Audio interviews for Women’s Parliamentary Radio
Conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother
Showing 226 - 250 of 317 Records
Acting Returning Officer and CEO of the City Council
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/9
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Date : - 2015-5-7 (creation)
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Description : - As described by the depositor: On the night of the count we interviewed Antoinette Jackson, the Acting Returning Officer and CEO of the City Council just before the vote was declared in the early hours of the next morning May 8th:“The first ballot box was back at about 10.15 pm and the last one about 11.15 pm. I am responsible for the safe conduct of the count. I have to make sure that we are counting accurately and that the secrecy of the ballot is maintained and that the journalists are acting appropriately and not revealing things they shouldn’t be. It feels like one team working to make sure it is a successful count no matter what their role is.”
Chamali Fernando – Conservative Party general election candidate
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/10
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Date : - 2015-4-13-2015-4-23 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed April 13th at the 'Keep our NHS Public' hustings, and April 23rd at the Housing hustings. As described by the depositor: Chamali told us: “I am 36 years old, I used to be a Liberal Democrat, it is no secret. I was also the youngest ever candidate shortlisted for the role of Mayor of London. Cambridge offers me the opportunity to put a City on the map. My interest in politics stems from when I was a child, my father contested two parliamentary seats when I was 7 and 8 years old and I helped him campaigning. In an Asian family politics is not something considered as a career for a woman. I am in this because I genuinely feel I can make a difference, that is what motivates me that is what drives me. ” At the Housing Hustings, Chamali stopped to chat to us as she left, what was a very angry meeting about the cost of housing in the City both to buy and to rent: She said: “I was very impressed by the amount of expertise in the room. I think Cambridge is punching well under its weight, we are a pioneering City, and we should be achieving more. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the NHS Hustings – I didn’t say what I was accused to say by the blogger about the mentallyill wearing wrist bands. I had death threats, and the misreporting of the event has upset those who are mentally ill too. I was personally thanked at the end of the Hustings.”
Rupert Read – Green Party general election candidate
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/11
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Date : - 2015-4-7-2015-5-4 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed at the April 7th Bike hustings, and in central Cambridge on May 4th by the Green Party 'sunflower' bus As described by the despositor: At the Bike Hustings Rupert told us: “All politics is local, there is a lot of concern in Cambridge about air pollution and gridlock. Leafleting and being in touch is important. We target one ward and then one seat at a time. ” While leafleting beside the Green sunflower bus (powered by used chip fat) in Cambridge City City, (May 4th) Rupert said one to one voter contact in the streets was still really important. “We do lots of fancy stuff on social media with the Green Party but if you are not out on the streets meeting real people, and people who live where you are trying to get elected, then you are not going to get elected. Our positive vision swings voters over. We’re trying to make the World a better place. ”
Daniel Zeichner – Labour Party PPC general election candidate
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/12
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Date : - 2015-2-25-2015-5-4 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed Feb 25th on Labour’s 'Pink Bus'; April 12th, Super Sunday leafleting; April 27th at the U3A hustings at the Friends Meeting House; and May 4th Bank Holiday Monday at the Labour Party HQ in Norfolk Street, telephone canvassing. As described by the depositor: At the Harriet Harman Pink Bus visit Daniel told us: “I think it is a fantastic idea, for the first time I can remember women’s issues are at the front of the campaign. Here we are talking about domestic violence, and how we are trying to turn Cambridge into a much safer city, particularly for women. The police will tell you the incidence of DV in Cambridge, has shot up and I am pleased Harriet is here talking to women about what needs to be done to help them, this is a hidden crisis that is going on in many homes. At the U3A Friends Meeting House Hustings Daniel said: “The problem with the Hustings in Cambridge is that we have a huge number of them, two a day today, and it needed some leadership from the incumbent MP to structure this differently. We discussed education, poverty, but not zero hour’s contracts, We could have had fewer hustings events with larger audiences and I think this would have taken us further.” At the Labour HQ on Bank Holiday Monday Daniel was telephone canvassing. He said: “We want our volunteers to get the vote out, in close campaigns and with some many people so undecided, these last minute conversations could be critically important. It does matter to phone canvass people, we have an enthusiasm on the ground, and this time we are seeing hundreds of students getting involved. That gives you more people you can use in key moments, like that four hours on election day when people come home from work, between four and 8 O’clock. “I mainly do door knocking, people like to look the candidate in the eye, I will flirt with the cat, flirt with the dog, flirt with the voter if necessary, it is all about the theatre of politics, but politics is about a relationship with people, and they do like to know who their representative is. I have been contesting this seat now for nearly ten years, so I have met most of the people in one way or another and it is surprising how many of the conversations you do recollect, especially with the dogs!” At the 30th Hustings which was the last one for the University of Cambridge European Society at St John’s auditorium Daniel was delighted that the hustings events had finished: “It is not about the husting or the leafleting we have done, the votes will be won and lost with the thousands of conversations we have had on the doorstep. It is about the one to one looking people in the eye and talking to people. Ed asked us to have 4 million conversations across the Country, and in Cambridge we have had about 15 to 20000. I am feeling very happy and I don’t know how the vote will go!”
