Reasons to be Cheerful with Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd

Hello! Geoff’s hopped on a train up to Doncaster to visit Ed on the campaign trail. After their catch up, we explore the argument for compulsory voting in elections. Judith Brett tells us about how Australia got compulsory voting back in the 1920s and the impact it’s had on their politics. Then political scientist Sarah Birch argues that it’s time for the UK to follow suit. AND Comedian Glenn Moore returns to share his thoughts on the election news this week. For information regarding your data privacy, visit

Hello! Away from the set piece speeches and TV interviews, British elections are fought by thousands of party activists going door-to-door to speak to voters. But what impact does this really have and why are political campaigns around the world increasingly looking to the ‘ground campaign’? Becky Bond tells us the story of how her team pioneered a new way of involving volunteers in the Bernie Sanders campaign. Then Vincent Pons and Simon Kruschinski explain why door-to-door canvassing has made a return to French and German elections in recent years. AND Comedian Rosie Jones comes back to talk to us about what's keeping her cheerful in the election news this week For information regarding your data privacy, visit

Hello! The climate crisis is higher on the political agenda than ever before, with more than half of people saying it will influence how they vote in the UK general election. We’re discussing how to ensure that this is the first ‘climate election’ with Alice Bell from climate campaign Possible and Fatima Ibrahim from Green New Deal UK. Then Catherine Abreu talks us through the role of climate policy in Canada’s recent election and what the rest of the world can learn from it. AND Comedian Jen Brister joins us to sift through the more hopefully stories in another week of general election campaigning For information regarding your data privacy, visit

Hello! Why are political adverts banned on TV and radio but allowed all over websites like Facebook and Google? Is it time to update our campaign laws for the 21st century? Sam Jeffers explains how campaign group ‘Who Targets Me’ are opening up the black box of online ads in elections. Then digital campaigning expert Kate Dommett talks about why current electoral rules aren’t up to the job and what we need to do to fix them. AND The wonderful Sooz Kempner is here to chat through this week of the election campaign.  For information regarding your data privacy, visit

Here's a preview of a new spin off we have with Owen Jones ahead of the general election. Head to