Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/28/2022 i The Big Issue

Recently I have been reflecting on AI. You might say AI is an extension of human thinking in the same way that the plastic duck is an extension of human thinking and hand. AI worries us the most because when we make a plastic duck we do not build it in a way that it might attack us in our bath or start conversing with us. But AI is being developed as a conversationist and as a lethal weapon. The AI of the future will fight wars, carry out policing jobs, wipe arses and drive trains. Driven more by the marketplace than by science, the armaments industry and the entertainment industry might play the biggest role in AI’s development. To presumably run side-by-side with AI for universal good, like medicine,…

Koestler Arts is a charity which helps ex-offenders, secure patients and detainees express themselves creatively. Every year they hold an exhibition showcasing the entries to the annual Koestler Awards – an art competition open to those currently in custody or rehabilitation in the UK or citizens in prison abroad. This year’s exhibition, Freedom, was curated by Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian and activist Ai Weiwei and took place at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London from October 27 to December 18. The exhibition space was split into 15 ‘cells’ based on the size of a typical cell in a UK prison, each displaying a multitude of work (the smallest contains 78 artworks, the largest 131). Ranging from paintings and drawings to hairstyling and needlecraft, traditional materials were in some cases eschewed…

SWEDEN Radical housing model gives Larry a life-changing home Housing First is a model that is proving effective in dealing with homelessness. It certainly worked for Larry Andersson, 54, who sells Swedish street paper Faktum in Gothenburg By Malin Clausson “I really don’t know what to say. I could scarcely believe this possibility even existed. When I found out about it, it was a life-changing moment,” says Larry Andersson, with his voice full of emotion. He’s referring to the “Bostad först” – or housing first – model, which gave him the chance to start over on his own terms. It’s a model that takes a radically different approach to traditional housing programmes to tackle homelessness and is based on support as opposed to penalising measures when individuals fall through the…

JOHN BYRNE London John Byrne, 59, was a veteran seller who was also a vendor coordinator for Oxford Street, London. “John had many layers to him, and we will miss all of them. He was welcoming and funny, always with a good story to tell,” said Natalia Stevenson from The Big Issue Foundation. While selling The Big Issue, John studied an undergraduate degree in English Literature and History at Goldsmiths University. He told us in 2016: “I loved every minute. I got on really well with the other students, despite being older than them. I continued selling the magazine because it helped me pay my way and I still struggled to get decent housing.” Byrne’s daughter Sarah remembered how her father loved his work. “He told me how much he…

Sherwood (BBC iPlayer) A star-studded police show, an in-depth study of a post-industrial Red Wall community, an examination of the long-term impact of the miners’ strike, and a state-of-the-nation political drama full of heart, humour and empathy – all in one six-part series. AL Heartstopper (Netflix) A wholesome, charming, uplifting depiction of queer love. AL This is Going to Hurt (BBC iPlayer) Darkly comic and brutally honest. IM The Bear (Disney+) A talented and celebrated chef inherits his family’s sandwich joint in Chicago in this near-perfect, wholly original series. AL Slow Horses (Apple TV+) Following a team of failed/lazy/incompetent MI5 rejects, this adaptation of Mick Herron’s much-loved novel combines Hot Fuzz silliness and touching portrayals of disappointment, ruined ambition and squandered enthusiasm. Irresistible. JG We Own This City (Now/Sky Atlantic)…

Picture a Venn diagram with two interconnecting circles: on the left, the independent Irish state; on the right, the extant United Kingdom (UK). At the centre, joining both circles, lies Northern Ireland (NI). In April 1998, the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement was reached between the Ireland and UK governments and the majority of NI’s political parties. It was later described as a “constitution for Northern Ireland” by the UK Law Lords (now Supreme Court). A devolved power-sharing Assembly and Executive bound the complex constitutional settlement, alongside equality and rights reforms, justice reforms, strong intergovernmental linkages and a mechanism for future constitutional change. The politics isn’t presently working. Since elections in May, the Assembly has met just five times. During these unsuccessful recall sittings, the word “reconciliation” has been uttered only…

2023 PREVIEW The year ahead in cinema If 2022 delivered a handful of bulletproof blockbusters – notably The Batman, Avatar: The Way of Water and the truly stratospheric Top Gun: Maverick – there were still long stretches without “big” movies to tempt film fans away from a multitude of streaming options. Will this year offer struggling cinemas a more consistent supply of popcorn crowdpleasers? Thankfully the film slate looks a lot more crowded. Let’s break down some of the notable runners and riders. (All release dates subject to change.) Superheroes! Despite predictions that the tights-and-fights bubble was set to burst, superhero movies dominate 2023. Marvel Studios kick off phase five (!) of their cinematic universe with their 31st (!!) film: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Feb 17), a psychedelic trip…

