Bristol Unpacked

This week we’re bringing you another episode from the Bristol Unpacked Archives; its Green party MP Carla Denyer who was interviewed by Neil in October 2021, just after her election as co-chair of The Green party and 3 years before her election to parliament as the MP for Bristol Central in 2024. How has she measured up against early commitments expressed in this interview? Check out her voting re...

From the archive April 2022 "As the slap reverberates around the world we talk all things comedy with Jayde Adams - who went from working in Asda Bedminster to her own Amazon Prime Special. She just starred in a new BBC documentary following her move back to Bristol. Going deep about how the death of her sister made her so driven, are there red lines in comedy, and what it is like coming home."

Lucy Reed is a barrister in the family courts, where separating couples hammer out child custody arrangements and where, in one of the most severe decisions the state can take, orders are made to take children into care, separating them from their families. On 27 January, journalists were for the first time allowed, with some restrictions, to report from any family court across England and Wales....

From the archives - an update Today we bring you an episode from the archives with Dr Patrick Hart. Patrick took action in August 2022 to demand an end to new licences and consents for oil and gas projects in the UK, something which has subsequently become government policy. He disabled petrol pumps at an Esso garage on the M25 on the 24th August 2022. On August 24, 2022, he disabled petrol pumps...

It’s the coldest time of the year, and Bristol’s homelessness crisis is as bleak as ever. How does it feel to be out on the streets? This week, Neil puts the question to Paul Goggin, ex-Lord Mayor of Bristol, who went through a period of sleeping rough after a relationship breakdown. Goggin has also been open about his mental health struggles – does the UK need a different approach? And as Labour...

Bristol is famous for being a maritime city, and its harbour – a vast area of water and historic docklands regenerated from dereliction since the 1990s –  draws tourists from all over the world. But who are the people living on the many vessels moored there? What has led them to choose a boat-dwelling life? And why are they protesting against how the council is managing the harbourside? Join Neil...

When authorities make plans that affect people’s lives, what do they get wrong – and how can they do better at working with communities? What are the lessons here for the council in Bristol, as it continues to face blowback over traffic restrictions in east Bristol? And why is it more important than ever for young people to have access to safe spaces, and adults they can trust? Join Neil and Samir...

A year on from the Barton House tower block evacuation, and six months after the Green Party became the largest party on Bristol City Council, what has changed as Bristol continues to grapple with a brutal housing crisis? How are the Greens finding being the party of leadership rather than opposition? And if they seized power at a national level, would they tone down their combative comments on Do...

Emma Edwards is the leader of Bristol Green Party who could well be in charge of the council for the first time after May's local elections. She chats to Neil about the Green's vision for doing politics in a more transparent and collaborative way, how they'd sort out our public transport, and whether they're ready to make the tricky transition from party of opposition to party of power. Subscribe...

Neil Maggs sits down with Mark Weston, who was first elected as a councillor nearly 20 years ago, and has led the local Tory party for a decade. On the eve of the local elections, they discuss the Tories miserable national polling, the so-called 'war on motorists' being waged by Bristol City Council, and the cultural divides between Bristol's inner city and suburbs. Subscribe to The Bristol Cable...

Jos Clark is an experienced local councillor now leading the Lib Dems into Bristol's local elections. A party that used to have strong support in the city has seen its seats dwindle over the last decade. The critic of Marvin Rees and the mayoral system, who helped manoeuvre the referendum on introducing the new committee system, talks to Neil Maggs about libraries, Bristol's failing bus services a...

Just three years after being first elected as a councillor, Labour's Tom Renhard is now leading the party into May's local elections. Neil Maggs asks him about his record as the city's housing chief, why he thinks the Greens aren't up to the task of being in power and Labour's plans for building new homes, campaigning for rent controls and bringing buses back into public ownership. Subscribe to Th...

Salma, a lawyer who spent her childhood in Gaza, shares the 'dystopian' experience of life under occupation and knowing your family are in a war zone, as well as discussing happier memories and pro-Palestinian activism in the UK. Content warning: contains graphic descriptions of war and violence Salma Hajjar is a young trainee solicitor who spent her childhood up to age eight in Gaza, where decade...

