any attempts to root the exchange in reality. And besides, I genuinely prefer talking to ‘real’ people.

 

 

 

Here is my adaption of one of O’Brien’s articles in the Mail, of all newspapers.  I think it is a fair representation of what might go on in his head regarding immigration:

 
The first line of attack on my part was to insist, full of bluster and slightly aggrieved, that we were simply not importing enough immigrants.
But I spent another few weeks with my head deep in the sand, ignoring the growing sense that something was wrong.
And then there was stress – one of the major obstacles to clear, intelligent thought. Just thinking about stopping immigration caused me untold stress. So, with impeccable male logic, I insisted that I shouldn’t think about it.
I can see now that all of these positions are ridiculous. Unsound, unfair and, in places, downright delusional.
At the time, though, I clung to them like a drowning man. Because, for media liberals, the prospect of not having a cheap Polish plumber or Latvian nanny is not really something you can talk to anyone about. It’s definitely not the sort of thing you can bring up with your mates.

 

An important lesson for O’Brien?:

As a radio phone-in host, I spend much of my working life arguing. The most important lesson you learn is to know when you have lost.

 

 

 

Finally what does Mumsnet think of O’Brien? 

Many thought him intelligent and witty….but others took a more realistic view of his interview technique….can’t say they are wrong having listened to his interview with Farage…you may think this is gratuitous abuse from them but listen to his interview with Farage and you’ll get the point:

James O’Brien LBC presenter a condescending twat

Am I the only one that finds LBC radio presenter James O’Brien infuriating. Whilst he has the face for radio he does not have the voice; but worse, I hate the way he patronises callers that are obviously less educated and less articulate than he is. He sounds like a patronising bully and it makes for uncomfortable listening. Unlike Nick Ferarri he has zero charisma.

It’s normally James O’Brien for me or radio 4 when he is not on.  [That one says it all]

I do like O’Brien. But he can be pretty obnoxious to callers who are concerned about certain areas. I am thinking about medical research (he was incredibly rude to a caller 2 weeks ago to the extent he had to issue an apology at the end of his show) or immigration issues.

He gets that dangerous and low tone when you can almost see him visibly puffing out his chest in righteous indignation. He just doesn’t listen or acknowledge. He just shuts them down.

I’m not talking about the racist twats and their twattery. But there is a growing tide of callers who can’t make their points without his moral compass getting all discombobulated.

ex pupil of mine did some work experience at LBC and said he wasn’t very friendly/jolly at all

Agree about James O’B, he is up his backside

I find him a patronising hypocritical bully:
He gets extremely aggressive- rather nasty actually – when anyone challenges him. He constantly belittles people who have an opinion contrary to his, in such an outrageous way I am amazed at his spitefulness !

I agree that JoB is up himself.

He does shut callers down if they successfully counter his point of view.

He does like showing off how well educated he is and he loves the sound of his own voice.

James O’Brien – certainly bright, but a real hypocrite, such a BULLY BOY to anyone who calls to put an contrary opinion to his . I am amazed how he seems to get away with it daily…

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41 Responses to A James O’Brien Reader

  1. Captain Panick says:

    Is the answer 3966??

       12 likes

  2. NotaSheep MaybeaGoat says:

    You had to ask?!

       1 likes

  3. Alan says:

    Yes…such a facility with numbers means of course that, sorry to say, your application to work in border control has not been successful….and I shouldn’t bother applying to be a shock jock on LBC either.

       15 likes

  4. jeff says:

    My favourite O’Brien interview happened a couple of years ago when he decided to make some inaccurate and rather obnoxious remarks about Chelsea footballer Frank Lampard’s personal life. He’d clearly picked up a kiss and tell story from one of our ghastly red tops (probably The Sun) and hadn’t bothered to check his facts. Unfortunately for O’Brien a friend of Frank’s was listening to this rubbish and decided to let him know. Frank immediately got on the blower and tore into the bigoted big mouth and really humiliated him. O’Brien, like all bullies, is at heart a coward and he was back tracking and apologising, clearly terrified that the angry footballer might turn up at the studios to continue the discussion (ahem). If only! I’m not by nature a cruel person, but having listened to this odious creep put down so many of his callers it made delicious listening. A recording of it must be available somewhere. I’d pay good money to hear that again.

       71 likes

    • Alan says:

      Yep thanks…it’s on Youtube:

      O’Brien sanctimonious and self-righteous….actually judging how Lampard raises his kids….O’Brien excusing his fail by claiming he’s only ‘going by what’s printed in the papers’.

      Quality journalism from O’Brien….if you’re going to trawl over someone’s family life and demonise them on the radio you’d better get it right….and he doesn’t.
      Facts, or the lack of, don’t seem to concern him too much.