Julian Huppert – Liberal Democrat general election candidate
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/13
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Date : - 2015-4-4-2015-4-20 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed at the April 4th 'Unite Against Fascism' picnic, and April 20th 'Unite Against Fascism' hustings. As described by the depositor: First we spoke to Julian at the Unite Against Fascism picnic on April 4th where all the parties came together to condemn a recent racist attack in Petersfield Park. We then spoke with Councillor Oscar Gillespie who was up for nomination in Market Ward as a councillor for the Green Party and who did then win his seat. We also met the woman who had been the subject of the racist abuse. Julian said: “I am a Liberal I care about people as individuals but unfortunately what we are seeing with the rise of UKIP is anti-foreigners xenophobic commentary. The other parties Labour and the Conservatives are following that same route. I will stand firm as a Liberal.” At the April 20th unite Against Fascism Hustings, Julian pointed out that Cambridge had seen two EDL (English Defence League) marches in recent years and he said that the community has dealt with it very well. He said: “We have seen people assaulted because of their race, and that is not OK.” A Green Party Candidate for Petersfield in the local elections, Atus Mariqueo-Russell, spoke alongside Julian. He said he wanted to challenge the other candidates on foreign policy and immigration. “The debate has become very dangerous and polarising.” Both Julian and Atus Tweeted about the event but Julian never Tweets until he has arrived somewhere, just in case he doesn’t make it.
Keith Garrett – Rebooting Democracy general election candidate
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/14
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Date : - 2015-5-7 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed at the Cambridge Guildhall General Election count. As described by the depositor: We caught up with a PPC l Candidate, Keith Garrett, who started his own party from scratch, called Rebooting Democracy after he read a book of the same name. Keith told us: “I want to help run the country better. I am a systems administrator so I run computers. It isn’t actually that big a task to start a party, others should do it. You just have to fill in some forms, stand up there, talk to people, it is not that hard a thing to do. “To register the party cost me £150 and to stand as an MP was £500, and you get that back if you get 5 per cent of the vote. “No”, I won’t get that. The post office will give you a free mailing to everybody in the constituency. You have to print the leaflets yourself which I did. It cost me £700 to print the black and white leaflets which went to 53,600 homes. “Rebooting Democracy only has one pledge which is to change the system of government from the current one to one where the Country decides where it is going to go, and then we use citizen’s panels which are selected like juries, randomly, to come up with the decisions to take the Country forward. The current system has let us down so badly with the rise of social inequality, and climate change. This is only the beginning of the process for us we are going to move towards having an MP in every seat.”
Patrick O’Flynn – UKIP general election candidate
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/15
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Date : - 2015-4-18 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed while campaigning in King's Hedges. As described by the depositor: We met Patrick O’Flynn when he and his team were campaigning in a target ward for them, Kings Hedges. He said: “This is one of the more working class wards in Cambridge and we have had a series of action days where we have targeted and leafleted people in our target wards, which tend to be the more blue collared wards. Last night we had a big public meeting in the Ward in the Arbury Community Centre, and other members of our Party attended. We had the added attraction of Douglas Carswell, and I am UKIP national campaign director too so I have been on the television quite a lot. Douglas brought in the extra turnout and we had a really good night. We are getting the leaflets through the door, but it is very mixed. Some say there is no place for UKIP in Cambridge, because we want migration controls. “I do Tweet but I don’t do Facebook but the Party puts a lot into Facebook with Nigel Farage and others in the party. We are coming from a fairly low base in Cambridge but we are the new kid on the Cambridge scene but we have taken massive strides forward. We have eight candidates for 14 wards, I am proud of that, and through the local elections we will find out where our strength lies to hopefully go on to win local seats in 2016. “Cambridge is a Liberal Left city but the liberal left vote is split so it gives me a niche between the blue collar and Conservative vote who might like some of our pledges on defence spending and looking after some of our veterans, law and order and EU and immigration and inheritance tax.”
