Innholdsfortegnelse for 16-10-2017 i The Big Issue

Welcome to The Big Issue. This is VERY special edition. We welcome guest editorArmando Iannucci. Amongst the treats inside he has arranged for British legends Malcolm Tucker and Alan Partridge to have a chat. It’s quite something. He talks Trump with John Oliver. And Susan Calman from Strictly has an interesting story to tell on page 16. This issue is packed with amazing people. I’ve sold to a fair few celebrities myself over the years, like Jack Nicholson and Harry Hill. Read more about my story on page 54. WIN! THE CROWN PLUS ENGLISH HERITAGE FAMILY MEMBERSHIP TURN TO PAGE 52…

Words matter. Hugely, unquestionably. Bigly. See what I did there… This sounds like the most basic of ideas. But increasingly it feels like it is being forgotten, at least by those who have the ability to make it really count. The present level of political discourse is shocking. The flannel and empty rhetoric, the poor speeches, the meaningless doublespeak is at epidemic levels. Mhairi Black aside, I can’t remember the last time I heard a serious political speech with substance. I don’t just blame the leader of the free world for dragging things down. Though his obsession with 140 characters as a way of telling his truth has utterly changed how the land lies. I’m not expecting the Gettysburg Address from political leaders at every turn, but gimme something. At…

Last week I went to the Royal Academy exhibition on the studio of Henri Matisse. I know his work so well but there were surprises. A 1906-7 painting of his daughter (Marguerite) was so simple and childlike and beautiful that I kept going back through the crowded gallery to look at it again. Nothing to it. A child could do it; or so it seemed. Yet being like a child in its execution was the idea behind the painting and the career of this great artist. It’s difficult for me, now not living in London, to get to exhibitions; but the RA consistently produces major exhibitions, even if they are small like the Matisse. So going there is a must for my limited time. And I always like reminding myself…

“In the wet darkness we heard the murmurs, low rumbles of massed voices” Last month, I found myself wondering if it could ever be right to take a life, to end what appeared to be thousands of lives. It was after my annual reunion with two old college friends, at a newly opened hipster pie bar on the roof of a fashionable Dalston venue-cum-live-space, Pie In The Sky. Danni had betrayed her Marxist roots to become a one-woman libertarian think tank, The College of Controversy; her counter-intuitive pronouncements are much in demand on late-night newspaper front-page analysis shows, thirsty for the illusion of balance; she ‘comes round’ to Jacob Rees-Mogg; she accuses a golden retriever bitch, that fostered an orphaned badger, of ‘virtue signalling’. In the ’80s, Anna used to…

We help Big Issue vendors turn current issues into future opportunities. From housing and finances, to health and well-being, education, training and more; our door is always open and we are here to create change. If you want to make a BIG difference with a small donation, you could start with a pen and a pair of scissors. Thank you. The Big Issue Foundation addresses the fundamental issues attached to social and financial exclusion by working with individuals who have made the first step towards working themselves out of poverty through selling the magazine.…

Two very different novels to review this week, opposites in terms of place, time and style, but equally compelling. The first book is S n a r e by Lilja Sigurdardottir, an urgent and fraught modern thriller with a very human heart. The author is one of the rising stars of Iceland’s burgeoning crime fiction scene, and Snare is her third novel, but the first to be translated into English, excellently it has to be said by experienced translator Quentin Bates. The book is also the first of a Reykjavik Noir trilogy that have been selling like hot cakes in Sigurdardottir’s homeland and internationally, and the film rights have been snapped up by Hollywood. That last fact is no surprise when you read Snare. In spare, lucid prose, Sigurdardottir has…