         62 likes

      • chrisH says:

        O Brien…worraprick!
        1984 writ large.
        “Thank you Frank for phoning in( I bet!) and-er for being a man”.
        Think James panties have dried out now?…only wish it had been John Terrys family he`d insulted!
        Why`s he still on the air?…the Great God Football has been displeased-hope LBC get nothing from Chelsea as a consequence of this interview.

           33 likes

    • Richard Pinder says:

      Frank Lampard is a Mensa member and said in 2007 that he supported the Tory party, but probably now regards Cameron as well as O’Brien as morons.

         22 likes

  5. will says:

    Even after my second double I don’t believe that is a maths problem set for a 7 year old

       16 likes

  6. chrisH says:

    Channel 4 have just spent 20 mins or so talking to exiled Romanians and Dianne Abbott about whether Farage is racist-or only what he said on that epoch-shattering LBC was.
    Yet again though-the liberal elite are so stupidly racist themselves that they assume any Romanian will agree with Snow and Newman and the lovely EU mindset of the political scum that they speak for.
    Oh dear-Mariana Gordan was way off-script-her assumed scorn for Farage and UKIP turned out to be a paean of praise for his defending this country from her unruly gypsy compatriots now heading here.
    Oh dear-Snow pained-about…reverse!
    Typical lefty idiots-can`t even co-ordinate their nasty campaigns without vetting those who get to speak.
    With the BBC. the liberal elite and Channel 4 being so stupid as to phone in their crap without even basic checks…the future is looking very purple and yellow.
    And -without hearing Abbott-if SHE can`t gather votes for UKIP with her every utterance-then UKIP aren`t sending the right shills along for them.
    She IS a secret weapon FOR UKIP isn`t she?

       68 likes

  7. stuart says:

    like andy warhol said,everybody seeks there 15 minutes of fame,james obrien is certainly milking his 15 minutes of fame to what he thinks is his own advantage,but i think he has failed in a spectacular manner,ukips rating in the polls went up 3% after his phone in with nigel farage.yes all his commie freinds phoned up lbc to heap praise on him last friday,of course they do because he only lets on those type of people onto his show and he blanks out those who want to lets say give him a bit of a verbal earbashing,this guy is a classic marxist/communist,he lives in this fantasy world of a socalist revolution sweeping the uk,but there is something wrong here,for a man who demonises the right wing press on his show daily he did not mind writing and getting paid by the daily mail to write a column for them attacking nigel farage at the weekend you hypocrite,funny that james really when the daily mail has been accussed by your mates on the left of supporting the nazis in world war 2,here is the thing,james obrien got his 15 minutes of fame and pocketed a nice few quid from the anti ukip daily mail afterwards,thats that,james obrien will be chip paper news by the weekend and unlike nigel farage forgotten about forever,bye bye james your15 minutes of fame is up.

       43 likes

  8. bob says:

    3 labour mps,david lammy,diane abbott and yvette cooper has broken the mould and called nigel farage as a racist tonight,they disgust me

       65 likes

    • Lobster says:

      Diane Abbott calling someone racist ??? That’s a bit like Jo Brand calling someone a fat ugly slag.

         73 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      BUT – doesn’t this play to UKIP’s favour ?

      Dianne Abbott is already obnoxious to most viewers. Lammie will be put in the same camp. Yyvette Cooper always comes across as a harridan.

      More votes for UKIP ?

         53 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        They really could have deployed a slightly more credible collection of outrage warriors than these three. I wonder if the pulpit was offered to them on purpose unless the backfire is now SOP.
        I remain still unaware of any policy connected to this election other than race hustling by deeply suspect and unattractive people, and if that’s what and who I am being called to vote upon so be it.

           11 likes

    • NotaSheep says:

      David Mastermind Lammy? The man so ignorant that he claimed the BBC made a “silly innuendo about the race” of the next Pontiff when it was reporting the colour of smoke outside the Papal conclave?

         31 likes

  9. Dianne Abbott…the hypocrisy is sickening.

       54 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      I recall a Daily Politics where Andrew Neil was channelling his inner Paxo on Ms. Abbott’s litany of hypocrisy, and all she could do was say was she wasn’t going to talk about it.
      Now as we all know, from Today to HIGNFY, such dissembling is cue for the full force of the BBC machine to be mounted against you.
      As it doubtless will here.
      Won’t it?

         35 likes

      • Reed says:

        Yep – it was on This Week. Portillo’s face is a picture as she is throw on the grill like a giant Whopper. Enjoy…

           23 likes

        • Alec Coole says:

          Giant Whooper. Like it.

          Can I have it with extra fries please

             8 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Seems odd, given the presumed ease that such material can be accessed from the archive (with more than enough staff free to do so…. At least when they want to here) that such a pertinent complement to her latest utterances has not been used more by those seeking to assemble balanced editorial with a frisson of ratings bait. Maybe it was deemed ‘from another time’?

             10 likes

        • DavidA says:

          Oh I do love the smell of roasting bigot.