Conservative PPC Campaign Manager, Mr Chandila Fernando
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/16
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Date : - 2015-4-28 (creation)
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Description : - Mr Chandila Fernando, brother of the candidate, interviewed at the Churches Jubilee hustings. As described by the depositor: He said: “I think this is the 27th Hustings, there are sometimes two or three in a day. As an agent, you have to ensure your candidate is safe, well rested, and gets around the Constituency in the most effective way, but there is a diary plan for every day. “As an agent you are everything from pot washer, to driver to stylist, advisor, and you have to have your eyes and ears to the ground, you act as the interface between the candidate and the association, which ceases to exist. You have to keep the troops out canvassing motivated, you are juggling telephone calls, priorities and being as polite as you possible can even if the circumstances are trying. She is my sister and you do the best you possibly can. “You have to deal with the media too. The report that said Chamali had said that the mental illness sufferers must have compulsory use of wrist band is completely refuted. We envisaged that there would be difficult circumstances but only when you are in a campaign can you understand the challenges, the volume of hustings and frequency has been a challenge. It is tough but that is part of the democracy of this Country and part of the quirks of Cambridge. I admire and am very proud as a brother and agent to support my sister.”
Oscar Gillespie – Green Party local City Council candidate and activist
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/17
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Date : - 2015-4-4-2015-5-4 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed at the UA Fascism picnic, April 4th, and on the Green sunflower powered bus on Bank Holiday Monday May 4th. As described by the depositor: When we caught up with Oscar on Bank Holiday Monday May 4th he had been out in the streets of Cambridge canvassing all day, and he told us. “We have to speak to people face to face, we have to meet people. We are not accepting donations from companies that want to influence our policies, so we don’t have the same resources, or from tax dodgers who want to make sure the law stays on their side. “Our biggest resource is the people who believe in what we believe in. We are passionate about public transport, to allow people to get to work or to do their shopping, our reliance on cars is incredible dangerous and unsustainable, it is mindless. We will need to use recycled oil buses like this one, or solar powered ones, if we get that far we will have made some really important choices. “I wouldn’t call our Sunflower bus a stunt, it is easy to take information around the Country with them. We have some of the worst air pollution in the country in Cambridge due to the volume of traffic that comes through. Our Party Leader, Natalie Bennett will be visiting the Bus tomorrow, and today our Deputy Leader Amelia Womack came here. “
Richard Howitt, Labour MEP and Regional Campaign Manager
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/18
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Date : - 2015-4-12-2015-5-7 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed campaigning on a Super Sunday, April 12th, and on the night of the count after the vote was declared. As described by the depositor: Richard Howitt told us: “The last election five years ago was the first digital election, where social media played a role, and most people said at the time it was not significant, but this time social media has been a very active part of each party’s campaign including the Labour parties. Whether it swings any votes, we will have to wait until afterwards to know. In Cambridge we are trying to knock on every door as every vote is vital to us, but that wouldn’t be true in every seat, but it is true in Cambridge. You put more effort into some wards than others but we definitely don’t forsake the Labour vote. Most people don’t live and breathe politics, I do, but for others politics is very marginal. “We know how many promises we have got, and we have knocked on a high percentage of doors, but there is quite a lot that we haven’t and no party is able to. People say there are two seats in the country where Labour may move from third place to first and Cambridge is one of them. If we do that it will be a fantastic achievement and I believe we will.” We then interviewed Labour activists Holly, Ashely, Olivia, Fred, Rory and Maddie. Maddie, the Organiser of Super Sunday told us: “When we are preparing leaflets it is local people who know which streets go best together. I always ask the local team which place is the best to go to. When you do something together in a team it is actually quite straight forward. The best way to convince people is by speaking to them on the doorstep it is the best way.”
