Innholdsfortegnelse for 04-03-19 i The Big Issue

At The Big Issue we never tire of banging on about the power of reading to improve lives. We have lobbied for better literacy across Britain. We have called for libraries to be kept open. We believe closing school libraries is an act of short-term cultural vandalism and cuts off a path to social mobility. If access is closed, how can opportunity be found? We have called for independent bookshops to be allowed the same sort of tax freedoms that Amazon enjoys. We believe this would offer societal benefits and a way to help high streets thrive. We will sound the battlecry whenever we get the chance. We carry book reviews every week. We invite people from across the spectrum to provide guides and reading lists. And this week we…

Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin – the roll call of great crime writers is long. But the biggest names and the biggest reputations are about to be joined by a new star – YOU! This week we launch the search for Britain’s undiscovered crime writer. Working with Avon, part of the HarperCollins publishing house, we’re offering a two-book deal to the author who is made of the WRITE stuff, but just hasn’t had the break yet. Your book may be complete, or close to complete. You might have the best new idea in the world, you just don’t know the people in the industry or whose door to knock. That’s where we come in. The time is now. “We’re delighted to announce the launch…

The Independent Bookshop Alliance hopes to secure the future of independent retailers by allowing them to collectively bargain with publishers and enjoy the same tax breaks accessed by the big brands. It is led by bookseller Simon Key, who ironically closed the doors of his own Big Green Bookshop in North London at the end of January. “In a bizarre way, not having a bricks and mortar independent bookshop will allow me time to devote to The Independent Bookshop Alliance!” he said. But for a country rightly proud of its literary heritage, the UK falls far behind other countries around the world when it comes to book buying. A survey of the number of bookshops in major cities found that London had only 4.3 bookshops per 100,000 population. Edinburgh, the…

World Book Day is the biggest celebration of reading for pleasure in the country. Every year millions of children and young people take part in schools, libraries and bookshops. Since 2017 special £1 World Book Day vouchers have been sent to prisons so that children visiting family members can take part in the celebration and ‘Share a Story’. In 2017, 13 prisons were involved – that grew to 35 last year, and this year all prisons in England and Wales will receive books so children and young people visiting on World Book Day on March 7 can take part. Feedback from visitor staff at HMP Pentonville from a previous year was positive: "It was fantastic”, “Out of this world”, “The children loved it, even I loved it”. David Kendall, who…

I Will Never See the World Again has a ring of the current trend for declamatory novel titles which sound like the fnal line of an epic poem. But this is no All the Light We Cannot See or This is How It Always Is. In the case of the distinguished Turkish author Ahmet Altan, his book title is shockingly, literally, true. Targeted in the purge which followed the failed 2016 coup in his country, 68-year-old dissident novelist Altan was sentenced to life in prison by the authoritarian Turkish government for sending out rebel-supporting ‘subliminal messages’ in a television debate. An open letter to President Erdoğan calling for his release, signed by over 50 Nobel laureates, has proved fruitless. I Will Never See the World Again is the memoir he…

Put off venturing on to social media until 9.45am on a Wednesday, this will give you time to listen to Timandra Harkness’s How to Disagree: A Beginner’s Guide to Having Better Arguments. Reason is currently out of fashion and people with actual, useful knowledge are being edged closer to the ducking stool as if expertise is witchcraft. There is a lot of lashing out followed by a shoring up of our positions, however fragile or preposterous they are. In each short and useful episode, Harkness talks to those who have to know how to argue effectively, whether they are scientists or negotiators. It all seems so obvious, but all the traits and positions discussed are so hastily lost in the desperation to be right. In Episode Two, she imagined a…

Set in immediate post-war Hamburg as Europe attempts to come together after six years of war, The Aftermath could not be more timely. Keira Knightley shines as Rachael Morgan, who arrives in Germany understandably full of hatred and distrust, but is forced to confront her preconceptions after she and her army officer husband (Jason Clarke) requisition the house of a thoughtful German architect and widower (Alexander Skarsgård). It’s a film about reconciliation after personal, political and actual conflict – something that sounds eerily prescient... The Big Issue: We see the Second World War a lot in film but it is always the fighting, never the reconciliation or… Keira Knightley: The aftermath? Exactly. That is what drew me to the role. I have done a number of films and I have…

The big-hearted issue I found this week’s issue [February 18-24] an inspiring read from beginning to end. Hattie Hassan has been paving the way for women in plumbing and construction despite many obstacles placed in her way. Jim Lynskey setting up save9lives.com to educate and inform about the chronic shortage of donors prompted me to discuss my signing the organ donation register with my family. Simon Gravell, featured on page 39, sold me my Big Issue without mentioning he was in it! Last but no means least in My Pitch Michael Hall shares his journey and how in selling The Big Issue he felt he had himself back. Sarah Ebelewicz, email Dolly interesting It’s good to see Barbie finally diversifying [The Big Picture, February 18-24], but Mattel’s tiny competitor Lammily…

