House of Comments

02: Nick Griffin, Sex Trafficking and All Women Shortlists

This week on The House of Comments Podcast, we’re joined by leading Lib Dem blogger Alix Mortimer, and Will Straw, founding editor of the Left Foot Forward blog.

To have new episodes download directly into iTunes, you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes Music Store.

Things we talked about include:

• BNP leader Nick Griffin appeared on Question Time this week. How did he come off? Is there any truth in his assertion that the BBC rigged the show against him? Do we even care?!
• A number of blog posts this week, including Unity’s at Liberal Conspiracy and Dr Belinda Brooks Gordon’s guest post on Charlotte Gore’s blog, have taken the Home Office to task about their statistics on sex trafficking. Do the figures add up – and if they don’t is there anything we can do about it?
• Britain has hit its sixth consecutive quarter of negative economic growth, making this recession the longest in recorded history. What are the economic and political implications of this?
• The Conservatives are ‘considering’ using all-women shortlists to boost the number of potential female Conservative MPs. Are they necessary, and if so – why? Also, why is the blogosphere so male-dominated?

You can download the MP3 here, subscribe using iTunes, or listen using the player below.

Hope you enjoy, and thanks for listening to the House of Comments podcast.

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01: Conference Polls, Gordon’s eyesight, Dannatt and The Tax Payers’ Alliance

Welcome to the first ever episode of the House of Comments Podcast – an independent and non-partisan political podcast presented by Mark Thompson and Stuart Sharpe, featuring political bloggers and other commenters giving their views on UK Political news and the most interesting stories to come out of the blogosphere.

We’re going to try and have a new episode every week whenever possible (sadly, next week will not be possible), so you can subscribe using iTunes by clicking here, or using the RSS reader of your choice here.

This week we’re joined by blogging luminary Iain Dale to talk about:

• What can the first post-conference polls tell us about how the next election may work out?
• Are we happy with the way blogs have reacted to the news that Gordon Brown has retinal tears on his one remaining good eye?
• Should we care that a director of low-tax pressure group Tax Payers’ Alliance doesn’t actually pay UK tax?
• David Cameron is has suggested that former Chief of the General Staff General Sir Richard Dannatt may join his cabinet. Is that wise?

Download the MP3 here, or listen using the player below. Enjoy!

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