To find James O'Brien hard going

[Alanis126]

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?

Ok so I just don't get how he goes on amd on about what a big believer in marriage he is. I can see how you cam believe in it yourself but why do you have to foist that on other people. I've been in monogamous unmarried relationships 1 of which produced children but I don't get why someone like him should think he knows best for everyone else's life. One relationship I ended when I met and fell in love with someone else (NB there was no overlap) and again I get the sense from what he says that he looks down on this as well. As for the political stuff he is just an ill-disguised bully wanting to make hinself look good by putting others down.

“Ok so I just don't get how he goes on amd on about what a big believer in marriage he is.”
I’ve never heard that. I must listen to the wrong bits.

He's highly religious and his literal "holier than thou" attitude spills over into judgements about marriage etc. I also find his interest in women needing to have children to feel fulfilled creepy.

Takes himself way too seriously and slips into Partridge mode a lot too. And he's not half as bright as he thinks he is.

James OB admits he has an issue with other people not being married.

Oh and he's not the only LBC presenter who has ever asked people to back up what they saying. Iain Dale (former Tory Candidate) and Maajid Nawaz (former Lib Dem Candidate) have always done it, and now even Nick Ferrari does it.

He has a religious background but I don’t think he is personally religious, is he?

@BertrandRussell yes he is a practicing mass going Catholic which he mentions on his show. He takes it quite seriously it seems.

He’s very good at his particular thing, but I don’t enjoy it for the same reasons as @toomuchtooold I think. I much prefer interviewers who really listen and genuinely try to understand a point of view, even if they go on to challenge or disagree. I don’t think JOB is really listening, and he’s certainly not open to having his opinions challenged, he’s just awaiting his gotcha opportunity.

Ice wen listening to LBC for about 15 years nd used to really enjoy JOB. However, lately I can barely listen to him. Even mystery hour which I used to love - he can be patronising on he most innocuous things

YABU

He's probably the most earnest, open-minded day time presenter. If presented with a different view to his, he is very good at listening, challenging, then even will agree/admit he was wrong.

It's just that some people hold really shallow views/values and he's exceptionally good at digging deep.

I also think he's great. I think he is quite forensic when it comes to taking on woolly thinking, but I find him humane and very warm.

If you're comfortable with your life, alanis, then I'm sure JOB really doesn't care how you live it, nor with whom. He's a radio presenter, his opinion on the married state shouldn't affect you so intensely. Unless you're Mrs O'Brien, in which case I can send ear plugs, can see that might be exhausting.

YANBU

If he doesn’t agree with a caller whatever they say is never enough - they are not calling in to change his opinion but to put their side of the argument

He comes across as bullying, people are often nervous calling in they should be allowed to give their option without him shouting them down. He doesn’t want to hear or understand why someone may hold a different opinion. I find this type of call in is deliberately demeaning and nasty regardless of their political view

I think he's toned it down recently. He used to be a vile vessel of hate, bullying, name calling, talking over then cutting off callers whilst sucking up to even Z list celebrities.

Now I can sometimes stand 5 or 10 minutes of his show before switching over.

I don’t think he’s changed at all. If you feel he has, I suspect it’s because everyone has got much angrier!

I find him extremely hard-going too, and I used to be a fan. These days I switch off as soon as his voice pipes up at 10am. I don’t know if that’s me, or him, and I don’t really care; I just know that I don’t want to listen to him any more.

There was a mumsnetter called (I think) Parker Posie who used to post on the feminist board. She rang in to discuss the trans issue with him, and I’ll never forget the way he went for her - like an attack dog with a particularly juicy rabbit, and you could tell he was enjoying it. It was kind of creepy. The topic was men in women’s changing rooms, and he was (and continues to be) 100% on the side of the transwomen who called in, and basically accused Posie of being a transphobic bigot for suggesting that women’s changing rooms should be for women only. It was a pretty shocking call full of mansplaining, condescension, sarcasm and talking over her. I think he finds the trans issue debate very confusing, because like other lefties he’s caught on the prongs of the intersectional dilemma: on the one hand he identifies as a male feminist (ugh), but on the other trans people are a new victim group and of course he’s falling over himself to support them. The fact that these 2 groups are in conflict clearly confuses him and he doesn’t know how to handle it at all.

His style is very off-putting. I voted Remain and that’s why I originally started listening to him, but his constant badgering and mocking of Leave voters who call in makes me embarrassed for him and actually more and more sympathetic to them. He’s obsessed with Brexit (well who isn’t) but he has no real curiosity about WHY ordinary people voted that way. If he did he would be able to have much richer conversations.

I think the bottom line is that he’s not really not interested in genuine debate or learning - what he really wants to do is prove himself right. I don’t think he realises this at all, and I’m sure he thinks of himself as open- minded; but he’s actually only open-minded with people he agrees with. With everyone else, he’s pretty vile. And that’s actually kind of boring, at least to me.

I love Nick Ferrari and Eddie Mair .
James O'Brien I can take or leave , I'll listen if he's on, but he does irritate me the way he'll tell a caller they have 4 seconds to make a point , then spend two minutes blethering on.

But .......................that's pales into insignificance compared to Steve Allen.
Our radio comes on at 6am and I listen to him chating shit for 20 minutes.
The most self indulgent , self opinionated ,self obsessed shit .
All he talks about is the food he rams into his face ( and he never shuts up about the fact he has Diabetes , he isn't helping himself with his diet)

And when he said something about tired drivers should pull over onto the hard shoulder for a nap ! WTAF
Someone sent a text to say how dangerous it was to do this , he told them to mind their own business .
I wanted someone who knew what they were talking about ( Motorway Police ideally or just anyone who had an understanding of the Highway Code would do) to call in and tell him how irresponsible to was peddling such poor advice .

Makes James O'B seem a good idea eh?

Ah, here’s the Posie clip. Prepare yourselves for a JOB masterclass in thoughtful, nuanced discussion.

I have a love/hate relationship with James. I think what draws me to him the most is his articulation on certain matters, however, I feel that he's very one sided and I feel that he'll only ever read texts/tweets or allow callers on whom either fit his narrative or are an easy target for him to ridicule on air - if you have a valid argument against his narrative he'll completely ignore it which just shows he can be a hippocrite, just like Nick Ferrari.
Despite this, he is still my second favourite presenter after Steve Allen.

I do get your point fully though... Recently I've been switching LBC off earlier than I usually do (around 9/10am)when I usually listen from 4 am right around through to batten 1pm and 3pm -
What made me laugh was he was earlier advocating the fact that BOJOs sister has said maybe the Brexit delays and scare-mongering are due to the fact that a small percentage stake to make money from the pound tanking and how its a big discussion because its the PMs sister and that she has a valid point -

yet he just disagreed and shrugged at me with his high-and-mighty attitude live on air about 6+months ago as it sounded conspiracist

YABU to listen to LBC

I'm not familiar with him but coincidentally was pointed in the direction of someone else (Douglas Murray, not keen on him frankly), who had strong words to say about James O'Brien. You might find it interesting. I'm going to try and catch James on LBC.

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/09/james-obrien-and-the-vip-child-sex-abuse-lies/

He's a misogynist

I can't stand him. I can't take listening to LBC. The presenters are on two extremes and it makes my head hurt

I quite like him on Brexit but the "Mrs O'Brien" talk screams misogyny and makes him sound insecure and Partridge like. His avoidance and irritation of anything around the trans debate (which he is frequently owned on on air) speaks volumes about his real attitude to women too. He is a lot closer to his despised gammon than he thinks.

They want women to have more children because the ruling classes are terrified they don't have enough cannon fodder for upcoming wars with Iran etc.