Innholdsfortegnelse for 2/12/2024 i The Big Issue

I witnessed a debate in the House of Lords in which experts – doctors and surgeons – underlined again that poverty undermines health. I did not get the chance to say my stock comment, as others had in other ways already said it, that 50% of people suffering from cardiovascular illnesses suffer from food poverty according to the British Medical Association. But the minister answering the questions responded that the government was doing exactly what was needed. The problem is, poverty and health was – and remains – the big issue and whatever it is the government is doing, it is not resolving or bringing us nearer to challenging the paucity of delivery in making poverty a thing of the past. I did get the chance to comment on local…

From 16 to 24 was probably my toughest period in my life. Mum and dad split up when I was 14. Mum moved away with her new partner, and I had to stay and look after my dad. My dad was an alcoholic. He always struggled with drink, but when my mum left he just lost purpose. At that time, there wasn’t the same support around mental health and addiction. People just got on with it, you know? I dropped out of school around that time. It wasn’t that important to me any more. But also, if you think about someone who’s in a stable environment… they’re 16 and about to go to uni or an apprenticeship. Their pieces [sandwiches] are made for them, their bus fare’s waiting for them.…

My entire understanding of the world changed just before my 15th birthday, and it was all thanks to a piece of cloth. With a white, English mother and a Libyan father, I had gone under the radar my entire childhood. A home life of Turkey Twizzlers and Tracy Beaker after school had left me with the impression that I was British by birthright. I thought Britishness was woven into my genes, entwined in my lexicon and embedded in my cultural references. I didn’t think Britishness was something I needed to quantify, understand or think much about at all. It was just something I was. Right? But as soon as I decided to begin wearing the hijab, having recently taken an interest in the religion of my father and my Libyan…

In 1991, the Conservative Party looked finished. They were fresh out of ideas: recession was in the air, they were miles behind in the polls and they had replaced an iconic leader with a weedy prat. Sound familiar? Labour, meanwhile, had overhauled their image as dangerous leftists and looked like a government in waiting. Do you see where I’m going with this? Spoiler alert: the Conservatives comfortably won the following year’s general election. Here’s how they did it. In January 1991 Chris Patten, the Conservative Party chairman, held a strategy meeting at Hever Castle in Kent. The keynote speaker was Washington pollster Richard ‘Dick’ Wirthlin, architect of Ronald Reagan’s two landslide presidential victories in 1980 and ’84. He delivered a rousing and ruthless speech in which he explained that all…

AHMED HASHI, 64 I’ve been selling the magazine for more than 20 years now. Bloody hell, I can’t quite believe that. A friend of mine was selling The Big Issue and I was hard up at the time. He said to me if I want to earn some money I should come and join The Big Issue and do some work, so I came with him. So that’s how I started. It’s such a long time ago now that I can barely remember what I used to do before The Big Issue. I had a few jobs: working as a carpet fitter, doing some painting, stuff like that. Selling the magazine was a bit daunting at first, but it’s OK now. I suppose you hit your stride after 20 years.…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue RE: OUTPATIENT HYSTEROSCOPY [Issue 1598, 15 January] I am crying reading your article on hysteroscopies and the stories of women who have suffered and endured painful gynaecological procedures without general anaesthetic. Sadly, I am also one of those women. Although not a hysteroscopy procedure, I have had four cervical smears in the last five years that have left me bleeding and in awful pain and two cervical punch biopsies, both administered with no anaesthetic and performed by a female doctor who showed no consideration for the pain I was in, even when I told her that what she was doing was hurting me. On both occasions I’ve been told to take…

Long-time regular Street Art contributor Vallely describes this botanical drawing as “one of a new style of pictures” she has been working on using Posca marker pens. Her colourful artworks are her way of helping to deal with a history of depression and homelessness. She submits this drawing via the 240Project in London, a health activity centre for people affected by homelessness and exclusion. Vallely recently became part of a group of artists named the Street Artists, which meets at the Old Diorama Arts Centre in London on Saturdays. In January she took part in creative workshops at Old Diorama as part of the One Roof festival of homeless arts. Some of her work is on display in the venue foyer until March as part of an exhibition of artworks…