Classical music is for everyone, including pop music snobs. Look, I know you think your teenage years coincided with the best popular music ever produced but listen, I was nine when The Beatles’ Love Me Do was released and 17 when they split up. I came of age with Tamla Motown and Dylan and the Stones and Dusty and Beefheart and Hendrix. Everyone seemed open to everything then. Nobody thought you were a ponce for getting into classical music even though, in hippie clothes and backcombed hair, you were definitely a ponce. Ah, but they were simpler times. In the musical playground, hierarchy was determined by a series of inferred fights. Fairport Convention kicked Pentangle’s arse. Peter Green knocked Clapton over, then sat on his chest. Aretha pissed all over…

Politicians took to the streets last week to get a taste of life as a Big Issue vendor. Welsh Assembly Communities and Children Secretary Carl Sargeant spent time on a pitch outside Costa on Queen Street in Cardiff, while AM Bethan Jenkins sold the magazine outside nearby Burger King. Sargeant said: “It was a real eye-opener for me. I’ve seen and heard about the work of The Big Issue for many years, but the actual experience of being a vendor for a very short time and recognising the difficulties they face on a daily basis was incredible.”…

The Big Issue has been a loud advocate for the huge benefits of literacy in prison for some time, and speakers at a Prison Reading Groups summit have come out as equally passionate about it. We called for a greater focus on reading and writing in February when we launched our #WhyBooksMatter campaign. And three years on from the low of then-justice secretary Chris Grayling’s disastrous attempt to ban books in prisons, the group has echoed calls for librarians to be ‘bloody, bold and resolute’ in promoting libraries to prisoners. The plea came as more than 120 people gathered at the University of Roehampton in a gathering to celebrate reading in prisons. Publishers, prison staff and ex-cons were in attendance to discuss the how books can form the backbone of…

If, as you read this, you feel that you disagree with me, then you can hit me, and I you In among my notebooks I jot down weird ideas that I may turn into projects (but frequently don’t). One idea reads: ‘A young woman looks in the mirror and sees she has the reflection of Ronnie Corbett.’ I’d worked this idea out to story length. At first, for our heroine, having Ronnie Corbett’s reflection is quite exciting, but soon leads to teasing, embarrassment and quiet despair. She will never see her true self again. In anger and confusion, she turns to crime. She carries out a series of highly prepared shop robberies where she knows the cameras are pointing at glass panels throwing up reflections. She gets away with it,…

As Armando Ianucci’s new film The Death of Stalin goes behind the scenes of the Soviet government, here’s an inside look at a building that sits across the river from the Kremlin. This painting depicting “gallants in the park” by François Flameng covers the ceiling of the dining room of the British Embassy in Moscow. The vast range of architectural styles and décor at British residencies across the world are displayed in a new book that takes us behind the closed doors of our outposts abroad. British Embassies: Their Diplomatic and Architectural History by James Stourton, photographs by Luke White (Frances Lincoln, £40) is out now…

1.DEATH OF A GLUTTON MC Beaton A lot of people think Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth books are cosies, but they’re incredibly bloodthirsty fun. This was the first one I read and I’ve been hooked ever since. 2. BLACK AND BLUE Ian Rankin The Rebus book that catapulted Rankin to bestseller status and rightfully so. This is where the series found its tone and voice, reaching into the Scottish psyche to resurrect Bible John. Dark and gripping. 3. THE MERMAIDS SINGING Val McDermid The book that introduced McDermid’s damaged clinical psychologist Tony Hill in an explosion of Inquisition-themed killings. Like Rankin’s Black and Blue, this is the one that made McDermid a household name and set the stage for a very successful series. 4. SAVAGE NIGHT Allan Guthrie This is a modern-day Jacobean…

HAYDN: The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross. Emerson String Quartet. Peerless playing and a timeless feel for this dark, dark beauty. BEETHOVEN: The String Quartets. Amadeus Quartet. Ballsy and definitive. You can track Ludwig’s entire life here, from lusty kid to deaf old madman, and rather wonderfully he just gets better and better. BARTOK: The Six String Quartets. Emerson String Quartet. The Emersons again, because they’re just that good. The shatteringly modern first of these quartets was written by Bartok in 1909. I dare you to believe it. BRITTEN: String Quartets 1-3. Endellion String Quartet. Old Miseryguts is back. Smaller band, same aching melancholy. There are loads of good Britten quartet CDs (Elias, Amadeus are great). but relatively few with all three…