Labour Campaign team workers
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/19
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Date : - 2015-5-4 (creation)
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Description : - Includes interview with activist and volunteer Paul McHugh. As described by the depositor: Paul told us: “If people say in the morning of the vote they will be out and they haven’t been in the evening we will go and talk to them again. People have been phoning up for rosettes. We are concentrating on polling day on getting the vote out. Later tonight we will get Daniel to do some more phone canvassing with us, we will phone up all the Labour party members who have not offered to help us, the inactive members and remind them there is an election.”
Cambridge Liberal Democrat Treasurer, Rod Cantrill, and local Party Chair, Spencer Haggard
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/20
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Date : - 2015-5-4-2015-5-6 (creation)
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Description : - Rod Cantrill interviewed May 6th, and Spencer Haggard interviewed May 4th. As described by the depositor: Rod told us: The rules are very precise, all parties have to submit a quarterly return to the Electoral Commission, by the Federal Party to indicate donations of £500 or over. And the Federal Party has to declare to the EC any donation over £1,500. We don’t have trade unions, we don’t have businesses, so our money comes from individuals small amounts from a lot of people. We have raised over £22,000 on a new crowd funding site and the typically amount given is £50 or £100. The Liberal Democrats’ core donors give £25 or £30 a month by Direct Debit. It is the small amounts that add up and which enable us to fight the campaign. “Our success is based on two things, people and money, and both of those things are interlinked and you need those two things to succeed. I am a big supporter of a proper capped public funding method of supporting political parties nationally. We have got our funds from three different things, crowd funding which is new to us, secondly a big political beast visiting the patch, Vince is a good pull at an event so people will give a lot of money. And thirdly the local event the fish and chip quiz night, where people get together.” Spencer told us: “We have 500 posters up, what we call stake boards – three times the number at the last General election. You knock them into ground, stick them into fences, and then repair and replace them when they get damaged. Getting 300 posters up very quickly boosts morale, and puts Labour on the back foot. It was really important to say re-elect Julian Huppert and the showing of the other party’s posters were much smaller. “You can be beaten on the day by a better organisation that has got its vote out. The weather will make a difference but nobody agrees what difference!”
Liberal Democrat activist; and a door knocker
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/21
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Date : - 2015-4-12-2015-5-4 (creation)
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Description : - Interviews with Liberal Democrat activist Rachel, on may 4th, and Colin, a door knocker, and the office manager Nicola Martin on April 12th at a door knocker training session. As described by the depositor: Rachel told us: “I didn’t realise how much work goes in on a local level, and how it matters. There are so many activists and councillors working locally and all you hear is what is on the national news. What Nick Clegg tweets, or what David Cameron says, and there are more people on a local level who have invested in it too.” Nicola Martin, campaign assistant for Julian Huppert said they had concentrated on putting across Julian’s positive message. “We just keep everything happy and positive about Julian, as he is the best candidate for Cambridge, so we are telling that to everyone we can.” Colin a veteran door knocker said: ”I have been door knocking since 2005, I got conned into it, but I found it was not as bad as I feared. I haven’t had any training and thought it was about time I got some. Some like it others don’t, you sometimes get nice reactions and others don’t want to be bothered, you have to be prepared for anything, wind ups, aggression, the lot.”
Campaign Manager for the Liberal Democrats in South East Cambridgeshire, Kevin Wilkins, and his team
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/22
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Date : - 2015-4-28 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed in their Ely office. As described by the depositor: Kevin told us: “Lots of electoral law is quite archaic, you need ten names to nominate you and lots and lots of forms to fill in. If you get some of those wrong then your candidate isn’t a candidate. Envelopes are written by hand to make it look as personalised as possible, we have sent out 15,000 this week. It gets done at a rate of about 80 an hour. We have grown up knowing that we don’t have the national press shouting for us, so we know we have got to get the message out locally. That means delivering lots of leaflets and knocking on lots of doors. A great disappointment of the coalition is that there hasn’t been a standardisation of letter boxes Act (he joked). Our office opens from 10 am to 10pm and as we get nearer to the election it will go on later than that. “There is a spending limit on the campaign of about £15000 so it clearly matters that you can raise that amount of money, but at least it is £15000 not £150000. “ David Wright, who runs the LD Printing Society said: “I first did this in 1974, and I am a volunteer, I don’t charge for my time. The most recent mistake I made was to print one side of the leaflet upside down. Once a typesetter left the word “not” out so it read “we will make the same mistake as the Labour party.” Loran a party organiser and agent, said that she spent time at her computer organising things: “A lot of our material is going to focus on the need for affordable housing. We work at weekends, we have meetings every Sunday evening.” Sheila the poster putter up with David her husband said: “This is a very exciting election – I am terrified if I am holding the post and my husband is doing the hammering. I think does he love me or not?”
