reviewed by Chris Richards. This history book is about the RMS Titanic and its links to Bridlington in Yorkshire. The tone is sensitive and celebratory of the people who made history over the last hundred years. Richard M Jones was an eleven-year-old boy when his enthusiasm for the Titanic...
Recipe: raspberry and lemon cheesecake
by Hannah Pinchin of Hannah Banana Bakery. SERVES 8 Ingredients: Biscuit base 300g Vegan digestive biscuits (or lotus spread biscuits for a spicy twist) 3tbsp Vegan margarine Zingy lemony middle 225g Cashew nuts (soaked in water over night or boiled for 10 minutes) 125ml Maple syrup 250 ml Coconut...
Opinion: why I joined Extinction Rebellion
By Elaine Hunter. I was inspired to get involved in Extinction Rebellion (XR) after the rebellion in London. For me, the rebellion heralded a sense of hope and a feeling that things could change for the better. I, along with other members of the public, really empathised with XR....
Book review: The Quarter by Naguib Mahfouz
reviewed by Will Vigar. To my shame, Naguib Mahfouz is not a name I knew before receiving his book ‘The Quarter’. When you consider that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, this oversight seems all the more shameful. But rather than descend into a Catholic guilt...
Book review: Dead Popular by Sue Wallman
reviewed by Georgina Lippiett. Dead Popular is a Young Adult novel set in Mount Norton School, one of the most expensive boarding schools in the country. With its coastal setting and state-of-the-art facilities, the students are entitled, confident and guaranteed to succeed. It’s the beginning of term and Kate...
Book review: Nightingale Point by Luan Goldie
Reviewed by Chris Richards You don’t read this story. You feel it. Luan Goldie’s Nightingale Point is visceral, not cerebral. It is powerful, engaging, important, and at times painful. A tale of chances, chaos, and consequences. There are criticisms that can be made but, ultimately, it is perfectly imperfect....
October Books: how the radical bookshop is booming
by Sally Churchward. For the staff and volunteers at October Books, there is delicious irony in the fact that the building in which the radical bookshop is now based used to house a bank. “I love it, it’s so ironic,” exclaims volunteer Glyn Oliver, who has been helping with...
Water Life: Southampton’s houseboat community
by Alex Thurley-Ratcliff. What prompts us to choose the homes we inhabit? Is it purely a financial decision, is it the space we need or is it deeper? Maybe it’s family pressures or maybe it’s a dream… Megan had always dreamt of living on a houseboat, so at age...
People in Common: Simon Cotton
by Sally Churchward. POLITICS run in Simon Cotton’s blood. As a child, he spent much of his time hanging out at his grandad’s house in Shirley, Southampton, where The Sun newspaper was banned, and where Simon was schooled in the importance of being in a union. The older man...
The Rebel Gardeners are coming for your street
by Alex Thurley-Ratcliff (I’m the one in the ‘wild’ t-shirt). So here’s the thing – I really don’t like concrete, tarmac and paving stones. Yes, yes, I know they’re useful and are probably the only way for a modern city to function – but seriously? Our cities are a...