Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/27/2021 i The Big Issue

Like a lot of teenagers, I fell victim to that spell where you go dark and get sullen and think you know more than everyone else. I was starting to get into Bukowski and Hemingway – all these darker male journeys, from the cowboys of Shepard to Hemingway’s heroes, that had nothing in common with a kid from New Jersey. But somehow they still inspired me to live on the outside. I was at an all-boys Catholic prep school, which was an incredible education but I was on the periphery, socially. I had just a couple of friends and we put on plays. I would definitely tell my 16-year-old self not to start smoking cigarettes. Because that’s when I started sneaking them from Dad’s ashtrays and from friends of mine…

Celebrate, as Glastonbury finally gets around to turning 50 (and a bit) Is 2022 the year in which the ’20s are going to finally hurry up and roar? Certainly, we’d all be feeling a lot more optimistic about the prospect were Omicron – the scarily named variant of concern which sounds like it should be headlining Download – not threatening to disrupt the steady resurgence of live music across the UK all over again (to say nothing of most other aspects of our daily lives). But at the top of the year, let’s take a hopeful view at least of the spring and summer ahead. Seasons which, all being well, promise to be the first since 2019 to look, feel and sound like they’re supposed to (information correct at time…

I run @EveryDoctorUK, a campaigning organisation which exists to advocate for NHS staff and patients, and I speak to doctors every day. Doctors don’t tend to overplay things; we don’t like to sensationalise. But the realities on the frontline are terrifying, and I am deeply concerned for both NHS patients and the staff looking after them right now. The resilience displayed by staff has been astounding, but they’re now exhausted, and are not being supported by this government. In fact, they are often scapegoated by politicians for problems they did not cause, both in the media and in the House of Commons. The NHS is in its worst winter crisis on record; and lives are at risk daily. I can’t say it more starkly than that. But because things have…

Homelessness took everything from Natasha Thompson. Two years ago, the 34-year-old was addicted to drugs, living on the streets and facing domestic abuse with no prospects, no contact with her family and children, and no hope of getting a home. Housing charity Trident Reach stepped in to offer her a flat in its Housing First programme in the West Midlands. Now, Thompson’s life has been transformed. She has managed to beat her addiction to heroin, crack and synthetic cannabinoids, and has learned to live independently. None of it would have been possible without the stable base of a home. “I remember it being -10C and someone stole my sleeping bag so I had to get an emergency foil blanket off the ambulance service. It was the coldest I’d ever been.…

Frequent Street Art contributor Michael submits his work via London outreach centre for the homeless and vulnerable the 240 Project. He likes there to be humour in his art. “The more ridiculous the better,” he says. “In this one we see a polar bear and a quickly abandoned bucket and spade. Did a family of tourists just get eaten? Did they escape? That is for the viewer to decide. Could the polar bear be a metaphor for the monsters in our minds that authority uses to keep us fearful?” 240project.org.uk…

For his 10th birthday, Omari McQueen asked his parents for a LinkedIn account. Three years later the enterprising youngster is the country’s youngest award-winning chef, with his own business Dipalicious and CBBC programme, What’s Cooking Omari? He caught the cooking bug at the age of seven after being taught by his dad when his mum became ill. Omari developed a passion for vegan food and wants to inspire others to eat more healthily. Here are his top tips for how we can change our menus in 2022. THE BIG ISSUE: It’s time to think about New Year resolutions. How can people make a positive difference to their lives by changing their diets? OMARI MCQUEEN: People could make a positive difference to their lives by adding a lot more fruit and…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue Vendor appreciation Had the loveliest chat with a man selling the @BigIssue today. He was telling me about his life and how selling the magazine changed his life. @isabelxellis I would like to let you know how touched I was by the action of one of your vendors recently. I met Rafael for the first time on December 8 on St Stephen’s Street in Norwich, and at first admired his dog, which was dozing cosily in several blankets! Rafael was very well presented, kind, courteous and willing to have a chat with a ‘little old lady’ of 85! After purchasing my Big Issue – which was a very interesting read –…

We have reached the horrifying total of 170,000 deaths for which Covid-19 is given as a cause. This is lamentable for a rich country with a proud history of public health. It did not have to be like this. Public health experts and scientists, including members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and the Independent SAGE, have been arguing for a raft of interventions to tackle spread of infection (social distancing, masks, ‘test, trace isolate, support’, working from home, indoor ventilation) rather than promoting vaccination alone as a magic bullet. Families of the bereaved have been pressing for a judicial inquiry since the summer of last year. The government’s claim it was too busy saving lives is belied by the appallingly high death toll, the reorganisation of Public…

The second year of the Covid pandemic is nearly over and in some ways the state of the nation does not seem much better than it was 12 months ago or even worse. The Omicron variant has given us new reasons to worry about social contacts and going out into public spaces. Experts talk of a new “tsunami of infections” which could paralyse the NHS. Far from enjoying festive pay days, many businesses have had to shut up shop. This time neither they nor their workers have the emergency help to fall back on the government offered – such as the furloughs and tax forgiveness – but started withdrawing last summer. Depressingly the ending of Louise Casey’s Everyone In scheme has seen rough sleepers return in numbers to the streets…

With reshuffled release dates and conflicting mask protocols across the UK, this past year was another abnormal one for cinemagoers. But cinema chains could be forgiven for feeling optimistic. Thanks to Daniel Craig’s beefy Bond heroics (and multiplex-only blockbusters such as Fast & Furious 9, Free Guy and Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings) it felt like a semi-return to something like popcorn-scoffing normality. Yet as 2022 looms you can almost hear the bombastic voiceover of a 1980s trailer: “They thought the worst was over… but things were never going to be the same again.” So what will this year in film be like? The start of 2022 was supposed to resemble something like business as usual. Most major film awards still require movies to have a…

1. “I met the band wearing pink leopardskin trousers.” 2. “If you want to know what freedom is, it is running.” 3. “I really respond well to older women, particularly if they’re a bit rude to me.” 4. “I often get pigeon-holed as the oddball outsider hero.” 5. “I flew all the way to Cannes just to talk with The Big Issue.” 6. “I’m not entirely sure that Edinburgh was designed from the outset for full-sized American sedans.” 7. “After Grenfell happened, it should have been sorted like, yesterday.” 8. “When I die, I want my atoms to nourish a tree.” 9. “You don’t expect to perform for somebody like Nelson Mandela.” 10. “Oasis or The Prodigy playing on the radio. Smoking fags. Kissing everyone. That is my idea of…

The fact is Big Issue vendors can’t work from home. If you can support your local vendor, please do After 2021 threw up its unexpected challenges in the closing weeks of the year, many of us are looking ahead to 2022 and seeking positive ways to take on the world. With doubt over when workers will return to offices and restrictions in retail and hospitality taking their toll on the high streets, footfall is drastically reduced. Sam Woodlock, who sells The Big Issue in London, said: “The fact is Big Issue vendors can’t work from home. If you can support your local vendor, please do.” No matter what restrictions are in place, now or in the future, we will continue to be there for the hundreds of men and women…