Innholdsfortegnelse for 2/19/2024 i The Big Issue

Every driver knows what it’s like to see the blues and twos – the flashing lights and sirens of an advancing police car – in your rear-view mirror as you quickly manoeuvre out of the way. Seeing it from the other side is as exhilarating as it is eye-opening, as I discovered when PC Damien ‘Damo’ Stevens, a driving trainer for Durham Constabulary, took me up to speeds of 90mph on a city ring road during Monday morning’s rush-hour. It certainly wasn’t a normal start to the week, but then my visit to the Meadowfield Police Training Centre in Durham, was some distance from a normal day. I was there to host a live programme as part of a month-long Policing the UK series on BBC Radio 5 Live, in…

At 16, I had one passion and that was football. For a lot of athletes, that is what separates us from our friends. Our focus, our drive, our sacrifice and also the luxury of knowing what we want to do. Getting there and doing it is the difficult part. But the plans were set out in my mind and I was putting that into practice in terms of work and discipline and not going to parties, not drinking all the time. If I had another hobby, I’d be taking focus from what I was trying to do. So there was no room for hobbies. My life was playing football every single minute of every single day. Even at family parties, I’d be there for two minutes with my football, then…

I was 10 years old when I discovered that my great-great aunt had been murdered. I can vividly remember the day: I was looking through my grandparents’ old photographs, when I came across a black-and-white image of a man and a woman, posing for a formal portrait in a photographer’s studio. It was a cabinet card, a photograph mounted on a piece of stiff cardboard in a manner that was popular in the late 19th century. “Who are these people?” I asked my grandmother. She pointed to the woman. “That’s Mary Jane Bennett, my mother’s half-sister.” My grandmother paused, before adding: “She was murdered just before my mother was born.” The man in the photograph was my great-great aunt’s husband. I would later learn that the image had been taken…

As each year passes, my idealistic, romantic younger self fades ever further into the background. I can no longer project depth and a great sense of humour onto some random good-looking man, like pinning the tail on the donkey. Young men mostly make me feel like I should be either making them a packed lunch or ironing their school trousers, and harmless random crushes have vanished into the ether. Now I have crossed the hormonal Rubicon, I feel like a very unglamorous version of Kristin Scott-Thomas in Fleabag, but rather than leaning against a bar drinking a Martini and being wise, I’m wearing Primark pyjamas and eating cheese balls from Morrisons. Maybe it’s because I can see clearly now the oestrogen has gone. Or maybe it’s because all that’s on…

HOMELESSNESS Councils need millions from the government to stave off bankruptcy – and it’s the rising cost of homelessness that’s at the heart of it Two English councils have made an urgent plea to the UK government for millions of pounds to stave off bankruptcy, marking a milestone in the housing crisis and the battle facing local authorities to stay afloat. Both Eastbourne and Medway councils asked ministers for exceptional financial support earlier this month and, for the first time, homelessness was the main reason. The number of households living in temporary accommodation is at a record high in England, at more than 105,000 living in B&Bs and other emergency accommodation. English councils are collectively spending £1.7bn a year to cover the cost and that figure is only going up…

The demise of The Body Shop throws up various emotions for me as I was a product of the ‘peppermint foot lotion revolution’, as I called it. Meaning I was blessed in my efforts and endeavours by the business that Anita Roddick started with her husband Gordon in the mid-1970s. Starting with one shop in Brighton next to an undertaker (who, perhaps understandably, objected to the name Anita chose), the business grew worldwide over the next decade. The business grew because of its zany products – marmalade shampoo, peppermint foot lotion, coconut body butter – and a wild disregard for the usual attitudes of business towards the planet. Fair trade, no animal testing, environmental concerns, all combined to make Anita and Gordon’s business credentials seem more suited to a modern,…

HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION There are many ways to fight homelessness but, in one small gym in Sheffield, mixed martial arts are the unique weapon of choice. MMA might conjure up images of UFC and cage matches but a small project led by Sheffield Hallam University researcher Mark Hollett is using the sport to battle drug and alcohol addiction, help people kick on in employment and education and prevent homelessness. The one-hour-a-week class at Sheffield Shootfighters Mixed Martial Arts Club works with national services including Shelter and the NHS, as well as local groups Mind Body Connect (MBC), Nomad, Depaul and Project 6 to help people use martial arts to change their lives. For some, the one-of-a-kind project has been a lifeline. ‘When you help a homeless person, they can excel’ Chris…

