Culture
Government Unveils Replacement Bus Service
Cartoon by Owen Devine. Check out more of Owen’s work at his website, Devine Comedy.
Social Issues
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 ]
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 ]
History
The Pompey Man Who Nursed Mandela
Throughout his presidency, Nelson Mandela attended Johannesburg’s Park Lane Clinic where he got to know Tim Groom, a veteran nurse and anti-Apartheid campaigner who has since settled in Portsmouth. In this exclusive interview with Tom Sykes, Tim argues that [… read more ]
Culture
Can the Southsea Hipsters Lead a Portsmouth Revolution?
Sam Ward walks us through the growing trend of the Southsea Hipster with a critical eye, questioning whether this a movement with the potential to benefit the whole city. Hipsters have that rare accolade of [… read more ]
History
Conscience and Conflict
Richard Warburton has his preconceptions challenged by a beguiling exhibition of British artists’ reflections on the Spanish Civil War. Propped up on my desk is a reproduction of Miro’s small propaganda poster ‘Aidez l’Espagne’. Its [… read more ]