Innholdsfortegnelse for November 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 since 1991, 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 to citizenship... Which…

I met Rick Clement for the first time in May. I was nervous. I’d spoken to him and we’d swapped texts but we hadn’t met face to face. Our paths crossed initially last November when we put him on the cover of The Big Issue to mark Remembrance Sunday. The cover photo of Rick, in his dress uniform, was taken by Bryan Adams. On first glance, it looks like a serving military man sitting down. And then you notice he has no legs. None at all. The image shocks. It is brutal and honest but there is a dignity to it. It speaks volumes about the sacrifices made by those who serve, and about the challenges so many face when they return home. On that night in May we were…

The government has threatened to impose a contract on junior doctors, whereby JDs could lose up to 30 per cent of their salary. They have huge debts accrued through training and will struggle to take this financial hit. They may also have to work more unsocial hours. Tired doctors risk burning out and making mistakes, so this is bad for them and us! JDs are emigrating to countries where pay and conditions are better – this contract will worsen staff shortages. The government misinformed the public that there are 11,000 avoidable deaths at weekends compared to midweek. This tactic has led to reports of patients avoiding seeking urgent treatment at weekends, which doctors have labelled the ‘Hunt effect’. There is already a seven-day NHS, doctors already work weekends, and there…

At 16 I was into music, the radio and Spurs. As I still am. I always loved radio. My mum was a studio manager in the 1950s and I always knew I wanted to work in radio. I remember when Radio 1 was launched and my dad said, we’ll never have that constant pop music playing in our house. I’ve often thought about that, especially when I started working there. I listened to Radio 1 all the time. I recorded shows like John Peel or the Top 40 onto a cassette, then I would edit out the bits I didn’t like with a razor blade and sticking tape. I felt pretty miserable at school. My dad was a head teacher and my mum was a teacher and we moved around…

PAGE 3 BY CHRIS B Chris, from London, has experienced periods of homelessness and mental illness. “I was bullied at work and lost my job and mental health,” he says. “I draw for hope and collective ideals. I adore the crowded energy of big city life but believe wealth should be distributed more fairly. I believe in social justice and tolerance for all cultures.” NEVER SAY NEVER BY PETE DENNIS Guilt is always with you Again & Again Suffering will be felt Again & Again Anxiety will engulf you Again & Again Life not worth living Again & Again Forgiveness to be taken Never Again The hurt will end Never say Never Calmness will prevail Never say Never Happiness will return Never say never Never say never Pete has struggled…

Arthur Martin-Leake Only three individuals have been awarded a double VC, with Surgeon Captain Arthur Martin-Leake the first in 1902 during the Boer War. He braved heavy fighting in Vlakfontein to treat two wounded soldiers who fell in open ground. He was shot three times as he tended them, during what he described as “murderous fire”. His second was during the First Battle of Ypres in 1914 where he again treated the fallen during periods of intense firing. Philip Neame Of the Shepherd Neame brewing family, he served in both world wars. Alongside the VC he was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order, Legion d’Honneur and both the French and Belgian versions of Croix de Guerre. He also won gold in the 1924 Paris Olympics for the Team Running Deer…

What our homeless young people really need when they come to Centrepoint: £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 3249…

1. RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA Kimberly McCreight A grieving mum attempts to understand the life and death of her teenage daughter, who seemingly committed suicide at an exclusive American prep school. A twisty tale featuring Facebook posts and texts. 2. A TASTE OF ASHES Tony Black DI Bob Valentine is at work in a new story by Irvine Welsh’s favourite British crime writer. Set in Ayr, it’s a whodunnit with a Scottish flavour – part of the Tartan Noir genre that includes Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. 3. GONE GIRL Gillian Flynn Actually a ‘has anything even been done in the first place?’ rather than a whodunnit. But plenty does happen as we learn about the dysfunctional relationship of Amy and Nick Dunne. The term ‘unreliable narrator’ could have been coined for…

