Interview with Dr Lisa Cameron, SNP MP for East Kilbride and psychologist on Brexit, Lucy's Law and 'Dump the Scales'
Reference Code:
SOBA 2/3
Date:
2019-05-16 (creation)
Description:
Cameron sits on the Parliamentary Radio's Advisory Board. Sones asks about Theresa May not reaching out to the devolved assemblies about Brexit, but did invite Jeremy Corbyn to talk. Cameron does not believe that May considered the Scottish First Minister enough, nor that the Scottish people have had their voice heard since the Brexit Referendum. Cameron discusses the Scottish National Party's position on the Customs Union and Single Market. Cameron hopes that May's 'red lines' are moveable and that talks are meaningful. Cameron has been campaigning on animal welfare, cancer campaigns and the movement to get women to stop using scales to promote good body identity, Sones asks about these issues because Brexit has clouded debate in the past few years. Cameron acknowledges that there is life beyond Brexit and issues that are important to her constituencies. Cameron talks about 'puppy smuggling' being banned, and talks about the patient experience of young people with cancer, ensuring that mental wellbeing is prioritised. Sones asks about Scottish Nationalism and Independence, Cameron thinks that Brexit emphasises the need for another Independence Referendum because of the chaos in Westminster. Cameron sees a 'no-deal' Brexit as one that could result in an independent Scotland.
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother


Interview with Siobhan McDonagh, Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden
Reference Code:
SOBA 1/68/6
Date:
2019-03-15 (creation)
Description:
McDonagh speaks about Brexit, the Labour Party, antisemitism and knife crime
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother


Monday: The Green Surge in the East
Reference Code:
SOBA 2/4
Date:
2019-05-13 (creation)
Description:
Green Party event in Cambridge, Caroline Lucas MP speaking about the membership of the Green Party and the upcoming European Election. Lucas discusses the People's Vote campaign and Remain. Sones then talks to Lucas and Catherine Rowett - lead Green Party Candidate, outside the Guildhall in Cambridge. Lucas talks about their chances in the European Elections in the East about the green and European Union issues. Sones and Lucas talk about political commentators and their predictions of a victory for the Brexit Party. Rowett and Sones discuss her chances of being elected as an MEP. Rowett says that people she meets are talking about Extinction Rebellion and the Children's Strikes on Climate Change. Sones asks about a possible splintering of the Remain vote in the Election, Rowett rejects that the Green Party are similar to the Liberal Democrats. Sones then talks to Naomi Bennett, Green Candidate in Cambridge, Sones asks her about the key issues. Bennett thinks that people are disillusioned by the 'bully boy' tactics in Parliament and that there is a struggle in getting people to vote at all. Bennett talks extensively about 'door-knocking' and the importance of it in comparison to social media. The Greens in Cambridge have not been putting out social media adverts. Bennett talks about Cambridge being one of the richest cities in the country, but has nine food banks and hidden homelessness.
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother




Website content
Reference Code:
SOBA 5/3
Description:
Material supplied separately as word docs, as opposed to a copy of the site as published. At time of cataloguing, the site is still live at http://www.bonisonesproductions.com/lookingglass/index.html
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother



Vicky Ford, Conservative MP for Chelmsford and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group MP interviewed by Jackie Ashley on Theresa May's legacy for Women
Reference Code:
SOBA 2/8
Date:
2019-05-22 (creation)
Description:
Ford thinks her impact has been 'massive' in getting more women to stand for Parliament. Ford talks about Theresa May's support in her constituency. Ashley asks about May's cabinet and the proportion of women and speaks about the chances provided to her.
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother


WASPI: Interviews with Karen Glynn, Janet Rhodes, Julie Delve, Christine Austin, and Prafula Shah: Women's State Pension Rise Injustices Rally in Westminster #WASPI #Backto60 #OneVoice #LondonRally10thOctober2018
Reference Code:
SOBA 1/46
Date:
2018-10-10 (creation)
Description:
Hundreds of women marched from Hyde Park to Westminster from all over the country, in protest again at the rise to their state pension age. Carrying banners, and bringing traffic to a standstill outside Parliament several of the campaign groups associated with the SPA rises for women joined together #ShoulderToShoulder to raise the issue yet again with politicians and Theresa May's government.
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother


UKIP campaign manager, Lisa Duffy, and her colleagues
Reference Code:
SOBA 5/1/23
Date:
2015-4-18 (creation)
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.”
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother




