Bristol Unpacked

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 p

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

Jos Clark is an experienced local councillor now leading the Lib Dems into Bristol's local elections. A party that used to have strong support in the city has seen its seats dwindle over the last decade. The critic of Marvin Rees and the mayoral system, who helped manoeuvre the referendum on introducing the new committee system, talks to Neil Maggs about libraries, Bristol's failin

Just three years after being first elected as a councillor, Labour's Tom Renhard is now leading the party into May's local elections.Neil Maggs asks him about his record as the city's housing chief, why he thinks the Greens aren't up to the task of being in power and Labour's plans for building new homes, campaigning for rent controls and bringing buses back into public ownership.S

Salma, a lawyer who spent her childhood in Gaza, shares the 'dystopian' experience of life under occupation and knowing your family are in a war zone, as well as discussing happier memories and pro-Palestinian activism in the UK.Content warning: contains graphic descriptions of war and violenceSalma Hajjar is a young trainee solicitor who spent her childhood up to age eight in Gaza

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 empireRuth Pitter has been a stalwart of Bristol’s voluntary sector for decades – and in January 2024 was awarded an MBE

Bristol Unpacked with BBC journalist Lucy Proctor on mad cows, Covid and conspiracy theoriesThirty 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.Over the past few years, BBC podcast

Listen: Bristol Unpacked with Watershed CEO Clare Reddington on cinema, class and council cutsAs 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. Over the past year Clare Reddington, the chief executive of

In the last few months, Wesley Bear has been at the forefront of actions by ACORN. That's the community union known nationally for taking direct action to stand up for tenants' rights, which originated in Bristol almost a decade ago.On 17 November Wesley, ACORN's communications officer, was involved in an altercation with security guards at the Holiday Inn in Bristol city centre. R

Content warning: audio contains graphic discussions of violenceEight years ago, filmmaker Aodh Breathnach was stabbed multiple times during a night out on Stokes Croft, and rushed in a taxi to the Bristol Royal Infirmary.Aodh was lucky. He recovered from injuries to his head and body within a few weeks and tried to put the attack out of his mind, deleting photos from his phone and