The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts saw Paula Surridge return to the show, talking about the impact of political values and of perceived competence on recent general elections. We got into some surprising similarities between Tony Blair and Nigel Farage, as well as ways in which Boris Johnson and Gordon Brown were the same.
Take a listen to find out how on earth we ended up there.
Show notes
"Values in the Valence Election: Fragmentation and the 2024 General Election" by Paula Surridge. Also in blog form here.
Why we made a joke about cease and desist letters.
The graph which we mentioned.
Paula Surridge on Bluesky and Substack.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts takes a look at a book that has made me rethink several things I thought I knew about the history of the Liberal Democrats and Liberals before them.
It also contains some wonderfully acerbic photo captions and some not terribly kind words about David Lloyd George.
It is a book from another David - David Laws - and is a history of Labour - Liberal (Democrat) relations over the last century.
Show notes
Serpents, Goats and Turkeys - a century of Liberal-Labour relations: Amazon, Waterstones, Bookshop.org*
Who Killed Kitchener? The Life and Death of Britain's Most Famous War Minister: Amazon, Waterstones, Bookshop.org*
How Lib Dems love the 1920s despite the electoral disasters for the Liberal Party.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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* Affiliate links that generate a commission for purchases made.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts takes a look at recent research into the impact of electoral reform on the stability of governments.
Does PR mean less stable government? Listen to my discussion with the research's author Dylan Difford to find out.
Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it.
Show notes
Strong and Stable: the most politically stable democracies use PR.
The wild ride of elections in the 1920s.
Dylan Difford on Bluesky.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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Election campaigns often put significant effort into persuading voters that their candidate(s) could win. But does such campaigning really change people's expectations of who might win? And even if it people's views do change, does being seen as a more likely winner really help you win the election?
Or in other words, are all those "winning here" posters and bar charts worth it?
The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts welcomes back to the show Justin Fisher to discuss just that, courtesy of new research from himself and two colleagues.
Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it.
Show notes
"Innocent Bystanders or the Forgotten Actors? The Role of Parties and Candidates in Building Electoral Campaign Momentum" by Justin Fisher, Ed Fieldhouse and David Cutts.
A Logic of Expressive Choice by Alexander A. Schuessler (affiliate link).
101 Ways To Win An Election.
The accuracy of MRPs.
Justin Fisher on Twitter/X.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
Photo of "Winning Here" poster courtesy of the Lib Dems (CC BY-ND 2.0).
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts sees a return to the show for Sam Freedman. This time he’s got a new book out, about how our government is broken – and what to do to fix it.
Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it.
Show notes
Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It by Sam Freedman: Amazon, Waterstones, UK Bookshop (affiliate links).
Sam Freedman’s Prospect articles.
The Mill.
Sam Freedman’s newsletter.
The myth of Budget poll bounces.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts discusses a great new book about the geography of British elections with its two authors, Jamie Furlong and Will Jennings.
Why do the Conservatives underperform on Merseyside yet overperform in Lincolnshire, and how much of electoral geography is really about individual campaigners?
Take a listen to find out...
Show notes
Get The Changing Electoral Map of England and Wales by Jamie Furlong and Will Jennings: Amazon, Bookshop, Waterstones. (Affiliate links.)
Get Putting Voters in Their Place: Geography and Elections in Great Britain by Ron Johnston and Charles Pattie: Amazon, Bookshop, Waterstones. (Affiliate links.)
My two previous podcasts discussing Brexitland: with Rob Ford and with Maria Sobolewska.
Jamie Furlong and Will Jennings on X/Twitter.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts takes a look back to the five criteria for success that Professor Tim Bale set out for opposition leaders and considers how they played out by the end of the 2024 general election.
Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it.
Show notes
Our original discussion of five tests for opposition parties.
Our December 2020, March 2022 and December 2022 updates.
Some of those Ed Davey stunts.
My puzzlement over the lack of concern from Conservatives about losing support in Surrey and London.
The size of Lib Dem majorities.
Ed Davey's campaign ratings.
Survey of Conservative membership on the next party leader.
