Innholdsfortegnelse for 14-09-20 i The Big Issue

VENDORS: Not all vendors have been able to return to their pitches at once. Health issues mean some are shielding and areas of the country are subject to local lockdowns. We will continue to support vendors who need help until they can sell again. PPE: Safety is key, we do not want to risk any vendor or customer’s health. So we have provided ‘Welcome Back Packs’ for each vendor that include masks and alcohol hand gel. Vendors will also be given waterproof bags to safely store magazines. PITCHES: Some pitches may have moved, depending on local safety measures and circumstances. A large number of vendors will now be offering contactless payment, but they will continue to accept cash – there is no indication that handling cash or magazines will transmit…

Big Issue Changemaker and teenage nature enthusiast Dara McAnulty has become the youngest winner of a major literary award after scooping the prestigious Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing. A leading light of the conservation and climate movement at 16, the Northern Irish author starred on The Big Issue’s cover back in May, explaining how the natural world brought stability and solace to his world during lockdown. Now Dara’s debut book Diary of a Young Naturalist has seen him recognised with the Wainwright Prize at a virtual awards ceremony last week. The book is an extraordinary portrayal of his intense connection to the natural world alongside his perspective as an autistic teenager juggling exams, friendships and a life of campaigning. Responding to the historic win, Dara said: “It is an…

One of the more lamentable habits of political journalists is our tendency to invent jargon. This was at its most acute with Brexit – here you have the biggest single change to our trading relationships in half a century, communicated in an ever-growing thicket of buzzwords and neologisms, each more intimidating than the last. I realised at one point that if I took any time off – say, three days – I would come back to discover that a new Brexit word had been invented or added to the lexicon. Of course, political journalists aren’t the only trade to invent silly and impenetrable terms to make it easier to communicate to one another and harder for outsiders to understand – when I worked in the book trade I happily would…

Bill & Ted Face The Music In cinemas from September 16 The story so far. We learned in – checks calendar – 1991’s sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey that the characters of Ted Theodore Logan and William S ‘Bill’ Preston would save all of time and humanity. They’d do it by writing a song, a song that would bring everyone together in dark and difficult times. Much like the ending of the original Back To The Future, this meant a plot device that the filmmakers had no intention of returning to and exploring, with the Bill & Ted saga set to comprise just Bogus Journey and its forerunner, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Yet here we are. The talk of a third adventure for Bill & Ted didn’t spark…

HOW TO BAKE CARROT CAKE INGREDIENTS • 250g plain flour • 2 tsp baking powder • ½ tsp fine sea salt • 1½ tsp ground cinnamon • 295ml veg oil • 200g granulated sugar • 200g soft brown sugar • 4 large eggs • 300g grated carrot (5-6 medium carrots) • 100g chopped walnuts • 100g apricot jam ICING • 225g soft cream cheese • 140g icing sugar • 80ml double cream METHOD Heat oven to 180c. Grease 2x9in round cake tins and flour them so the bottom and sides are finely coated. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and sieve together into a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk oil and sugar until glossy, then add the egg one at a time whilst still whisking until smooth. Now add the dry ingredients a spoonful a time, folding in with a spatula or…

It is the time of critical moments. As the local lockdowns grow and Westminster and the devolved administrations wrestle new restrictions into being, the idea that we stand on the precipice of catastrophe is dangled again and again. Those critical moments blister and darken. It can be overwhelming. The shadow of the virus haunts. Will the live music and theatre industry find a way out? Andrew Lloyd Webber warned of a point of no return last week. It’s clear that many of the freelance workers in that industry fell between the cracks of the furlough system and are struggling terribly. What about grassroots sports? How can small clubs and organisations that rely on fundraising dinners and events to fund themselves carry on? Fixes are not straightforward. Soon, students will head…

In March 2020, the day after the UK lockdown was announced, I found myself separated from our prison community for the first time in 13 years. I was devastated and I felt for every prisoner who would now be facing long hours of lockdown separated from the routine of prison life as well as from family and friends. I had two options. To simply continue with my ‘day job’ from the comfort of home and turn a blind eye to this situation – or try to think of something which might, even in a small way, help. It became clear that when the history books are written of the UK lockdown there will be many voices missing. Prisoners were top of my list, but I also considered the impact that…

Hands. Face. Space. It’s the slogan the government hopes will help stem the rising tide of Covid-19 cases. As well as imposing new restrictions to limit the virus’s spread, ministers are making an urgent call for Brits to stay on top of thorough hand washing, use of face coverings and social distancing. But being able to follow the guidance is a privilege for many. The virus doesn’t last long in sunlight, scientists say, but it can linger on indoor surfaces for up to 24 hours. It puts those without the cash to afford cleaning products at a serious disadvantage, and makes access to them a more important public health issue than ever – just as the pandemic-driven recession takes the UK economy into its grip. More than three million people…

April 2018 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Dying Homeless project release the first-ever UK homeless death figures, reporting that 78 people died in winter 2017. October 2018 Updated numbers from the Bureau show 449 people have died since winter 2017, while the Office for National Statistics announce plans for official experimental statistics by end of the year. December 2018 The Bureau now counts 550 deaths in 2018, while the first landmark ONS statistics find 597 people have died in England and Wales in 2017. March 2019 The Bureau wrap up their 18-month project having counted 796 deaths. The Museum of Homelessness take over the Dying Homeless project and continue to run it to this day. October 2019 The latest ONS numbers show a 20 per cent rise, counting 726 homeless…

I got the bug for geology as a lad. My mum used to take my sister and me for days out on the Yorkshire coast, and we’d come home (to Dewsbury, West Yorkshire) with shoes full of sand and pockets full of fossils. The new fossils would go on the ‘museum shelf ’ (a bookcase from IKEA) in my bedroom next the rest of my collection: other fossils, bits of minerals, and lumps of stone. I was not alone in this fascination with geological odds and sods: my mates had rock collections too. Even in today’s world where the minds of the young can appear all-consumed by iPads and gaming consoles, rock collections are still commonplace among the younger generation. Even really young kids love nothing more than turning pebbles…

“I’m just heartbroken for James. Street Cat Bob had such a special spirit.” Luke Treadaway is an Olivier Award-winning actor with an interesting and varied career under his belt already. But to many Big Issue readers, the 36-year-old will always be known for one special performance, playing James Bowen in the film adaptation of A Street Cat Named Bob. The actor spent many hours with James and Bob while making the film. The trio became great friends with Bob, who played himself in the film and died earlier this summer, spending hours on Treadaway’s shoulder. “You don’t see that kind of close relationship very often – whether it is between two humans or a human and an animal. And beautiful Bob played such a massive part in helping James to…

Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown has had a significant impact on us all, with reports showing that there have been dramatic increases in loneliness, anxiety, and depression. But one thing that gives me hope is the sight of new runners along my regular run route. I know that if they stick with it, they will have something that gives back more than they put in, which is a rare thing. The Running Charity delivers running and personal development programmes to young people affected by homelessness. Since our first-ever programme in 2012 we have championed and gathered the evidence of the positive impact exercise can have on the mental wellbeing of our participants. Now, I’ll be honest, running is not a silver bullet to all our mental health challenges. But time…

A hand up... Our sellers BUY the magazine for £1.50 and sell it for £3, keeping the difference. Not a handout… Vendors 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 to 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.…

The organisations that are coming together to make sure we look after those who need support. There’s still time to come on board. We need your voices in our Ride Out Recession Alliance The Big Issue is bringing together companies, charities and organisations to work towards the shared goals of preventing homelessness and protecting jobs in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unilever, Shelter and Nationwide Foundation are just some of the heavy-hitters backing our campaign. But we need your support too. Tell us YOUR stories and ideas at rora@bigissue.com now. If you tell us the problem, we can help fix it. The time is now. bigissue.com/rora…

Selfless Big Issue vendor Gary Phillips left his rented bedsit voluntarily during the Covid-19 pandemic to live in a tent because he was worried about the impact his rent arrears would have on his landlord’s finances. During the lockdown between March and July, The Big Issue supported 1,665 vendors with more than £500,000 in food vouchers, meter top-ups and other help while we were forced to halt street sales to protect vendors. Due to the generosity of readers and contributors we were able to help Gary by passing on shopping vouchers and cash payments regularly until his return to the streets on July 6 – but this wasn’t enough. The 45-year-old chose to leave the rented property in early July, his home for 14 months, after falling two-and-a-half months behind…

I went to a small cathedral town to draw the cathedral recently, but couldn’t get anywhere near it. The small city was a teeming mass of small cafés, restaurants, visitors, and street drinkers begging. It is in fact a closely knit medieval town and had all of the picturesque alleys and cobbled streets, but filled with countless drinking and eating places. A few bookshops to break up the monotony. Charity shops abounded. And the cathedral was closed unless you’d managed to get a ticket by booking online. I did not see much social distancing, although I did my best to keep away from people. Masks worn in shops seemed to be the only sign of the government’s commands to stop spreading the virus. Then I read in the Sunday paper…

01 The Dirty War by Martin Dillon By its very nature the work of undercover operatives is shrouded in secrecy, and during the Troubles the UK security forces were experts in covert operations designed to take down, recruit and monitor NI paramilitary groups. Some of these operations became public knowledge, but the vast majority remained cloaked in the fog of war. This book lifts the lid and sheds a little light in the darkness. 02 Paddy Mayne: Lt Col Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, 1 SAS Regiment by Hamish Ross A complex and troubled soul, Paddy Mayne’s personal life has long been an enigma. This packed biography goes some way in separating fact from fiction; a captivating account. 03 The Shankill Butchers by Martin Dillon A horrifying, disturbing account of some of…

I have been playing a Marxist game of Where’s Wally? for the last week. Where is Karl? I was promised he was all over the BBC. Articles in the press told us that the BBC schedule was laden with a communist manifesto scantily disguised as comedy. Some columnists, such as Allison Pearson, insisted that the BBC also has a “distaste for the indigenous” and has “the reflex sense that anything non-British or, better still, anti-British” is best. I know it can be tough for a journalist to investigate a big story, but all Allison needed to do was buy a copy of the Radio Times. Sadly, this was a foxhole too far. On the day I read her article, I checked the TV schedules – Escape to the Country, Antiques…

01 We are all still dealing with the impact of Covid-19 so keep a safe distance from others, be aware of your surroundings and be prepared for your run to be disrupted by other less conscientious people. 02 Think about safety, especially if you are running at night. Make sure your route is well lit and public, bring a phone and let someone know you are going for a run. 03 Find your ‘why’. If you’re running alone, sometimes the hardest thing is finding the motivation to get out there when you are tired or have other things to do. But you never regret a run when you have finished. 04 Try not to feel self-conscious as we are all on a personal journey and every runner started where you…