James Edward O'Brien (born 1972) [1] is a British radio presenter, podcaster, author, and former tabloid journalist and television presenter. Since 2004, he has been a presenter for talk station LBC, [2] on weekdays between 10 am and 1 pm, hosting a phone-in discussion of current affairs, views and real-life experiences. Between October 2017 and November 2018, he hosted a weekly interview series with JOE titled Unfiltered with James O'Brien. He has occasionally presented BBC's Newsnight. Our economy has tanked, our freedoms are shrinking, and social divisions are growing. Our politicians seem most interested in their own careers, and much of the media only make things worse. We are living in a country almost unrecognisable from the one that existed a decade ago. But whose fault is it really? Who broke Britain and how did they do it?

Everyone here is “awful” or “stupid”. Jeremy Corbyn is “pitiful”, Liz Truss merely “over-promoted”. Intriguingly, he seems almost fond of Dominic Cummings. “He’s clearly mad as a box of frogs, but I think he is driven by demons rather than defined by them.” I went on a bit of a journey with this book. At first it made me sad and to be honest a little depressed. On any subject, people need to be able to make mistakes, ask and probably say the wrong thing, before people can be come to the realisation that we can be wrong. Often about things we feel very stongly and passionately about. We need to be open to having these conversations, with ourselves, with our friends, our families, our communities and society. Perhaps surprisingly for someone who enjoys a bit of a row, O’Brien appears a little irked by my questions, even if therapy has taught him to be calmer in response. “If you’d asked me unfair questions 10 years ago, I would have responded to you in a much more aggressive fashion,” he says. Every day, James O’Brien listens to people blaming hard-working immigrants for stealing their jobs while scrounging benefits, and pointing their fingers at the EU and feminists for destroying Britain. But what makes James’s daily LBC show such essential listening – and has made James a standout social media star – is the incisive way he punctures their assumptions and dismantles their arguments live on air, every single morning.I've enjoyed listening toJames O'Brien on the radio, regularly dismantling other people's opinions on a wide variety of subjects. Many of his viewpoints I agree with: the one's I don't I have sometimes found myself shouting frustratedly at the radio. Either way, it's entertaining. Given the endless crises and scandals that have occurred over the past half-decade or so, it’s easy to forget some of the squalid behaviour that went on. How They Broke Britain, then, feels like a useful document to have – O’Brien’s scathing voice provides a thorough record of the self-serving actions and pronouncements of those who have held power in Britain. As a keen enjoyer of James O’Brien’s previous book ‘How To Be Right’, it was unlikely that outside of a shift in personality for either of us, I would find this book anything short of interesting. The fact that it challenged me and the way I have gone about certain interactions in my professional and personal life was a troublesome, but ultimately excellent bonus.

The start of the book got me interested then it wandered off to his troubled mind and became a little tedious. This book aims to encourage us to do the same: to examine the most steadfast of our opinions and ask why: to examine the other viewpoint open mindedly rather than with the intent to rubbish it; to listen to that little voice that sometimes talks inside our head; and to actively listen to other people because their personal opinions have drawn them to a different conclusion., and it's interesting and enlightening to find out why. He asks us to be aware of our unconscious biases and try to look outside our usual reading material. We all surround ourselves with friends who have similar opinions, and read media that aligns with how we think about the world. We could do better: to read other media, to see the other side of the story may lead to a better understanding of why people think differently. It may also lead you to change your own opinions at times - not a bad thing! a b "James O'Brien: "On radio, people still talk like no one is listening" ". The Guardian. 8 January 2017 . Retrieved 8 February 2018. Given O’Brien has written a book on how Britain is broken, I wonder if he has any idea how it might be fixed again. Does he believe in Starmer’s ability to sort it?I thought How Not To Be Wrong was excellent. I don’t listen to James O’Brien but I enjoyed his previous book, How To Be Right very much and tried this on the strength of it. It’s a very different book, but just as good and just as important. With his wife, Lucy O'Brien (née McDonald), he fronted Channel 5's 2001 general election talk show 5 Talk, securing a review from Clive James, who wrote: "James, in particular, is a pink-shirted walking encyclopedia of political savvy". [15] [16] [17] LBC [ edit ] Adams, Tim (8 January 2017). "James O'Brien: 'On radio, people still talk like no one is listening' ". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712 . Retrieved 29 January 2019. a b "Frank Lampard's call to LBC: The full transcript". The Independent. 24 April 2009 . Retrieved 25 April 2009. I wasn't quite so convinced about his point concerning Israel: that any criticism of the state must take into account the fact that the world's Jews look to it as "a place to go to when it (the Holocaust) happens again." Maybe it's because I haven't thought enough about it; maybe it's because most of the criticism of Israel I come across is written or spoken by practicing Jews who seem to have no trouble differentiating between anti-Semitism (which is real) and horror at Israel turning Palestine into an occupied police state. When O'Brien cautions us that, if we're spending more time criticizing Israel than we are any other country, I come off okay--for me, my primary responsibility is to hold myself and my own country responsible for my/their own atrocities--and I'm perfectly willing to discuss the issue further, calmly, quietly, without any urge to make, or tolerance to endure any yelling of thinly-veiled or not-so-thinly veiled anti-Semitic bellowing about the Soros-controlled media. Gold star, please?