Tag Archives: radio 4

Caron Lindsay

Belinda Brooks-Gordon on Today talking about making sex work safer

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 3rd March 2016 - 12:57 pm

Belinda BG at BBCDr Belinda Brooks-Gordon, who led on the development of our policy on sex work, was on the Today programme this morning debating whether managed zones for sex workers are effective. She cited huge amounts of evidence which suggests that they are. The retired police officer was pretty aggressive in the way he made his points and was really patronising to Belinda who has done so much academic research in this field.

The police officer said that we should be looking to eliminate rather than enable sex work. Belinda cited how this makes life much more difficult and dangerous for sex workers with actual examples. The occupant of the blue Police Box would have given a much more sensible answer, I’m sure.

You can listen to the debate here at about 2:31 in.

Belinda referred to a paper she had given at the British Psychological Society about the effects of the then Government’s action to crack down on sex work. You can read that paper by clicking here

You can read a letter signed by Belinda and other academics,arguing against the so-called Nordic Model, which

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Caron Lindsay

Shirley Williams’ impression of Donald Trump

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 9th February 2016 - 7:00 am

This little gem is from last Friday’s PM on Radio 4 and probably means that my licence fee has been well worth it for these 90 seconds of Shirley wit alone. Enjoy:


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Caron Lindsay

Lembit on life after defeat

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 3rd January 2016 - 2:47 pm

Thanks to Will Barter and James King for alerting us to an interview Lembit Opik gave to Radio 4’s Saturday Live, broadcast yesterday, where he talked about the huge effect his 2010 election defeat had had on him. He had been worried about losing, but his confidence had been boosted by the data they had locally and when he was defeated, he was totally shocked. He said he’s “assumed he was going to win” and defeat hit him in 4 stages, taking him 3.5 years to turn his life around.

He described the initial disbelief and the displacement activity that led him to go pretty much straight on to Have I got news for you in the immediate aftermath of his defeat. He then described a 2 year grieving process and further period of depression before he was able to get on with his life. He talked about the “albatross” of having the reputation of having thrown away a safe Liberal Democrat seat. He also described how he came within 6 weeks of having his house repossessed when he didn’t have a Plan B to fall back on when he lost his income.

He also talked about his relationship with Gabriela Irimia from the Cheeky Girls and said that it was the most important relationship he had had. He was heartbroken when she ended it. He only used her name once in quite a long discussion about her. What surprised me was that he said that he was surprised that his personal life would affect his professional reputation. You’d think he’d never read a tabloid. He said he’d do it all again if he had his time again because nobody should tell anyone who to love.

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Caron Lindsay

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez to interview Theresa May on Today programme tomorrow

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 29th December 2015 - 4:25 pm

Miriam González Durántez by Cabinet OfficeIt’s great to see Radio 4 continuing with their holiday tradition of having guest editors for the programme.

Tomorrow it’s Miriam Gonzalez Durantez in the hot seat. Miriam has done brilliant work with her Inspiring Women campaign, taking women professionals into schools to talk to girls about their careers. During the election, she campaigned tirelessly for our key seat women candidates.

There is much to love in her line-up for tomorrow. For a start, she’s talking to the amazing Great British Bake Off winner Nadiyah Hussein. What we will need the popcorn for, though, is when she interviews Theresa May. I can’t imagine the Home Secretary getting an easy ride on Europe, immigration and civil liberties. I will probably have a nap when she interviews Manchester City footballer Vincent Kompany, though.

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The Voice

Sal Brinton on how Liberal Democrats helped change law on revenge porn

By The Voice | Sun 26th October 2014 - 3:30 pm

Sal BrintonIf you have half an hour today, make sure you listen to the Week in Westminster, available here on iPlayer.

In it, Tom Brake debates the merits of fixed term Parliaments. The Tory argument against them seems to be more based in self interest and “we are sick fed up of the coalition and these pesky Liberal Democrats” than anything that actually matters.

Sal Brinton is also on talking about revenge porn which was made illegal in moves driven by Liberal Democrats including Sal, Olly Grender, Jonathan Marks and Liz Barker. Presenter Helen Lewis had initially said that the move was part of Chris Grayling’s move to combat internet abuse. Sal put her right, explaining that the impetus actually came from Liberal Democrats on the back of Hannah Thompson’s campaign. She was very diplomatic about the process of getting Government support for the move. You’ll have to listen to see how, in the last few minutes of the programme.

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Helen Flynn

Opinion: Setting the record straight

By Helen Flynn | Wed 28th May 2014 - 4:48 pm

Screen Shot 2014-03-09 at 08.06.08 Liberal Democrats LibbyI was misquoted on BBC radio 4 on Monday. They said I had asked for Nick Clegg’s resignation. Would that it were as simple as asking for a leader to resign–as if that would change everything. But it isn’t. And I don’t feel in any way that I am being evasive or woolly by not asking for a change of leadership. What I am asking for is a root and branch review of our campaign strategy.

Let’s examine the facts.

We have just suffered a disastrous set …

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NewsHound

Sir Menzies Campbell: “We will not allow Nigel Farage to set our moral compass”

By NewsHound | Wed 29th January 2014 - 11:21 am

On the Today programme this morning, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife Sir Menzies Campbell debated the decision by the Government to give sanctuary to some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees with Conservative MP Brooks Newmark who was less enthusiastic, it’s fair to say, about the idea.

Of course it’s a question of humanity and we should not allow the argument about immigration to stand in the way of our responsibility and we should not allow Mr Nigel Farage to set our moral compass in this matter.

Newmark said that if Britain was giving more money than other EU countries, we shouldn’t feel obligated to take in refugees as well.  You could hear the exasperation with such an insular, uncompassionate attitude in Sir Menzies’ voice:

These are not mutually exclusive. The fact that Britain has given £600 million is something of which we can legitimately be proud. We’ve also been part of the political effort going on at the moment in Geneva to try and find a political settlement out of this terrible morass. But none of that, however praiseworthy it is, can be regarded as being inconsistent with exercising the kind of humanity which legitimately might be expected of a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations.

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NewsHound

Sarah Teather on landlord immigration checks: “I just foresee an enormous amount of misery”

By NewsHound | Tue 2nd July 2013 - 6:04 pm

Sarah TeatherSarah Teather was interviewed on The World at One about the Government’s plans to make landlords check an individual’s immigration status when they came to rent a property. She said that unless there were drastic changes to the plans, she couldn’t see herself voting for it and she said that Liberal Democrat MPs weren’t happy about it either.

She said she was worried that landlords would simply not bother to let their properties to people whose immigration status may be in doubt. She added that if the Government modelled this new …

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Caron Lindsay

Helena Morrissey talks to Woman’s Hour

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 16th April 2013 - 9:05 am

Liberal Democrats will recognise Helena Morrissey as the chair of the Independent Inquiry into the Party’s processes, set up in the wake of the allegations against Lord Rennard, which he denies.

I thought you might be interested in her interview on Woman’s Hour from last week. You can listen to it here on iPlayer from about 19 minutes in.

She was there to discuss her work as founder of the 30% Club, aimed at increasing the proportion of women on boards, and the proportion of women coming through in senior executive positions to fill the boards of the future.

She talked about …

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