Innholdsfortegnelse for 3/21/2022 i The Big Issue

‘Piss on pity’. That was the slogan. The Disabled People’s Direct Action Network, aka DAN, coined it for their riotous campaign to take down the ITV Telethon. Inspired by another phrase, ‘Nothing about us without us’, taken from the anti-apartheid movement, in 1992 they brought an end to the top-down charity fundraiser that prised pennies from viewers by presenting and parading people with disability to be pitied. Then they set their sights on changing the law. For this was part of a wider civil rights struggle, demanding accessible transport, accessible housing, equality – an end to discrimination against people with disabilities. Two of DAN’s leading lights, Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, are at the centre of a sparky and spirited new one-off drama. Then Barbara Met Alan is written by…

There are things one can reliably expect from a Miriam Toews novel: a precocious and disturbed child in a lead role, a mysteriously vanished family member, at least one suicide, and the ability to take subject matter of the darkest kind and illuminate it with joyful, razor-sharp humour. Fight Night meets all these expectations, and then some. It is the funniest, most life-affirming and most virtuosic novel I expect to read this year. I doubt I’ll read a better novel, full stop. Swiv is its nine-year-old protagonist, kooky, curious and wise beyond her years. She is suspended from school for scrapping – “Madame said I had one too many fights, which if I knew the exact number of fights I was supposed to have then there wouldn’t be this bullshit”…

There are lots of things waiting to wrongfoot you in the often joyous but sometimes devastating Danish romantic drama The Worst Person in the World . But the big one is probably that title. You might expect it to refer to the impulsive central character Julie (Renate Reinsve), who we first meet as a high-achieving Oslo student making some major course corrections in her higher education journey. Surely Julie abruptly abandoning her medical degree to follow a precarious career as a freelance photographer isn’t really so bad? It feels like the worst person in the world is more likely to be one of the two men with whom she has pivotal relationships in the run-up to her 30th birthday and beyond. After a quick fling she ends up moving in…

There’s a great deal to hate about football these days. The dirty money, the flagrant corruption, the aggressive promotion of gambling companies that facilitate addiction and suicide. And then there are the persistent elements of racism, homophobia and whatever other ugly intolerances that coked-up fans can conjure a chant about. Urgh. What a cesspit the beautiful game has become. And yet I just can’t quit my football habit. A man like me has nowhere else to go. I love watching football, playing football, talking, thinking and dreaming about football and I won’t ever be able to stop. I like it because it is simple and exciting and, yes, sometimes beautiful. But more than the stuff on the pitch, I love what football has given me personally: a lifetime of memories…

OLIGARCH SQUAT This is what happened when some people took over the Belgravia home of a sanctioned oligarch to hold it for Ukrainian refugees Standing on a Belgravia balcony, the masked men shout their demands past the police cordon. They want an end to the war in Ukraine. That may be beyond the remit of the Met. They also want an empty mansion to be used to house refugees from the conflict. The balcony belongs to the oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Net worth £2 billion, he’s one of a handful of Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the UK government on March 9. The £25 million townhouse has been occupied. Hours earlier, the minister for Levelling Up Michael Gove said oligarchs’ mansions should be used to house refugees. His call, it seems, has…

Get in touch  The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue RE: JOHN BIRD [ISSUE 1503, MARCH 7] No to war John Bird chides politicians in the UK and the West for supposedly neglecting military power while “keeping the consumer happy”. Are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq so soon forgotten? Millions of people are unable to meet their basic consumption needs such as housing, food and heating. NATO already has “a bloody big stick”. The annual military spending of the US ($778 billion) is more than double China ($252bn) and Russia ($61.7bn) combined. The UK ($59.2bn) is only slightly behind Russia. (Although the difference in capacity is not so great, as these figures are based on international exchange rates, not purchasing…

When I was 16, I was working on Broadway in Peter Pan . I was a high-school kid during the day, at a regular public high school. I was on the soccer team. Then every single day I would take the bus into the city and do a show that night. I’d do a matinee on Wednesday, and four shows on the weekend. I was leading a kind of double life. I was trying to figure out how I was going to navigate my life, like a lot of 16-year-olds. What is this world? And how am I going to function in it? I had a lot of varied interests and it was sometimes confusing as to how to balance them. I wanted to act and I wanted to direct…

