Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To find James O'Brien hard going

98 replies

Alanis126 · 27/09/2019 00:20

I'm a regular LBC listener and tend to share most of his political views. But I find him increasingly unbearable. He is one of the most moralising holier-than-thou people I've ever heard. He seems to have this weird fixation with marriage and recently described his views as "slightly strong-arm" on the subject.. What the hell does that mean?? That he thinks he should be allowed to force unmarried couples or single people to marry? I just cannot bear him and I wondered if anyone else felt the same?

OP posts:
mawbroon · 27/09/2019 00:27

Yes

justonecottonpickingminute · 27/09/2019 00:38

He is an appalling, solipsistic, self-obsessed nightmare.

Who the hell titles their book How To Be Right without any irony ?

Lumene · 27/09/2019 00:40

YANBU

People who can’t laugh at themselves can be very wearing.

If he could relax a bit and critique his own viewpoint a bit he’d be much more bearable.

PonderLand · 27/09/2019 00:58

Yanbu.

Out of all the presenters I probably agree with him on most things that are discussed however the way he talks down callers who don't agree with him really irritates me. He's one of those people who ask callers to ring in and answer his loaded questions. Farage does the same. How LBC still gets callers is beyond me.

Kublai · 27/09/2019 04:40

I’ve listened to a few of his podcasts, just the ones where the guests look like they might be interesting and he isn’t great and a bit creepy. His line of questioning is always ‘when did you realise you were so clever? Even as a child did you know you were so great?’, this is to slebs and comedians with a couple of a-levels not Einstein types. Fawning isn’t a good interview technique and then when he takes calls from the general public on his show he is patronising and rude.

BertrandRussell · 27/09/2019 05:01

“Who the hell titles their book How To Be Right without any irony ?“

Nobody. Including James O Brian!

Goandplay · 27/09/2019 05:29

I agree. I share most of his views but hate the way he backs callers into a corner and dismantles and twists what people are saying.

BertrandRussell · 27/09/2019 05:32

“ I share most of his views but hate the way he backs callers into a corner and dismantles and twists what people are saying.”
He doesn’t “twist” what people are saying. He asks them to back up what they are saying.

ChipsAreLife · 27/09/2019 05:36

I've met him and he's actually really nice and not like that in the flesh. I suspect it's a bit of an act to cause reaction

longwayoff · 27/09/2019 05:42

You can always change stations, it's not compulsory to listen to JOB and he can be a bit sanctimonious. He is, however, one of the few who is prepared to call out rabid right-wingers which is a relief to me in a world gone mad. He is right to ask the frothing loons to justify their absurd prejudices which masquerade as fact. More power to his elbow.

toomuchtooold · 27/09/2019 05:51

I agree with his views about Brexit but I also think his manner is awful. The way he beats people down and hardly gives them the chance to answer... I think the arguments for Brexit are completely wrongheaded, but it wouldn't matter if they were completely watertight, if someone questions you in that hectoring way you'd struggle to get your point across. So he doesn't demolish their arguments like he thinks he does, and at the same time he is humiliating them which isn't usually a great technique for making people change their mind about anything. It's just designed to play to a crowd of Remain supporters who want to point and laugh at Brexiteers, which is totally counterproductive to ever getting a resolution to this mess.

BertrandRussell · 27/09/2019 06:12

If people ring in to a talk radio station and say something stupid surely they must expect to be asked to justify it?

Zebraaa · 27/09/2019 06:17

YANBU. I agree with previous PP’s with how he belittles callers with an opposing view point. It’s uncomfortable to listen to.

BertrandRussell · 27/09/2019 06:25

But why would you ring him if you can’t back up your opinion?

TeddybearBaby · 27/09/2019 06:32

Omg he’s hideous, sanctimonious, patronising, I could go on! I love it when he’s put in his place. The way he speaks to people he perceives as stupid!! I think he’s a bully actually.

I turn the radio over when he comes on which is a shame because I prefer it to music but I can’t listen to him.

LellyMcKelly · 27/09/2019 06:34

I think he’s brilliant. He exposes idiocy for what it is.

araiwa · 27/09/2019 06:34

He deals with idiots almost perfectly. Asking for examples, evidence to back up their point. He gives them numerous opportunities to answer the same simple questions which they usually fail to do- highlighting their idiocy

toomuchtooold · 27/09/2019 06:46

Bertrand I don't know what goes through the heads of people who phone up James O'Brian and try to convince him of Brexit (not much I imagine) but whatever it is, and even if you think they've got it coming, I don't think it helps convince anyone that Brexit is a bad idea. I would imagine that they and his Brexit supporting listeners come away from those phone calls even more convinced of the rightness of Brexit, even though they would be even less able to explain why.

Original poster
Alanis126 · 27/09/2019 08:09

Its the private life morality judgmentalism which I find the worst. Again I now avoid him despite at one point having been an avid listener.

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 27/09/2019 08:40

I didn’t know he had views about people's morals and private life. What are they?

longwayoff · 27/09/2019 10:46

He's got views on your private life? What on earth have you been doing? He's generally falling over himself to be fair to people, yes, even Brexiters. It's not his fault if people attempt to argue black is white when it's apparent to most of us they are trying to argue from a false premise. It's his job.

BertrandRussell · 27/09/2019 11:12

I really want to know what his views on people’s private lives is. I’ve read his book and listen to his podcasts and the things that come up on FB and Twitter, and I don’t think it’s come up anywhere there

ChardonnaysDistantCousin · 27/09/2019 11:15

he does like this sound of own his voice and the cut of his own jib.

BertrandRussell · 27/09/2019 11:19

He’s a talk radio host- he’s bound to have what he calls the “look at me gene”!

AutumnRose1 · 27/09/2019 11:20

He's really nice in real,life

I think it's all about the money for as long as it lasts

I don't think he believes a lot of what he says but I wish he would he tone it down. Shock jock pretends not be.

Swipe left for the next trending thread