Innholdsfortegnelse for 29-8-2016 i The Big Issue

The church of St Thomas à Becket stands in isolation in a field on Romney Marsh, surrounded by watery dykes and grazing land. The church is dedicated to St Thomas à Becket, the archbishop murdered in Canterbury cathedral in 1170. The original building had rough walls of timber lath and plaster. However, during the 18th century the medieval timber frame was encased in brickwork and protected with a roof of red tiles. The ancient village of Fairfield, which the church served, has long since vanished. But the archetypal marshland church survives and is subsumed into a parish that includes the villages of Snargate, Brookland and Brenzett. The interior is largely Georgian with a three-decker pulpit and box pews, painted white with black linings, and oval text boards. By 1912 the…

1. HAMMER TIME “When I first worked with Pink Floyd I was puzzled by their music. It was Dark Side of the Moon at that time. They invited me to The Rainbow in Finsbury Park where they were performing and I found it theatrically very thrilling. Finally, I found my way into inventing my own world that would run alongside their world. “Roger Waters, who was the main instigator on the visual side, and I talked about it but he never suggested anything visually. He really wanted me to do the social and political comment I do anyway because a lot of their work is a reflection of where we all are. “The hammer is obviously a force of oppression, a fascist force, controlling, and very, very hard. Naturally I…

“THE WAY FORWARD IS TREATING PEOPLE WITH COMPASSION FOR THE REALITY THEY HAVE LIVED” After the complaints were forwarded via email to the local MP, I received a message at the hostel in my mailbox. It had a time, date and the person I had to speak with written on it. The meeting would take place with a gentleman called Tony. I went around asking the staff who Tony actually was, and why he was coming to see me? I later found out that he was in fact the Area Manager for SAHA (Salvation Army HousingAssociation). The next morning Tony was introduced to me and he greeted me wonderfully. We then proceeded with the meeting in the Assessment Lounge. He explained his role in the organisation and how the complaint…

In Britain we take our free press for granted. We might not like what the press says, especially muckraking tabloids, but at least our journalists aren’t threatened with losing their lives. We don’t know how lucky we are. In The Sorrows of Mexico, a startling new collection of essays and reportage, seven of that country’s finest journalists and authors write passionately about the various commonplace injustices that happen in their beloved homeland. And as if to drive home the danger levels in Mexico, there is an appendix that lists the 94 journalists, broadcasters and photographers who have been murdered since the year 2000. To date, not one person has been found guilty of any of those crimes. But that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. The levels of violence…

 The Big Issue: What are the Beautiful Lies the title of your latest album refers to? “I’ve been writing about heartbreak and love since I was eight years old” Birdy: For me it means lying to yourself. A lot of the album is about growing up – and not wanting to at the same time. It’s about me moving away and learning to be independent but also feeling quite nostalgic, pretending that nothing is going to change. You have toured the world, recorded three albums and have more than 400 million views on YouTube, all by the age of 20. It’s a different life from most teenagers. I think I grew up a bit faster. All of a sudden I was touring with people a lot older than me, some…

When was the last time you looked at the pound in your pocket? Day to day, we take the appearance of our money for granted. The rate of counterfeits is very low, so we trust our cash and don’t tend to look that closely. The hard-earned money in your pocket, however, is not just a tool of commerce but a sophisticated security document and a miniature piece of artwork, all in one neat little package. Today’s banknotes are a long way from our early handwritten receipts for cash deposits. Of course, this development has been driven by efforts to outsmart forgers because as long as there has been money people have tried to fake it. The new polymer fiver, which will be issued on September 13, incorporates a powerful new…

UNTITLED BY ANDREW HOWARD “I am now 50 years old and still in the grip of mental health issues,” says Andrew, a regular contributor to Street Art. “I had time in hospital last year when I stopped taking my medication, and that has affected my drive to produce art. I really wonder what is worthwhile expressing. Perhaps the process of wondering about qualities and values will help me do more art.” BAG FOR A LIFE BY CHRISTOPHER VERSCHOORE DE LA HOUSSAYE “I was diagnosed with Asperger’s,” says Christopher, 62, who was born in Slough. “I consider myself to be neurologically unique. Bag for a Life is based on the statistic that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. The bag with the clown is inspired…

