House of Comments

22: The Lib Dem Surge

This week Conor Pope of the Audacity of Pope, and Chris Mounsey of the reborn Devil’s Knife join regulars Mark Thompson and Stuart Sharpe to talk about this week’s political events through the prism of the UK political blogosphere.

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We chatted about:

• Following Nick Clegg’s performance at the Leaders Debates, the Liberal Democrats have broken past Labour in the polls, and some polls are even putting them ahead of the Tories. Is this ‘surge’ a flash-in-the-pan that will be gone by next week, or could it be sustained all the way up to election day?
• Electoral mathematics make it unlikely the Lib Dems could win an election outright, but the political system is being given a shake up. With predictions that Labour could end up the party with the most seats but the smallest number of votes, will we soon be seeing electoral reforms come to pass?
• The other parties seem unable to figure out a good line of attack against this third party uprising. We discussed some of the tactics they appear to be trying, and whether any of these have worked at all.
• Chris was interviewed by Andrew Neil for The Daily Politics recently in his capacity as leader of the UK Libertarian Party, but by most accounts did not come off very well from the interview. We asked for his side of the story, and whether writing a blog under such an aggressive persona as Devil’s Kitchen is compatible with holding ambitions in the ‘respectable’ world of politics?

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21: The Election Begins

This week Jessica Asato, Editor of Progress Online and Duncan Stott of Split Horizons joined regulars Mark Thompson and Stuart Sharpe to talk about the events of the week in politics.

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Some of the topics we talked about:

• Last Tuesday Gordon Brown called a general election for May 6th. We discuss how the campaign has gone so far, whether there have been any surprises and what we all think of the performance of the parties.
• The Labour and Tory manifestos had been launched just prior to recording. We discuss some of the content and also ask whether there is any point to manifestos anyway and debate how many occasions there are when the promises within are not implemented.
• One of the Tory proposals is to allow local referenda to for example determine if a council tax rise should be allowed. Is this a positive step forward for local democracy, or could it just lead to confusion and muddle?
• Labour blogger Ellie Gellard was splashed across the front cover of two national newspapers this week because of comments she made two years ago about wanting Gordon Brown to quit. Is this really news?
• Labour’s manifesto includes a section title “Immigration and Crime”, a conflation which Duncan was not impressed about. Is this ‘dog-whistle politics’, or just a consequence of “departmental compartmentalisation” after 13 years in office?
• Finally, both Stuart and Mark have things coming up they’d like to plug: Stuart has written an iPhone app called Election 2010 which provides information about all the constituencies and candidates for the election, which on election night will give live results and updates. Mark is running live chats on his blog during the leaders debates over the next three weeks, which are open for anyone to join in while watching.

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20: It’s The Economy, Stupid.

This week we’re joined by Alex Massie of The Spectator, and by Alex Smith, editor of LabourList and Islington council candidate.

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We chatted about:

• The last week has been dominated by the economy, with the budget speech last Wednesday and Channel 4′s ‘Ask The Chancellors’ debate the night before our recording. How did the performances of Alistair Darling, George Osborne and Vince Cable stack up in the Channel 4 debate, and will it have any overall effect on the election outcome?
• Tony Blair has recently returned to the UK political scene, giving a speech in support of Gordon Brown. Is his return a good thing for the Labour Party, or does it smack of desperation?
• While Labour have been closing on the Conservatives in polls recently, it still seems fairly unclear what they would actually do with another term in Parliament. Could we see, as Alex Smith suggests, a surprisingly radical manifesto from Labour?
• At the same time, the Tories have not successfully gained control of the ‘media agenda’ from Labour. Are the suffering from a lack of campaign experience compared to Labour?
• Both Alexes were in the USA during the run up to last year’s presidential election, and Alex Smith worked for the Obama Campaign from 2007. We took the opportunity to ask them about that campaign and whether British political parties can take anything from that campaign.

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19: Lobbying Scandals, US Healthcare Reform and #CashGordon

This week Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone, and Sara Scarlett of Liberal Vision, joined regulars Mark Thompson and Stuart Sharpe to talk about the events of the week in politics.

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Topics covered include (but are not limited to):

• A joint investigation by the Sunday Times and Channel 4′s Dispatches exposed a number of MPs apparently offering to lobby the Government for cash. We discuss the scandal, and whether this is reminiscent of the sleaze which marred the final days of John Major’s government.
• President Obama has passed his landmark healthcare reform bill after a political skirmish that has lasted many months. Is this a symbol of his tenacity and negotiating skill, or is the bill too much of a compromise? Also, there’s been some suggestion that the bill is unconstitutional and may need to be revised.
• The Tories #cashgordon campaign website included an unmoderated Twitter feed, leading to the site being exploited first by Labour activists keen to spread messages opposing the campaign. The Twitter feed also contained a major security flaw which hackers and other ‘online mischief makers’ could use to maliciously redirect visitors to other sites. We discussed whether presenting user-generated content unmoderated shows bravery on the part of the Tory web team, or naïvety.

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18: Unite Against Ashcroft

Labour blogger Emma Burnell and libertarian Old Holborn join regulars Mark Thompson and Stuart Sharpe to talk about the political news of the week.