UKIP campaign manager, Lisa Duffy, and her colleagues
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/23
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Date : - 2015-4-18 (creation)
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Description : - Interviewed while campaigning in King's Hedges. As described by the depositor: Graham said: “I have just joined UKIP – they were saying the type of things about this Country and the way it is going. I don’t want to be ruled by Brussels but I am not anti-Europe.” Lisa told us: “Today we are delivering 4,000 leaflets, and we are very pleased with the turnout of the members, we should cover the whole ward. As an agent my days are very, very long, designing the literature, getting the people out there, and social media is getting bigger but it is not replacing what goes through the door, it has not overtaken paper stuff yet. “I know that with leaflets, the majority do go in the bin, but with a good headline message and decent photo you can sway people, so I would say less is more. You have ten seconds to capture their imagination.” Richard went with us to deliver leaflets through doors with his long plastic dog proof spoon, to ensure his hand did not get bitten: “It is a bit odd, putting leaflets through doors with a blue spoon but it works. I would like to build a base and through putting my name on the ballot paper locally as a candidate I give people a voice.”
Labour 'Big Footing' event
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/24
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Date : - 2015-2-25 (creation)
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Description : - Interviews on Harrian Harman's pink bus, including with Harman, and members of her team Sally Gimson, from the Labour List website, and Ann Sinnott a Cambridge Councillor. As described by the depositor: We asked Harriet, how many places her pink bus would be visiting and why the colour of the bus had provoked so much criticism? She spoke of how important the women’s vote was to her party. Harriet told us: “There has been a lot of controversy about the colour, but I can’t really regard it as negative publicity because how can you have a debate about something so insignificant. As we have gone around the Country, women are concerned, not about the colour, but about what is going on in women’s lives and what local government and national government can do for them. The women’s vote is very important to Labour and for women to vote. Last time in 2010, 9.1 million didn’t vote. I think it is important that we hear women’s voices that women have their say and exercise their vote. Politics is too important to be left to the boys.” Sally Gimson, from the Labour List website, said: “People are hooting on the motorway as the pink bus goes by. It has been mocked but not viciously attacked. It has made people look at women’s issues. All publicity is good publicity. The cost of living, people’s income, child care, DV, the grooming of children, sexual harassment, are big issues for women as well. The battle has not yet been won for women and that is why we are out on the pink bus.” Ann Sinnott, a Labour City Councillor since May 2014, said: “I was delighted with the pink bus and there is nothing wrong with the colour. The mediation service we visited, do very good work, and there were other representatives there working with vulnerable women and women with DV. It costs the police huge amounts of money each year, it is costly and there is a human cost too. DV is the biggest crime anywhere.”
Green 'Big Footing' event
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/25
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Date : - 2015-4-15 (creation)
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Description : - From a a special Green debate with the Guardian journalist Zoe Williams at Downing College, Cambridge. Includes interviews with Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett, Zac, her national campaign manager, and local activists in the audience. As described by the depositor: Natalie told us: “On Climate Change, we have really been left behind while the rest of the World, Countries like China, are towering ahead. That is one of the things our Manifesto focuses on not just energy conservation but renewables. The Green surge has grown more than four fold in the past year in a range of seats we are seeing growth and a whole range of possibilities.” Zac, the National campaigns assistant for the Green Party in England and Wales said: “We have just past 60,000 members in England and Wales so the Green surge is continuing. The green party isn’t really about Natalie it is about the ideas and policies we have got to create a fairer society. We are also challenging Norwich South, the second best result for us last time after Brighton. Cambridge was third for us in 2010. I think we are really moving into multiparty politics, which I think is a more mature system. “ Dennis O'Malley of the Stop the War coalition said he had attended the Hustings to find our “directly” what the Green Party had to say on a number of issues particularly foreign policy: “Yes, we can ask questions directly to the Leader of the Party and get them to talk about issues that they might otherwise avoid.”
