Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-12-20 i The Big Issue

JIMMY MCMAHON, 56 London Jimmy’s love of art and poetry were instantly recognisable on his London pitches. The 56-year-old, who died in June, sold The Big Issue around East London for more than a decade, and also showed off his artworks while selling in Covent Garden in the city’s West End. Lauren Neale, The Big Issue’s sales and operations manager in London, said: “Jimmy was a real character, kind-hearted and would give his last pound to someone in need. He was a talented poet and artist, known for his trademark red hat and squeezing the word ‘buddy’ into every sentence. It truly was a privilege to know Jimmy.” RODERICK MACKILLOP, 57 London Veteran London vendor Roderick loved selling The Big Issue so much that he described July’s return to his…

England Housing First has continued to scale up in England, with 105 active projects supporting more than 2,000 people – six times the number seen in 2017. While the government-backed pilot schemes in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and the West Midlands continue to expand, the model remains a big issue in Westminster. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick insists that lessons learned by the pilots are being applied in their efforts to move people protected in hotels during the pandemic into 6,000 long-term homes with wraparound support. The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness has been running a Housing First inquiry throughout the latter part of 2020, bringing in experts such as Tsemberis to discuss how the model can provide a sustainable solution to homelessness in England. Wales It was a landmark year…

Times are tough right now. If you’re looking for a guide to help you through, how about David Bowie? That’s right – David Bowie. We knew Bowie as a global superstar, and arguably the coolest man on the planet. But behind that façade he was a shy, isolated young man who struggled to connect with other people, or to understand his place in the world. Frightened by his half-brother Terry's diagnosis of schizophrenia, Bowie feared that he too would succumb to what his grandmother had dubbed “the family curse” of severe mental illness. To avoid this fate, the young Bowie turned for help to a collection of wisdom traditions, philosophies and religions which he used to guide him in his life, his career and his songwriting. At its core was…

01. CloudPunk: Piloting a flying car through an atmospheric cyberpunk neon-lit city to a synthy soundtrack was immersive and relaxing 02. Return of the Obra Dinn: A mystery game that values guesswork as much deduction – unique, clever and a gentle workout for the brain 03. Football Manager 2020/2021: Swapping stories of my time in charge of Bolton filled the football season gap and kept up contact with friends 04. 80 Days: Jules Verne-inspired narrative adventure was a rare opportunity to travel and worked well co-operatively 05. Everything: Playing as literally everything – from microscopic bacteria to a vast galaxy – put things into perspective…

A hand up... Our sellers BUY the magazine for £1.50 and sell it for £3, keeping the difference Not a handout… Vendors earn a legitimate income, and gain valuable social and employability skills. With your support now, we can continue to support them in the future. The right to citizenship… The Big Issue Foundation, our charitable arm, helps sellers to tackle social and financial exclusion. Prevention… Big Issue Invest offers backing and investments to social enterprises, charities and businesses which deliver social value to communities.…

Choose trainspotting If you’re looking for a new hobby, you could do worse than trainspotting. But if you think I mean sitting in a field all day in the hope a train turns up, then no. Check Realtime Trains (realtimetrains.co.uk) that gives you all the times – where it has come from, where it’s going to, if it’s late. If you’re not near a line but you’d still like to give it a try then there’s always Railcam (railcam.uk). So you can trainspot at York but be in the warmth of your house. I recommend the railcam at Dawlish Beach. I have watched the sea spray hit the camara and thought, I’m glad I am here and not there. Robin Price sells The Big Issue in Weston-super-Mare Time for a…

Michael Sheen, activist and actor. It is in that order these days. And he’s doing rather well in both spheres. He has spent the last few years trying to find a way to balance his twin passions. And, he says, he is slowly getting there. “A big part of it was shifting things in my head and knowing what the priorities were,” says the 51-year-old. “I made the shift psychologically to go, right, the acting work and everything that comes with that is going to support the other stuff I'm doing. “So even though to the outside world maybe it wouldn’t seem like it – because I’ve been doing lots of acting work and things that have kept the profile up and all that – from my point of view,…

A chance meeting with an old friend, finding a fiver in the lining of your jacket, winning a whole Dundee cake in a raffle… when these sparkling gems of life land in our lap, their unexpected delight makes us happy. Around 2,500 years ago the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi wrote Supreme Happiness, perhaps the first ever work devoted entirely to the subject. Of course, writing my own book about happiness means I feel a deep connection with Zhuangzi, as if we are bound together, two points on an endless continuum, so I was intrigued to know what he had to say. Supreme Happiness aims to divine the nature of happiness – no mean feat – and to do this Zhuangzi favours embracing the mysterious side of life – the unexpected. His…

