Never Mind The Bar Charts

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-f...

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts is another by-election special with the Lib Dem Pod team, talking about what to make of the latest set of Parliamentary by-elections.

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• The by-election results.
• The Lib Dem pre-manifesto.
• The Lib Dem Pod team on YouTube.
• Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
• New to listening to podcasts? Here are s...

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts features Southwark councillor Rachel Bentley on what it's like being a councillor, the difference you can make to improve people's lives, the disappointments of Sadiq Khan, life campaigning against Labour and, of course, her love of pointing.

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• The Bentley Ramp.
• Rachel Bentley on X/Tw...

Professor Kate Dommett is one of the UK’s absolute top rank experts on political campaigning, data and the internet. So who better to have back on Never Mind The Bar Charts to talk about how parties use data and what the next general election might bring?

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• Data-Driven Campaigning and Political Parties: Five Advanced Democraci...

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts welcomed back Duncan Brack for another of our reviews of previous party leaders. This time, it’s Charles Kennedy we took a look at.

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• Greg Hurst’s biography of Charles Kennedy.
• Charles Kennedy on Have I Got News For You.
• The 1983 TV report on his first election (second video on the pa...

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts is another special with the Lib Dem Pod team. We talked about a year of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister and lessons from the Mid Bedfordshire by-election. Listen carefully also to spot a little Easter Egg from me...

• The Lib Dem Pod
• Theme tune by Hugo Lee.
• New to listening to podcasts? Here are some tips on how to listen to podcasts.
• Check out some of this show’s most popu...

I've been honoured to have many great guests on Never Mind The Bar Charts but wow... this time's guest really blew me away with his moving life story and with the thought of just how exciting it would be to see him on the national political stage.

Come take a listen and meet Josh Babarinde from Eastbourne.

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• The sunniest tow...

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts features Paula Surridge once again, who since last time has been promoted to Professor - congratulations!

We talk about what's driving British politics, whether the Conservatives can win next time - and what lessons she sees in the data for the Liberal Democrats.

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• Some of Pau...

It took decades of campaigning for Prohibition campaigners to win in the US, getting alcohol banned in the early twentieth century. Once they'd won, their victory seemed set to last. Yet in less than a decade and a half their victory had been undone and the the idea killed off politically. So can pro-Europeans take heart from drawing parallels between Prohibition and Brexit?

Find out in the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar ...

So wrote John Curtice after the latest record-breaking Parliamentary by-election by the Liberal Democrats. Who better therefore to discuss how happy Liberal Democrats should be after Sarah Dyke's victory than Frome-born political scientist and podcast favourite, Professor Tim Bale?

Hear what Tim and I made of all three of the recent Parliamentary by-elections in the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts.

Feedback very welc...

Florian Foos has worked with eight different political parties in five different countries carrying out field experiments to test what does and doesn't work in election campaigning. So I invited him on Never Mind The Bar Charts to talk about what both his research and that of others reveals.

• How Much GOTV Mail is Too Much? Results from a Large-Scale Field Experiment by Adam Zelitzer and Donald P. Green
• Get Out...

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts features Sam Freedman, talking about his recent excellent article on why apparently obvious policy ideas keep on being talked about, but not getting implemented. What's going on?

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• The Policy Paradox: The more obvious an idea is the less likely it will happen.
• David Gauke's propo...

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts saw a return to the show for Professor Caitlin Milazzo, one of the county's top experts on political leaflets - what goes into them why and with what effect.

This time we discussed her new research into negative campaigning in leaflets.

• “Going on the offensive: Negative messaging in British general elections” by Alan Duggan and Caitlin Milazzo.
• The Open Elections web...

The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts is another tie-up with The Lib Dem Podcast, following the stunning Lib Dem gains in the local elections.

I joined councillors John Potter and Richard Kemp, along with new Lib Dem council leader Martin Boffey, to chew over the results. Unfortunately, Lisa Smart was not able to make the show, but she was safely re-elected this month too.

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I really enjoyed reading Professor Tim Bale's new book, The Conservative Party After Brexit.

So who better to have on the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts to discuss the point of such books, how such an apparently ramshackle party keeps on winning elections, the power of party conference speeches and what Rishi Sunak's politics really are than the man himself? Tim that is, rather than the PM.

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Find out the answer to that... and speculate on what Tim Harford and Matt Forde would be like as MPs with the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts.

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• Public Preferences for Integrity and Accountability in Politics: the research report we discuss.
• Ipsos trust data.
• Alan Renwick on Twitter.
• Image by David Mark from Pixab...

For the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts, I'm speaking with Cllr Keith House, leader of Eastleigh Council. The local team has an impressive record of building houses on green fields and (yet also) getting re-elected. How have they managed this combo, and what can other Liberal Democrats learn from it?

Take a listen to find out...

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Many attempts at reforming the House of Lords have been made. Many attempts have failed.

So what can would-be reformers learn from the failures of their predecessors to achieve more?

Professor Meg Russell, director of the Constitution Unit at UCL, joined me to share her expertise on this in the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts. Listeners may wish to enjoy her correcting me on voting systems.

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It was a warm welcome back to Professor Tim Bale for the latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts. We revisited the five tests for opposition parties we've discussed before. How have Labour and the Lib Dems been performing against them?

Take a listen to find out...

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• Our original discussion of five tests for opposition ...