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Latest
  • [ 6th May 2025 ] Dune: A Film, a Saga and the Future in our Past (Part I) Culture
  • [ 5th April 2025 ] ‘A Woman Who Made History Through Activism’: Rosy Bremer 1971-2025 News
  • [ 24th March 2025 ] Struggling for an Endometriosis Diagnosis in Portsmouth News
  • [ 19th March 2025 ] Portsmouth Performers for Palestine Event on March 28th Events
  • [ 18th March 2025 ] ‘Were They Like Us?’: Writing Historical Fiction with Prof Sue Harper Culture
HomePaul Valentine

Paul Valentine

Culture

Mighty Brahms Review: Portsmouth Guildhall

26th April 2023

S&C’s classical music commentator Paul Valentine shares his experience of an evening with Weber, Prokofiev and Brahms at Portsmouth Guildhall on 30th March 2023. When I saw the size of tonight’s orchestra and reminisced about [… read more ]

Culture

Controlled Screaming and Sublime Effort: Mahler’s 5th at Portsmouth Guildhall

27th October 2022

The finest concert Paul Valentine has attended to date is Walton’s Viola Concerto and Second Symphony performed by the LSO and conducted by the late André Previn. Walton was in attendance looking on from the [… read more ]

Culture

Review: Shostakovich’s Mighty Concerto

10th June 2022

S&C‘s classical music critic Paul Valentine was impressed by a recent performance of Scriabin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at Portsmouth Guildhall. This programme, directed by Alexander Shelley, establishes the BSO [… read more ]

Reviews

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – Back to the Future

3rd May 2022

Like many other art forms, classical music was forced off the stage by Covid-19. Paul Valentine was all the more thrilled to be able to get out and see the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s performances of [… read more ]

Culture

Wanted: Your Creative Writing

7th March 2022

We are thrilled to announce that we have appointed two Literary Editors to the team, Prof Sue Harper and long-time contributor to the site, Paul Valentine. Sue and Paul are keen to read work submitted [… read more ]

Editorials

What do the Assange Hearings Mean for Democracy?

14th October 2020

S&C reporter Paul Valentine takes a look at the case of Julian Assange, and asks what the strange circumstances of his ongoing extradition hearing means for our democracy, and future freedom of the press. The [… read more ]

Culture

Portsmouth Writers’ Season: Review of Plague by Sue Spiers

1st October 2020

S&C‘s Paul Valentine finds much to appreciate in Portsmouth poet Sue Spier’s new book of haikus. Like many, I have tried haiku and then left its comforting warmth. But I have a tremendous respect both [… read more ]

Culture

Book Review: The Dark Nest by Sue Harper

21st May 2020

S&C Arts Correspondent Paul Valentine is impressed by a funny, irreverent, macabre and inventive new book of short stories by Sue Harper, local author and Portsmouth University Emeritus Professor of Film History. If you thought [… read more ]

Memoir

Tenuous in the Face of Nature

12th February 2020

S&C regular Paul Valentine meditates on the rejuvenating effects of visiting ‘the highest attraction in Europe’. I am in the Void. Above me pure azure sky. Below, nothing for thousands of metres and then virgin [… read more ]

Culture

Review: ‘Fabulous stuff’, A Latin Fiesta with the BSO

31st October 2019

Paul Valentine reviews the recent opening night performance of Latin Fiesta, conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto, with piano by Gabriela Montero and Mezzo-Soprano by Rihab Chaieb. From the outset, Prieto’s mastery and management of the orchestra was perfect. The [… read more ]

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Latest News

News

‘A Woman Who Made History Through Activism’: Rosy Bremer 1971-2025

5th April 2025

How do you tell the story of an incredible life in the brief and limited way an obituary requires? Born in Portsmouth on June 10th 1971, S&C Community Reporter (Emily) Rosy Bremer touched so many [… read more ]

News

Struggling for an Endometriosis Diagnosis in Portsmouth

24th March 2025

The growing issue of waiting lists for gynaecological care in the UK is leaving many women in pain, with some enduring severe symptoms for years before they can see a specialist. The majority of women [… read more ]

News

Tiny But Mighty Pompey Algae

12th February 2025

Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight are both iconic destinations in southern England, known for their beautiful coastlines, vibrant maritime history and geological significance. University of Portsmouth PhD student Meriam Chouar invites us into an [… read more ]

News

The Grand Canyon of Evil

9th December 2024

A friend with whom Portsmouth-based writer and planetary modeller David Angus travelled around Europe wished to go to Auschwitz. This is David’s account of that troubling experience. Another Jewish friend, Ric, compared the Ian Brady/Myra [… read more ]

News

Guide Dogs Charity Needs Portsmouth Volunteers: Could it be You?

8th April 2022

The local branch of charity Guide Dogs is urgently appealing for new volunteers to sign up as Fundraisers and My Sighted Guides. Volunteering Coordinator Pat Janecka reached out to S&C Editor Sarah Cheverton to tell [… read more ]

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