Culture
Government Unveils Replacement Bus Service
Cartoon by Owen Devine. Check out more of Owen’s work at his website, Devine Comedy.
Year: 2015
Fiction
The Case of the Serbian Dwarf Poisoner
A short story by Matt Wingett ‘Observe the way in which the victim is holding the napkin, Jenkins,’ said The Legend, drawing on his meerschaum as they stood over a corpse that lay sprawled in [… read more ]
Politics
A Cleaner’s Diary
A few summers ago, Gareth Rees was working as a cleaner at HM Naval Base, Portsmouth. After witnessing bullying, incompetence and inefficiency, he was shocked to learn that the cruel and humourless management had made him [… read more ]
History
Joint Ventures and Corporate Capers
During the early 1990s, Simon Sykes worked on Cultural Integration and Awareness Programmes for the Executive of the first ever Franco-British joint venture, which was based in Portsmouth. These diary extracts offer an insight into [… read more ]
Culture
Southsea Fest Review
Michael Smith gives us a student’s eye view of a music festival that has become a Southsea institution. I have four objectives today. The first is to see Honeyblood, a female duo of guitar and drums specialising [… read more ]
Culture
Bravo Figaro! An Interview with Mark Thomas
Rosy Moorhead talks to Mark Thomas about his new show, Bravo Figaro, which played at Fareham’s Ashcroft Arts Centre on 24th January 2015. Mark Thomas’ dad was a difficult man. A ‘grumpy bastard’ is actually [… read more ]
Politics
Dear Concerned Citizen… With Love from Your Council
From time to time, Sarah Cheverton is called upon by local authorities to do communications work, often when there’s a particularly hot potato that officers are flipping nervously amongst each other. Occasionally, the nature of these complaints [… read more ]
Fiction
Fresh off the Boat
Laszlo Dumitrescu Hello, people of Portsmouth, the English Riviera, my fellow Europeans. I arrive in your city from Romania to make a better life for my family. The weather was shining when we approach the [… read more ]
Culture
Altered States: Legal Highs, Substance Use and Recovery in Portsmouth
Poet Maggie Sawkins talks to Recovery Broker Leigh Tora Westmore about substance use, New Psychoactive Substances and Portsmouth’s Recovery Community. What got you interested in New Psychoactive Substances (NPS)? I started with cannabis and sniffing [… read more ]
Politics
The Rainbow Papacy
There aren’t too many politically progressive gay Catholic priests around. But Sarah Cheverton met two of them – and they’re married to one another. I have a confession. I haven’t been to a church service since [… read more ]