We are saddened to announce that much-loved vendor Tony Lucas has died. The 52-year-old, who lost his life on February 25, had experienced a series of health-related complications following his collapse with an epileptic seizure on his pitch outside Tesco in Paignton, Devon. His family told The Big Issue that his fall resulted in a broken shoulder and punctured lung, and he underwent an eight-hour operation. On release from hospital he dramatically shed weight, suffering from diarrhoea and a wound that had not healed. A post-mortem has proved inconclusive and an investigation into Tony’s death is ongoing. His funeral will be held at 2.45pm on March 18 at Torquay Crematorium and relatives said that anyone is welcome to attend. Tony had moved to Paignton following the 2005 London 7/7 bombings…

Goldhawk Road in West London, above Hammersmith and below Latimer Road where the tragedy of Grenfell Tower took place, is a grim-looking street. I have known it for much of my life and was even banged up on this grim Goldhawk Road aged 13,14,15 and 16. It was a cage of a place with vast chain fencing seeming to go into the sky itself. It was difficult to get out of, and you were penned in because it was believed you might want to get out. My spirit drops when I go to Goldhawk Road, even though the politely named ‘Stamford House’, the pen, has gone. Incidentally, if you did escape from the pen you ended up in a plant-hire yard, emphasising that life went on without you. When I…

“My family only owned three books when I was growing up,” recalls Tim Waterstone, businessman, author and philanthropist, but perhaps most notably, founder of Europe’s biggest bookchain, Waterstones. “One was called Heroes of The Great War, which was an illustrated book about people who’d won medals and things. The other was an encyclopaedia sponsored by Pears soap. And the third was an illustrated copy of Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop. I still have that one. God knows how it’s survived all these years and all the moves.” By six Waterstone was reading confidently; “reading reading reading” as he puts it. By “10 or 11” he was helping out in his local bookshop, The Book Club, in his home village of Crowborough in East Sussex. “I’d get on my bike and…

BENEATH THE SURFACE BY MARY VALLELY Mary’s colourful, aquatic paintings are her way of helping to deal with her depression and a history of homelessness. She has been working as an artist in London for more than 10 years, selling and exhibiting via Café Art and Crisis. “My goal next year is to get a solo exhibition,” she says. Recently Mary has begun experimenting with a new craft. “I have started attending a knitting group at Recovery College,” she says. “The process is more methodical and regimented than my painting, but the discipline seems to be influencing my approach to that, and maybe it is also changing as I get older. I want my work to be cleaner, perhaps due to periods of ill health. I want to get healthier,…

01 Eloise Written by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hillary Knight Imagine being six and living on the ‘tippy-top floor’ of The Plaza hotel in New York! And having the run of the place! And having a “dog who looks like a cat”! Well, Eloise doesn’t have to imagine any of that. A feisty, eccentric, wild and unapologetic heroine who skitters across the pages in both the glorious words and pictures. Wonderfully bonkers. 02 Moominland Midwinter Written and illustrated by Tove Jansson I love all the Moomin books and each one is masterpiece, but this one has to be my most favourite. Beguiling, mysterious, beautifully illustrated and perfect for reading in bed. 03 The Jolly Postman By Janet and Allan Ahlberg A book designed for nosey people (of which I…

If we know anything about human nature, it is that love can blossom in the most unpromising places. A cruddy roll-on, roll-off ferry servicing a remote Swedish port might not seem like a promising hotbed of animal attraction despite the near-constant bump and grind of industrial clanking. But in the ambiguous Border, this cheerless, workaday setting – or at least the rickety customs declaration table passengers try to amble past casually as they disembark – is the launchpad for a cryptic romance, one fit for a Scandi fairytale. In her ill-fitting Tullverket uniform, Tina (Eva Melander) initially looks like a rather timid customs agent, a 40-year-old dogsbody with lifeless hair, crooked teeth and a regretfully prominent brow. Despite her drab appearance, Tina is extraordinarily good at her job, capable of…

While all eyes were on Trump’s former adviser Michael Cohen’s startling testimony against the president in Washington last week, a less glamorous – but much more serious – debate was being held elsewhere in America’s corridors of power. In the US, hotspots of measles outbreaks have sprung up in 10 states, concentrated in areas targeted by active anti-vaccination campaigns. The highly contagious respiratory disease, which causes high fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and itchy red rashes, was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. But last week the “significant” rise in cases was declared “a growing public health threat”. It comes as news that cases of measles, which had been declining steadily until 2016, increased globally last year by 50 per cent – and tripled in Europe –…

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.…

It was the hottest February on record – are you worried about global warming or just putting it down to a few freak days? We asked you to let us know if you’re breaking out the sunnies or opting for a placard... The nice weather is lovely, but very worrying. Katrina R Not brave enough to not wear my winter coat yet… In case it starts snowing crazy weather. I’m boiling. Jo D We are f*cked and Brexit is a sideshow comicbookvillain Absolutely placards and doing as much as I can! Rachel Ison Extinction Rebellion placards. Michelle Barnes Weather and climate are not the same thing. The distinction is important. John Gilligan No, just normal weather. Definitely a con. Joan Joburns The jetstream moved… happens from time to time. Global…

