Music

Sound system culture arrived with the Windrush Generation and took root in St Paul's and Easton, where speaker stacks became monuments to belonging, resistance, and Black identity.

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Editorial: Why the Cable will be shining a light on child imprisonment

The Cable's investigations lead introduces our new long-term reporting strategy that puts impact at its heart – starting with a deep-dive on child prisons and exclusion from society.

Listen: People Just Do Something Live – nightlife campaigner Annie McGann urges you to get out more

Tireless advocate for Bristol’s nightlife Annie McGann on formative experiences, the thrill of discovering your tribe in the small hours, and finding activism in the council’s planning portal.

Blockade runners: The grim history of the Bristol ships that helped US slave states

The American Civil War ended 160 years ago with the victory of the Union and the abolition of slavery. But many Bristolians supported the losing side and indirectly profited from enslaved labour.

Listen: Bristol Unpacked – high sheriff Kalpna Woolf on connecting people through food and battling for boardroom diversity

Neil chats to Kalpna Woolf on her journey from west London migrant kid to BBC head of production, cookbook author and boardroom diversity advocate – as well asking what exactly a high sheriff gets up to.

Photo essay: Down on the Farm

Non-league football club Manor Farm FC provides an antidote to the corporate experience of the top tier.

Bristol council paying huge sums of money to rent homes from banned landlord

Back in 2022, Bristol City Council obtained a five-year court order barring landlord Naomi Knapp from renting out her homes. Now, it’s spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money to use her properties as emergency accommodation.

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The Cable is Bristol’s independent, investigative newsroom. Owned and steered by more than 2,600 members, we produce award-winning journalism that digs deep into what’s happening in Bristol.

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From audio investigations and Bristol Unpacked to deep-dives into local issues and recordings of live events.

Listen: People Just Do Something Live, with ex-Tribune editor Taj Ali on class, left politics and finding hope in the heart of Luton

Former Tribune editor Taj Ali chats to Priyanka and Isaac on the disconnect between working-class voters and the left, joining the dots between people and communities, and lessons from his hometown.

Listen: Bristol Unpacked – council leader Tony Dyer on a year of Green power in Bristol

Neil asks Bristol City Council leader Tony Dyer about his year at the helm in the city and the challenges of being in power, how the Green Party can widen its appeal, and the threat from Reform.

Listen: People Just Do Something – investigative journalist Sian Norris on going undercover with the many men of Reform

As a well-known left-leaning journalist, how does one turn up at a Reform rally and go undercover without being outed? This week, Sian Norris breaks that down for Isaac and Priyanka, as well as discussing the party’s rise and the far right’s wider attack on reproductive rights.

Our autumn print edition is out now!

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Investigations

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Uncovering injustice and wrongdoing

‘We need to move the dials’: Avon and Somerset Police must show real change on institutional racism

The police have been gaslighting us for generations – and officers’ use of intrusive stop-and-search powers is still blighting Bristol’s young Black boys, a local racial justice advocate argues.

Enduring trauma, and a struggle for justice: one year on from the Barton House high-rise evacuation

On 14 November 2023 an east Bristol tower block was evacuated over fears it could collapse, making national news. A year on, residents tell the Cable about the disruption to their lives, the ongoing impact on their wellbeing and their children's – and how a community has been left traumatised.

Black children and adults strip searched 25 times more often than white peers in Avon and Somerset, leaked report reveals

EXCLUSIVE: The sensitive ‘deep-dive’ review also reveals the police officers who prolifically and disproportionately stop and search Black people in Bristol.

This Better Work

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A series with in-depth and informative coverage on the world of work in Bristol and beyond.

Tech workers need unions too

With mass layoffs and poor working conditions becoming widespread across the sector, it’s time for techies to get organised. 

‘Everyone should do something, but it needs to be useful’: Unions walk out in support of Palestine

Workplace days of action encourage workers to engage in a lunchtime walkout in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The actions have generated debate within unions, but build on a long history of international solidarity in Bristol.

Explained: What is Labour’s new Employment Rights Bill, and what does it mean for Bristolians?

In October Labour introduced the Employment Rights Bill, calling it the 'biggest upgrade to rights at work in a generation'. Why does it matter, where could it be better – and when will it make a difference to people's lives?

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‘Theatre should belong to everyone’: The Bristol artist exploring social change on stage

Portuguese artist Carlota Matos, who made her home in Bristol, uses theatre to tell stories by and with marginalised communities

Bristol’s queer communities are taking the fight against pinkwashing genocide

Pinkwashing, when powerful entities adopt a veneer of supporting LGBTQIA+ rights, has been a prominent PR tactic used by Israel to gloss over its brutal occupation of Palestinian territories. Queer communities are pushing back.

From Bristol to the West Bank: The power of internationalism in Palestine

The Palestinian people have shown astonishing defiance and resilience in the face of Israeli violence and persecution. International volunteers, including Bristolians, are travelling to the West Bank to stand in solidarity with them.

Explained: What do council funding reforms mean for Bristol?

After austerity hollowed out council budgets, the new government is changing how local authorities are funded, so is there light at the end of the tunnel for Bristol?

Watch: How Section 60 contributes to rifts between police and the communities they serve

Youth workers, community leaders and the founder of a police monitoring group explain the damaging and traumatising impact of controversial 'suspicionless' search powers in Bristol.

VIDEO: Chief constable challenged on ‘anti-racist policing’ progress and stop and search reform

It’s been a year since Avon and Somerset’s chief constable Sarah Crew admitted her service was institutionally racist, but what is she actually doing about it?