By Verity Babbs. Along Above Bar Street at midday on Saturday the 26th, with a man hurling himself through a ring of fire opposite WHSmiths, a woman doing interpretive dance with scarves by Specsavers, and musical protesters outside Barclays, the Quaker Peace Vigil had tough competition. I came to...
Opinion Pieces
Reader’s letter: I want the same human rights for a stranger as I want for my own children
By Southampton resident (details supplied). I first became aware that there were weekly protests outside an asylum seekers’ hotel in Portswood when I saw people gathering outside Highfield House Hotel, protesting against people seeking refuge here. Other people were turning up to counter-protest. I have lived in the area...
Reader’s opinion: ‘Southampton’s MPs are still failing the LGBT+ community’
By Andrew Godfrey-Collins. Ahead of last year’s Pride, I wrote for In Common about the current Labour government’s frankly abysmal LGBT+ record. Under then Prime Minister Keir Starmer, it had become the first government since Margaret Thatcher’s to roll back progress for LGBT+ people. Specifically, it was in the...
View from the Kingsland: Entering the Unknown
By Nick Mabey. I don’t know about you but I wasn’t quite ready for the new season. A mere nineteen days after Spain triumphed in the World Cup final against Argentina, Saints were turning out in the Carabao cup away to Colchester. Who starts a new season with a...
Reader’s letter: EHRC guidance doesn’t protect women and harms a vulnerable minority
By Trans Pride Southampton. We at Trans Pride Southampton are appalled at the recent EHRC guidance, surrounding trans people being able to use bathrooms, changing rooms and other facilities of the gender of which they identify as, coming into force. This guidance does not protect women from harm. Instead...
Reader’s letter: Mettricks – so long and thanks for all the lattes
By Angela Chicken. I just found out that on Sunday (9/8/26) Mettricks Guildhall closes its doors for the last time. I have to tell you that I find it heart-breaking. It’s going to be a huge loss for me and I don’t know how the rest of you feel,...
Reader’s letter: Southampton residents demand lower bills and greater energy security
By Parents for Future Hampshire. Southampton constituents and concerned parents have sent a message to MPs demanding urgent action to help bring our energy bills down and increase energy security for our communities. The action came during extreme heat in the UK, and the announcement of an Energy Independence...
Reader’s letter: Reform flag motion – sowing division in our society
By Southampton Green Councillor Misty Burgess. I welcome the withdrawal of Councillor Crook’s motion ‘Southampton City Council: Flags’, which would have limited the council to only fly the Union, St George’s, Southampton City and Hampshire Flags from the Civic Centre Building. To me and many others, this motion appears...
Opinion: Southampton’s tradition of welcome is something to be proud of
By Nikki Walters, Chair, Southampton Action. This month marks 75 years since the United Nations adopted the Refugee Convention – a promise that people forced to flee war, persecution and violence would be offered protection, dignity and hope. Seventy-five years later, that promise is as important as ever. Southampton...
Opinion: Reform’s Flag Motion is not a serious proposition
By Sam Wise. Reform UK’s Councillor for Coxford, Phillip Crook, will tomorrow table a motion calling for only the Union, St George’s and Southampton City flags to be flown at council buildings, and for the Union Flag to be flown/displayed at every council premises and council school. Let’s call...