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In this episode, we chatted about:

• Unite, the UK’s largest public sector union, have donated some £11m to the Labour party, and the Conservatives have said this gives them undue influence over the government – is this equivalent to accusations Labour made over Lord Ashcroft’s donations to the Conservative Party?
• With British Airways workers represented by Unite threatening to strike, could there be a political motivation behind the action? Some bloggers have suggested there may be a conspiracy in the works.
• Nick Hogan, a landlord who was imprisoned after failing to pay fines for allowing allowed people to smoke in his pub, has been released after the fines were paid by bloggers and readers from all around the world. Old Holborn organised this campaign, and told us a little about what happened.
• A number of deaths have been linked to mephadrome, a legal substitute for amphetamines. This has lead to calls for the drug to be banned – but how effective is drug prohibition?
• Lastly, Gordon Brown has stated that even if Labour were to lose the next election, he intends to go on as the party leader. Is this likely to happen, and is it the message the electorate want to hear?

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#LDConf Special

We went to the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference to chat with Mark Pack, Alex Foster and Sara Bedford from the LibDemVoice.org team about how the conference has been going and what’s been happening. We talked about the Digital Economy Bill, the ‘defection’ to the Lib Dems of former Conservative MEP Edward MacMillan-Scott, and the new ‘Liberal Vs Authoritarian’ MP ranking system at ‘rank dot libdemvoice dot org’.

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17: Piracy and the Digital Economy Bill

Lib Dem PPC Bridget Fox, fellow podcaster Jonathan Sheppard, and David Weber, editor of the group blog The Daily Soapbox, joined us to talk about the week’s events in politics.

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We chatted about:

• The Digital Economy Bill is currently being debated in the Lords, but many Lib Dems are unhappy with an amendment put forward by Lib Dem Lords Tim Clement-Jones and Tim Razzall. Bridget Fox explains the bill, and her opposition to the amendment.
• With the polls tightening, talk of the possibility of a hung parliament is growing in volume. Would this be a crisis for the economy, as some have suggested, or could it be a triumph for democracy?
• Postal strikes have been called off after the announcement of a pay deal which will give postal workers a 6.9% pay rise over three years. But can Royal Mail carry on in its current form, or does it need a major shakeup?

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16: The Blogger, Not the Director General

This week’s Podcast features The Heresiarch, writer of Heresy Corner, and Juliette Samuel of Lazy Hyena and Guy News.

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We talked about:

• Mark Thompson (the Director General of the BBC, not the political blogger) caused much consternation with his announcement that radio stations 6Music and Asian Network are to close as part of a cost cutting initiative across the BBC. But should they have been running these channels in the first place? [Infographic of BBC spending]
• With the continuing growth of ‘user generated content’, is the BBC’s remit becoming ever more out of date? For that matter, is the idea of a ‘broadcaster’ becoming obsolete?
• A deal was recently reached between the various networks to host live televised debates between the party leaders. Will this be a good thing, will it make any difference in the long run – and why is it finally happening now, after all the years of dancing around this issue?
• In spite of the ongoing allegations of bullying levelled at Gordon Brown, Labour seem to be resurgent in the polls, with a recent poll placing them only two points behind the Tories.
• Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative Party’s Deputy Chairman and one of their principle funders, has announced that he is a ‘non-dom’ and doesn’t pay UK tax on earnings outside Britain. This has led to a widespread debate about party funding, political donations and the future of party politics.

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15: Bullying in the Workplace

Tracey Cheetham and Iain Dale join us to talk about the events of politics and the blogosphere over the past week.

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We chatted about:

• Gordon Brown has been accused of bullying civil servants by Andrew Rawnsley. Do we believe Rawnsley’s accusations, and has the ensuing political battle been necessary, or has it diminished everybody involved?
• Bloggers may be able to apply for lobby passes previously only available to professional journalists – but do bloggers need or even want them?
• Sir Nicholas Winterton’s ill-advised remarks about first class train fares have caused the Tory party some discomfort over the past week – has he let slip that the Tories haven’t changed as much as they say they have?
• Finally, Mark is standing in a council by-election this week – we wish him luck

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14: Simon Singh, Libel Reform, Joanne Cash and Twitter Outrage

This week we’re joined again by Allen Green, writer of the Jack of Kent blog and convenor of Westminster Skeptics, and by Bill Jones, Professor of Politics at Liverpool Hope University and author of Skipper.

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We talked about:

• Next week, Science writer Simon Singh’s case will be heard by the Court of Appeal. Singh was sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association after accusing the BCA of promoting ‘bogus’ treatments. The Singh case brings up a number of issues with English libel law, as detailed at the libelreform.org website
• Joanne Cash recently resigned and then was re-instated as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Westminster North. Is this a sign of Conservative Headquarters’ tightening grip over local parties, and are they underestimating the ‘Turnip Taliban’?
• We tend to elect MPs based on their ability to campaign, not their ability to run a government. Tony Blair’s time in office seemed particularly affected by a lack of ability to ‘execute’. Could it be that we’ve got this all backwards?
• Finally, there’s been a rash of ‘Twitter Outrages’ over the past week, the biggest concerning an ill-advised remark on David Wright MP’s Twitter account. Are we to expect similar dramas more often over the next few months, and should anyone care?

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