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  • [ 5th October 2025 ] Pompey Bar Room Banter 9: Dick Luff and the Queens Head History
  • [ 5th October 2025 ] Participants Needed for Women Walking in Portsmouth Research Project Social Issues
  • [ 5th October 2025 ] Portsmouth Eco-Literary Project Offers Exciting Performing and Recording Opportunities Culture
  • [ 29th September 2025 ] His Brightest Hour: A Pompey Man Flies a Spitfire Eighty Years After the Battle of Britain Memoir
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Culture

Review: The Quivers Horror Puppet Show

20th January 2025

Andrew Larder enjoys a madcap mishmash of puppetry, music, drag, vulgarity and hilarity.   ‘Don’t dream it, be it,’ is the mantra sung towards the end of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Drag queen Fanny Quivers [… read more ]

Culture

Autistic, Female and Funny: A Review of Fern Brady at the New Theatre Royal

4th January 2025

‘Every attempt to fit in resulted in me being more weird and more isolated from normal people.’ ― Fern Brady, Strong Female Character Andrew Larder recently enjoyed stand-up comedian Fern Brady’s Portsmouth show as part of her [… read more ]

Culture

‘Dark and Hilarious in Equal Measure’: A Review of Plays by Roger Goldsmith

28th November 2022

Despite the torrential rain, every seat was taken for Wednesday’s performance of a collection of plays and monologues by Roger Goldsmith. S&C‘s own theatre critic Jackie Green reports. Southsea Cinema and Arts Centre’s first live [… read more ]

Culture

Nativity! The Musical Review

14th November 2022

Nativity! The Musical just knocked every panto Jackie Green has ever seen out of the festive ballpark. Here she explains how and why. It was a West End level production at affordable prices and the [… read more ]

Culture

‘Come On Then, Make Me Laugh’: An Interview with Ed Gamble

29th March 2022

In preparation for his headline UK Tour, Lucy Nother spoke to Ed Gamble about festivals, podcasts and what to expect from his latest string of award-winning shows. Ed Gamble is one of the hottest names [… read more ]

Fiction

Billy was a Socialist

4th February 2022

By Pete Adams Silly Billy Was Billy silly? Billy felt silly. He believed he was a socialist and a committed anti-racist and was now being called an anti-Semite because the Labour Party said so – [… read more ]

Culture

‘Comics Used to Get Offended By the Audience’: An Interview with Comedian Paul Chowdhry

10th November 2021

Ahead of his show at the Portsmouth Guildhall, record-breaking stand-up comic Paul Chowdhry talks to Lucy Nother about cancel culture, racism and the liveliness of Portsmouth comedy crowds. Given what’s happened over the past couple [… read more ]

Culture

A Laughing Matter? Covid, Mental Health and Bo Burnham’s Inside

24th October 2021

Over the summer, American comedian Bo Burnham released a Netflix special that spoke to many – including University of Portsmouth student Lucy Nother – about the pandemic, mental illness and the challenges of the digital [… read more ]

Culture

Joe Wells Doesn’t Want to Do Political Comedy Anymore

17th July 2019

John Fleming interviews comedian Joe Wells who talks about his decision to move away from political comedy, his upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, and his views on Neurodiversity. Joe Wells is a political comedian. He has [… read more ]

Fiction

3-Day ‘Seagull Rave’ in Southsea

12th April 2019

Police forces across Hampshire have been ‘pushed to their limits’ following a 65-hour stand-off with a posse of music-loving birds at Canoe Lake, Southsea. Gavin Dollery reports. Following a noise complaint, officers arrived on the [… read more ]

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Latest News

News

Welfare not Warfare: Protest Against Benefits Cuts in Portsmouth

27th June 2025

Portsmouth and District Unite Community is calling a protest against the savage cuts to Personal Independence (PIP) Universal Credit and Employment Support Allowance (ESA), reports trades unionist and activist Alan Burgess. The protest will take [… read more ]

News

What’s Missing from Local News in Portsmouth? And How do we Fix it?

11th June 2025

S&C Editor Dr Sarah Cheverton shares insights from her PhD research on the local news crisis in her second article for Indie News Week (9th-16th June 2025). Building on her first article about the local [… read more ]

Indie News Week 9th-16th June 2025. No news is bad news.
News

What’s Happened to Local News in the UK and What Does it Mean for Portsmouth?

8th June 2025

This week, to mark Indie News Week 2025, S&C Editor Dr Sarah Cheverton is drawing from her recent PhD research on the local news crisis to talk about the dramatic changes to local news over [… read more ]

Post shows logos for Indie News Week, reading: Indie News Week, 9th-16th June 2025; No news is bad news; and support local news.
News

Local News Crisis, Portsmouth: Sign the Petition to Help Regenerate Independent News

8th June 2025

This week – 9th-16th June – is Indie News Week, showcasing the importance of funding community-based journalism across the UK. The campaign’s organisers, the Public Interest News Foundation, has launched a petition calling on the government to support independent local news publishers and even up the playing field between independent local publishers and the large news corporations that own most of the UK’s local news titles.  [… read more ]

News

Record Breaking £11 Billion is Still Not Enough to End the Special Educational Needs Crisis

17th May 2025

Parents and teachers left ‘overwhelmed’ by the failing SEN system in England’s schools, reports University of Portsmouth journalism student Ivana Domozetska. ‘I will do everything and anything for my daughter to get the support she [… read more ]

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