REVIEW Not in the mood for love? A darkened room, heightened senses, artfully framed close-ups of impossibly beautiful people … there are plenty of reasons why going to the cinema is still regarded as a classic date night option. It becomes especially true around 14 February: it was no accident that the Fifty Shades trilogy tied up the Valentine’s Day window in 2015, 2017 and 2018. But for every amorous film opening during that most romantic of release weeks there are also movies that go to the other extreme, offering welcome options for those not in the mood for love. Or are some of these examples of Valentine’s counter-programming secretly romantic? Let’s take a beat and find out. The Silence of the Lambs(1991) Secret Romance Rating: Academy voters have memories…

INTERVIEW: PALOMA FAITH ‘We don’t have to be in this situation’ As she prepares to release her sixth studio album, a gutsy, gleaming collection of post-breakup anthems called The Glorification of Sadness, Paloma Faith could be on course for national treasure status. She won a Brit Award, for British Female Solo Artist in 2015, and topped the charts with her excellent 2017 album The Architect. Her signature power ballad Only Love Can Hurt Like This, which has recently enjoyed a revival on TikTok, is a vocal tour de force that regularly defeats karaoke singers. The Hackney-born singer and actress (she starred in the Batman spin-off series Pennyworth) is a grafter with a great backstory. Before she signed her first record deal in 2008, she worked as a burlesque dancer, bartender,…

“Cambridge University,” wrote PJ O’Rourke, “separated the study of economics from the study of moral sciences in 1903. A little soon.” O’Rourke came to this after he’d finished writing his book on Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. I have never read the Adam Smith original – it runs to nearly 1,000 pages and there are other things, pretty much everything, that needs to be done instead. Also, it was so long that Smith didn’t even pen it himself. It’s believed he dictated it and some other sore-handed lackey had to get it all down on page; many, many, many pages. That’s the division of labour for you. Besides, Smith doesn’t write/dictate like PJ O’Rourke. And frequently, only the great O’Rourke, who sadly left us two years ago this week,…

Rachel Clarke was one of the doctors we all clapped for and celebrated during lockdown. One of those NHS heroes whose praises were sung by ex-prime minister Boris Johnson and former health secretary Matt Hancock. One of the doctors who cared for people dying from Covid-19 on overcrowded wards while wearing inadequate PPE, fearing for their lives and despairing at the lack of political leadership. “I don’t know anybody in the NHS who worked with Covid patients who isn’t today deeply scarred and traumatised by the experience,” Clarke says. “People are not talking about it very much. Because in a way everyone’s in the same boat and you don’t want to moan about your own experience. “I have conversations with people who start to cry within moments of reflecting on…

KIDS BOOK REVIEWS From little things... The kids have a few days off school at half term, which is the perfect time to begin training them to become a doctor, architect or wildlife advocate. The Little Experts series from Red Shed sees a well-known expert give an introduction to their specialist area. Each is beautifully illustrated and aimed at children aged six to nine, but equally educational for any adults reading along too. Last year we had James May on marvellous vehicles, Dr Ronx exploring the human body and Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden explaining how money shapes the world we live in. This month a new set arrives. Big Issue Ambassador George Clarke provides, in How to Build a Home, a blueprint on how dwellings are designed and built…

On 7 October 2023, Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip killed 1,139 Israelis in a devastating surprise attack. About 240 others were seized as captives. It was the start of a deadly, ongoing conflict in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and millions displaced. As news of that attack filtered through, director Michael Winterbottom was in London. It was just hours before the premiere of his new film Shoshana, set among the violent birth of the nation of Israel. The film’s themes had just become appallingly relevant once more. “It was a terrible coincidence,” says Winterbottom. “We had Israeli actors with us as the news was unfolding. In the context of what’s happening now, it’s even more important to see a story like the story of Shoshana…

BIG ISSUE RECIPE COLLECTION Best of bread Sparked by an idea from Big Issue vendor Paul Logan and launched by TV chef and food campaigner Jamie Oliver, we recently introduced The Big Issue Recipe Collection, to share recipes that can help stretch ever-tightening budgets Deb Ratcliffe got in touch with us. She said: “I get my Big Issue usually at the Banchory Tesco. I am a retired food and travel writer. For me food has to be practical: easy to prepare, looks good, tastes good and does you good – without breaking the piggy bank! Nothing beats a good basic recipe that can be used in different ways. A basic cake mix, a basic sauce or stock. Once the basics have been mastered then the permutations are endless. “Flatbreads tick…