Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-01-19 i The Big Issue

01 DISCOVER Modzines: Fanzine Culture from the Mod Revival They were the mods, they were the mods, they were, they were, they were the mods. This new original book by Acid Jazz label owner Eddie Piller and Steve Rowland documents the fast-living world of fanzines during the Mod revival years, 1978-84. Underground titles such as Direction Reaction Creation, Extraordinary Sensations, Roadrunner and 48 Thrills sold tens of thousands of copies by helping young music fans bypass the disinterested mainstream media and get straight to the bands they loved, from The Jam to The Lambrettas and Secret Affair. February 7, £16.99, Omnibus Press 02 LOOK TO THE OMENS Groundhog Day An arbitrary and fundamentally meaningless test inspires a terrifying spiral of grinding repetition that feels like it will last forever. But…

I’m afraid to say that this is the first copy I have ever bought. Every week I think I’m being a ‘good person’ by saying hello and chatting to the vendor and then walking on by (as many people in my town either ignore or are rude to him). This week I went back and bought the magazine. It was a great read and I loved the lead story [Top 100 Changemakers, January 14-20] and the section profiling the vendors. I will absolutely be buying copies from now on. The content is great and its impact is inspiring. I should have done this a long time ago! Jen Clarke, email…

– EXCLUSIVE We filmed The Specials when they revisited the landmarks of the Ghost Town video. To watch, follow this 5-step guide to augmented reality and scan this page STEP 1: If you’re using an iPhone or iPad, go to the App Store. If you’re on an Android device, go to the Google Play app Step 2: Search for ‘genARate’ Step 3: Download the app to your device Step 4: Open the genARate app, click ‘Start to Scan’ and hold your device’s camera over the pages where you see the logo Step 5: Once your device’s camera has recognised the page, our exclusive content will appear. Job done.…

CONNECTION (SELF-PORTRAIT) BY CHRISTIE CASSISA “I saw the light of a sunset coming in my bathroom window in a way I had never seen before,” says Cassisa of her latest painting, a self-portrait.“I wanted to capture the light in a painting, and could only think to use myself as a model to paint.” Cassisa, a frequent Street Art contributor, recently sold one of her original artworks thanks to The Big Issue. “A lady had seen my painting In Memoriam in the magazine and now has it hanging on her wall,” says Cassisa, who came from an abusive childhood, and as an adult has struggled with depression, alcohol and drug problems, as well as homelessness. “I really enjoy sharing my work with The Big Issue,” she says. “I have met some…

01 Kassandra by Christa Wolf My brother gave me this in 1990, for my 17th birthday. Wolf was considered a challenging author in East Germany. Her books were usually only obtainable under the counter. I came to appreciate this exceptional writer’s preoccupation with conflicts – social or personal – which are central to her complex literature. 02 Sculpting in Time by Andrei Tarkovsky Germany’s reunification was a culturally intense period for me. I saw my first film by the great Russian filmmaker Tarkovsky, and was deeply impressed by his powerful cinematography and metaphysical themes, which he examines in this book 03 Le bateau ivre (The Drunken Boat) by Arthur Rimbaud In 1992, during a year-long stay in France, I discovered this poem. This symbolist work encapsulates lyrically Rimbaud’s theory of…

The heroine of Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a lot of things. She’s rude. She’s difficult. She’s a middle-aged cat lady. She is almost certainly an alcoholic. She definitely has a personality ill-suited to office life (the film opens with her being fired for telling her supervisor to “fuck off” while drinking whisky at her desk). One thing she’s not is likeable – which is initially jarring, because likeability is a character trait shared by 99 per cent of female protagonists in movies. She is the real-life writer-turned-forger Lee Israel – played beautifully here by Melissa McCarthy, abetted by Richard E Grant in a glorious Withnail-y supporting role. McCarthy is best known for comedies like The Heat and Bridesmaids. Can You Ever Forgive Me? is not a comedy, but…

A hand up, not a handout... Our sellers BUY every copy of the magazine for £1.25 and sell it for £2.50. 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. Poverty is indiscriminate… That is why we provide ANYONE whose life is blighted by poverty with the opportunity to earn a LEGITIMATE income. The right to citizenship… The Big Issue Foundation, our charitable arm, helps sellers tackle social and financial exclusion. Prevention… Big Issue Invest offers backing and investments to social enterprises, charities and businesses which deliver social value to communities.…