Result announcement, interviews with journalists and candidates
Reference Code:
SOBA 5/1/39
Date:
2015-5-7-2015-5-8 (creation)
Description:
Interviews and results anouncements from the Cambridge Guildhall on the night of the vote, and an interview the morning after with the winning candidate, Labour's Daniel Zeichner. As described by the depositor: Ashley Perry, the Council’s Marketing and Press Officer, gave us two minutes of his time at 10.10 pm when he was busy helping the media ensure they could get their results back to their respective bases. Ashely told us: “Vicky is down there with her Electoral services team and working on it all. We have Sky, ITV, the BBC, local bloggers and some student reporters from student media here in the Gallery tonight overlooking the floor of the Guildhall and the count. It is a real mix, and it will be a busy evening and we are tight for space in the Gallery. We could have the first box of results coming in soon as there is a polling station very close by. “ That same night we spoke to two media studies students working for Sky, Anthony and Laura, who had been employed specially to send pictures back but not report on the count for Sky. Their camera showed just one shot all night, but it was a new innovative media practice for Sky. Anthony said: “It is fantastic to be here. We definitely wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t’ for the fact that technology allows so many people to be given a job on the night”. Anthony also read out that first surprising Sky and IPSO Mori exit poll for us. Laura said: “We are students working with Sky tonight and we are one of a 150 live links across the Country. We got one days training and we are media students, and we had an hour’s tuition on how to use the live links. It is an amasing opportunity to be here tonight it is going to make our future.” The Cambridge Evening News political journalists John Vale and Chris Elliott again narrated the scene for us from the press balcony overlooking the count at the Guildhall. John said: “I can see and feel buzz. The Exit Polls are giving the Tories a majority which has got everyone on the ropes a bit. The CEN did its own Exit Poll when between 5.30 pm and 8.30pm I stood outside a polling station and asked 150 people in West Chesterton, which is a tight seat between Lab and Liberal Democrats, how they would vote. It was 54 to LD and 53 Lab, 23 to Greens and 20 to Cons and none for the others. I stand by it. This is the practical heart of the election when you stand in the Guildhall Gallery and look down on the count.” We listened in as Chris Elliott interviewed Daniel Zeichner for the Press Association just after 5pm when Daniel told Chris he had “quiet optimism”. Chris asked if he had in fact taken the seat? Daniel replied: “Never believe rumours, I have a fantastic team around me, we don’t know yet!” We captured the audio of the count and proclamation being made by Ms Jackson. And then we heard Daniel Zeichner tell the people of Cambridge: “Well good morning Cambridge!” Daniel also thanked: “Vicky Breading and her staff who worked tirelessly” and thanked “the voters of Cambridge for entrusting me with your vote in Cambridge”. Daniel also acknowledged how hard Julian had “worked for this city”, as had David Howarth and Anne Campbell the two former MPs one LD and one Labour. Daniel told the gathered supporters and activist: “I will try and follow that tradition.” He said it was: “A tremendous victory for Cambridge Labour” and thanked his team, his colleagues and organisers and campaign manager. A loud cheer went up. Julian Huppert also thanked his team, as did the other candidates as they took to the stage on the Guildhall floor one by one. Julian repeated what he had said at many of the Hustings meetings that he had in fact dealt with “32,000 pieces of casework” as the MP for Cambridge. The CEN political reporter John Vale then quietly told us, as the results were being announced by Ms Jackson, that there was just “599 votes in it” and that there had been a few recounts from individual wards but that the Electoral Services team were saved from doing a full recount of all the wards and that he for one, due to the late hour of the declaration was: “grateful for that!”. We spoke again to Richard Howitt MEP, Labour’s regional organiser about Labour’s success in Cambridge but failure nationally. Richard told us: “There have been some difficult results tonight but it is a fantastic one in Cambridge. It was a slim margin but a clear victory for Labour. We won the City Council last year and the Parliamentary Seat this year. It has been a challenging night. Tuition fees were a milestone around the neck of Julian Huppert. The winning candidate for Labour, Daniel Zeichner, spoke to various media outlets soon after the vote was declared about his success and we stood by his side to record his interview with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Breakfast Show presenter Dotty McLeod. You will hear Daniel’s voice but not Dotty’s. Daniel told Dotty: “Cambridge Labour has been working very hard to win the City back for Cambridge and I will now be working closely with the Labour Council. We will be tackling the problems of transport, the cost of housing for young people and many other problems the City has. We will be working Nationally with people from the other parties to sort out these problems.” Daniel’s closing remarks to Dotty were poignant: “ I feel for people who have lost their seats all over the Country, including Julian Huppert.” But for Daniel his first comments on hearing he had indeed won Cambridge for Labour were profound: “Good morning Cambridge”. It was for him one of our six PPCS – Prospective Parliamentary Candidates - a very good morning indeed.
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother


Post-hustings interviews with Daniel Zeichner and students
Reference Code:
SOBA 5/1/30
Date:
2015-4-30 (creation)
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”!.
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother


Political Correspondent, Cambridge Evening News
Reference Code:
SOBA 5/1/31
Date:
2015-4-23 (creation)
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.”
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother



Night of the count and next morning
Reference Code:
SOBA 5/2/26
Date:
2015-5-7-2015-5-8 (creation)
Description:
Includes interviews with the 'Rebooting Democracy' general election candidate Keith Garrett; journalists from local paper the Cambridge Evening News; Antoinette Jackson, the Acting Returning Officer who read the results, and the CEO of Cambridge City Council; Richard Howitt MEP, Labour’s regional organiser; and coverage of the winning candidate's interview with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Breakfast Show.
Collection:
Women’s Parliamentary Radio publications and podcasts, conducted by Boni Sones with contributions by Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother