Innholdsfortegnelse for 23-04-20 i The Big Issue

A hand up... Proceeds from sales of this magazine are being used to tide over our vendors until they can get back to work on their pitches. Not a handout… In ordinary circumstances our vendors buy magazines for half the cover price and sell at full price, keeping the difference. They earn a legitimate income, and gain valuable social and employability skills. With your support now, we will continue to do so once the crisis has passed. 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.…

Parents know that there are times between the Joe Wicks wake-up and the end of the day when children in lockdown need something, ANYTHING, to keep them occupied. We have a solution – our quest to find Britain’s brightest and best young artists. It’s our Spring Cover Competition. Our traditional Christmas Cover Competition draws hundreds and hundreds of entries from across the country – and we think the time is right for our first-ever spring version. We’re seeking entries from artists of 12 years and under. The theme is HEROES, and it’s up to creative young minds to take that wherever they fancy. It could be based around the NHS, community champions delivering food parcels to those most in need or it could simply be their favourite superhero who is…

There is not even a bit of truth to them. The surge of unsubstantiated misinformation since the coronavirus pandemic took hold has been significant and all three claims can be counted among that number. Let’s take Prof Lieber’s case first. His arrest had absolutely nothing to do with the coronavirus at all. In fact, he was taken into custody for misleading federal authorities about funds that he allegedly received from Wuhan University of Technology (WUT). Prof Lieber had also found himself in trouble for his connections to a recruitment programme sponsored by the Chinese government. That has nothing to do with the coronavirus and that’s before you take into account that it has been soundly proven – as featured in a past Fact/Fiction – that Covid-19 was not manufactured. Instead,…

More than a month (and several million sourdough loaves) into the Covid-19 lockdown, problems remain. The impact of isolation is setting in for many and still frontline NHS workers wonder when they’ll receive the protective equipment they so desperately need. The effects are far-reaching: research by The Childhood Trust found that nearly half of London child poverty charities could be forced to close as a result of the coronavirus shutdown, meaning vital services could be lost before the summer, leaving disadvantaged young people without support. The Trust will soon campaign to protect these charities with matched fundraising but the months ahead are uncertain. However that isn’t dampening the determined spirit of Good Samaritans across the UK. Whether it’s raising cash for NHS charities or going out of their way to…

In his first, well received, satirical novel The House of Journalists, campaigner/reporter Tim Finch exploited his intimate knowledge of the refugee experience to create an insider’s fiction more illuminating than any of his justly admired factual accounts. I don’t know if he spent his years garnering plaudits for his work as director of the Refugee Council and senior political journalist at the BBC secretly nurturing a literary desire, but I’m grateful he found the time. Many contemporary British news journalists have ventured into novel territory, but while I enjoyed Kirsty Wark’s The House by the Loch and acknowledge that Frank Gardner’s thrillers are bestsellers, Finch been particularly successful in channeling his understanding of current affairs into fiction as successfully as any I can think of. With his second novel, Peace…

WE SUMMON THE DARKNESS Available on VOD now Any parents pestered into renting the recent animated sequel Trolls World Tour hopefully enjoyed the vocal cameo by Ozzy Osbourne as a literal rock troll. His leather-clad clan were basically the baddies, bullying all the other musical tribes into acknowledging the supremacy of heavy metal. Imagine a lot of fuzzy little fingers making adorable horned-hand salutes. In retro horror movie We Summon The Darkness the looming threat of hard rock is a little more intimidating. It is set in Indiana in the late Eighties, nominally the era of ‘Satanic panic’ where upstanding folk assumed that anyone who dug Black Sabbath was a devil worshipper. As we follow three grungy teens – sharp-tongued queen bee Alexis (Alexandra Daddario), daffy wild child Val (Maddie…

The call during isolation from numerous corners has been “educate yourself ”, read all of Proust, pick up James Joyce’s Ulysses and sculpt Michelangelo’s David from margarine and potato scraps. Many have been too busy attempting to educate their children instead as they try home schooling for the first time and start to get an insight into the teaching day. Finally, I am ready for a pub quiz question on the three plagues – bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic. I have also found numerous contemporary ways to discover the value of x. When I am not revising for Year 7 I have been catching up with BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking, whose most recent modules have covered deep time, belonging and knees. The necessity of making myself commit to morning sessions…

I’m a little obsessed by the story of the travellers trapped in the Indian railway station. It is incredible. Such was the abrupt immediacy of the national coronavirus lockdown in India, that a group of travellers were left stranded in the station in the city of Varanasi. India carries 23 million rail passengers a day. Imagine that whole surging essential life force just stopping. There are about 50 of these forsaken people, stuck in a deserted place since March 25, hundreds of miles from home, waiting for a train that will not come. Among them are children, a lawyer, labourers, students and pilgrims. It reads like the set-up for a Netflix binge-watch. But there is no resolution, no end of season pay-off. There they are, filling time in a waiting…

Lockdown hero and three-time Big Issue cover star Joe Wicks took time out from his busy fitness regime to sing the praises of our brand new app. Posting to millions of his social media followers he said: “Due to the coronavirus, vendors can no longer sell on the streets. They’ve come up with an exciting new way that you can support the business and to help the vendors survive this time.” He directed people to our new app available on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. You can find the latest news stories and updates from vendors, as well as being able to download digital versions of magazines. Since schools closed, Wicks has been hosting daily workout routines every Monday to Friday. Each attracts a global audience, hopping, lunging…

My dad didn’t have a voice. He lost it in some childhood accident. He squeaked and rasped his way through life, sounding at times like a loud whisper. I am convinced that it was this loss of voice that made him a lifelong lover of the voice. And that when Sunday morning came and peace was in the house he got out his Mario Lanza and Caruso records and played them happily. One of his all-time favourites was Arthur Tracy, commonly called “The Street Singer”. Pictures of him always showed him out entertaining street lollers as he sang and played his accordion, booming and public. Throughout my childhood we had street singers aplenty in the slums of Notting Hill. Slums and the street entertainer seemed to go together. The one-man-band…

Something that never changes for novelists is the requirement for long periods of silence to focus and write. In 2017, I was working on my novel Enter the Aardvark and decided to leave the US for a bit, in the hope of finding some quiet and clarity. I’d spent a year living in Prague, teaching English to Czech businessmen in northern Bohemia, and thought I might return to Eastern Europe. I found an interesting proposition online from a place called the Bridge Guard Foundation, in which applicants were invited to come to Slovakia to guard a bridge with their art. I was intrigued. The bridge is an immense 500-metre steel arch bridge called the Mária Valéria, joining the towns of Štúrovo, Slovakia and Esztergom, Hungary. An explosion destroyed one of…

With the UK Covid-19 lockdown now in place for several more weeks, the government last week highlighted mental health as a growing concern. At The Big Issue we are hearing from our vendors that they are especially missing chats with customers and being part of their communities. Our teams are working tirelessly to support them through this desperately lonely period, talking to them regularly and using the Emergency Fund to get essential and useful items to help them get through this extraordinarily tough time. Like all those with lung disease who are at added risk, one of our vendors with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is on the vulnerable person list in Nottingham and has to self-isolate for 12 weeks. Living alone in a high-rise flat, our team is making…

He updated Bond and created Alex Rider. Locked down, the celebrated author is playing piano and eating a lot of soup MY SOUNDTRACK This is where opera comes into its own. Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Bizet, Rossini (above) – I’m transported to another world. MY EXERCISE REGIME I walk my dog for an hour every day –as per government guidelines, though the dog would prefer to break the law and go for longer. We’re mainly following the Thames up and down: he’s puzzled by the eerie emptiness. MY COMFORT FOOD Who’s that woman sitting opposite me? Why! It’s my wife! How lovely to be enjoying home cooking – salmon, stir fries, lots of soup – in her company. MY BINGE-WORTHY BOXSETS I’m catching up with the BBC One crime show Giri/Haji…

any Big Issue vendors are associated as closely with their p iconic red tabard in the minds of their regular customers. On the street, animal companionship can be vital. A loyal company, and protection where little is afforded while sleepi is no judgement, no torn loyalties, just the unconditional love in short supply when you find yourselves on the fringes of soc But the pandemic has meant that Big Issue vendors are no safe to sell the magazine on the streets. We had to act before lockdown to help our vendors. Many of our vendors are in lockdown and are being help through it with the support of their pets. They are a constant in a world of uncertainty. That’s why so many homeless people rely on animals to get…

Just as so many of our vendors will tell you, cuddling a dog is good for your mental health. In fact, research shows that playing with an animal for just 10 minutes lowers our level of stress hormone cortisol. With so many people working from home for the foreseeable future and human contact restricted, it’s really no surprise that locked-down Brits have a growing interest in getting a pet. Dogs Trust had its busiest day ever last month with a 48 per cent spike in requests for pets to rehome, while The Kennel Club reported a 53 per cent rise in searches through its ‘find a puppy’ tool during February and March. But with rescue centres across the UK closed in response to Covid-19, it’s looking pretty tricky. The Kennel…

A London-based graffiti artist and photographer, Mango has been spray-painting on the underground scene for about 24 years, both in the UK and in Europe, initially ‘illegally’ but more recently with commissioned work. He submits his art to The Big Issue via London homeless charity the 240 Project. Mango says his skills include “crazy fades, wild-styles and cool characters”. He is also known for his gothic art and work as an MC and compere. The work on this page is created by people who are marginalised. Contact street.lights@bigissue.com to see your art here. To see more and buy prints: bigissueshop.com At least half of the profit goes to the artist.…

01 Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It by Gabriel Wyner Wyner teaches you how to retrain your ears and tongue to pronounce foreign sounds properly and connect them to imagery. This book is full of fun brain hacks to help you think in another language. 02 The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker This classic, award-winning book by one of the world’s most influential linguists contains everything you wanted to know about language in an accessible and entertaining way. 03 What Language Is (And What It Isn’t and What It Could Be) by John McWhorter A celebration of all languages, this engaging book explores how languages across the globe have evolved. It is full of amazing tidbits about the wonders…

The piano melody is slow and repetitive. The main theme comprises just a few notes, all from the middle register of the keyboard, the part of the instrument that is most resonant. There are no extreme dynamics or rhythms – just a gentle, even pulse. A musical heartbeat. It’s 1.27am and the piece has reached an electronic drone section. The extended phrases reflect earlier ideas; the development is subtle. Although, there may well have been a fantastic fugue somewhere along the way that I missed: at some point over the last two-and-a-half hours, I fell asleep. I don’t usually sleep through concerts – well, not intentionally, anyway. But then, I don’t usually review gigs while wearing my pyjamas and lying in bed. As the title of Max Richter’s epic eight-hour…

‘I’m the sort of character who never gives up’ Popular Cambridge vendor Lee Welham is well used to looking after other Big Issue sellers in his area. As well as selling the magazine on his Round Church pitch, Lee, 36, is also a franchisee, which means he is responsible for ensuring other vendors in Cambridge can buy magazines and keep their supplies topped up to meet demand in the busy city. In recent weeks, since the virus outbreak began, he and his fellow vendors have of course been unable to sell the magazine after being forced to temporarily abandon their street pitches for their own safety. But Lee has been ensuring that everyone is staying well during the coronavirus lockdown. He says: “I was really enjoying being a franchisee in…