1 Days with Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel Honestly, I’d pick any of the books in this series. Even as an adult I often turn to his stories for its gentle, potentially queer domesticity. To me it is perfect evidence of how two people can, and should, lovingly bear witness to one another. Alone is my absolute favourite in this particular collection, ending poignantly on “they were two close friends sitting alone together”. How can one line do so much?! 2 The Thinking Book by Sandol Stoddard Warburg and Ivan Chermayeff One of my all-time favourites. Both the writing and illustration precisely echo the way a child’s playful processing works, and how we might still benefit from this playful processing as grown-ups. So easily we forget the…

We are in the middle of a desperate cost-of-living crisis in the UK. A new series of monologues on the BBC will not solve the very real issues we face. But if there was ever a need to look at poverty from new angles and hear the voices of people who know what it feels like to struggle, it is now. Skint is a series of eight short monologues airing on BBC Four. The project is led by powerhouse actor, writer and director Peter Mullan and Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee. In one written by James Price, Mullan plays Donny, in a tattered vest, chest full of pride, cupboards bare, arguing with himself over whether to accept the offer of a food parcel, fixating on a jar of curry sauce.…

I took the record to the listening deck and dropped the needle. Within seconds I knew I’d found something special One sweltering summer years ago, I set off on a month-long pilgrimage around the southern states of America, hoping to expand my musical horizons in proximity to the jazz and soul music I loved and, more importantly, to bring home a stack of great records. Most days it was over 40 degrees in Tennessee and Louisiana but I found relief, shade and occasionally air conditioning in dark dusty corners digging through crates of vinyl. There’s a sense of destiny that comes with record hunting; you may not be sure what you’re looking for but you know there is buried treasure waiting for you somewhere, if you have the patience to…

To donate to the humanitarian effort in Ukraine, visit Depaul and DEC, listed below. Pomogi Bezdomnomu seeks funds to supply defensive technology and training to Ukraine’s citizens. Depaul International is now only seeking cash donations to fund its work in Ukraine after being inundated with donations of material goods. To contribute to the fund, head to int.depaulcharity.org/fundraising-for-depaul-ukraine/ Pomogi Bezdomnomu is encouraging supporters to send funds to the Ukrainian army fighting to resist the Russian invasion. Head to comebackalive.in.ua for more details. To contribute to the Disaster Emergency Committee [DEC] appeal go to dec.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal…

Featuring artworks such as this one, titled Siula Grande , by an inmate of HM Prison Northumberland, Changing Perceptions showcases works created within prisons, challenging society’s preconceived attitudes towards prisoners. It’s organised by Oswin Project, a charity supporting prison-leavers in north-east England by sourcing paid employment and apprenticeship opportunities. One strand is Café 16 – a catering training programme in HM Prison Northumberland and a corresponding public café in Newcastle Cathedral, with job opportunities on release. Included in the exhibition are 15 artworks contributed by Koestler Arts, a charity that helps detainees and secure patients in the UK to express themselves creatively. Newcastle Cathedral, until April 3; bit.ly/35QCdPcoswinproject.org.uk…

For the last 15 years Morgana Robinson has been appearing on our TV screens, but it’s only recently she’s revealed anything close to her own self. That’s despite having her name in the title of 2010 Channel 4 sketch comedy The Morgana Show and playing a clutch of celebrities – Adele, Fearne Cotton, Russell Brand, Danny Dyer – in impression satire Very Important People. There’s her Pippa Middleton on The Windsors and she’s twice joined the panel of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, but both times in the guise of Sonia from EastEnders. The real Robinson is harder to pin down. Within 15 seconds she’s doing an impression of me. Her instinct seems to be to deflect. When she does answer, the responses swing from the surreal to…

Outside Tesco Express, Bishopsgate, London Monday to Friday 10am-4pm (Also Sainsbury’s Local, Church Street, Kensington 5.15pm-8pm and Notting Hill Market Saturday 9am-12.30pm) I’m a distribution point for The Big Issue and I’ve been doing that for a couple of months now. I help Big Issue vendors get their magazines and register for the pitches then at the end of the day I deal with the banking. I enjoy the responsibility, and I was happy to step up and do it. I like the idea of the challenge. I get on really well with the vendors, they’re a great bunch and you get a variety of people really. We’re trying to build up the distribution point because it has been a little slow. I also sell the magazine on my pitch…