Innholdsfortegnelse for 12-10-20 i The Big Issue

VENDORS Restrictions on movement are changing week to week, area to area. Our staff are working closely with every vendor to make sure it is safe for them to be selling, and safe for customers to buy. We are providing masks and hand gel, and encouraging vendors to follow government guidelines on an ongoing basis. This is a tough time, so please if you can, support your local vendor by buying The Big Issue from them each week. PITCHES Towns and cities across the country are quieter than normal so our teams are moving vendors to pitches where they have the best chance of selling magazines, depending on local safety measures and circumstances. An ever-increasing number of vendors are offering contactless payments so they are not losing out as people…

Campaigners and doctors have teamed up to warn of a serious risk to life as homeless people face the double threat of winter and Covid-19. Crisis, St Mungo’s, the Royal College of Physicians and members of the government’s own SAGE advisory committee are among the 18 groups calling on ministers to move all rough sleepers into self-contained accommodation where the spread of coronavirus can be stemmed. The experts are concerned that cold weather will trigger a rise in people in communal night shelters, with councils no longer funded to move rough sleepers into hotels as they were at the beginning of lockdown – which saved 266 lives, according to University College London research. Crisis chief executive Jon Sparkes said the reality of what could happen this winter without government intervention…

We are in the midst of a global crisis, one that has clearly been exacerbated by, but long predates, the current pandemic. This crisis has many facets but overall is best seen as a crisis of care. This crisis is multilayered, ranging from a crisis in care homes, where so many frail and vulnerable people died; a crisis of the NHS, neglected so long by successive Tory governments; to a crisis of a society that for decades has encouraged us to care only for ourselves with scant regard for either the people or the environment around us. We are a group of academics and activists (Andreas Chatzidakis, Jamie Hakim, Jo Littler, Catherine Rottenberg and Lynne Segal) who, like many others, want to envision an alternative world that does not put…

How are things changing for those currently furloughed? Running for six months from November 1, the new Job Support Scheme will cover employees who work at least a third of their hours. Time worked will be paid in full by their employer. And for their remaining hours, the cost will be split three ways – a third paid by the government, capped at £697.92 per month, another third by the employer, and the final third is unpaid. This means staff will be earning less than they would working full-time, with the amount lost dependent on how many hours an employer can offer an employee. Businesses will still be expected to pay National Insurance and pension contributions. The new scheme applies to those on a company’s payroll on or before September…

TO MAKE YOU FEEL FEARLESS Piano Sonata in B minor by Franz Liszt This isn’t a typical piece that people wouldn’t necessarily know. But it’s really tonal, and melodic, and it’s easy to understand, because the language is easy to understand. It’s incredibly big boned. It has a very visceral feel about it that just goes right through you. If you want to feel as if you can climb a mountain, or take on any challenge, it’s a piece I would definitely recommend. TO MAKE YOU FEEL COMFORTED Dreamland by Alexis Ffrench I wrote Dreamland before all of this happened. But I wanted to write a body of work from which people could derive comfort and solace. That’s really what Dreamland is all about. It’s an…

You can tell something about the esteem in which authors are held by the price of their early first editions. Martin Amis’s are blindingly expensive for a living novelist – a signed first edition of his debut The Rachel Papers will set you back something like £400. His second and third books don’t come much cheaper. William Boyd’s first offering, A Good Man in Africa, can be had for around £100: still significantly steep, but conceivably a generous birthday present rather than a remortgage or an auctioned-off child. Amis and Boyd have been in the front rank of British literature for decades. Both have enjoyed gilded careers of largely unbroken success, and are now at the grandee stage. At 71, Amis says that Inside Story will be his last big…

I Am Greta In cinemas from October 16 Does the world need a documentary explaining who Greta Thunberg is? Her detractors – who tend to be old white males in suits – would say: of course not, this girl has already had far too much publicity. Even before the planet was plunged into a viral crisis that served as a reminder that countries do not exist in a vacuum, the solemn Swedish 15-year-old with Asperger’s had spent a high-profile year bluntly explaining how climate change would affect everyone, and her generation most of all. Pre-pandemic, it could sometimes feel like Thunberg and her trusty SKOLSTREJK FÖR KLIMATET (“School Strike For Climate”) cardboard sign were never off our screens as she went on a sort of Reprimand Roadshow around heads of…

Just as you should never go back to a lit firework, it’s usually best not to attempt rehashes of cultural classics. Which reunited band have ever been as good – or better – than the original version? Sex Pistols, The Stone Roses, Fleetwood Mac – let’s be honest, those longed-for reunions only served to remind us all of how fat and old we’d all got. Every Only Fools And Horses get-together, especially after they became millionaires, has been disappointing. 2017’s Twin Peaks season three was a mess. The Star Wars prequels were infuriating and the sequels weren’t much better. ‘Leave well alone’ should be the guidance for any creatives thinking of cashing in on their legacy. Bananarama are not the only exception to this rule. Cobra Kai, the Netflix series…