Free entry to over 400 amazing historic places! Created by two-time Academy Award® nominee Peter Morgan, The Crown, starring Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, takes a sumptuous look at the early part of the Queen’s reign and the circumstances that lead to it, showing the 25-year-old newlywed faced with the daunting prospect of leading the world’s most famous monarchy while forging a relationship with legendary Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. The British Empire is in decline, the political world is in disarray, and a young woman takes the throne... a new era is dawning. To celebrate the launch of The Crown Season One on Blu-ray™, DVD and Platinum Edition Blu-ray™ and DVD, we’re giving you the chance to win an English Heritage Membership, giving you unlimited access to over…

Imagine, as part of a keen golfing family, your self-important household became so resentful at how your local golf club was being run that they insisted you cancel the family’s long-standing club membership. However, to enable you all to continue using the course’s facilities, your family demand that you pay expensive lawyers to engage in endless, excruciating talks with the club to negotiate a complex deal that, to all intents and purposes, is similar to full membership – but not half as good. But at least your arrogant family are now satisfied that “officially” you are all no longer members. Later, you – and now even most of your family – reflect on what an utter waste of time and money the whole process was and bitterly regret ever allowing…

A ‘Pokemon Go-style’ app is evolving an idea to bring disused and derelict buildings back into use. Stemming from research carried out by social enterprise Space Engagers that finished in 2016, Reusing Dublin uses interactive maps to let users crowdsource information on empty buildings with the hope of restoring them. The tech-takeover doesn’t stop there with housing charity Shelter launching an online, mobile friendly ‘I Need Help’ button to coincide with World Homelessness Day last week. The geo-positioning enabled tool sends people to their nearest help point, such as local housing authority or homelessness support team.…

UNTITLED PORTRAIT BY MARK JENNINGS Mark has twice experienced homelessness, the first time as a result of PTSD coupled with physical collapse, the second time because of “landlord’s greed”. “I stopped painting for many years due to a hang up with perfection,” he says. “Fortunately I now paint for joy, and each brush stroke or mark of a pencil is a fulfillment. I am grateful to St Mungo’s, Recovery College and Crisis Skylight for encouraging me to create again and for the friends I have made.” CARTOON BY ANDY BICK Andy lives in rented accommodation in Worcester, following several years of homelessness spent either sofa-surfing, in a hostel or on the streets. “These cartoons are a result of writing snail-mails to my mother on a regular basis,” he explains. “I…

I wanted to devote this week’s Big Issue to urging everyone to tear down barriers and prejudices, and engage with people and ideas coming from a point of view different to their own. But then that felt too hopelessly ambitious at a time when we just need laughs, so I’ve asked people to be funny as well. One of the UK’s greatest comedy exports to America, John Oliver, discusses how he deals with Donald Trump on a weekly basis, the stars of This Country take on fake news, Ian Martin tries to lure you into classical music, Stewart Lee pleads for fatbergs, and Susan Calman tells us why she’s sorry she never embraced disco sooner. For proper debate, I’m pleased we’ve persuaded two media heavyweights, Alan Partridge and Malcolm Tucker,…

“The first rule of shipwreck hunting is that you’ll never find the wreck unless you search in the right place” I’ve been asked countless times how I became a shipwreck hunter. Believe me when I say that there is no natural career progression that leads you into such an unusual profession. It was an especially improbable journey for me because of where I grew up. Lost in the shadows of Manhattan’s skyscrapers across the Hudson River, Union City, New Jersey’s claim to fame was that it was the most densely populated city in America. It definitely wasn’t the type of environment to inspire a young boy to dream of a life at sea. My inspiration instead came from visits to my grandmother’s house in northeastern Pennsylvania and from fishing trips…