Covers the Unite Against Fascism hustings, April 20th; the Housing hustings, April 23rd; the U3A hustings, APril 27th; and the Anglia Ruskin Student hustings, April 28th.

As described by the depositor:

Nazarene told us why as a Muslim woman and activist she had organised the event: “I did invite UKIP and they could not come. We are building our numbers. All across the country there are Stand Up To UKIP branches. People are getting negative reaction to wearing the headscarf. I get micro aggression, people are always asking about my heritage.”

Duncan Stott the organiser of the event said: “People are being priced out of the housing market in Cambridge. House prices are over £300,000 and the average earnings are ten times less than that. We wanted to ask the candidates how they would address the housing crisis in the area, and bring pressure to the politicians to show this is an issue that matters to people. It does help people decide how to vote but it allows direct access to the candidates too and people can ask where they stand on this issue.”

Beth Morgan, one of the event’s organisers (Steve Marshall was the other) said: “We are both interested in politics, it was good to let the candidates say what they wanted to say rather than hear them on the radio where the presenter just jumps in after five words. Everyone submitted their questions in advance and then it was a bit random. I slipped mine in on income distribution.

“Democracy is a very fragile thing and I think everything to encourage it should be done, we totally take it for granted. We have always had it but it doesn’t always have to be the case, you have to work at these things to keep them going.”

Beth Price, the Programme Controller Cam FM and organiser said: “We are a student radio station and this was our second hustings broadcasting live. We have a student based audience among Cambridge University and Anglia Ruskin students so the candidates have to target what they say. Students make up 17 per cent of the voters in Cambridge so it is a very important night for them too. We are tweeting but live streaming a video too.”

Two students we later interviewed were first time voters and a third had voted for the first time in 2010. They said they were interested in a range of issues such as: “Tuition fees, student grants, and the minimum wage.” One commented: “Trust is important to me too, there is so much uproar, it is difficult to know who to vote for”.

All were still undecided as to how they would cast their votes. Perhaps the national pollsters, who got the result so wrong, should have spoken to them or come with us to a Hustings event.