THIS WEEK WE ASKED YOU... Santander is closing 140 branches across the UK, citing “changes in how customers are choosing to carry out their banking.” Have you changed how you bank – and is it a choice if local branches are axed? I still use high street branch as I don’t feel that online banking is safe. I would rather talk to someone face to face. I am a vendor on the high street so no most of the staff. They always wish me luck selling the big issue. B a shame to lose that kind of service. @robinprice1975, Twitter I switched to @monzo The app works better than any major banks online platform, and the customer service is fantastic. I don’t have a mortgage, and other products such as…

Two causes have been overshadowed by Brexit. The housing crisis: The final report of Shelter’s commission, a Vision for social housing, says three million new social homes must be built in England over the next 20 years to solve the housing crisis caused by the failure of housing policy over the last 40 years. The government has said that providing fair social housing is a priority, but only has plans to build 250,000 homes overall by 2022. Shelter claims that 1.2 million homes are needed for younger families who cannot afford to buy and “face a lifetime in expensive and insecure private renting”; and another 1.3 million homes to house those in greatest need – including homeless people and those living with a disability. It is now recognised that the…

A social enterprise will be able to brush up an old Cornwall grammar school to transform it into a dental centre specifically designed for patients with special needs thanks to Big Issue Invest (BII). Our social investment arm has invested £1m into Smile Together CIC, an employee-owned social enterprise and Community Interest Company, to open at the Bodmin centre in spring 2019. The new centre will bring the only Bariatric Chair in Cornwall, o›fering dental care to those who have obesity, health or mobility issues as well as o›fering preventative support, education and treatment that will be free for kids. “BII is delighted to be able to support Smile Together on this community initiative,” said James Salmon, investment director at Big Issue Invest. “These ambitious plans to increase their own…

Buckminster Fuller was such a charmer to me as I grew up. An American inventor, futurist and architect, he was best known for popularising the geodesic dome, building these enormous geometrical structures that involved nothing more than LEGO-making skills in putting them together. Vast cathedrals of space that could house a concert for thousands, depending on how big you built the fecking thing. Walking passed a Notting Hill cul-de-sac (where the serial killer John Christie did his murdering) in the early hours one morning, I imagined a world transformed, a city full of Fuller’s domes. Large, temporary and capable of incorporating existing buildings, into which you could put dwellings to house hundreds of people. Light, vibrant and beautiful to look at, they could be transitional housing of a beautiful kind…

Every new year, millions of people across the former Soviet Union watch a flm about mass-produced public housing. The premise of Eldar Ryazanov’s Irony of Fate is that our hero, who has got phenomenally drunk on New Year’s Eve, has flown from Moscow to St Petersburg, gets in a cab and asks to be taken to 3 Builders Street. He arrives at a high-rise block in a housing estate exactly like his own, where he enters an identical flat, and then passes out on the identical sofa. Hilarity and romance ensues when he wakes up in a strange woman’s flat. The vast housing estates of the former USSR can look startlingly monolithic, an image of an all-powerful state. But the popularity of that film shows something else – that most…

In the early 1960s, the Green Book was a guide for black Americans travellers, listing hotels and restaurants that didn’t discriminate: “For a vacation without aggravation.” Based on real events, this movie tells the story of a macho Italian American driver-bodyguard working for a celebrated African-American musician on a tour of the Deep South. It’s a deeply mainstream film – think Driving Miss Daisy with the roles reversed. Watch it for two of America’s finest actors, Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. Green Book is in cinemas from February 1…

Without detracting in any way from the themes in Paul McNamee’s editorial [January 7-13], I would like to consider his use of the commonly heard phrase ‘until Brexit is resolved’. The present debate on our withdrawal terms are but a prelude to months and years of discussions on the terms of trade and services. Whether we leave or stay, other European issues will forever come along that need to be resolved by negotiation. Believing this is not going to happen when we are but 21 miles away from such a huge market with whom we will want to continue to have meaningful commercial ties is unrealistic. Differing Hard and Soft attitudes will thus continue to affect the outcomes. Keith Billinghurst, London…

The Queen should consider being more like Mark E Smith. That would take the Brexit debate in a fascinating new direction. Both were in the public mind last week. It was the first anniversary of the death of Smith, The Fall founder and centrifugal force, a crabby, irascible outsider of British music and culture. The Queen, less of an outsider, was laying it all out over Brexit. In a gentle, Queen-like manner. Find “common ground”, she said. Never lose sight of the bigger picture, she said. Have more respect for the other’s point of view. It’s worth listening to, of course, as she is the sovereign and we’re reminded a lot that sovereignty is at the heart of the Brexit mission. Also, given the European roots of her entire family…