Tim Bale on X/Twitter.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts is another special with John Potter and the Lib Dem Pod, looking at all the latest from the election campaign.
Show notes
The More in Common polling I mention.
Lib Dem Pod.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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For material which promotes the party’s candidates or future candidates, the imprint information is that it is promoted by Mike Dixon on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, both 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts is another special with John Potter and the Lib Dem Pod, looking at all the latest from the election campaign with Lib Dem peer Liz Barker and Lib Dem candidate David Chadwick.
Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it.
Show notes
The Lib Dem manifesto.
The election timetable.
David Chadwick's campaign.
How we decide where to ask people to campaign.
Lib Dem Pod.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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For material which promotes the party’s candidates or future candidates, the imprint information is that it is promoted by Mike Dixon on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, both 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts is another team-up with the Lib Dem podcast, taking a look at the general election, mulling over Nigel Farage's entrance and hearing about how a Dalek got canvassed.
Appearing on the show is Victoria Collins. The constituency she is standing in includes the village of Aldbury, often used in TV and films, including for Doctor Who and The Avengers.
Show notes
Victoria Collins.
Aldbury.
The time Daleks nearly advertised Hamlet Cigars.
Lib Dem Pod.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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For material which promotes the party’s candidates or future candidates, the imprint information is that it is promoted by Mike Dixon on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, both 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN. For content related specifically to a candidate, it is published and promoted by S. Oliver on behalf of V. Collins.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts saw a return for the Professor of Political Leafleting, the Lady of the Leaflets, Professor Caitlin Milazzo. She's one of the top experts on what election candidates put in their leaflets and why. So just the person to talk with as even more leaflets are headed to people's letterboxes for the general election.
Show notes
The Open Elections website.
How are political leaflets changing (and do they work)? - previous podcast with Caitlin Milazzo.
Negative campaigning in political leaflets: what the evidence says - previous podcast with Caitlin Milazzo.
Perceived Negativity in British General Election Communications by Caitlin Milazzo and John Ryan.
Personal, policy and partisanship: Understanding voter reactions to campaign negativity by Alan Duggan, Caitlin Milazzo, Harry Applestein and John Ryan.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts is another team-up with John Potter and the Lib Dem Pod team. This time we were joined by Bill Revans, leader of the largest elected Lib Dem group in the country, to talk about the start of the general election.
Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it.
Show notes
Lib Dem Pod.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts is another joint venture with The Lib Dem Pod, taking a look at the 2024 local elections.
Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it.
Show notes
The Week in Polls.
The Lib Dem Pod.
Tribute to Andrew Stunell.
Local election results in Preston.
The 2024 local election results.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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Never Mind The Bar Charts took an unexpected turn when I was discussing the track record of polls closing in previous Parliaments with Professor Will Jennings. One of the most dramatic such examples was with Jeremy Corbyn in 2017... so perhaps he should be the role model for Rishi Sunak as he looks to rescue the Conservatives?
Feedback very welcome, and do share this podcast with others who you think may enjoy it.
Show notes
Have the polls closed in previous Parliaments?
What are MRPs and can we trust them?
Voting intention by supermarket.
Sign up to the newsletter from Will Jennings.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
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Something completely different to the usual fare this time: a little while back I picked my five favourite spy novels for the Spybrary podcast. For a variation from the usual Never Mind The Podcasts fare, take a listen to what I picked, and why those in politics so often like spy stories:
Anthony Price features, of course. As does (ssssh! former spy) Paddy Ashdown and US President Lyndon B Johnson, subject of perhaps the best non-fiction book and one with a brilliant narrator too.
In coincidental related news, I discovered recently that the author of the standard book on the history of the early years of campaigning for proportional representation was a Communist, and possibly a Russian spy. The author is Jennifer Hart and the book is Proportional Representation: Critics of the British Electoral System 1820-1945.
Show notes
The Spybrary Podcast.
The Spybrary Facebook group.
Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
Photo by Cottonbro Studio on Pexels.com.
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Links to books above are affiliate links.
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