Innholdsfortegnelse for 31-10-2016 i The Big Issue

WE BELIEVE in a hand up, not a handout... Which is why our sellers BUY every copy of the magazine for £1.25 and sell it for £2.50. WE BELIEVE in trade, not aid… Which is why we ask you to ALWAYS take your copy of the magazine. Our sellers are working and need your custom. WE BELIEVE poverty is indiscriminate… Which is why we provide ANYONE whose life is blighted by poverty with the opportunity to earn a LEGITIMATE income. WE BELIEVE in the right to citizenship… Which is why The Big Issue Foundation, our charitable arm, helps sellers tackle social and financial exclusion. WE BELIEVE in prevention… Which is why Big Issue Invest offers backing and investments to social enterprises, charities and businesses which deliver social value to communities.…

We need to tell young men it’s okay to have feelings. Stiff upper lip is nonsense. I cry. Not all the time, obviously. But every now and then, I bubble. At Old Trafford, when The Stone Roses’ This is The One is played, just before United run out – I’m off. When my children hit some new level of independence, I’m trying to stifle tears of pride and also a little sorrow that they’re never going to be little again. When I read a really great poem or hear a particular part in an incredible piece of music – the opening chords of Teenage Fanclub’s Ain’t That Enough, the final coda at the end of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms; when I see the bit on Free Willy when he finally…

In 1870 the Forfeiture Act was passed, imposing a ban on people in prison voting in national and local elections. In 2004 the European Court of Human Rights declared this to be a violation of human rights and bade the UK to lift the ban – something that successive governments have failed to do. In 2011 parliament debated the subject again, and sadly voted on a motion to keep the ban. A prison sentence is the punishment meted out by the courts, and I cannot see that it is right that punishment should be compounded by any further removal of rights. It seems to me that depriving an individual of the right to vote is vindictive, serves no purpose of deterrence or reform, and is counteractive to efforts to support…

“I’m trying to invent a philosophy of dismantling poverty, rather than keeping the poor comfortable” I am a solutionist. I am always seeking out solutions. And I don’t mean stuff that comes in bottles either. I mean problem-solving. I am an inventor. I am a failed inventor. Failed in the sense that most of the things I’ve invented turned out crap. When I was six I invented the tea-strainer, with my parents laughing at my ingenuity at inventing something that had already been invented. They did not though sign me up immediately for a course that would lead me to Cambridge University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Some years after the tea-strainer incident I invented the vertical take-off jet with the head of the gardening department at a Scottish…

HAIR WE GO! Depending on your age, Raymond Bessone, Vidal Sassoon or Nicky Clarke might be your idea of a celebrity hairdresser. Hair By Sam McKnight (November 2–March 12, Aldwych, London; somersethouse.org.uk) celebrates the hairdresser who, in many ways, defined the 1990s, working with some of the key supermodels and actresses of the decade (including Kate Moss and Tilda Swinton, both pictured above). The exhibition shows how his work both reacted to and defined the times. A different type of preening is at Memorial: A Tribute to Taxidermy (until May, Forest Hill, London; horniman. ac.uk), which looks at the history and the art involved in stuffing animals, curated by ethical taxidermist Jazmine Miles-Long. There’s plenty of art to choose from this week. Portrait Of The Artist (Nov 4–April 17,…

Theresa dismay Congratulations on 25 years of a publishing revolution. I occasionally buy The Big Issue and have many years’ experience of working and living in the mental health and housing field. It was interesting that your birthday tributes were led by Theresa May. She trotted out the usual complex issues line about causes of homelessness but conveniently failed to mention government policy as being a contributing factor. Mrs May continues to be at the heart of a political party and system which is rooted in the continuation of the vast economic and social inequalities being perpetuated forever. As Brexit has shown, separation is vital for her and her tribe’s survival. Perhaps you were giving her an opportunity to spin out the latest new homelessness initiatives in order for her…

A JUNGLE OUT THERE Politicians, charities and homelessness groups demanded the UK government take action after French authorities sent police with tear gas and tasers to attack children waiting outside the dismantled Jungle camp for buses to ferry them to shelters. They were told they’d be taken to shelters if they left the camp but a group of 50 were left to sleep rough after being kettled into an industrial estate by police in riot gear. AUSTERITY MODS Sleaford Mods are backing foodbanks, with collections for the Trussell Trust at their Manchester Musicians Against Homelessness gig last week. Fans can also donate by texting MODS15 £5 to 70070 or any amount they can spare. BAD RAP US rapper Ralo, who laughed as he filmed homeless people scrabbling to pick up…

