Poetry
Nigra Bamboo
By Maggie Sawkins We thought the planting of it would enhance our patio garden, but its stems hardened. Now after four years it has obscured the view from the bedroom window. We have [… read more ]
Covid-19
News
I Was Scared When I Tested Positive for Covid But the NHS ‘Really Helped’
Covid-19 Community Reporter, Dianna Djokey, speaks to Elektra, a mother, wife and person of colour, about her experience of contracting Covid-19 and home-schooling her children, and what it has taught her. Elektra asked to be [… read more ]
Fiction
Summer Magic
By Joan Farnell With a whirring of wings the pigeon took to the air, startled by the crunching of my feet on the gravel path. It was quiet here underneath the trees in Foxes Forest. [… read more ]
Memoir
Stream
S&C Community Reporter Andrew Larder muses on the state of nature in Portsmouth during lockdown. Sometimes I wish my neighbour Frank had never mentioned the underground stream that runs by my house. Frank and his [… read more ]
Politics
Pompey Politics Podcast: Don’t Panic!
Pompey’s favourite party political podcast returns with hosts Ian ‘Tiny’ Morris and Simon Sansbury. In this week’s episode, they discuss the upcoming US election, the European Court of Human Rights investigation into Labour and if the Government have [… read more ]
Memoir
A Borrowed Arboretum
Novelist and short story writer Wendy Metcalfe finds an unexpected haven in which to get some work done. One of my quests during lockdown has been to find beautiful quiet places to sit and write [… read more ]
News
Age UK and the National Lockdown: ‘The Community Were Fantastic’
How has the pandemic affected working, social and political life for people with increased vulnerability to Covid-19 because of disabilities or long term health conditions? Our Covid-19 Community Reporter, Rosy Bremer talks to Alex Massey [… read more ]
News
‘There’s a Community Feel to the Place’: The MS Solent Therapy Centre and Covid-19
S&C Community Reporter Rosy Bremer interviews Jo Jennings, Centre Manager at Portsmouth’s MS Solent Therapy Centre about how lockdown and Covid-19 has affected the Centre and its community. Rosy Bremer: What does the MS Solent [… read more ]
News
Home-Schooling, Shielding and Looking for Work During Covid-19
Dianna Djokey interviews Jolene, a Black NHS worker, about her experiences of shielding, lockdown and the pandemic, and the challenges facing people of colour in the UK. Jolene’s name has been changed at her request. [… read more ]
Poetry
What Next?
by Majid Dhana. In these times as we sit back and see the reality of the world changing before our teary eyes, emotions, reactions, mixed with so much uncertainty – Doubt-indecision-insecurity in the air. [… read more ]