Bristol Unpacked The Bristol Cable

From striking fear into the hearts of opponents with fearsome fast bowls to a gruesome career ending injury forcing retirement at 29, David ‘Syd’ Lawrence is a cricketing icon in Bristol and beyond. But it wasn’t all plain sailing in a sport known for its elitism for a self-described ‘tear-away kid’ of Black Caribbean heritage. Listen in with Neil and Syd as they discuss the trials and tribulations of making it in the game, a move into nightclubs and now his first year as the first Black president of a County Cricket Club at Gloucestershire. 
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Reach PLC is one of the largest commercial publishers in the UK, which owns household brands like the Mirror and the Daily Star as well as the majority of local titles including Bristol Live, and pulls in millions in revenue. But 1,000 journalists employed by Reach PLC started striking yesterday (Wednesday) after rejecting a 3% pay rise.
As reported by the Cable earlier this week, junior staff at Bristol Live are paid under £20,000 while senior staff are on just £25,000. These low salaries are forcing some journalists to resort to using food banks to feed their families, and all the while the chief exec of Reach PLC Jim Mullen took home £4m last year – 104 times more the median salary of a Reach PLC employee.
Listen in to this week's episode of Bristol Unpacked with Neil and local NUJ member Paul Breeden on what's at stake for the Bristol Live strikers, and whether the economically and reputationally battered news industry can ever improve its service to the public.

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When does bad behaviour get so serious that a young person should be permanently excluded from the mainstream school system? No More Exclusions, a campaign Lana co-founded, says never. For Lana, doing so is the result of a failed and often racist system. As an educator with decades of experience in Bristol and the region, Lana has a powerful vision that refuses to give up on any child. But what about the other 29 pupils who just want to get on? Neil and Lana chat through the politics and practicalities of a renewed education system, including why teachers have had enough and might be joining many other workers on strike this year.
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Women’s football was banned by the Football Association in 1921. Lasting for 50 years, the grandees of the football establishment deemed the sport “quite unsuitable for females”. Now, teams such as Aimee Palmer’s Bristol City are seeing an explosion in interest and fans. With England’s Lionesses eyeing up victory at the ongoing Euros, Neil and Aimee chat about her difficult journey as a professional player and what needs to happen to dismantle barriers for everyone who wants to play the beautiful game.
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Suddenly everyone is talking about trade unions in the struggle over who will bear the brunt of the cost of living crisis. We speak to someone at the forefront of organising a local dispute between workers and employers, part of a wave of workplace unrest taking place across the country.
Josh Connor is a local organiser for trade union Unison, and is supporting care workers to take strike action at St Monica’s Trust, the Merchant Venturer-connected care homes in Bristol, in a dispute of jobs, pay and conditions.
Neil and Josh discuss the background and detail of the strikes and what it means for the current rocky political moment locally and nationally. 

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Tom Morris says he has an “almost indecent passion” for Bristol Old Vic, the oldest theatre in continuous operation in the English speaking world. But how has the Kings Street institution evolved? Has it changed enough to justify huge amounts of public money and reach all communities with top quality art? Amid some fawning by Neil about Tom’s brother, Chris Morris, they chat about the simmering culture war over arts and the future of Bristol’s theatrical centrepiece.
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