The Bristol Cable

This is the second of a short series of talks recorded at the Bristol Transformed festival 2024, a grassroots and volunteer led festival of radical politics, arts and culture for which The Bristol Cable was a media partner.Throughout this series, you’ll hear from a range of voices, including Cable journalists, talking on topics with a focus on political organising.For this talk titled Who are the terrorists Transformed volunteer Ben Smoke sat down with Narzanin Massoumi and Samir Seddougui to discuss the counter-terrorism narrative, and how activists should react to it.Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is the first of a short series of talks recorded at the Bristol Transformed festival 2024; a grassroots and volunteer led festival of radical politics, arts and culture for which The Bristol Cable was a media partner.Throughout this series, you’ll hear from a range of voices, including Cable journalists, talking on topics with a focus on political organising.For this talk titled Spycops, Transformed volunteer Claire Muscat sat down with self professed “anarchist bloke from newport” Tom Fowler to discuss his ongoing activism in relation to the infiltration of several activist groups by undercover police officers spanning decades.Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is a live recording of An evening with Owen Jones, recorded at Strange Brew on May 28th.In this event, cable journalist Priyanka Raval sat down with Owen Jones to discuss the general election, why he quit the Labour party, Carol Vorderman, the crisis in Palestine and what he thinks makes Bristol so unique.Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Drug policy in the UK causes more harm than good, and it has to change. But how do we push for change, and what are the most significant issues we need to address?Join drug researcher, neuropharmacologist, and chairman of Drug Science David Nutt in discussing what a new approach to drugs could mean for our city, families, and community.David Nutt was joined by author and ex-undercover cop Neil Woods, CEO of Transform Drugs, Shoba Ram, and Bristol Cable’s Matty Edwards chaired the discussion.Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

This time in 2023, if you passed through St Paul’s on a Thursday afternoon you’d find a group of people – from primary kids to pensioners – gathered on Ashley Road to protest the closure of the local dentist. It was part of a wave of planned cuts by private health giant BUPA, affecting 85 practices.The dental practice closure made local headlines. But seven months later it was all over the national news – as it reopened under new management, with hundreds of people queueing round the block to get an NHS registration. Footage of the queues starkly illustrated the dire state of dentistry in the UK.In this episode of our Area in Focus podcast, we talk to the remarkable group of campaigners who fought for the surgery to reopen – and succeeded, meaning local people could have a community dentist again. How did they manage it? And does the story hold lessons for other campaigners – and for the public bodies and private companies who hold the power in healthcare? Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last week the Green Party seized a historic victory at Bristol's local elections, gaining 10 seats but falling just short of the 36 needed for an overall majority in the council chamber.The Greens had been expected to come out as the largest party, as eight years of Labour rule under mayor Marvin Rees came to an end – and with it the city's mayoral system of governance. But their surging support proved to be even stronger than expected, prompting emotional and jubilant scenes at election counts in Easton and Brislington on Friday evening (3 May).Now that the dust has settled after a sometimes bad-tempered campaign, Cable journalists Matty Edwards and Priyanka Raval recap what it was like covering the local election results, and unpick what it all means for the city.Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Emma Edwards is the leader of Bristol Green Party who could well be in charge of the council for the first time after May's local elections. She chats to Neil about the Green's vision for doing politics in a more transparent and collaborative way, how they'd sort out our public transport, and whether they're ready to make the tricky transition from party of opposition to party of power.Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Neil Maggs sits down with Mark Weston, who was first elected as a councillor nearly 20 years ago, and has led the local Tory party for a decade. On the eve of the local elections, they discuss the Tories miserable national polling, the so-called 'war on motorists' being waged by Bristol City Council, and the cultural divides between Bristol's inner city and suburbs.Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.