Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2015 i The Big Issue

WE BELIEVE in a hand up, not a handout... Which is why our sellers BUY every copy of the magazine from us for £1.25 and sell it on to you for £2.50. In this way we have helped hundreds of thousands of people to take control of their lives over the past 23 years, and in the process created a global blueprint for social change. WE BELIEVE in trade, not aid... Which is why we ask that you ALWAYS take your copy of the magazine – it’s a bloody good read and 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…

We are all an accumulation of prejudices and received wisdoms. Like big balls of elastic bands, these grow pointlessly as we add new strands. There is comfort in this, though. It makes us feel better to build bogeymen or symbols that we can reward ourselves for disliking. For instance, the From The Web picture stories that sit at the bottom of a host of global websites. You know, the ones that act as clickbait – the woman with the head on a massive foot or 10 Celebrities Who Are Ageing Badly! I have no idea where they are generated or if they genuinely work. But I loathe them. And I feel better for my superior attitude. As bogeymen go, Michael Gove was convenient for a good period. For elements of…

You might be surprised that in a financially orientated world, where nearly every decision we make requires the use of a financial product or service, schools have only been required to teach personal finance in the curriculum since last September. Financial capability – the ability to understand these products and services, to use them confidently and choose which ones are appropriate – is a vital life skill. The impact of a lack of understanding and poor decision-making in these areas is all around us. Yet, despite the introduction of financial education into the curriculum, there remain concerns. Research from ifs University College in its Young Persons Money Index reveals 70 per cent of students leave school without having had a lesson on money management, with girls particularly vulnerable. Financial education…

I became a man very quickly when I was 16. My 15-year-old girlfriend Melinda got pregnant. All my aunties and uncles came to my house and had a big discussion about what should be done, while Linda and I sat in the corner all wrapped up in each other. And my mother noticed us and said, look, we’re all planning their lives, and they’re oblivious to what we’re saying over there. You can see these two kids are in love and they’ll get married when they’re old enough anyway. So what’s the point standing in their way? So as soon as Linda turned 16 we got married. We moved in to the back room of my mother-in-law’s house, everyone chipped in to help. And I had a job. So we…

Our Christmas cover champion Chris Riddell has kicked things off – now it’s over to, young, creative Britain. If you’re a parent, grandparent, teacher or budding artist, we want you to spread the word. Brighten up Christmas for Big Issue vendors – and readers across the nation. Anyone aged 13 or under (before the end of December 2015) is eligible to enter, and covers can take any form at all – as long as it’s festive! The winning entry will be the cover of The Big Issue published on December 7, one of our biggest-selling magazines of the year. We will also print every single entry we receive in that issue. Here are our previous winners’ entries (right), which were drawn by Dylan Allman, aged seven, in 2013, and Maya…

While many young people are leaving home to start a new life, young people like Cia and Matt are forced to spend lonely, dangerous nights sleeping rough on the streets. £15 could give a young person a hot meal, a warm, safe bed and someone to talk to. £50 could provide someone with clean clothes, a warm, safe bed and essential health checks. £100 could provide a warm, safe bed over Christmas plus the professional support these young people need to turn their lives around. Donate to Centrepoint today at centrepoint.org.uk/donate  or call us on 0800 138 3242…

THE LITTLE BOOK OF MINDFULNESS  Dr Patrizia Collard Mindfulness really does work, and this is the perfect guide to keeping balanced and gaining perspective in a frantic world. Learn to bring your attention to the present moment, intentionally and without judgement. THE STICK BOOK  Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield You have no idea how much fun you can have with a stick – which, brilliantly, also happen to be free. Jam-packed with fun, creative ideas, you’ll be desperate to get to your nearest forest. THE CLOUD SPOTTER’S GUIDE  Gavin Pretor-Pinney Look up from the virtual world and discover nature’s poetry right above you and see what amazing shapes you can spot. From the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society. HOW TO PLAY GUITAR: A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS Ben…