Neil chats to Ruth, a daughter of the Windrush generation, on her decades of work with Bristol's voluntary and community groups, how that's changed as public services have been cut – and whether she feels conflicted about receiving an honour associated with empire Ruth Pitter has been a stalwart of Bristol’s voluntary sector for decades – and in January 2024 was awarded an MBE as part of the New Y...

Bristol Unpacked with BBC journalist Lucy Proctor on mad cows, Covid and conspiracy theories Thirty years ago, BSE was spreading across the UK while the government insisted beef was safe. Neil asks Lucy, producer of The Cows are Mad podcast, about the scandal – and how conspiracy theories have thrived as trust in the establishment has nosedived. Over the past few years, BBC podcast producer Lucy P...

Listen: Bristol Unpacked with Watershed CEO Clare Reddington on cinema, class and council cuts As Bristol City Council slashes spending on venues including arthouse cinema Watershed, Neil asks its boss Clare why funding the arts matters, and whether the sector's reputation as catering mainly to the well-heeled is justified.  Over the past year Clare Reddington, the chief executive of Bristol's fla...

In the last few months, Wesley Bear has been at the forefront of actions by ACORN. That's the community union known nationally for taking direct action to stand up for tenants' rights, which originated in Bristol almost a decade ago. On 17 November Wesley, ACORN's communications officer, was involved in an altercation with security guards at the Holiday Inn in Bristol city centre. Residents of the...

Content warning: audio contains graphic discussions of violence Eight years ago, filmmaker Aodh Breathnach was stabbed multiple times during a night out on Stokes Croft, and rushed in a taxi to the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Aodh was lucky. He recovered from injuries to his head and body within a few weeks and tried to put the attack out of his mind, deleting photos from his phone and throwing away...

Poku Osei transitioned from hustling to sell sugar and DVDs in Ghana to running one of Bristol’s most celebrated social enterprises. Babbasa focuses on helping young people access and thrive with new opportunities, including through alliances with corporates and big institutions. But does this ‘social mobility’ approach undermine more wide scale change by lifting up individuals but not addressing...

"F*** the police!", "Sluts Against Cops" and “We will burn your fucking cars.” These are some of the things Jasmine York said or graffitied during the ‘Kill the Bill’ riots in March 2021. The biggest incidence of unrest in mainland Britain in a decade.  Jasmine was jailed in the aftermath for arson. As an activist and now ex-prisoner, what’s Jasmine’s take on what went down? Regrets? Didn’t it pla...

Behind every politician is a fixer. For many years Kelvin Blake has been behind the scenes as a key figure in the city’s Labour party, working on key campaigns that have seen Labour secure the lion's share of political power. But what exactly goes on behind the scenes and where next for Labour as the Greens challenge the party’s establishment status? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

It's been three years since the Colston statue was toppled, thrusting the Merchant Venturers - the elite club with a history of the worst kind - into the limelight. But for many years prior, Christine Townsend had been on a mission to fight what she sees as discriminatory practises of pupil selection, starting off with Merchant Venturer run schools in Bristol.  Now a Green Party councillor, Christ...

Bristol has long had a reputation as a hotbed of leftie radicals. Most recently, the movement that was built and surged during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party.  Isaac has been a prominent activist with socialist campaign Momentum and as a co-founder of Bristol Transformed, a festival of radical ideas that will return to Bristol on the weekend of 16th of June.  But the scene has attr...

How can a stuffy institution with deep links to British Establishment power play a role in bringing about social justice on Earth, in Bristol and beyond? Neil gets deep into a challenging conversation on the spiritual and political with Phil Nott, an experienced Church of England priest who is on that mission – and has just started a six-month role as the city chaplain at Bristol Cathedral, with a...

A large part of raising the early years of the next generation is entrusted to nurseries. But the sector is in a protracted crisis of funding and stability. Childcare costs in the UK are among the most expensive in the world, and direct government support for nurseries has not kept up with increasing needs. Especially in the context of an austerity ravaged nation.  So how to do the best for our yo...