by Meg Sherman. City Red buses’ decision to terminate their entire service in Southampton from February 2023 is an acute manifestation of a regressive wider trend of public service retrenchment, associated with fiscal austerity. It is the sad but inevitable consequence of a culture of reckless privatisation and outsourcing...
Opinion Pieces
Reader’s letter: “Where are you from?” is a loaded question
Reading the transcript from Buckingham Palace where Ngozi Fulani, a domestic abuse charity founder was greeted by Lady Susan Hussey was uncomfortable, but I’m sure not as shocking as it was to experience in person. For me it wasn’t that Lady Hussey asked the question “Where are you from?”,...
Opinion: members of the University and College Union are striking – here’s why
by Dr Elizabeth Reed. This week and next, members of UCU (the University and College Union) at Higher Education institutions across the country will be taking strike action on three days (24th, 25th and 30th November). We don’t want to do it, but the conditions in our workplaces have...
Opinion: Local group forming much-needed Tenants Union for the Southampton area
by Phil Tyler. There is a fast-growing movement spreading around the UK in response to the increasing attacks by landlords and letting agents on renting tenants. Tenants have very little on their side as individuals when a landlord demand swingeing rent increases, fails to keep their property in good...
Good things can come from Twitter – & taking to the stage at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, was one
by Gus Mckechnie. For my past decades in Southampton I had wondered what it would be like to be behind the scenes of Mayflower Theatre. I currently work in an office on Commercial Road and pass the theatre every working day. I also used to for a number of...
Opinion: Marlhill Copse – the spirit of the woodland must be preserved, whatever Southampton Airport’s plans are
by Cllr John Savage. Councillor John Savage is a Labour Party councillor for Portswood, Southampton. Around five years ago, Southampton International Airport, purchased Marlhill Copse. In March 2021 the Council Planning and Rights of Way panel refused an application by the airport to the felling of Monterey Pine, Corsican...
Opinion: qualified counsellors should be paid & their professional organisation, the BACP, should support that
By Marvis Stewart. Many counselling organisations routinely expect qualified counsellors, who have spent years and thousands of pounds gaining their qualifications, to work for free, often whilst paying other member of staff. Southampton-based counsellor Marvis Stewart says this practice has to end and she is calling on the...
Heritage: Slavery and Southampton: an exhibition at SeaCity Museum, Southampton – reflections of a volunteer
by Liz Batten. Sometime just before the pandemic I’d offered to help do some research for an exhibition on slavery and Southampton, Sugar, Politics and Money for SeaCity Museum. I’d already been excited by David Olusoga’s documentaries on BBC TV, and the publicity surrounding the University College London database...
Heritage: Response to Sugar, Slavery and Southampton: Women’s Stories
by Jackie Landman. Claire Ballinger, Rose Wiles and Pauline Bisson were amongst the voluntary curators of new exhibition at SeaCity Museum, Southampton, Sugar, Politics and Money. They wrote about the exhibition for In Common and invited colleague Dr Jackie Landman, a visiting professor at the University of Southampton,...
Letter: Freemantle local history tour was a great success
The Friends of Freemantle Lake park were joined yesterday ( 9th October) for a very special morning of learning about local history. Martin Brisland, a local history tour guide for See Southampton and published writer, had agreed to research and delivery the tour totally free of charge to support...