MARTIN COMPSTON’S ON-SET DIARY ‘MAN, LET’S JUST RIDE THIS OUT TOGETHER’ “You are an integral part of the story – you were literally the first person I told. You were standing there when I got the email.” It’s true. Martin Compston’s journey to starring in new TV drama Mayflies began in a field in Budapest drinking and dancing with Arctic Monkeys and The Big Issue. In the early hours of August 16, the Line of Duty star was at the Sziget festival with his wife Tiana. He’d just watched his favourite band Arctic Monkeys from the side of the stage (shedding a few tears) and interviewed singer Alex Turner for The Big Issue’s global exclusive. What was already, for Compston, “a highlight of my life – something to take to…

There is one growth industry for 2023. There is a straightforward way to massive earnings. It looks so lucrative I’m stunned train staff and nurses and ambulance drivers and those folk at the Quorn factory haven’t put down their placards and got into it. All they need to do is explain why Harry and Meghan are terrible people. That’s it. Go large on it. Detail that the pair of them are tearing at the very fabric of all that binds us. Get incandescent. There are some news outlets who will pay top dollar for this. In fact, this could be the way to a high-wage economy, the sort of means of breaking that stagnation cycle that the misunderstood Liz Truss had in mind. If EVERYBODY currently working for minimum wage,…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue Universal credit In response to the editor’s letter on The Banshees of Inisherin [Issue 1542, December 5], barring its location and actors there is nothing, in my view, wholly Irish about it. I went to see it, not knowing anything about it, and loved it, but wondered afterwards what the log line was, was it something like: the potential for humanity to lose all rational thought if stuck in isolation, that kind of thing. It’s not the story of a fracturing friendship but an abrupt/illogical ending of one, and the crazy steps that follow, hence the wonderful black humour. It’s not only internal war and unbridgeable differences that are not uniquely…

It’s easy to despair. But we must not. We must hold on to the belief that homelessness can be ended and look for evidence of proven or promising approaches that could be tried or tested right now. We should be clear: overall, the evidence base for much homelessness practice is weak. Many standard interventions used in the United Kingdom lack robust evaluation of impact, in particular cost effectiveness. There are exceptions, however, and more high-quality causal evidence into homelessness interventions in recent years is expanding what we know. So where does the evidence lead us? Housing First, which provides unconditional accommodation and personalised support, has a strong international evidence base where there is close fidelity to the model but is appropriate for a specific cohort with long histories of homelessness…

The sight of bright orange Heinz Tomato soup splattered over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers was too much to bear for some. Yes, of course, we support the future survival of humanity, but this is a step too far. Perhaps this was the reaction Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland imagined when they entered the National Gallery in October, armed with one of Mr Heinz’s 57 varieties and some glue. The painting itself, hidden behind a glass screen, wasn’t damaged. Small matter. “This is infantile vandalism and these people should be sent to prison... for life,” said a commentator on TalkTV, and so on and so forth. At the time of writing Plummer and Holland are set to face a jury in January – though not quite with a life sentence hanging over…

Matthew Macfadyen is in a hotel in Soho. And the star of Succession, Pride and Prejudice, Quiz and Spooks is guffawing – he has a great guffaw, as fans of Tom Wambsgans will know – as he ponders his latest role as disgraced 1970s MP John Stonehouse. The parallels in the story to the recent antics of former Health Secretary Matt Hancock are just too funny. The story told in Stonehouse is extraordinary. I mean, you wouldn’t get a sitting MP disappearing to Australia in the middle of a parliamentary session – when he arguably should be being investigated by the police – in search of reinvention these days, would you? And… we are back to Hancock. “Even before Australia and all the rest, it’s bonkers, isn’t it?” says Macfadyen.…

2023 PREVIEW Mystic Malcolm’s tips for the year This time last year who’d have guessed that one of 2022’s biggest would be a song from 1985 – Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill? Or that Beyoncé would release an old-school house album? Or that the UK would not come in the usual last place at Eurovision, but a dizzying second? The 12 months gone by prove once more that making predictions in music is as ill-advised as Kanye West’s Donda 2. And yet, I’m going to gaze into my crystal ball and make a few predictions for 2023 anyway. Am I feeling unusually wise? Or lucky? Or do I just enjoy making a fool of myself in public? Who can say? Here are six events, trends and departing musical greats…

CLIVE Theatre fanatic Clive performed his monologue Treemendous at Theatre Royal Plymouth in July. Clive, who sells the magazine outside the theatre, has become a valued member of the Theatre Royal’s Our Space programme. The initiative gives adults with lived experience of homelessness, mental health issues and other issues the chance to get into drama. It was the fulfilment of a long-held dream of Clive’s to bring his own work to the 1,300-seater theatre. STEVE A Truro Big Issue vendor thanked locals for helping him get back on his feet after he lost all his possessions in a wildfire earlier in August. Steve Corbett (right) was on his pitch outside Wilko when his customers alerted him to a fire in nearby Boscawen Park where he had been staying with his…