Hustings: part one
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/26
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Date : - 2015-4-4-2015-4-15 (creation)
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Description : - Covers the Unite Against Fascism in park picnic, April 4th; the Bike Debate hustings, April 7th; the Keep Our NHS Public hustings, April 13th; and the Buddhist hustings, April 15th. As described by the depositor: After a recent racist attack upon a woman wearing a head scarf in Petersfield Park in Cambridge City Centre, the Unite Against Fascism team sprang into action and organised a rally. Richard Rose, the organiser of the event said: “We want people to stand side by side with the victims of racism – we wanted to show that all sides were united against this attack, a broad swathe of people.” Cambridge is a cycling city, and the Cycling enthusiasts and discontents organised a Bike Hustings. The Green PPC Rupert Read told us: “There is a lot of concern about various transport issues in Cambridge, and a lot of concern about air pollution and gridlock on the streets etc. These are strong areas for us in the Green Party to campaign on”. Margaret Ridley Chair of Keep Our NHS Public, said: “We wanted to help people decide how to vote on the NHS. We had two hours and people could have gone on for longer. The candidates were wilting a bit at the end.” Jean Simpson, a member of Keep Our NHS Public told us: “The audience were more informed than the candidates on many of the issues and we wanted to inform them, TTIP (The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) was one of them. They had not done their homework. I would vote on the single issue of the NHS.” Priananda Joseph, Organiser and Buddhist teacher said: “I wanted the members of this community to have an opportunity to meet the candidates and see how they respond to a wide range of issues. We don’t just sit under trees and meditate, we need to be as informed as possible, that was my desire. Buddhists lean in a green direction. If you believe in unlimited growth you are either mad or an economist.”
Hustings: part two
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/27
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Date : - 2015-4-20-2015-4-28 (creation)
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Description : - Covers the Unite Against Fascism hustings, April 20th; the Housing hustings, April 23rd; the U3A hustings, APril 27th; and the Anglia Ruskin Student hustings, April 28th. As described by the depositor: Nazarene told us why as a Muslim woman and activist she had organised the event: “I did invite UKIP and they could not come. We are building our numbers. All across the country there are Stand Up To UKIP branches. People are getting negative reaction to wearing the headscarf. I get micro aggression, people are always asking about my heritage.” Duncan Stott the organiser of the event said: “People are being priced out of the housing market in Cambridge. House prices are over £300,000 and the average earnings are ten times less than that. We wanted to ask the candidates how they would address the housing crisis in the area, and bring pressure to the politicians to show this is an issue that matters to people. It does help people decide how to vote but it allows direct access to the candidates too and people can ask where they stand on this issue.” Beth Morgan, one of the event’s organisers (Steve Marshall was the other) said: “We are both interested in politics, it was good to let the candidates say what they wanted to say rather than hear them on the radio where the presenter just jumps in after five words. Everyone submitted their questions in advance and then it was a bit random. I slipped mine in on income distribution. “Democracy is a very fragile thing and I think everything to encourage it should be done, we totally take it for granted. We have always had it but it doesn’t always have to be the case, you have to work at these things to keep them going.” Beth Price, the Programme Controller Cam FM and organiser said: “We are a student radio station and this was our second hustings broadcasting live. We have a student based audience among Cambridge University and Anglia Ruskin students so the candidates have to target what they say. Students make up 17 per cent of the voters in Cambridge so it is a very important night for them too. We are tweeting but live streaming a video too.” Two students we later interviewed were first time voters and a third had voted for the first time in 2010. They said they were interested in a range of issues such as: “Tuition fees, student grants, and the minimum wage.” One commented: “Trust is important to me too, there is so much uproar, it is difficult to know who to vote for”. All were still undecided as to how they would cast their votes. Perhaps the national pollsters, who got the result so wrong, should have spoken to them or come with us to a Hustings event.