NEED HELP? Why not get together with other Big Issue readers on Twitter - @BigIssue Get the answers in next week's mag! Good luck 1. On which part of the body would you find the glabella? 2. Astraphobia is a fear of what? 3. Who won Best Director in two successive years at the Oscars in 2015 and 2016, and for which films? 4. Who did Princess Anne marry in 1973 and divorce in 1992? 5. Which video game franchise started in 2003 with a game based during World War 2? 6. Eric Burdon was the singer in which Sixties British chart-topping band? 7. Cavendish, Lady’s Finger and Manzano are types of which fruit? 8. Who wrote Gulliver’s Travels? 9. What was the name of the Alicia Keys/Jack White James…

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 can continue to do so now and in the future. 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.…

@ChitkwesuManetu An interesting article, right to buy and a lack of new-build council houses caused the huge waiting lists for social housing. @BenchleyRobert I heard Heseltine talk about this. He signed on to the policy aǽter he had sought assurances that something like 75 per cent of the money from council house sales would go back into social housing. It never happened. Thatcher screwed him over on her promise. And screwed the country over. Loren Tiernan Absolute disaster apart from the tenants who creamed o›f of the sell out! I’ve been on the housing list with a very large London borough for 3 years and 2 months. Rather than languishing in a horrific hostel filled with violence and drug abuse, I begged the council to put me in temporary accommodation…

This year our furry (and feathered and scaly) friends have become more important to us than ever. Through lockdown and beyond, we gained a fresh appreciation for the cats and dogs, or whatever animal it may have been, that comforted us when we were upset, found us when we felt lost, joined us on our government-sanctioned walks and brought fun and cheer when we needed it most. We frequently feature Big Issue vendors and the pets that are their most loyal companions (not to mention the legendary and much-missed Street Cat Bob), and we will do so again. But we also want to celebrate the hero pet in your life. In one of our bumper Christmas magazines we want to share stories from you and the animal that made a…

HOW IT WAS TOLD Tall, dark and handsome might be the traits that make you swipe right on Tinder. But red-blooded blokes with deep voices can also set pulses racing. The legions of admirers for actor Idris Elba, Vin Diesel and Barry White will attest to that. However, reports last week suggested that this could be a double-edged sword. Their voice can make them popular partners – perhaps too popular – with news stories last week suggesting that men with deep voices are more likely to be unfaithful. A study carried out by researchers at Southwest University in Chongqing, China, published in the Personality and Individual Differences journal, attracted plenty of admirers with widespread coverage. Sky News reported the story under the headline: “Men with deep voices ‘more likely to…

Step 1: Narrow down the jobs that fit you best • Focus on jobs that are doing well during the pandemic, for example, cleaning, care work or delivery work • Make a list of common job titles that you know you’d be a good fit for • Look at adverts and note down the key skills that employers are asking for Step 2: Identify your key selling points Having identified the jobs that fit you best and what employers are looking for, now it’s time to make a list of your key selling points. We’ve included some examples below. • Years of experience, most relevant experience, key skills (for example, computer literacy), key behaviours (for example, time management) and relevant qualifications • If you don’t have all the required experience,…

The rules are deceptively simple. Five comedians complete a set of bizarre challenges set by Taskmaster Greg Davies, overseen and adjudicated by his assistant, the show’s creator and writer, Alex Horne. The inventive ways the competitors tackle the tasks – or more often, the spectacular way they fail – generates more genuinely laugh out loud moments than any other TV show. Seeing someone’s plans succeed is fun, seeing them flop is funnier. “You see people panic,” Horne says, explaining the secret of the show. “They’re not always good, they’re not always bad, but they’re always one of the two.” When the first episode aired six years ago Horne knew he had a winning format. “Romesh [Ranganathan] and Tim [Key, poet, and Horne’s former flatmate] smashed a watermelon on the ground,…

Rainbow Reg Your Big Issue representative, Reg, who has a pitch on the High Street, Bangor, North Wales is the high street’s very own rainbow. He’s such a colourful character and always so cheerful. He’s always whistling and is a little hub and hive of activity. He is a lovely man and I asked if I could sketch him a few weeks ago. He said I could and insisted on standing on one leg while I did it, but he was also selling The Big Issue at the same time. While he was posing a lady ran up and stuck her dog’s lead in his hand while she popped into a shop. He was totally unfazed, calling hello to the people passing by while I was doing a quick sketch.…