Mad Max: Fury Road was hailed as a feminist powerhouse. Was this intentional? It wasn’t a conscious feminist thing. The basic idea was this would be continuous chase. The Five Wives, fleeing the Warlord, needed a road warrior. If that character was male, it’s a different story. She needed to be female. You see, I’m from a very male background – I had brothers but no sisters, I went to all-boys schools, I went to medical school when there weren’t many women studying medicine. But now I have a very strong daughter, a magnificent strong wife [Margaret Sixel] who edited the movie. I think that seeps into you subconsciously and ends up in your stories. Were you surprised by this reaction? No. These films are allegorical; they are…

Send answers, with SLOW WEST as the subject, to: competitions@bigissue.com or post to The Big Issue, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 1HW. Include your name and address. Closing date is November 10. Include OPT OUT if you don’t want to receive updates from The Big Issue. We will not pass on your details to any third party. For full T&Cs see bigissue.com. Love, death and the nature of civilisation are at the heart of writer/ director John Maclean’s stunning debut – the deconstructed Western Slow West. The film is visually stunning with outstanding performances. Michael Fassbender is outlaw Silas, guiding 16-year-old Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee) across the vastness of the American west in search of his sweetheart who has fled to the wilderlands. But others are searching for his lost love…

Know the score [Re: The Rant, October 19-25] The Paralympic Games contestants practised at Bath University when I was a gardener there and I was transfixed by the goalball matches. Exciting or what? All players wear eye masks so that they are all equally sight impaired. The audience has to be silent during play so the players can hear ‘clues’ about where the ball is coming from. This game should be in every school – especially for sighted kids. They would love it. They would appreciate how precious our senses of sight and hearing are. It would show how much the so-called ‘disabled’ can give to society. Here’s a question for sighted readers: who would you rather be with in a smoke-filled building? Answer – a totally blind person. Think…

FILL ‘EM UP We’ve received a great response to our Fill ‘Em Up campaign, launched last week. We think it’s scandalous that in parts of Britain there are TEN homes lying empty for every ONE homeless family. We’re calling for more support and funding for community-led projects, getting empty homes back into use, and most importantly we want your ideas and photos of empty buildings in your area. Plenty of you got in touch to back the campaign and offer suggestions. Katharine Hibbert, director of the property guardian company Dot Dot Dot (which gets short-term tenants into empty buildings), said the campaign was “good to see”. She tweeted: “Important that good work like #FillEmUp doesn’t distract from need to build more and get under-occupying owner-occupiers to downsize.” Laurence Goff, an…

Wanting to knock £4.4bn off of the welfare bill through cutting tax credits raises some tough questions. The one that strikes me immediately is that calling it tax credits, though that is the form it takes, belies the content. In fact, if it is anything it is a Business Employment Support Grant (BESG). Although it is awarded to workers, it is in essence a non-repayable subsidy to business. So what’s it doing in the welfare budget? Why is it masquerading as a part of support for people in need when it chiefly enables a business to have a cheaper workforce, without which profits could not be made by businesses big and small? Putting this into the welfare budget is another one of those inaccuracies that riddles the welfare budget. As…

When Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell launched The Big Issue’s Kids Christmas cover competition, his first piece of advice for youngsters entering it was: ‘“Don’t fear the blank page.” You can see his beautifully illustrated guide to drawing a brilliant cover at bigissue.com. And this week we ask our 2015 winner Maya, from Bristol, if she has some winning tips to share. “You should take your time,” she says. “I started drawing a couple of bits of my cover, then pictured it in my head and tried to draw what I wanted it to look like.” Maya’s mum, Shelina, says the whole family was so proud to see her design on the cover. “When it came out, we went into town after school so Maya could buy a copy. We couldn’t…

Tintin is one of the comic world’s best-loved characters, and the spirit of artistry, history and adventure captured by illustrator Hergé is celebrated in this new exhibition. Drawn from the archives of the Hergé Museum in Brussels, it takes fans into the world of both Hergé and Tintin (and Snowy). The exhibition coincides with the release of a book of the same name (Rizzoli, £35). TINTIN: Hergé’s Masterpiece, Somerset House, London, November 12–January 31; somersethouse.org.uk…