The Right to Rent scheme introduced by Theresa May is a vehicle for racism and xenophobia, a High Court judge has ruled. Under the ‘hostile environment’ initiative, landlords are responsible for checking tenants’ immigration status, and are told they could face a £3,000 fine if there is reasonable cause to believe they are letting a property to an illegal immigrant. But on March 1 Mr Justice Spencer ruled that the policy breaches human rights law, concluding that “the government’s own evaluation failed to consider discrimination on grounds of nationality at all, only on grounds of ethnicity”. He said the scheme does not just provide the opportunity for private landlords to discriminate against non-UK nationals and British ethnic minorities, but “causes them to do so where otherwise they would not”. Campaigners…

The Big Issue has long championed the power and value of reading. We understand how it opens doors and changes lives. The evidence is clear and overwhelming. In the last week, the annual What Kids Are Reading survey of more than a million schoolkids across Britain and Ireland said less than a quarter of schools were setting enough time aside for reading. This comes as it also found that 15 minutes of reading for pleasure helped accelerate development. World Book Day happens on March 7. It’s a great excuse to read. Dive in. I can’t remember a time before stories. I didn’t live with my mother until I was four. She became pregnant soon after coming to England and the stigma and lack of support for unmarried mothers in the…

WHAT’S ON A BOOKSELLER’S READING LIST? “I’ve been rediscovering books I read decades ago, often via my daughter, who is 24. I was at her flat the other day, and I picked up her copy of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath which I then couldn’t put down. What a brilliant book that is. I recently re-read Graham Greene’s The End of The Affair, which must have been the 10th time I’ve read it. I’m almost 80, I don’t know how much time I have left, but I’m really enjoying the comfort of revisiting stories I know, but that I can find new things in. What else do I like? I really rate Graham Swift. I think Waterland is a magnificent novel. Salman Rushdie of course. Midnight’s Children is a…

Why run a literature festival in a prison? Aren’t the majority of people in prison barely literate? There are some who need literacy support, but most are just not practised readers. I could see the need. Books and reading can give people headspace. A library orderly in HMP Wandsworth told me people ask for a book to “get their head straight”. If you can get the focus to read you can get the mental agility needed to negotiate prison life. You can’t fix people – people fix themselves – but the arts give people a chance to look at their own lives critically, and see other lives unlike their own. Prisons are sterile places – ideas go in circles. Bringing in new speakers refreshes people’s attitudes and thinking. Nowadays there…

How selfish are you? If you’re a woman, this question may give you an instant twinge of guilt, followed by a rush of defensiveness. If you’re a man, you might answer rationally. I just asked my husband and he said happily “Yeah, I am. So what?” (He’s not, particularly.) It’s a question I have been exploring, in fiction and in my life, ever since I left home. The roots of it must be in my birth family, where I saw my beloved mother stifle her own desire for a life of her own so her husband and three children could have theirs. She gave us all so much, but hers was not a life I wanted. I have just written a book, Blood, that’s narrated by a female character, Monica…

“They are savages with cash who care nothing about nobody, even each other,” commented manager Doc McGhee less-than-warmly of Mötley Crüe in the band’s 2001 autobiography The Dirt , the STDs’n’all book upon which a forthcoming Netflix biopic of the same name is based. The big-haired LA hellraisers shifted millions of records with their uniquely terrible glam metal, yet are remembered most of all for their legendary appetite for drugs, drink, sex and destruction, such as to endear them to few people whom they met in their pomp. Least of all those on the band’s payroll, it seems. As the premise for a film, it promises plenty of miscreant thrills, spills and scenes of a sexual nature – albeit a story essentially hollow at its core.…

From Dangerous Minds to Good Will Hunting, the story of an educator moving heaven and earth to help a pupil achieve their untapped potential has become a movie cliche. In The Kindergarten Teacher things get much murkier. In the title role, Maggie Gyllenhaal is bowled over by the fully formed poetry that spouts from one of her five-year-old charges. But when she tries to nurture his gift, is she doing it for young Jimmy or for herself? The Kindergarten Teacher is in cinemas from March 8…

Our guide this week: Mark, 56, was born in Adelaide, but has been living in Melbourne for a few years. He sells The Big Issue Australia in the Altona district. “Being a Big Issue vendor gives me something to do with my day,” he says. “It’s put some discipline and direction back in my life. It’s an honest way to make some extra cash.” 01 Why I like Melbourne There’s always something going on Melbourne is a well laid-out city with great sports, arts, cafes, restaurants and pubs. There is something happening all year. I don’t know about New York being the city that doesn’t sleep – this joint doesn’t sleep either. I like the attitude about the place. Melbournians are down to earth and have a sense of humour…