CLASSICAL Here’s one we played earlier ‘That was without microphones?’ a friend asked in amazement during the interval of a recent concert, expressing incredulity that the singers were unamplified. It sometimes surprises people that opera, like most (but not all) classical music is performed acoustically. It’s one of several identifiable features and the reason why concert halls and opera houses are carefully designed to ensure acoustics are appropriate for the genre. Sitting in on a dress rehearsal can be illuminating: soloists will often perform at ‘half volume’ to save resources for the actual performance. Conductors and musicians dedicate their lives to listening to balance and responding accordingly, taking into account the intricacies of the venue. So when an ensemble opts for electronic assistance, it’s often as a last resort. When…

BRIGITTA CLAUDIA, 32 I started selling The Big Issue because I was trying to get a job and nothing would come through for me. A friend referred me. I’ve been selling the magazine for more than six years. I’ve been outside M&S on Argyle Street for around two years. I used to be in front of TJ Hughes nearby until it closed down. I like selling The Big Issue, of course, if I did not like it I wouldn’t spend my time here. And I want to sell more magazines. I like it here because the people are friendly and kind. I have lots of customers who really love me and when I am not here for one day they call me: “Where have you been, Brigitta? What happened to…

Last week Paddy McGuinness was on Question Time talking about his father pulling out his own rotten teeth with a pair of pliers. This is not the start of a skit by Stewart Lee, but reality. You don’t get that chat on A Question of Sport. McGuinness was drawing focus to the increasingly impossible position some people find themselves in when they can’t get access to an NHS dentist. He went on to make a very good point about the volume of work and sometimes punitive pay scale NHS dentists faced when they try to see patients. His point was backed up by a dentist in the audience who wanted to do more but was hamstrung by contract obligations. McGuinness made a lot of sense. Within a few days there…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue The bark side Dogs are better behaved [Issue 1601, 5 February] and more intelligent than most governments. Jonathan Broadhurst Big Bird I read with a mixture of emotions John Bird’s letter in issue 1600 [29 January]. Joy because he is celebrating his 78th year and is still fit and well, humour/sadness in terms of his references to his relationship with his mother, anger at the magazine reporter criticising The Big Issue and humour in his use of words – “defenestrating that stuff takes a lifetime”. A very happy birthday to a great man and a real credit to the House of Lords. Nick Rodgers Dear John, Wishing you a very happy…

REVIEWS Keeping the freak flag flying The musician and author Luke Haines, formerly of The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder, is a self-proclaimed freak and proud. This, his fourth book, is his freak manifesto, a righteous celebration of gloriously weird cult rock’n’rollers who weren’t born to conform. Part memoir, part alternative history lesson, Freaks Out! revels in skewering received wisdom and classic rock narrative orthodoxy, the “middlebrow stranglehold of cultural mediocre thinking” that Haines loathes with every fibre of his pasty-faced being. Like all unabashedly opinionated curmudgeons with a sincere love of art and a healthy sense of acerbic humour, Haines is often right and often wrong, but he’s almost always entertaining. Key quote: “Rock’n’roll is a deadly serious business. It’s also very funny.” The book begins with a roll…

BIG ISSUE RECIPE COLLECTION A wallet-friendly winter warmer An idea from our vendor Paul Logan has kickstarted a collection of recipes designed to make budgets stretch further without compromising on taste. We asked readers to send in their own ideas, and this week it’s a lentil stew Rosy Hunt in Norwich sent us her recipe for this lentil dish, which is packed with healthy vegetables and uses a little Marmite for added depth of flavour. Lentils are a really good source of protein, yet are cheap to buy and particularly easy to prepare if you opt for tinned. Rosy told us: “This is a good budget recipe and is great with mashed potato. It can easily be made vegan without using dairy in the mash.” She also had this top…