Edition 40

Music

Blazing the fire: Sound system culture through the generations

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.

Adam Quarshie
Adam Quarshie

People's History

19th century photograph of Bristol Harbour, with large boats on the River Frome in the foreground.

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

Eugene Byrne
Eugene Byrne

Photography

A football fan wearing a flat cap and holding a pint glass cheers, surrounded by other fans.

Photo essay: Down on the Farm

Francis Peppett
Illustration of rows of orange and green houses plus cards from the game Monopoly.

Investigations

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.

Alex Turner Daisy Steinhardt
Alex Turner and Daisy Steinhardt
Two women standing in a park next to a fence on a sunny day, with three children riding bikes in the background.

Area in Focus

‘We’ve got a fighting chance’: How Hillfields is reviving a vital community hub

Priyanka Raval
Priyanka Raval and Begonya Miranda

Opinion

East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood: Good intentions aren’t enough

Sara Melasecchi
Sara Melasecchi

Reports

East Bristol’s ‘liveable neighbourhood’: Is this really progress?

The Cable has been collecting data since November on how residents of east Bristol feel about the scheme and how it has impacted them so far. Hundreds of people responded to our call out, and their message is clear…

Sean Morrison
Sean Morrison, Nicole Skidmore, Matt Lay and Laurence Ware

Reports

Illustration of a woman looking worried, surrounded by dozens of sheets of red paper.

‘They needed to know how wrong this was’: one woman’s battle against council bailiffs

Bristol City Council claims to have an ‘ethical’ debt collection policy, but has sent bailiffs to thousands of vulnerable residents’ doors. After pressure from ACORN, the council has finally committed to investigate.

Matty Edwards
Matty Edwards

Voices

A woman and standing and smiling on a balcony, wearing a yellow jacket and black trousers. A bright red tour is on the ground floor.

‘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

Jaldeep Katwala
Jaldeep Katwala

Features

A group of people dancing together in a nightclub with pink walls

Joy as resistance: Inside the club night changing Bristol’s queer scene

With violence and political hostility towards trans and queer people on the rise, club night Soft Butch has become a vital space for community, connection, and liberation

Roshan De Stone
Roshan De Stone

Reports

Marvin Rees receives payment from energy giant he awarded massive contract to

US firm Ameresco is now a paying client of Lord Rees of Easton, who struck the £1 billion City Leap decarbonisation deal with the firm when he was Bristol’s mayor.

Sean Morrison
Sean Morrison