Whoever you are, wherever you are, 2020 will have left a bruise. One that you’ll tend to for the months and years ahead. A reminder of what we’ve endured, will continue to endure. As individuals, as communities, as industries. Film is no different. The faint outline of this year will be visible long after the blood leaves the soft tissue. The doomsayers were up out of their chair as soon as the first whispers were heard of a flu out of Wuhan. Then came the first lockdown in March and the year’s films scattered out of the slate. Film was on its knees, they said. Cinema was dead! How could the industry survive in the face of a global shutdown of productions and total closure of cinemas? It was, and…

VENDORS In many parts of the country vendors are once again prevented from working on their pitches due to local lockdowns. But our staff is working closely with each vendor to make sure there is extra support to make up for reduced earnings. For vendors who are still on their pitches, we are providing masks and hand gel, and encouraging them to follow guidelines. If you can, please support your local vendor by buying The Big Issue from them. PITCHES Towns and cities across the country are quieter than normal so our teams are moving vendors to pitches where they have the best chance of selling magazines, depending on local safety measures and circumstances. An increasing number of vendors are offering contactless payments so they are not losing out as…

In 2020 we welcomed a stellar line-up of people backing The Big Issue, and at a time when our vendors needed more support than ever they helped spread the message. Christopher Eccleston appeared on Lorraine on ITV, Daniel Mays popped up on news bulletins... We are grateful to everyone, including readers, who has supported us. And there is more to be done. Into an uncertain 2021, our ambassadors tell us why they back The Big Issue. For more visit bigissue.com Sophie Winkleman Actress There’s a lovely Big Issue seller around Victoria [in Central London]. She told me she changed after one night of being on the street. She said people think it must get you down after a few weeks – but she said it is just one night and…

The desk where we work reflects us, like the homes we live in. After all, you have created it so it’s only logical that how it is organised to function is some form of representation of your mental processes. Why it is organised as such intrigues, so over many decades of work in the area of the human psyche, I have developed a code of analysis of the desks where we work. Unfortunately, when you know someone is coming to ‘look at’ your home you’ll tidy it. So it is the case with these desks of world leaders. They don’t reflect the true person in its most authentic sense as they will be ‘show’ or ‘camera’ ready. However, from what I can see in the pics provided… Find out more…

The year 2020 is drawing to a welcome close and Nicola Coughlan – star of Derry Girls and Harlots – is finding reasons to be hopeful. She is speaking from Galway, where she has spent most of 2020 in lockdown back at her mother’s home. Like so many of us, she has been “mainlining TV shows”. “I got completely obsessed with Euphoria,” she says. “Also, and this is not so highbrow, I've been watching a lot of The Real Housewives.” Good news for anyone wishing to join in the binge-watching fun is the arrival on Netflix of Bridgerton – a new Regency romp, based on the bestselling romance novels of Julia Quinn and made by super-producer Shonda Rhimes and her Shondaland team. The Big Issue: So there is a…

As the newest kid on the media block, gaming has always lagged behind film, music and television. But 2020 was the year the medium stepped up. While Covid-19 cancelled gigs, shut cinemas and disrupted filming on some of the biggest TV shows, the games industry prospered. Games continued to be released almost exactly as in every other year: there was a Call of Duty, a FIFA, big hitters like The Last of Us Part II came out as expected and new consoles arrived too. Research from analysts NewZoo estimates the industry is worth almost £120bn globally, up nine per cent in just a year. It’s easy to see why. When lockdown meant that Zoom quizzes were the new social craze, for gamers it was business as usual. That was the…

Our vendors are once again unable to be on their pitches in many parts of the country. But you can show your support by taking out a subscription directly from a vendor of your choice, who will receive 50 per cent of the proceeds. See the map on our website and search for your local vendor, or read more stories from the men and women who sell The Big Issue. bigissue.com/vendors IAN KNOWLES, 70 Aberdeen I used to be a trawlerman on the fishing boats, I did that for 10 years. In sunny weather it was beautiful but when it was gales of wind it was terrible. Really terrifying. Our boat wasn’t what you would call a big one and you’d just go right up on top of the wave…