The sequel to the delightful Paddington is pressing ahead, and Paul King – director of the first film – is returning for Paddington 2. No news as to when to expect it yet but further sequels are planned. An English language remake of The Raid has hit a major roadblock, as the director of one of the two production companies involved has quit. Patrick Hughes, who helmed The Expendables 3, was expected to direct. There may be plans for a new Indiana Jones film but producer Frank Marshall has ruled out recasting the title role. “We’re not doing the Bond thing where we’re going to call someone else Indiana Jones,” he said. The Sherlock special, The Abominable Bride, will get a one-day-only cinema release, containing “exclusive content”. It’ll be screened…

The 16th century was the golden age of English music. In the work of Elizabethan composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd is a musical style so beautifully expressive, inventive and distinct that it is still considered the pinnacle of our national musical tradition. Their sweet harmonies and glorious counterpoint regularly resound around cathedrals and concert halls, a living testament to an exceptional cultural era. It wasn’t just during Elizabeth’s reign, though, that British choirs enjoyed a wealth of compositional riches. Cultural ravages perpetrated in the name of the Reformation meant few manuscripts witnessing England’s earlier musical heritage survive. Those that do, however, attest to a truly extraordinary choral style, little influenced by the continental currents of the time. The sumptuous music in the Eton Choirbook, a huge manuscript…

I have been touched by the generosity of a very kind vendor and I would love to publicly show my appreciation. One cold morning I was queuing for theatre tickets and a friendly man called Steve Johnson came over to talk to me and a few other people who were also waiting in the queue. I wasn’t feeling well that morning, which Steve noticed and said: “Give me 10 minutes.” Shortly after, Steve came back with a cup of tea, sugar, milk and a packet of paracetamol. Steve had woken up that cold morning on the street and had done so for many years. It was Steve who could have done with a hot drink but instead he used his money to buy one for me. I was really touched…

My cat obsession began as a kid. Animal rights was a big passion, I became vegetarian really young. When I first moved to London my flats were too small for pets. But I’ve been fostering cats for seven years. I’ve looked after more than 100 cats that are too ill, young, stressed or pregnant to be at the cattery. I take them for anything from a week to four months. It is the best rent-a-pet you can imagine! We just had six orphan kittens that were found in a box at five weeks old. They wreaked havoc, it was like the film Gremlins. My furniture is torn to shreds. But they were such beautiful creatures. Giving them back can be devastating but it gets easier. We had one fat ginger…

I know us meat-eaters are supposed to feel sheepish (no pun intended) about our culinary habits. But I don’t. Sorry. I’m a carnivore and proud. If I ever hear a sausage-dodger (vegetarian) ask how humans can eat other creatures, I always cite the great Homer Simpson: “If God didn’t want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?” Mmm. Meat. Whether it’s a red and rare steak or chicken covered in a buttermilk batter, meat is one of life’s great pleasures. Yes, the process by which a burger gets from a cow’s hide to our plates could be made more humane. But let’s not forget what’s great about meat-eating: it’s tasty, and it’s sociable. From the family that tucks into turkey together to the lovers who…

Five years ago an explosion virtually cut Rick Clement in half. This weekend, the former army sergeant will defy medical expectation and walk to lay a wreath at his hometown’s Remembrance service. In May 2010, Rick, then 30, stepped on a hidden Taliban bomb while on patrol in Afghanistan and had both legs blown off. He suffered debilitating internal injuries and, in the days after, had to be resuscitated from the brink of death twice. Doctors feared the Blackburn-born solider wouldn’t survive, and he was flown home to die with his family by his side. Somehow, Rick survived. Three weeks later he woke up in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Now, with incredible technological advancements and more than half a decade of gruelling, intense rehabilitation, Rick, now 35, will…

In March 1856, Queen Victoria’s War Office instructed London jeweller Hancocks to produce 106 Victoria Cross medals, made from two cannons captured from the Russians during the Seige of Sevastopol. They were cast from the bronze cascabels – the knob-handled lid at the rear end of the cannon, which are now kept under lock and key by the Ministry of Defence and still provide the metal for the medals. Founded in 1849 by Charles F Hancock, the royalty of Europe were regular customers. The company changed hands in 1992 but today remains the only maker of Victoria Crosses. According to The Times’ report on the first VC investiture in 1857, it was trial and error to perfect the design – the tough cannon metal broke the moulds, so they had…