Proposals to solve the UK’s housing crisis were met with a frosty reception from Westminster last week. The government hit back at our Ride Out Recession Alliance partner Shelter, insisting that they “did not recognise the figures” from the housing charity’s Build Your Way Out report. Shelter chief executive Polly Neate warned of a “thundercloud of homelessness breaking over us” without a £12.2bn investment to build 50,000 social homes over the next two years. Current “woefully inadequate” government investment means that there are only enough social homes for one in every 96 households on waiting lists, the report claimed. Analysis from the Local Government Association was met with an even more hostile response. The body said that communities would have missed out on nearly 30,000 affordable homes in the past…

If we are going to build back better after Covid-19 has been laid to rest, as suggested last week by the Prime Minister in his main virtual conference speech, he is going to have to address the banks. Banks, mostly owned by us for a period after the 2008 near-meltdown of the economy, are at the centre of a crisis that radiates out into the rest of society. It is the crisis of investment. It is the crisis of an inability to do very much with their monies to grow a healthy economy. What they are good at is helping the UK grow a very unhealthy economy. And that very unhealthiness is shown by the incredible amount of potential investment money that has gone into buying and selling property. The…

Britain’s job loss counter ticked grimly higher last week. Some 6,000 jobs are under threat as Cineworld closed its doors. Around 1,500 people are being laid o›f from the National Trust, plus another 900 at Manchester Airport group. And with news of tightening restrictions in the hospitality sector, many more jobs will follow. To add further uncertainty, the October 31 switch is looming when Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s furlough scheme ends and his Job Support Scheme kicks in. During the recent Tory party conference, Sunak unveiled Jets, a national retraining programme. It promises 13,500 extra “work coaches” to help those on Jobseeker’s Allowance move back into work. While it’s welcome, there is a caveat. It’s only available to those who’ve been out of work for at least three months. And there…

REPURPOSE THE HIGH STREET My vision is for every high street to have a locally sourced ‘reuse’ shop, with government support to initiate. We may see a return to local shopping but many high streets were already run-down pre-pandemic. We need a growth in reuse shops for everyone, as they tend to only open in wealthier suburbs. The features/benefits could be wide-ranging and address Covid-19, climate change and inequalities: • Providing employment and skills opportunities for sta›f • Delivering training to the public on sustainable topics such as bicycle maintenance and up-cycling – acting as a community hub • Selling a range of a›fordable, locally sourced products and giǽts (I appreciate subsidies would be needed), including fruit and vegetables • Many opportunities to reuse a range of packaging materials to…

“The artwork is a combination of my interests,” explains regular Street Art contributor Andrew, “a kind of basic Everyman combined with intricate doodley marks that I hope convey the complex nature of each human life. It is also a kind of psychological self-portrait. It describes the body and its relationship with the mind and the world.” Lockdown and all that has followed hasn’t affected Andrew too badly because, he says, he’s “fairly reclusive and solitary anyway”. “I have enjoyed the quiet, the empty streets and the considerate attitudes of people. I have found it rather lonely though, and miss the company of my friends.” 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.…

01 The First Bohemians by Vic Gatrell A dive into the lively, scandal-ridden world of William Hogarth: the decrepit alleys and coffee shops of 18th-century Covent Garden are where he observed life unfold in all its folly and joy. 02 My Art, My Life by Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo’s muralist husband was an outrageous raconteur. Among less plausible episodes in this florid yarn (masquerading as autobiography) are pre-schoolaged seduction and cannibalism. His four wives’ impressions of the great man are included at the end. 03 Gluck: Her Biography by Diana Souhami In 1895, Gluck was born Hannah Gluckstein to a wealthy Jewish family. As a young woman she rejected the trappings of gender and her name. Gluck had a successful early career, painting stars on stage at the Trocadero, portraits…

Rhianna Pratchett knows a thing or two about fantasy and escapism. One of the world’s leading writers for video games, the 43-year-old has carved an impressive CV, writing for heavy-hitters like BioShock Infinite and bringing memorable female protagonists to life like Nariko in Heavenly Sword and Faith in Mirror’s Edge – both mid to late-2000s cult classics. But her most indelible mark has undoubtedly been on Lara Croft. The 2013 Tomb Raider series reboot, and 2015 sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider, saw the first lady of gaming given a makeover with her humanity and vulnerability on show rather than the disproportionate pixelated boobs that had made her a Nineties icon. Pratchett exited the franchise in 2017 but her ideas can still be felt in Lara today, inspiring the 2018…

I was in the local paper and on the radio in September after one of my customers set up a GoFundMe page which raised £1,500 to help me pay rent in a new flat. I had chosen to leave my property because it became difficult to pay rent when I couldn’t sell the magazine. It was only fair that I left because I was two-and-a-half months behind and the landlord has bills to pay too. It was my choice to live in a tent too. I’m quite stressed at the moment while I’m sorting out a new flat and Teesside is going into lockdown again so that has made things harder on my pitch. It had been pretty slow to start with when I got back to selling the mag…