             2 likes

  10. Joshaw says:

    If I were important enough, I think I’d want to be criticised by Diane Abbott.

    Not being would be a huge sign of failure on my part.

       31 likes

  11. Beer swilling UFO conspiracy theorist/loser says:

    It’s simple… The Left shout and call names when they’re losing the argument. I wish Farage all the best and am sick of these sanctimonious lefties crying ‘racist’ when Farage talks about genuine concerns over Romanians moving in next door.

       53 likes

    • OldBloke says:

      When you hear the left which includes the BBC shouting racist, you know they have lost the argument.

         46 likes

  12. Teddy Bear says:

    Here’s my experience of this knob from 2006.

       12 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Hi Teddy Bear

      I read the stuff you posted. O’Brien is a snake

         15 likes

      • Teddy Bear says:

        Cheers John – but I wouldn’t insult snakes.
        He’s certainly a low grade mentality slime and needs the power his control of the phone calls he gets on LBS gives him for the appearance of dominating any topic.

           4 likes

  13. Scott says:

    are his thoughts based on intelligent rationale or innate, ill-informed prejudice and is he really in a position to place himself on the moral highground and stand in judgement

    That Alan is asking this question, with no apparent trace of irony or self-awareness, is highly amusing.

       3 likes

    • Alec Coole says:

      Oh look folks – “Scott” Is inferring someone is prejudiced. And without a hint of irony too….

         35 likes

      • Mat says:

        Awwww play fair Scrotey is our resident defective, Herculean Parrot he can only chuck up the garbage he is fed!

           17 likes

      • I’m sure Scott would run down the road naked with a jelly on his head to get attention…however negative the reaction…poor boy.

           5 likes

        • Big Dick says:

          Can we have a prize, for who we think Scotty is going to vote for on Thursday , will it be Lab , Lib or Green , I can`t decide ,or will he be “out” in Brighton .

             3 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      “highly amusing”

      No LoL?
      And after your recent outings this it a real return to form.
      Seriously.
      Well worth committing finger to keyboard.
      Are you also by chance involved with the creation of Labour PPB’s too?
      Now they… are funny.

         14 likes

  14. TigerOC says:

    The utter lack of education and understanding of their own language by the left wing journalists and politicos is astounding. Any area in which their training makes them specialist writers and conveyors of information.

    Farage’s remarks concerning Romanians cannot in anyway be regarded as “racist” for the simple reason that Farage and any Romanian are Caucasians and White.

    The alternate term they come up with is xenophobia. Xenophobia is an irrational fear of someone of different culture. Since Farage explained that he feared them because of their inclination to crime he has a reasoned fear which is therefore not irrational.

    The simple fact is once again the left sees it right and fitting to throw meaningless insults at anyone who does not follow their own infantile thought process and aims to ensure that “free speech” is free is accordance with the left wing paradigm.

       38 likes

  15. joeb says:

    O’Brien is a self-confessed “naive Guardian reader”. He has used the word “naive” to describe himself on several occasions that I’ve heard in the last few months. I was decorating at home in September for pretty much the whole month in the mornings, I had LBC on, and heard him every week day. He would shoehorn UKIP in wherever he could. He has a pathological hatred of UKIP and Nigel Farage in particular.

    He’s a real, straight-out-of-central-casting, pseudo-intellectual, patronising, sanctimonious leftist. But what other type is there?

       35 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      I hate his false “common-man” voice. He drones on and on pretending to be clever.

         29 likes

    • London Calling says:

      Pat Condell nailed it:
      “Guardian-reading white middle-class left-wing pricks”
      (I always liked Pat’s ability to save the final punch to last)

      Other key attributes include being privately-educated, Oxbridge PPE or LSE graduates taught by secure-tenured Marxist academics.

      O’Brien however comes across as possessed more of Aberystwyth Poly Student Union bar politics (last place left in clearing). Perhaps he lacked some of the Ralph Milliband silver spoons.
      Shame.

         15 likes

      • Alec Coole says:

        I would say “God Bless Pat”, except he would not approve. So I’ll stick to have a pint on me.

           4 likes

  16. roy says:

    true john,he is just another media middle class sneering at the working classes posh boy trying to hard to be pseudo intellectual.

       12 likes

  17. Bob says:

    Clearly Farage is not a regular listener to LBC’s very own “Lord Haw Haw”.

    If he had been he would have known that it would be a litany of abuse and “when did you stop beating your wife” type slurs, to which the right of reply would be limited by O’Brien’s constant haranguing.

    I believe that Global Radio is partly owned by a Labour Lord, so perhaps it goes some way to explain why O’Brien is allowed to broadcast Labour propaganda for three hours a day five days a week.

    I think his biggest listenership are Nick Ferarri listeners who can’t be arsed to switch the radio off at 10 AM.

       12 likes