It looks like the latest attempt to launch a new Terminator trilogy has failed. Terminator: Genisys took more than $400m at the global box office but was slammed by audiences and critics. There were plans for a Lethal Weapon film reboot but now a TV series is on the way. It will pick up after the antics of the four films but neither Mel Gibson nor Danny Glover are likely to be involved. Kiefer Sutherland, meanwhile, is done and dusted with 24. He won’t be returning to play Jack Bauer in the next iteration of the series, he told the BBC. The big-screen take on video game series Assassin’s Creed will star Michael Fassbender and is set for release in December 2016. Yet more class has been added with the…

Off-track Pete Waterman’s trenchant views on rail nationalisation cannot go unchallenged [September 28–October 4]. The TOCs (Train Operating Companies) suck more money out of the government in subsidies than a nationalised or non-franchised service; the directly operated East Coast rail is a case in point. As for the TOCs investing in rolling stock, you only have to look at the state of decrepit coaches in northern England, for example. No rail system, private or nationalised, is ever going to be perfect. Railways should be seen as a social service – even those private branch lines preserved in aspic, found all over our land, with which Pete is of course very familiar. David Eldridge, Wallingford Pete Waterman’s recollection of the railways was quaint. As a member of the HS2 growth taskforce,…

ROBERT’S (BELATED) BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE Last week vendors graced the cover of our 24th birthday issue. But we left off a photo of one vendor – Robert Brownridge, who sells the magazine at Glasgow’ Central Station. Robert – we’re sorry, here’s your belated pic. And before anyone suspects us of London media bias, our editorial HQ is in Glasgow, which makes it even worse that we forgot you Robert! #BIGISSUE BIGJOURNEY If you spot an old Big Issue lying around Glasgow it might be on a BigJourney. We’re leaving special copies with QR codes so people can find out about us, our vendors and their life ‘journeys’. If you tweet a pic of your copy in an exotic place to @BigIssueScots you could win a year’s subscription. FRESH START Vendor Mark…

This week coming is a watershed week for me and the work I have been doing for 24 years in and around The Big Issue. In all the time I have been working away, successfully, unsuccessfully, happily, unhappily, usefully, unusefully, I have always been aware of the need to explain The Big Issue and its mechanism. I have always returned to the idea that it is “A hand up not a handout”. Meaning that The Big Issue is essentially a means by which people who sell are helping themselves. And that when the public buy it, they are allowing someone to help themselves. I have also been aware that Gordon Roddick’s and my motivation in the first instance was to give people a chance of making legal money. That is…

Suffragette tells the story of the movement that fought to win women the vote. The film is being hailed as a further triumph for equality – with a mostly female cast in an industry dominated by men. One of the only male actors in the film is Ben Whishaw, who is not just in Suffragette but every upcoming film and TV project worth watching. The 34-year-old stars opposite Colin Farrell in The Lobster. He appears with Jim Broadbent in the BBC’s eagerly anticipated espionage drama London Spy, then in Ron Howard’s Moby-Dick-inspired juggernaut In the Heart of the Sea, closely followed by Oscar-tipped The Danish Girl with Eddie Redmayne. And before all that there is a little British film called Spectre, featuring Whishaw’s second stint as a hipsteresque Q to…

Putative Pollocks and raring Rembrandts. Have your brushes, pencils and easels at the ready – for the 15th anniversary of The Big Draw. The month-long celebration was launched by Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell. Events range from talks in galleries and museums for people to learn about great art, to classes and workshops encouraging everyone to unleash their inner artist. Part of the planet’s largest drawing festival, The Big Draw aims to include more than 400,000 participants this year. Everyone can be a star – just upload your artworks to The Big Draw Gallery and show it to the world! And see p23 for more on how The Big Issue is involved. Until October 31 thebigdraw.org…

