“Roll Up, Roll Up. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the unique and splendiferous; to the fantastic and extraordinary...the Cabot Circus Launch event! This will be a day of amazing performances, incredible music and a theatrical extravaganza” says the welcome message on the Cabot Circus home page. The Visit Bristol website reads “Having taken over three years to build and costing in excess of £500 million, Cabot Circus will provide city centre visitors with over 120 new shops, including 15 major flagship stores.”

What neither of these sites remember to mention is that around 40 of these so called “new” stores already exist in Bristol, many will simply be moving up the road leaving empty shells in Broadmead and yet more in the Galleries, as yet some of the spaces that will be created still have not been filled.

Another issue conveniently neglected is that on the day of the grand opening one third of the new units in Cabot Circus will stand empty as branches will not have moved in and contracts still have not been signed. The city is simply over saturated; we already have at least one of each high street chain.
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This weekend sees the Bristol Harbour Festival, an event organised by Bristol City Council. On the face of it we Bristolians get 3 nights/2 days of free entertainment at a number of locations around the city centre. Much is made of the fact this is the largest ‘free’ city centre festival across the south west, with the accent on ‘free’, and the implication that ‘we’ are getting something for nothing. Oh yeah? But we all know that these days nothing really comes for free, don’t we? read full story / add a comment

ps. The only-for-profit developer would like to thank BBC Bristol for wasting so much licence fee payers money on free promotion for this wholly commercial venture with their extensive Cabot Circus website. read full story / add a comment

Interview with Mikaela Gibb (Kay) and Dave Wilshire CWU branch secretary.
Renegade Royal Mail Manager takes dispute personally - sacks Mikaela Gibb (Kay), Colin Tucker and Paula Franklin. read full story / add a comment

An anonymous group have claimed responsibility for an attack on a Group 4 Security in Portland Square in Bristol last Sunday. The group claimed that 3 Group 4 vehicles were attacked with sledgehammers in revenge for alleged beatings suffered by migrants held under Group 4 security. read full story / add a comment

Tesco to provide ID? Big Brother aims to capture every email, phone call, webpage seen and more - plus local groups info in the South West read full story / add a comment

The history of money, the uses of money, why the queens head is in your pocket, KLF destroy a million, infantile disorders - a world without money. read full story / add a comment

Here we go again, while not strictly a SWRDA story, they are linked via the local quangocracy of pouring tax payers money away. Read on about how there is an offer for £600 - provided you pay £500 first. read full story / add a comment

A recruitment advert very similar to this one appeared in today’s Evening Post… read full story / add a comment

Join Trade Union activist May Wong for discussion and screening of award winning film, China Blue.
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Would you trust a money grabbing clown like Richard Branson to run our health service? Well that’s what New Labour would like to happen.

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Today David Heath MP, the nice polite ex-optician who is MP for Yoevill, resigned from the Liberal front bench "on principal" about some chaotic bit of something-or-other about Europe. In October last year he was making chortly jokes accross the chamber about an obvious point of principal to anybody else but himself. read full story / add a comment

Over the last 2 months, activists tired of the lies and corporate whitewash have taken direct action to hit Total where it hurts them most - in the pocket. read full story / add a comment

A new discussion group starts at Kebele - what's gone wrong with the world economy and how shall we survive recession? read full story / add a comment

Public meeting: plan of action regarding Tesco Express on Bathwick Hill

Jan 7th St Mary’s Church 7.30pm read full story / add a comment

o2 phones haven't worked since about 7pm. Reports from the internets suggest that it's regional. read full story / add a comment

just to let people know that this month's 'Bubbling Under' film showing is this Sunday, from 1 til 4 or thereabouts, at the Porter Cellar on George Street. it's free entry, and showing The Yes Men, which is rather good. Hope to see folks there. read on for the blurb which i stole: read full story / add a comment

Our friends had yet another theat today:
SON OF A BITCH GUERRILLAS, WE HAVE YOU UNDER CONTROL - THE SHIT THAT YOUR ALLY GUSTAVO PETRO [A CENTRE-LEFT POLITICIAN] PUBLISHES IS THE SAME THAT YOU PREACH - TIME IS RUNNING OUT - YOU DON’T THINK YOU’RE A MILITARY OBJECTIVE YOU BUNCH OF FUCKING COMMUNISTS - YOUR TIME TO LEAVE SANTANDER IS UP - NOW YOU’RE GOING TO A MASS GRAVE ALONG WITH YOUR FAMILIES - KEEP YOUR IDEOLOGY IT’S NO GOOD FOR THIS COUNTRY - EVERYTHING YOU DO IS BEING WATCHED - GUERRILLA JOSE DOMINGO FLORES - JAVIER CORREA - LUIS EDUARDO ALIAS CHILE - NOW YOU’RE GOING TO DIE - YOUR FAMILIES ARE IN DANGER - ALL OF YOU WILL BE DISMEMEBERED AND BURIED - THE BLACK EAGLES EXIST - DON’T THINK WE DON’T MEAN IT WE YOU SHITHEADS - WE WILL DO IT WITH NO MERCY read full story / add a comment

I remember reading about the people in Bristol who occupied the offices of BAE Systems based in North Bristol. I know the case is over but I was sickened to read about a recent case in the country that BAE sells weapons to. read full story / add a comment

Inspired by Bristol Rising Tide's recent polar bear occupation of the Royal Bank of Scotland HQ in Trinity Quay, UWE Students affiliated with People and Planet today held a demonstration against Natwest for being the largest single UK financier of oil and gas projects around the world. These projects amount to 655 million tonnes of carbon dioxide destined for our already inflamed atmosphere. (more than the UK's total annual emissions) read full story / add a comment