Never Mind The Bar Charts

With the general election underway, Stephen Tall and Mark Pack discuss how things are going so far for the Liberal Democrats, what the constituency polls are saying, the role of bar charts and the latest on the party's internal elections. Show notes What the national opinion polls are saying . All the constituency polls made public so far . The full list of Unite to Remain seat arrangements . What...

Once again, an MP has kindly timed their decision to join the Liberal Democrats for just before the recording of an episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts. So Stephen and I discussed the party's latest Parliamentary recruit along with the outlook for the general election. Show notes Antoinette Sandbach joins the Liberal Democrats . How many Liberal Democrat MPs are there now? The new Liberal Democra...

In the first live audience recording of Never Mind The Bar Charts, host Stephen Tall talks to two people who have worked with Dominic Cumnings: Polly Mackenzie and Sean Kemp.

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, in which Stephen Tall and I discuss the growing number of recruits to the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party, the unusual set of seats the party is targeting for the general election, why Will Hutton is wrong about Jeremy Corbyn and why everyone should go read Gaby Hinsliff. Plus an extended digression about cake, apples and grandmother...

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, a variation of the usual format in which I interview Paula Surridge about her research into the British electorate. She's been one of the pioneers in understanding how there is more than left versus right to modern British politics. Listen to hear what she has to say about what this means for the Liberal Democrats... Show notes A good int...

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, which takes a look at the news that the Liberal Democrats may run in the general election on a simple 'revoke Article 50' platform. Stephen Tall attempts to fisk my Remainer optimism. He possibly fails. Or does he? Show notes Keep count of how many Liberal Democrat MPs there are . Monica Harding is the Lib Dem PPC for Dominic Raab's const...

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, in which I go full-on cheerleading for Remain. Stephen Tall responds with half a bucket of cold water. Show notes: Beatrice Wishart wins in Shetland . Reasons to doubt the Boris Johnson / Dominic Cummings strategy . The public doesn't like prorogation . Tom Chivers on Dominic Cummings and a game of chicken . Charles Moore's biography of M...

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, in which Stephen Tall and I discuss the two latest recruits to the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party, as well as lessons from Winston Churchill on when to hold a politician's past against them. Show notes Get tickets for our first live show recording . Jane Dodds wins in Brecon and Radnorshire. Sarah Wollaston joins the Liberal Democra...

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, in which Stephen Tall and I pick over the results of the Liberal Democrat leadership election . Why did it turn out that way and what next for the party? Show notes Results of the Liberal Democrat leadership election. The Lib Dem Newswire survey on the 2019 contest. The Lib Dem Newswire survey on the 2017 contest, showing what a strong po...

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, in which Stephen Tall and I reflect on the Lib Dem leadership contest so far and quite spectacularly fail to end the show promptly after we say we should. Show notes Jo Swinson interview for Never Mind The Bar Charts. Ed Davey interview for Never Mind The Bar Charts. Launch of cross-party electoral reform campaign , including The Brexit P...

Following the special Never Mind The Bar Charts interview with Jo Swinson , now out is the matching interview with her rival for leadership of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey: Mark Pack interviews would-be Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey about why he's decided now is the time to run for leader. They also discuss the Coalition Government, environmental policy and how to defeat Boris Johnson . Step...

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts which, as trailed at the weekend , is the first of two interviews with the candidates to be the leader of the Liberal Democrats. Following the toss of a coin, Jo Swinson's interview comes first: Mark Pack interviews would-be Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson about why she wants the job. The topics they discuss include what she thinks of t...

Exclusive interviews with Edward Davey and Jo Swinson coming up. Subscribe the podcast to make sure you don't miss them. Show notes The mystery coin was a special 2001 Canadian 10 cents (held upside down and with light glinting off it... at least that's my defence). Make sure you don't miss those exclusive interviews by subscribing in your favourite podcast app or sign up for email alerts .

In episode #9, Stephen Tall and Mark Pick pick over the European election results and what comes next for the Lib Dems. Can the party sustain its May run of successes? Show notes Kieran Pedley co-hosts the Polling Matters podcast, which you can find here . Examples 1 , 2 and 3 of how the media missed the story of the Lib Dem surge. Details of Lord Ashcroft's polling . Tim Bale points out that the...

Welcome to the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, in which Stephen Tall and I pick over the 2019 local election results to see how happy the Liberal Democrats should be. We also take a bit of a look forward to the European elections, discuss the use of 'bollocks' (complete with Ofcom guidance) and consider the overall pace of the Liberal Democrat recovery. Show notes 704 ! The coalition...

Stephen Tall and Mark Pack discuss the leaked Change UK memo about the Lib Dems, where Change UK is headed, a bold claim about Tony Blair from Stephen and how the local elections may change the political trajectory of the Remain parties. Show notes Our previous podcast episode about Change UK / The Independent Group. That Change UK memo . Local election predictions look promising for the Lib Dems...

Welcome to the latest edition of Never Mind The Bar Charts, in which Stephen finally gets me to talk about Brexit. But only after discussing the Newport West by-election, the reliability of the national opinion polls , the likely Liberal Democrat leadership contest and whether the party might be about to lose Norman Lamb from its ranks. Listen and enjoy... Show notes Norman Lamb's comments about h...

Listen and enjoy as birthday boy Stephen and I discuss Vince Cable's record as party leader now he's announced his departure date (nearly) , who might succeed him, what happened at Liberal Democrat conference in York, the brilliance of Geoff Payne, the party reforms now underway and why Stephen Tall pays up money to the New Statesman. He also mentioned the Steel vs Pardoe way of looking at Lib Dem...

Listen and enjoy as Stephen and I discuss the future of The Independent Group , its possible impact on British politics, parallels with the SDP and what it means for the Liberal Democrats . With a shoutout to the Polling Matters podcast episode which took a look at TIG polling and the Times Red Box podcast interview with Anna Soubry .

Stephen and Mark discuss three things they don't like. A few follow-up links for what we discussed: Finnish universal basic income trial and thoughts from my time on a policy working group looking at the subject . Nick Barlow's blog post on new parties . Why I like ideology .

Mark Pack and Stephen Tall discuss Paddy Ashdown, Lib Dem strategy and our obsession with US politics. Brexit nearly doesn't get mentioned.

Stephen Tall and Mark Pack talk about their favourite political podcasts and commentators, what the government should be doing if it wasn't consumed by Brexit and the Liberal Democrats.