North v South is another British gangster film! It is fundamentally a gangster flick but what I really liked about the script is that it feels like a week in a life of a gangster. Just a typical week in the life of a gangster? It’s getting them at an apex in their gangster life. It’s also a love story. If people are not going to identify with pulling guns out at someone else, they might identify with that classic tale of love. It’s almost a Romeo and Juliet story. If it was Romeo and Juliet , which character from the play would your North v South character be? The nurse. She’s reluctant to play that…

World Cups come around with greater frequency than Joanna Newsom albums. The Nevada City harpist, keyboardist, vocalist and quite evidently perfectionist has spent five years making the follow-up to 2010’s Have One on Me. Upon listening to the glistening, mystifying Divers, you can appreciate what took so long. “The cause is Ozymandian, the map of Sapokanikan” goes the improbable opening rhyme to lead single Sapokanikan – a fluttering, fantastical song for piano, drums, brass and recorders. Packing in references to a Shelley sonnet, America’s lost Native American heritage and Titian paintings, it’s so conceptually dense it should come with footnotes. Inspired by Appalachian folk, epic poetry and the avant-garde, Newsom’s music has more in common with modern classical than almost anything else in the contemporary alt-folk sphere with which she…

Do you fancy a challenge? What about the chance to make some money, get VIP access to major sporting and cultural events, or free holidays abroad? How would you like to look in the mirror and say, “Yeah – I did it!” Well then, writing might be just up your street. People have some funny ideas about writing. As a profession, it’s not just for ‘special’ folk. Anyone can do it. If you love words, and stories, and you’re not afraid of hard work, that’s all you need. From Blog, To Book For the last 26 years The Writers Bureau has been helping new writers get started in the business. Writers like Louise Kennedy, who struck gold when she started blogging about her life on a boat from the viewpoint…

I’m writing to tell you about one of your vendors, Steven Stone (pictured). I first met him in February this year. I’d just started a new job and was feeling pretty glum about the whole thing. However, every morning I’d get a hearty “hello!” when I walked down Clink Street. This made all the difference in hard times. Eventually we got talking. Steven introduced me to the rest of his regulars – they range from bin men to bankers. I’m now part of the Clink Street club of which Mr Stone is the governor. It’s most welcoming and supporting. Willem Koopman, email…

I would describe Dream League Soccer as a bad iPad football game with poor gameplay and graphics from the mid-1990s. But other than my girlfriend, family and friends, I can honestly tell you it’s the most important thing in my life. This game was my psychological crutch during the process of writing Together. I would have baths lasting hours. The water would be cold and I would be five nil up against 80s All Stars. My girlfriend took me aside to lovingly say: “We need to talk about the game.” I have already played five games today and it is only 10.56am. Some statistics: I have played 1,021 games, of which I’ve won 1000, scoring 5,192 goals. You get Coins for victories, doing headers, scoring from outside the box. You…

Three ageing rockers are holding up big glasses of milk in a toast. There’s always something poignant about seeing how teen stars have aged but the Bay City Rollers really were angelic-faced teeny boppers, and I am stung by a feeling of something darker when I see the image all over news websites announcing their (partial) reunion. Pretending they only drank milk was the idea of their manager Tam Paton, who would have it on the table at news conferences. Paton is now regarded as the Jimmy Savile of Scotland for his predatory abuse of vulnerable young boys over decades. Though he served jail time for gross indecency, the scale of his abuse was never confronted. Only after he died in 2009 did it emerge that the NHS had strong…

“I think it’s a lovely idea,” says illustrator, cartoonist and recently appointed Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell about his involvement in The Big Issue’s Christmas Kids’ Cover Competition. “It’s engagement. I love that.” The term “engagement” is increasingly tarnished by faux-chummy social media marketing, generally meaning “looking at stuff on Facebook or Instagram” – but Riddell (inset) is reclaiming it. For him, art is the truest form of engagement, and is often children’s, long before they learn to read, first form of creative expression. As we get older, doubt about our artistic abilities can scare us away from the page. This is why Riddell is so fired up by the competition, as it allows parents to slipstream their children’s formative engagement with painting and drawing so as to reawaken their own…