The Bristol Cable

25/09/2025

In this stunning photo essay, Suzanne Celerier captures another day of resistance in Bristol as antifascists gathered to oppose a hotel protest organised by the far right.

Click the link in bio to explore the full photo essay.

23/09/2025

The Bristol Cable is inviting local artists and designers to help us bring that spirit to life through our next series of official merchandise. And you could win £500!

The theme: From the Ground Up: The People’s Media

Reflecting our ethos, we want designs that celebrate community power, independent voices, and creativity from the ground up.

Selected design will feature on official Cable merchandise, helping sustain our journalism and giving artists the chance to showcase their work across Bristol.

Deadline for submissions: Monday, 30th September

Click on the link in bio to submit your entry.

22/09/2025

🌟✨ Cruising Recap – Last Week’s Show on Ujima Radio (Wed 4–6pm, 98 FM) ✨🌟

Last week’s show was all about festivals, community, and good vibes! 🎶🌞

We kicked things off with a trip down memory lane 🌈 — remembering summer days spent dancing on fields 💃🏾🕺🏾, sipping on pints of ale 🍻, and singing our hearts out in spontaneous karaoke sessions 🎤. Festivals are more than just music — they’re about connection, laughter, and those little moments that stay with you forever. 💜

We were joined in the studio by the amazing from The Bristol Cable 📰. As the community engagement lead, she brought powerful insights into the importance of grassroots journalism, storytelling, and how the Cable is working to keep Bristol’s community informed and connected. If you haven’t grabbed their 41st edition, make sure you do — it’s full of thought-provoking, local investigative stories that matter. 🙌

Of course, it wouldn’t be Cruising without the music! 🎶🔥
We shared some of our favourite festival-inspired tracks — from Afrobeats bangers to soulful vibes — bringing the energy of summer straight to your speakers. 🎧✨

And because we’re here for the community, we also kept you up to date with:
🌦️ Bristol weather (umbrellas at the ready ☔)
🚦 Traffic and travel info to help you move around the city stress-free
🗞️ Local stories and events you need to know about

💡 Whether you tuned in live or caught us later, thank you for being part of the Cruising family. Your energy and support keep us going every week.

👉 If you missed the show, don’t worry — you can listen back anytime at www.ujimaradio.com
📡💻

We’ll be back again this Wednesday from 2–4pm with more great conversations, music, and vibes. 🚗💨🎶

22/09/2025

In the time when popular talk-show hosts are getting cancelled due to fear of repercussions from those in power, George Monbiot eloquently writes on the evolution of media landscape and independent journalism in the UK through his column for The Guardian. Sharing anecdotes from his career as a journalist, Monbiot narrates the unfortunate truth of how the power of the wallet is mightier than that of the pen's.

However, there is hope on the horizon - a brewing movement of citizen-led journalism and independent local news organisations, that forge their own path and hold those in power to account. It is in that section, where Monbiot mentions The Bristol Cable, among other peers.

We thank him for this acknowledgment and wish him more power to the pen he wields!

Click the link in bio to read his column.

22/09/2025

On International Podcast Day, the guest star of People Just Do Something (Live Podcast) is Veronica Wignall, co-director of Adfree Cities, a network campaigning to reclaim public spaces from corporate advertising and challenge harmful industries promoted through ads. Passionate about environmental and social justice, she works to build healthier, more creative cities free from commercial clutter, where space is reclaimed for community, art and nature.

From The Bristol Cable; “People Just Do Something” is a relaxing and possibly enraging podcast about people who self-identify as activists. Hosted by Isaac Kneebone-Hopkins and Priyanka Raval, each episode features a special guest whose attempts to untangle the means of effecting change in Bristol, broken Britain and beyond.

Link in bio for tickets

22/09/2025

16/09/2025

The Cable asked members of Bristol Refugee Artists Collective — made up of 15 members who’ve found community and expression through art — to respond to this question. Their artwork reflects the complexities, struggles and unexpected joys of migration

Read this profile piece from our latest print edition which echoes their call to "celebrate contribution not division".

Click the link in bio.

13/09/2025

After getting stared at for reading a book at a gig, Nikesh ponders the point of books and gives his recommendations of Bristol bookshops and inspiring authors

Read his latest column for The Bristol Cable today! Click the link in bio

11/09/2025

Bristolians have been reflecting on the days of defiance in August last year. Who should we thank, who is to blame? And as the far right prepares to return to our streets this weekend, how do we build on the resistance?

From the windows of the hotel they were being housed in, people waiting for their asylum claims to be processed watched a brutal spectacle unfold below.

More than 100 protesters stood outside the entrance, arms locked, as a smaller but violent group of extremists attacked, punching, kicking, throwing missiles, and hurling racist and homophobic abuse.

The police were nowhere to be seen. It took 10 minutes before officers, who had been deployed to the wrong hotel, to finally arrive. Longer still before there were enough officers to actually stop the violence.

But antifascist demonstrators stood their ground, successfully fending off a full-blown attack on the Mercure Hotel in Redcliffe. It was an evening that will be remembered as one when Bristol took a stand against racist, xenophobic, anti-migrant hatred.

Read the Big Story of our Edition 41 online today! Click link in bio

05/09/2025

For over 11 years, The Bristol Cable has been a beacon of independent journalism and has reshaped the way Bristol is reported. Without fear or corporate pressures, the Cable has been resolute in its stance to hold those in power accountable and stand by the communities in need. Our journalism isn't done from behind closed doors, but through transparent conversations with Bristol.

In our bid to champion the art along with the artist, we invite the community at large to design our latest series of merchandise that helps us sustain our ink!

Reflecting our ethos, the theme for the contest is "From the Ground Up: The People's Media".

Share with us your designs through this form and help us bring forth our latest official merchandise, made by Bristolians, for Bristolians.

Click the link in bio to submit your entries.

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11/08/2025

This week Bristol Unpacked welcomes back Helen Godwin.

Last time Neil interviewed her, in 2020, she was a Southmead councillor and recently defeated Labour contender for the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) mayoral election.

Now she’s the WECA mayor, after winning May’s election in a tight five-way contest to become one of the South West’s most important politicians.

With the Bristol mayor role abolished and the Labour government pushing a devolution agenda to spread power to the regions, we ask Helen about:

* Election pledges and fixing our shocking public transport
* Doing leadership differently
* Putting the West of England on the map

Click here to listen to the full episode: https://share.transistor.fm/s/d1670146

08/08/2025

Edition 41 of The Bristol Cable tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time.

As tensions over migration flare again, mainstream media pushes the narrative that "Britain is full" and migrants are to blame. But we're digging deeper.

One year after the riots that shook our city, this edition examines what they meant for Bristol and celebrates those who stood against racist hatred. We feature:

- A rare interview with Bristol Antifascists
- Award-winning author Nikesh Shukla's reflections
- Olu Osinoiki's photo essay on Stapleton Road's vibrant food culture
- Stories of q***r migrants navigating the UK's hostile visa system

This is journalism with skin in the game - many of our board and staff have lived these stories as refugees or first and second generation migrants.

It's time to challenge the scapegoating and look at the real root causes.

👉 Explore the context, Bristol's migration history, interactive media & glossary: https://migrationbythebristolcable.carrd.co/ #