The Londoner: Talk Radio under fire from ex-hosts after mask stunt
A presenter has quit Talk Radio just a few weeks after one of his colleagues, Mark Dolan, cut up a face mask live on air, as another former presenter hit out to The Londoner about the station’s direction.
Yesterday Jamie East announced he’d completed his last show and told his followers “wear a mask, save lives” as he posted a video of Dolan’s act.
A source close to East told The Londoner he had been wanting to leave since Dolan cut up the mask on September 4.
Also criticising Dolan’s behaviour was Iain Lee, who left Talk Radio earlier this year.
“I’ve sat watching idiots rip up masks and people who have bullied suicidal women get jobs on that station,” Lee told us. He added that the situation on Talk Radio’s Facebook page was “a disgrace”.
“I was called a queer (I came out as bi on air), a c**t and so many comments saying I should kill myself. I stopped pointing out the violent abuse when I realised the simple act of deleting the comments and banning the person wasn’t happening.”
A source at the station said Talk Radio used to be “quite balanced”, but added “balance doesn’t really work — no one listens.”
Talk Radio today said: "Jamie is a great broadcaster and has been a pleasure to work with. We wish him all the very best."
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Paul McCartney still channels John Lennon’s heckles when he’s writing songs. McCartney will be composing, and then think, “What would John say?” before hearing his Beatles songwriting partner opining: “Yeah, it’s bloody awful. You’ve got to change it,” Paul tells a BBC radio documentary for Lennon’s 80th birthday at the weekend. John did say to Imagine …
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SW1A
NHS chief Simon Stevens last night said it was “time to cut the bait and fish” and properly fund social care.
“We set up our NHS after the Second World War at a time when the country was bankrupt and we were uncertain about our place in the world, but nevertheless we decided it was the right thing to do,” Stevens told the event celebrating a hunded years of the PPE degree at Balliol College, Oxford. Will his old Balliol pal Boris pony up?