Hustings: part three
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/28
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Date : - 2015-4-27-2015-4-29 (creation)
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Description : - Covers the Middle East and Palestinian hustings, April 27th; the Cambridge Assessment Staff hustings, April 29th; and the Churches Jubliee hustings, April 29th. As described by the depositor: Mona, The Chair and a PHD student, said: “I think it went quite well, everyone has their passions and the situation in the Middle East is difficult and that was reflected on the panel. It was a good turnout, the foreign policy issues are important. People wanted to know how will the PPCs words translate into actions in the coming parliament. UKIP did not attend but they were invited.” Simon Lebus, CEO of Cambridge Assessment said: “ We wanted to give our staff an opportunity to see what the candidates thought about education but also about Cambridge. As a big employer it is good for our staff to engage politically and find out what the candidates have to say for themselves. They were concerned about the practical issues of living and working here, the cost of housing and cycling too. “As the Chair of the event, I personally have found it very helpful, the PPCs are a thoughtful bunch. It is nicely unpredictable to be at a live hustings event, but too often questions are used as a platform for making more general political statements rather than being concise and listening to the answers of others. This was their 26th husting and it must be completely exhausting for them.” Jonathan Tame the organiser said: “We are using Twitter and a Hashtag and we have two audiences, those who are here and those not coming but who are keeping an eye on us on Twitter. We have 800 followers and it is growing fast. There are different churches here and we are trying to educate Christians about how to engage in politics, public life and the economy. Freedom of religion, freedom of expressions, poverty, food banks, we are expecting that there will be a number of hot potatoes that will come up and also immigration too probably. House prices, congestion, generation rent, these are all issues in Cambridge.”
Hustings: part four
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/29
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Date : - 2015-5-2 (creation)
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Description : - Covers the Cambridge University European Society hustings, and discussion of the King’s College hustings, held on April 30th with discussion on May 6th. As described by the depositor: Anna, the Outreach Officer of the Society told us: “I am German and I can see that the European issues are not being tackled enough in this Election debate. The Conservatives have said they might leave the EU so it should be talked about more. UKIP are not here tonight, they were invited.” Matteo Mirolo, Vice President said: “I am French and Italian. I think we shouldn’t amalgamate everything and create fear about immigration. These people are war refugees, I respect everyone’s opinion so long as there isn’t any amalgamation of the fear and the issues.” Sophie a young woman student in the audience said: “I wanted to see the candidates in the flesh. I am quite interested in their response to the UKIP stuff and the Europe question. Yes their answers will influence me I am quite undecided as to how to vote at the moment.” Guy an older member of the audience said: “In 66 years I have never been to a hustings. I Googled it at the last minute, found a website that listed all the hustings and this was the last one. I am decided on my vote but definitely think we should be in Europe and I won’t be voting UKIP.” Eleni Courea told us:” I took the questions, there were a huge variety of questions from students from nuclear power to the NHS and this government’s record on it. The students were most passionate talking about the Living Wage and the bedroom tax. “Tuition fees was not one of the major focuses of the event. The most heated debate was over the bedroom tax, and we asked Julian why he voted for it and he had to defend it. That was the most divisive issue. People had checked his voting record on the Huppert Check website which showed he had voted with the IDS reforms to Welfare over 90 per cent of the time. “I personally ensured that it was Chaired impartially. Julian stayed around with students to talk to us afterwards. It was a heated hustings. They are crucial events, people can see, hear and talk to their candidates, and they are good for democracy. “
Post-hustings interviews with Daniel Zeichner and students
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/30
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Date : - 2015-4-30 (creation)
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Description : - Interviews conducted after the final hustings in the city. As described by the depositor: Daniel told us: “I am free at last!” And what did he find most challenging?: “The tedium, hearing the same arguments time and time again and remaining civilised. I think there were too many, next time I will organise it so we have a more rational approach. It is talking to people one to one that makes the difference not the Hustings.” We then asked two students at the Husting, Seana and Chris to tell us their reaction to what the panel said on Europe. The absence of UKIP was commented on. As students they found registering to vote easy but said – “Why can’t there be an app to vote?”, said Chris. While Seana said: “The debate has informed my voting I will be more progressive in voting in a General now”!.
