More people have been imprisoned for rioting during a single day in Bristol in 2021 than in any other protest-related disorder since at least the 1980s. What was behind this push to prosecute so harshly? by Tom Wall

Sardonic tribute to cheating husband ‘Roger’ on bench in Bristol prompts mention of elusive graffiti artist

The amateur sleuths, conspiracy theorists and mischief makers on the sweeping Royal York Crescent in Clifton, Bristol, all have opinions about a mysterious plaque appearing to out an adulterous husband.

The brass plate engraved with “For My Love/Husband, Father, Adulterer/Yes, Roger, I Knew” quickly attracted attention after it was attached to a wooden bench on the grand crescent’s terrace at the end of last week.

After consultation with Bristol people, visitors must make deliberate choice to see toppled statue of slave trader

It is undoubtedly the most well-known artefact in Bristol’s waterside museum, but rather than being given a prominent position it has been tucked away in a modest case at the back of a first-floor gallery.

Finding the right setting in M Shed for the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston , which was pulled from a plinth in the city and thrown into the harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, has been a delicate task.

Family members of the young people sent to prison tell of the disproportionate sentences that were meted out and the devastating impact it has had on all their lives

Thank you to Tom Wall for keeping the story of the Bristol protest alive in his long read ( ‘It was so wrong’: why were so many people imprisoned over one protest in Bristol?, 5 March ). I’m the mother of one of the young people convicted of riot at the “kill the bill” protest in March 2021. My son is currently in prison serving his sentence. He was 19 years old at the time of the protest. A bright university student with no protest experience and no criminal convictions, he had never before been in trouble with the police. He was assaulted by the police like many others, but later put on a wanted list, arrested and charged with riot. This has affected him severely, and he tried to kill himself shortly after.

He was dragged through the courts, which affected his mental health even further. He couldn’t face any more pressure and pleaded guilty. It’s hard to describe the effect it has had, and will have, on him and the whole family for the rest of our lives. But we are united and we will get through this. As for my son, we know he will achieve greatness after prison. He’s studying while inside and is determined not to give up. He has all the support he needs from family and friends.

More people have been imprisoned for rioting during a single day in Bristol in 2021 than in any other protest-related disorder since at least the 1980s. What was behind this push to prosecute so harshly?

On the afternoon of 21 March 2021, Fleur Moody hurried through the graffiti-sprayed backstreets of Bristol. She and her partner were on their way to join a march against proposed laws that would give the police extensive new powers to clamp down on protests. They caught up with the march just before it streamed into a park overlooking the city’s harbour.

Moody, who was 26 at the time, was getting her life back on track after years of mental health problems and addiction. She sat on the grass with friends sharing food and drinks in the last of the sunshine. “I was quite fragile,” she told me recently. “But I’ve always believed people have a right to protest and have their voices heard.”

Photographer Kirsty Mackay’s project The Magic Money Tree explores the impact of poverty in the Black Country, South Shields and Bristol

• The Magic Money Tree exhibition is at the New Art Gallery Walsall from 9 March to 14 July

In 2023 I set out to document the UK’s cost of living crisis. I had a picture in my mind that what we were experiencing was the culmination of 13 years of Conservative governments. The work is titled The Magic Money Tree after Theresa May’s words on BBC Question Time: “There isn’t a magic money tree that suddenly delivers all the money everybody wants.”

I spent a month visiting the North Bristol food bank, talking to people, listening to their experiences and gathering stories. We decided not to photograph people using the food bank but to take their experiences and write them large across bus shelters and pavements on the high street.

As teenage victims are mourned across the English city, some believe the return of youth centres would keep children safer

Terre Baptiste has been checking her teenage son’s whereabouts compulsively since a 16-year-old boy was fatally stabbed two weeks ago in a park a mile away from their home in the east of Bristol.

“It is very worrying,” says Baptiste, in her living room. “Bristol isn’t a perfect city. But there weren’t stabbings one after the other. It was few and far between. Now it is on our doorstep.”

• Saracens 39-31 Bristol
• Hosts sit second in table and three points off leaders Sale

This will go down as one of those beloved of champions, the kind won when not playing well. Saracens never quite found their rhythm, but a seven-try win over anyone must be accounted a decent result. All the more so, given the captain and lodestar, Owen Farrell, left 13 points out there, landing just the two kicks from the tee – two out of eight.

That will not happen often, so Bristol may feel they missed a chance here. The days of their superstar line-ups seem passed for now, with Charles Piutau and Semi Radradra now moved on, but they boast two England props who proved the foundation of their best bits, most based around the set piece. Calum Sheedy did not miss from the tee, five from five, and his conversions were the difference at half-time, which saw Bristol 21-15 ahead.