Neil Maggs
Listen: Bristol Unpacked with Ruth Pitter on the role of the charity sector, pioneering Black theatre and her recent MBE
Neil chats to Ruth, a daughter of the Windrush generation, on her decades of work with Bristol's voluntary and community groups, how that's changed as public services have been cut – and whether she feels conflicted about receiving an honour associated with empire.
Listen: Bristol Unpacked with BBC journalist Lucy Proctor on mad cows, Covid and conspiracy theories
Thirty years ago, BSE was spreading across the UK while the government insisted beef was safe. Neil asks Lucy, producer of The Cows are Mad podcast, about the scandal – and how conspiracy theories have thrived as trust in the establishment has nosedived.
Listen: Bristol Unpacked with Watershed CEO Clare Reddington on cinema, class and council cuts
As Bristol City Council slashes spending on venues including arthouse cinema Watershed, Neil asks its boss Clare why funding the arts matters, and whether the sector's reputation as catering mainly to the well-heeled is justified.
Listen: Bristol Unpacked with ACORN’s Wesley Bear on activism, the Barton House evacuation, and frosty relations with the council
Relations between Bristol City Council and community union ACORN have become increasingly fractious, with recent clashes over council tax and the evacuation of a Barton Hill tower block. Neil asks Wesley why, and whether there's a way back.
Listen: Bristol Unpacked with filmmaker Aodh Breathnach on surviving being stabbed – and documenting its impact on him
With knife crime a tragically common part of life in Bristol and other cities, Neil talks to Aodh about the psychological trauma of being the victim of an attack, and the process of recovery.
Listen: Bristol Unpacked, with leftwing rabble rouser and Bristol Transformed co-founder Isaac Kneebone-Hopkins
Isaac Kneebone-Hopkins has been a prominent Momentum activist and is a co-founder of Bristol Transformed, a festival of radical ideas. What next for the left – now on the back foot – in Bristol and beyond?
Is CCTV the answer to Bristol’s knife crime epidemic?
This spring Bristol City Council passed a motion on knife crime, brought by a councillor who lost a friend in an attack in Castle Park. A commitment to increase CCTV grabbed headlines, but will this help? And what else can Bristol do to address the epidemic of violence?
Listen: Bristol Unpacked with Bristol Cathedral’s city chaplain Phil Nott, a reverend on a mission for social justice
Reverend Nott does not fit the stereotypical image of an Anglican priest. How can this LGBTQ+ ally, and outspoken voice on the Church's historical role in racism and injustice, work with an institution steeped in conservatism?