Political Correspondent, Cambridge Evening News
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/31
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Date : - 2015-4-23 (creation)
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Description : - Interview with John Vale, Political Correspondent, Cambridge Evening News. As described by the depositor: The NHS Hustings at Wesley Methodist church on April 13th had been controversial and gave rise to negative national media coverage for the Conservative PPC, Chamali Fernando, the only woman standing for the seat. The story about what Chamali was “supposed” to have said as a member of the Health panel about the mentally ill wearing coloured wristbands when answering a question from a member of the audience at the Hustings event, was tweeted by a local blogger. The saga became known as the so called “wristband gate” affair and escalated to a dispute with one of her opponents the LD Julian Huppert. We asked local Cambridge Evening News political correspondent, John Vale, to give us his take on the story just after he had Chaired a Housing Hustings (April 23rd) with all the candidates. If you go to our Candidates Section you can also here Chamali’s comments about the saga, and how she became the subject of “death threats” and abusive Tweets. She had months earlier removed herself from Twitter due to what people term “Trolling”, unwanted threatening attention from individuals. John told us: “I have been to a dozen hustings, and there are very few hustings where the candidates have put a foot wrong. They are, under very intense scrutiny. The controversy is an offshoot of how many events there are in Cambridge and the coverage. We have very prominent citizen’s journalists and they go to a lot of events, and while there are certain issues about what they say and their interpretation the dedication and coverage they provide is invaluable. “Scrutiny is so important in politics, you get it at the Hustings, and at the grassroots level bloggers give a lot of scrutiny, whereas I have to prioritise more. I don’t go to everything, perhaps I should, but they go to more events and provide that scrutiny so I can’t fault them. I am a big fan of new media and a broad range of coverage. “I pick the highlights of a story, the most credible points, but the bloggers will have their video and I can link to that and that gives people the option of reading my article quickly or if they have more time, they can see the event, I think that is brilliant. When I am at a Hustings I will normally send out 20 or 30 Tweets of live coverage, but tonight I was chairing the event. “Hustings, certainly matter in Cambridge, the level of debate and knowledge is staggering. To be a political reporter here is wonderful. If I write something wrong I am told about it. If I called up one of the candidates they might give me a slanted answer, whereas here it is raw, you get the whole picture rather than relying on second hand information or spin.”
Deputy Political Editor of the Financial Times and Political Editor of the Guardian
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/32
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Date : - 2015-4-30 (creation)
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Description : - Interview with Elizabeth Rigby Chair of the Parliamentary Press Lobby and Deputy Political Editor of the FT and Patrick Wintour, Political Editor of the Guardian . As described by the depositor: Elizabeth told us: “This is a very tight election and both sides are very nervous that any gaffe or mistake can swing the polls, so they are running a very, very tight contained and controlled Election. They don’t want journalists causing trouble and pulling people off message. They really want to avoid the sort of blow ups that walkabouts can create. They have intense media scrutiny, Twitter, Facebook, BuzzFeed, you have the national newspapers all with their online operations, you have 24 hour news channels. With so many media outlets it is very difficult to control the message, so all the political parties have responded by trying to control access. “Stories come on Twitter and disappear within a few hours. As journalists we try and step back and give our readers an intelligent distilled version of the “noise”. It is important to step back from Twitter and the daily thrust of a campaign, and convey to our readers the big themes and say these are the things that matter and that you need to know.” Patrick told us: “Most leaders travel by train or helicopter, the battle buses are left over from a different era that they pretend to be involved with. And the same thing with rallies, David Cameron on an industrial estate rally recently was basically him in a corner of an industrial estate with broadly about 50 people there. The photos on TV looked as if a large number of people were there, but they are all artificial. “I have about 38 or 39000 followers on Twitter. I was forced to Tweet by the paper at a G8 Summit in London and I was really cross about it. I thought this was a ridiculous format to try and explain in the number of characters you had (140) what was going on at the G8, which was very complicated with the collapse of the World economy, and I didn’t tweet for many years afterwards. “My front page lead today about the Coalitions proposed £8 billion of welfare cuts, came about because somebody I know trusted me, and told me. Twitter is a fantastic source of stories but if you don’t have friendships and loyalties as a political journalist you are not going to get big stories really.”
Cambridge Evening News: part one
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Reference Code : - SOBA 5/1/33
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Date : - 2015-4-23-2015-4-27 (creation)
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Description : - Interviews with John Vale political editor and reporter at the Cambridge Evening News. As described by the depositor: After attending one Hustings event and chairing another John told us: “It is very important that people know where their candidates stand on a wide range of issues. People need to know the full range of issues from what the candidates will do about potholes to the big humanitarian crisis facing us, such as the Palestinian situation. The Conservative and UKIP candidates were invited and didn’t turn up to that one today on Palestine, so people need to know that too. “What I try and do with Twitter is not to give any sort of interpretation but to give an account of what was said. The candidates go within two hours from talking about how you solve dyslexia to how you solve the crisis of the Middle East. “Twitter has 140 characters and we very rarely go beyond 600 in a story in the paper. It is only possible to capture 10 or 20 per cent of the debate, so it’s not an easy task, what I find interesting might not be interesting to others, but I do my best. There is a lot of knowledge to get on the page.”