Crystal Palace have led the Premier League in offering up their Selhurst Park ground to shelter rough sleepers throughout the winter – but have they opened the floodgates for other clubs to follow? The South London club announced they were teaming up with Croydon Council to create space for up to 10 rough sleepers per night as well as giving them hot food and access to washing facilities. Specialists from the council’s Gateway homelessness prevention service and Thames Reach support workers will also be on hand to offer medical and housing support. Crystal Palace chief executive Phil Alexander said of the link-up: “The club wants to be a force for good in the community and we are happy to do our bit to help those most in need.” There are…

This is the woman who helped change the face of Brexit. When the Supreme Court decided in 2017 that Article 50 should be triggered by parliament rather than royal prerogative – meaning MPs had to agree to starting the process – the victors had Julia Salasky’s online platform CrowdJustice to thank. So too when the Good Law Project won its European Court of Justice case – meaning the UK can unilaterally revoke Article 50, if the will of the people should shift and the nation feels like cancelling its departure from the EU. In a nutshell, CrowdJustice helps people fundraise legal fees and hold power to account. Salasky, 36, graduated in 2007 to qualify as a commercial lawyer at Linklaters, but caught her big break when she moved to work…

“If such a fantastic country and a strong partner like Great Britain want to try to go the way alone I don’t see the benefit. I can’t see it.” “We felt that young people, in particular, would connect with our guys because they must have been confused aǽter Brexit because, for me, a lot of the undertones of the voting on Brexit were racial undertones.” “For me, they (the Conservatives) have got another one ready to go in as prime minister and say, ‘We’re going to have another referendum’ so it’ll all be Remain this time round. It’s an absolute disgrace!” “The more l think about the deal May has put forward the more l think it has been deliberately designed to be voted down and then run the clock…

I’m a big fan of authors who take risks in their writing and can’t be pigeonholed. More and more these days it feels like the publishing industry wants authors to punt out versions of the same book over and over again, so it’s refreshing when an author bucks that trend. Such a writer is Janice Galloway. The Scottish author initially made a splash 30 years ago with her emotionally hard-hitting and linguistically experimental novel ›e Trick Is To Keep Breathing. Since then she’s written more novels, short story collections, poetry, opera libretti and more recently two terrific memoirs that pushed the boundary of what that form can do. Her latest book, Jellyfish, sees her returning to short stories with a call-to-arms about the much-maligned form, stating in her acknowledgements that…

There was a time when operas were restricted to stories of unrequited love, courtly romances and ancient mythology. Productions were sumptuous; surroundings lavish – with ticket prices to match. These shows still exist – and can be highly enjoyable – but there are many new works that demonstrate how the art form has modernised. Opera brings together literature, theatre, visual art, music and fashion, and, as each of these reflect their own particular cultural development, so productions act as a snapshot in time of our creative industries. Stage works are becoming increasingly ambitious as they reflect the complexities of the human condition, with innovative theatrical settings. Such is the case with Anthropocene, a new opera set in the frozen Arctic wastelands, where an expeditionary team of scientists trapped within the…

I’ve been watching this French drama called Call My Agent! It’s about talent agents working in the glitzy entertainment world in Paris. There have been shows about this line of work before, most notably HBO’s Entourage, which portrayed agents as ruthless, superficial, bullshitting stereotypes. That’s how most people probably imagine them. But because this show is French it paints a more three-dimensional and thoughtful picture of the creed. The protagonists agonise over the conflict between art and money on a daily basis. They share love/hate relationships with each other and their clients. There is sex and sleaze, of course, but the showbiz universe is generally portrayed as a more human place than we’re used to seeing it. But, from my experience, agents are very different depending…

A calm oasis off a busy main road near London Bridge, Native is the kind of restaurant that has trendy ceramics and a daily-changing menu with refined, elegant dishes like a pearl barley cracker with pickled corn or venison bao. But Native co-owners Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davis don’t run the restaurant like most. The tables are made out of recycled materials from the theatre industry; the coffee cups are made from waste coffee beans and other biomaterials like seaweed; that pearl barley cracker dish came about after a chef burnt the grains; and old menus printed on recycled paper can be spotted on tables, repurposed as taco holders. “I think it’s special for customers to have menus with the date printed on but we’re always thinking about ways to…

One woman went the extra mile and got me a pair of trainers I’m living with friends at the moment and it is better than being out on the streets but it can be difficult at times. When I go out at night to do my own thing then it can be quite limiting. I started selling The Big Issue after years spent as a pot washer. It was hard going, fast paced and the places that I was in were always busy all the time. That was the first job I could get after I left college – I’ve been living in Inverness all my life. I had studied cooking, bricklaying and metalwork at Inverness College but I left without getting my certificate. I have been selling the magazine…