We’d last seen Jon Bon Jovi 24 or so hours before at the ‘listening party’ for his new album at London’s Ivy Club – one of those joints that have their own name emblazoned on the crockery. Now we’re opposite him in the even more opulent Savoy Hotel. He’s wearing sunglasses indoors. We’re intimidated by the carpet, never mind the coiffed 19th-century lass gazing apathetically at us from the wall on which her portrait hangs. Yet, while we’re here to discuss that new record – This House is Not for Sale, the first since guitarist Richie Sambora left the band, Bon Jovi of course, and in the wake of drama with their record label – we are also set to talk about his charitable work; work that saw him presented…

Josquin des Prés is one of the most groundbreaking composers of the early Renaissance, and one of the most famous, too. Born around 1450 in modern-day Belgium (or possibly Northern France), he made his name working in the courts of Italy and France, singing and composing under the employment of some of the most powerful men of the time (including two popes). He mastered a new compositional style – polyphony – that involved the intertwining of several voices, all of equal melodic importance, often around a slow-moving tenor part. He did so with such skill and beauty copyists and publishers often claimed that music written by other composers was, in fact, by Josquin – they sold more copies that way. Josquin wrote both secular and sacred music, and is particularly…

Too much of the Brexit debate has been simplified to the lazy generalisation that being anti-EU equates with being a nationalist and right-winger. As Brendan O’Neill points out [Comment, October 24-30], many of the 17.4 million who voted to leave were not Ukippers and wished Britain to move away from what Tony Benn described as “the rich man’s club” of the EU. What influenced me to vote remain was that the people driving the leave campaign were part of a more divisive and inward- looking rich man’s club. If the leave campaign had been steered by a positive, progressive and more utopian vision of what Britain could become, then the 17.4 million could have been higher. As it is, the plea for a more democratic form of policymaking has been…

My love of owls seems to increase every year. The dashboard of my car is covered in owl stickers. I have all sorts of owls in all sorts of shapes and sizes. And I am actually deliberating whether to get a stuffed owl because that is the one thing I don’t have. I have seen a stuffed barn owl in the window of a shop but that is a whole new level. A proper, taxidermy owl. All my other owls are fake. Maybe I am only into fake owls? I have been a big owl fan since childhood. I have always found them to be unlike any other creature. They completely bewitch me. They are just the most stunningly beautiful creatures. You can’t beat the Eagle owl (below). I recently…

“I’ve got to stop being a compulsive helpaholic. You can’t help everybody in the world” I was 16 in November 1955, living in Canada. This was a time of Elvis Presley, rock ’n’ roll, circle skirts, penny loafers, formal school dances with strapless dresses – though I never went that far. In grade 12, it might surprise you to know, along with my partner Sally, I was our school’s entry in the Consumers’ Gas Miss Homemakers contest. We had to make a baked potato in a gas stove. And iron a shirt with a gas iron. We didn’t win but we got some very nice charm bracelets. One thing I would advise my younger self would be to take secretarial studies to learn touch-typing. I still can’t type. Careers advisers…

1. ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE Robin Hobb First of the Farseer Trilogy and the introduction to one of the best realised fantasy worlds I’ve ever read. These are the books that first convinced me to write a fantasy novel. 2. DAGGERSPELL Katharine Kerr The start of the epic Deverry series rooted in Celtic mythology and language. Another huge influence on my own writing. 3. THE BLADE ITSELF Joe Abercrombie My first introduction to Grimdark fantasy, this was such an eye-opener after years of two-dimensional heroic quests and evil villains. A special mention to Best Served Cold, too. The most unrepentantly grim revenge novel I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. 4. THE COPPER PROMISE Jen Williams The reverse of Grimdark, this book reminded me that fantasy could be fun. Wydrin, Frith and…

An unforgettable vision of beauty, power and corruption, Neon Demon stars Elle Fanning (Dakotas younger sister) as 16-year-old model Jesse, who’ll do anything to make it when she moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream. Soon working with top photographers and designers, her innocence and youth make her a target of vicious fellow models, who want revenge on her for stealing their limelight. Regarded by many to be Nicolas Winding Refn’s finest film to date, it blends dazzling cinematography with an extraordinary, pulsing synth score, and superb performances, including a scene-stealing cameo by Alessandro Nivola and an utterly unexpected appearance by Hollywood heart-throb Keanu Reeves of The Matrix fame. Out now on DVD, Blu-ray, Digital HD and video on demand (Cert 18, Icon Home Entertainment). We have five copies…