“We had no idea what it would turn into.” For the first time during our interview, Aidan Turner has gone shy. His arms cross his chest (more on those arms later), he hugs himself and sounds bashful and slightly baffled. Yes, we’re talking about that scene. The moment that, as Ross Poldark, the 33-year-old Dubliner scythed his way into millions of hearts. “It just made sense for the scene,” he says now, of his topless scything, which became the most talked about television moment of the year. “I am convinced it was my idea. It was ridiculously hot. Why would he wear a shirt? This is ridiculous. He wouldn’t wear a shirt. It was hot, it would rip, it would be stupid.” Turner was already a cult favourite thanks to…

HIT THE WATER Lovers of the wet stuff, rejoice! Theres a huge amount of aquatic activity this week. For the entire month, the Totally Thames Festival (September 1-30, various locations, London; totallythames.org) is on. There are exhibitions, installations, walks, music, films and talks all relating to the river that snakes through the capital, looking at how its role and its meaning have changed over the years. Also on the Thames is the Great River Race (September 3, various locations, London; greatriverrace.co.uk) where more than 300 crews will compete along 21.6 miles of river from London Docklands to Ham in Surrey. Imagine the Boat Race with less class envy/hatred and you’re most of the way there. The other, less famous, waterways of London get their moment in the sun at Angel…

“I’ve signed up to cycle to Amsterdam. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it” FACTS ABOUT ME... MY FAVOURITE TEAM Tottenham Hotspur. I’ve always supported Spurs. Last season was great but I worry this might be a bit of a hangover season. MY FAVOURITE BAND Queen. Freddie was such a great performer, and the Live Aid concert was probably one of the great live performances. I first became homeless back in 2004, after my dad died. I hadn’t had much contact with him for a while, so when he died it really hit me hard and I turned to drink in a big way. My life spiralled out of control. It really doesn’t take too long to lose everything and be left with nothing. I was on…

SWALLOWS & AMAZONS 1930: Ransomes self-sufficient kids have a wild Lakeland adventure, while films get sound, the BBC tests John Logie Baird’s TV system and the Great Depression starts. 1974: Film adaptation stars Virginia McKenna, while we’ve general strikes, a three-day week and power cuts. Self-sufficiency is back. 2016: Remake stars Jessica Hynes and Rafe Spall. Parents fear to let kids play as childhood obesity grows. Hannah Jayne Thorp, Amazon, says kids should go out and “live on the edge… like when everyone was free and independent”. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED 1945: Evelyn Waugh says it was “a bleak period of present privation and threatening disaster”, his novel “infused with a kind of gluttony, for food and wine, splendours of the recent past, and rhetorical and ornamental language”. 1981: TV adaptation stars…

“Magritte took from advertising an awareness of the power of images to seduce, to disconcert, to make us look again” René Magritte, painter of bowler-hatted men and apples the size of the rooms that contain them, is one of the most popular modern artists. His work, part of our everyday visual environment, is a constant reference point for advertising campaigns. He featured on Belgian banknotes, and images of his work adorn Brussels Airlines aircraft and regularly illustrate book covers – from Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being to John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. Magritte depicts unexpected juxtapositions, evoking what he called “the mystery of the familiar”. Many of his works provide reference points for later artists, including Andy Warhol, Sarah Lucas, Jeff Koons and Sherrie Levine. A reason for…

Early on in Things to Come, we find ourselves in the meeting room of a French academic publishing house. Nathalie, a philosophy teacher in her 50s played by Isabelle Huppert, is inspecting the new covers for a textbook she wrote back in the 1980s. The book is prestigious but selling badly so the marketing people have designed new covers to “make it more attractive, less austere”. Nathalie flicks through their attempts with pained disgust – an expression Huppert deploys with wounding efficacy. The marketing folk are slapped down. But they get their revenge: Nathalie will be fired a few weeks later. I suspect that director Mia Hansen-Løve shares her blissfully out-of-time heroine’s withering attitude towards marketeers’ ideas of accessibility. Hansen-Løve is in her mid-30s and her last film, Eden, was…

Returning from Australia, I was only certain I was home when I heard Nicholas Parsons delivering instructions to talk for 60 seconds “without hesitation, deviation or repetition”. Just a Minute is statistically likely to be older than you. Its simplicity is what provides its versatility. Four panellists, usually authors, actors, comedians, or other bon viveurs with a score to settle, attempt to talk for one minute on a given subject that may be anything from Joan of Arc to fish kettles. I have been fortunate to participate on it in the past, and my impostor syndrome has pulsated loudly on each occasion. Sheila Hancock eloquently and ruthlessly destroyed me on my last outing. There have been many icons on the show, most notably Kenneth Williams, as well as the wonderfully…