Tuesday 30 March 2010

Interview with Gareth Epps Lib Dem PPC for Reading East

Last week, I bumped into Gareth Epps, Lib Dem PPC for Reading East at Reading railway station. I took the opportunity to grab a quick interview with him. We discussed his campaign, Glee Club, the railways (a subject Gareth is very familiar with working in the industry and also apt given our location) and how Gareth found David Cameron as an opponent when he stood for the Lib Dems in Witney in 2001:



Saturday 27 March 2010

Chris Huhne: Inside story of Spring Conference 2010

I generally do not intend to make a habit of linking to official party videos on here but this is one that although hosted on the Lib Dems YouTube channel is quite quirky and independent spirited and does not really fall into the "official" category. It was shot by Jonathan Wallace and presented by Lib Dem MP and Home Affairs Spokesperson Chris Huhne.

It is a whistle-stop tour of the highlights of Lib Dem Spring Conference with a focus on trying to persuade members who have perhaps not been before to give it a try. It includes interviews with MPs, MEPs and activists and has quite a spontaneous feel to it. Indeed I know it was spontaneous because at Glee Club on the Saturday night I approached Chris to have a quick chat and within 30 seconds he had me on camera interviewing about my blog! You can see my contribution around 16 minutes in.

Enjoy:


Thursday 25 March 2010

Interview with Ed Fordham, Lib Dem PPC for Hampstead and Kilburn

Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice

Yesterday, I popped into Ed Fordham's very busy campaign office in Hampstead and Kilburn to have a quick chat with him. In between helping to fold some leaflets and chat with his very enthusiastic staff I managed to ask him about his earlier days in the party, his campaign, online engagement and how his experiences as a Chess player have helped with his political career:




Tuesday 23 March 2010

Interview with Chris Wiggin, Lib Dem PPC for Barnsley Central

I interviewed Chris Wiggin, Lib Dem PPC for Barnsley Central recently. We discussed his campaign, young people in politics and his use of blogging and Twitter:


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Monday 22 March 2010

Interview with Fiona Hall MEP

This is an independently produced interview which has been submitted to us by BELD with the leader of the Liberal Democrat MEPs, Fiona Hall in September 2009 just after she had been elected to this position.

Sunday 21 March 2010

Interview with Chris Davies MEP

At the Lib Dem North West conference held yesterday in Rochdale I interviewed Chris Davies MEP. I asked him about the Lisbon Treaty, his views on drug law reform and Nick Griffin's expenses, among other things.

Thursday 18 March 2010

Interview with Greg Dyke on constitutional change

At the Lib Dem federal conference last September I attended the "Moats, Mortgages and Mayhem" fringe event run by Liberal Vision.

One of the panelists was former Director General of the BBC Greg Dyke who is now an enthusiast for the Lib Dems and he had some very interesting things to say about reform of parliament. He suggested that there should be some sort of citizen's convention or jury which could take the reform decisions out of the hands of the political classes. However he did describe some of the reforms he would like to see. Amongst them he suggested that:

  • Parliament could be physically moved to Birmingham, Manchester or another city well away from London.
  • Halve the number of MPs.
  • Electoral reform to a proportional system for the House of Commons.
  • An elected second chamber.
  • Abolition of the whips.

At the end of the meeting I managed to grab a couple of minutes with him and asked him a couple of further questions about his time at the BBC and the likelihood of his reforms being implemented:




Wednesday 17 March 2010

Interview with Martin Tod, Lib Dem PPC for Winchester

I had a quick chat with Martin Tod, Lib Dem PPC for Winchester yesterday to discuss spring conference, his campaign and his use of the internet and other technology to help with this and that favourite topic for Lib Dems, electoral reform.