Innholdsfortegnelse for 7/17/2023 i The Big Issue

Stupidity might one day be seen, if it is not already, as the biggest guiding force in human history. Studied, adopted, clearly thought-out inanity, not a kind of off-the-cuff thoughtlessness. The invasion of Iraq, brokered and orchestrated by George W Bush and willingly, slavishly augmented by Tony Blair, might be seen as one of the biggest game changers in modern geopolitical history. I remember the times, the vast marches, but soon the drums were rolling. I even contributed to the naivety by believing that getting rid of Saddam Hussein would free the Iraqi people from their murderer. Little did we know that destruction and defeat would produce even more murderous times. We often drink in the short-sightedness unintentionally. We can be misled into a future hell. Disorder can be the…

“As a young worker and renter during the cost of living crisis, I’ve found things really difficult financially. After my previous tenancy ended, I was suddenly left with a week to find a new home, one that cost me £200 more a month than I’d paid before. Six months in, and at the end of an unsteady fixed-term contract, my landlord wants to hike my rent further. “As someone on far below the average wage in my region, it’s something I’d struggle to afford. It has been a massive source of anxiety, stress and insecurity, and in my experience the government has been little to no help to me or people I see experiencing similar issues. “But I really do know I’m not alone in a situation like this. My…

REVIEWS After the black gold rush It’s obvious why the oil and gas industry hasn’t inspired much great art over the years, JR and his thrillingly treacherous Ewings aside. But drill down deep enough into pretty much any subject and you’ll strike drama, romance and narrative. That’s precisely what Richard T Kelly has done for his magnificent new novel. The Black Eden is the story of how Scotland first struck oil in the late 20th century and of the black gold rush that followed. It is an adventure of personal and corporate fortunes being made, of lives transformed for better and worse, of a nation’s politics revolutionised, and of ancient, pastoral communities that suddenly found themselves tossed in a whirlwind of capitalist modernity. As all good novelists must, Kelly tells…

It’s a damp November night, and in the bowels of an abandoned industrial building somewhere outside Shotts something strange is happening. The gates of hell have opened and demons are stalking Scotland. Clad mostly in black, they’re a ragtag bunch of strange, grubby creatures, shuffling through an eternity of torture that looks suspiciously like the worst office job ever. But it isn’t Satan who’s condemned these poor souls. They have found themselves imprisoned in the Good Omens-verse – a realm first dreamed up by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman in their 1990 novel, and now about to begin its second series as a TV show. For decades, Good Omens has been among my favourite comfort books. Set in the Earth as depicted in the Bible, it’s both very funny and…

ANA-MARIA DRAGUSIN, 26 I’ve been selling the magazine since 2017 which is quite a long time ago now. At the time I didn’t have a job so I thought I would get an income by selling the magazine. It wasn’t easy at first because I didn’t have my proper pitch and I just moved around a lot around Keynsham. The people on my pitch are generally very friendly. Sometimes they give me a coffee and it’s nice talking to them, they give me good advice. A lot of the time it is not really any more support than buying the magazine. One lady tried to get me a job in a care home but I couldn’t do it because I don’t have childcare. I enjoy having a chat, we talk…

INEQUALITY Women in the North East are suffering from the ‘triple shock’ of austerity, the pandemic and cost of living crisis A woman in the North East of England is 1.7 times more likely to die prematurely from suicide, addiction or murder by a partner or family member than in the rest of England and Wales, new research has revealed. The numbers are rising, at least in part due to austerity, the pandemic and cost of living crisis which have led to overwhelmed and neglected public services in some of the poorest regions of the country – including Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland. “This is not new news,” said the Labour MP Jess Phillips, launching the report at the House of Commons. “It is just that now we have got to…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue Landlords reply I read the opinion piece by John Bird about renters [Issue 1571, 3 July] with some interest, as I am one of the nation’s many small buy-to-let landlords. Mr Bird’s argument will appeal to many – let the haves give more to the have-nots – but it is important to consider the whole picture. Like many small landlords, I own just three properties. Why did I become a landlord? Because I have no faith in the government to provide a reasonable pension in my old age. Next, how did I become a landlord? I did not inherit wealth, in fact, the last time I bought a BTL property in…

Ken Butler, Disability Rights UK’s welfare rights and policy officer. For Butler and the people he has worked with, the medical assessment element of applying for PIP benefits presents a major problem. “Assessment reports are carried out by non-specialists and often contain errors and misleading statements,” he said. This could be mitigated if assessments were undertaken by specialists, because then any medical evidence submitted would be better understood and given more weight when the report was compiled. Butler also suggested that claimants should automatically receive a copy of their assessment report to provide greater clarity throughout the process. If the assessors are aware that the claimants will be able to see any errors in their report, this will only “encourage greater care and accuracy”, he said. A former DLA assessor…

The year 1977 was all about punk rock. I’d go to an independent record shop in Southampton called Subways every Saturday, hoping to have enough money for one or two singles. I would go in early because I wasn’t too keen on squeezing in with everyone else, and then it was looking through all that week’s releases and making the impossible choice – because I would want to buy 15 and didn’t have the money. Then it was going home on the bus, putting them on the record player, playing them until midnight. In the meantime, I was studying badgers and kestrels. So my life was pretty polarised between punk rock and birds. I started to shut down in terms of communicating with my peers. I’d figured out that the…

MATTHEW HALSALL Making jazz more accessible to casual ears The shape of British jazz has changed dramatically over the last 15 years; both in terms of its sound and the breadth of its appeal. This summer saw Ezra Collective pulling huge crowds at Glastonbury, for example, and Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here festival, with its usual jazz heavy line-up, has graduated to a bigger site this year to cope with demand. Myriad factors and many contributors are due credit for this swell in appreciation, among them the trumpeter, producer, composer and label boss Matthew Halsall. As the founder of Gondwana Records, operating since 2008, he has helped to encourage new ears to find the patience and imagination for a more spiritual, contemplative brand of jazz and soul. With a diverse…

A little over a week ago the Dutch government collapsed. I know I have you hooked with that zinger of an opening. Which means that Mark Rutte, one of Europe’s longest serving PMs, is on his way out. Rutte is the tall, urbane figure who became familiar during the Brexit negotiation years, as news footage featured him smiling from one gilded political antechamber to another, always suggesting a positive outcome in the offing. It was immigration that did for his coalition. The right-wing of the four-party grouping wanted to heavily limit immigration, citing overcrowded migration centres. Rutte didn’t want to, and so the government toppled. In a curious piece of political symmetry, the only European leader to last longer is the less than immigrant-embracing Kremlin favourite, Orbán of Hungary. Around…

It’s fitting that the office where Andy Burnham makes the big decisions as the Mayor of Greater Manchester is in a building currently covered in scaffolding. Manchester has become known as a city of regeneration, reinvigoration and reinvention in recent decades and Burnham has certainly played his part during his six years as mayor. One of eight Labour-controlled regional mayors in England alongside, most notably, Liverpool’s Steve Rotheram and London’s Sadiq Khan, Burnham and his brethren have brought their own fresh thinking, coming up with progressive solutions sometimes at odds with Westminster. When The Big Issue rocks up to meet Burnham in his office, the ink is barely dry on the latest one: his big, bold plan to tackle the private rented sector, which he unveiled in a speech at…