Innholdsfortegnelse for 10/4/2021 i The Big Issue

The Big Issue will be popping up throughout Coventry’s UK City of Culture celebrations in October – thanks to Homer the mannequin. The quirky art project will see the life-sized dummy decorated with laminated real-life stories of Big Issue vendors from around the Midlands as well as paintings, poems and customers’ appreciations of their local seller. The mannequin’s run across Coventry is part of the week-long HOME Festival, a celebration of arts and homelessness projects that kicks off on Saturday October 9. “Homer came to life as a result of Big Issue vendors’ ideas and contributions,” said The Big Issue’s Gabi Sima. “Not every vendor that contributed to this project is an artist but vendors’ stories are all together a work of art. Homer captures vendors, stories, poems and paintings…

Lessons to be learned Another great issue. I think it’s a great idea to add to the A-level curriculum or maybe younger students. The brilliant and heartbreaking film I, Daniel Blake should be shown to students. It blew me away at how life can change so quickly. I love what The Big Issues does. My seller at the Co-op, Westgate-on-Sea is always a pleasure to talk to. Sarah Brick A satisfied customer Many congratulations on reaching 30 years of The Big Issue. I enjoy reading the articles and the success stories of the vendors. I also do your crosswords and have been successful twice, winning a book token and a Chalmers dictionary. I used to buy the magazine occasionally when I was in Perth but during lockdown this happened less…

In sitting down to write this I found myself back on that video call when we shut it all down. Young people were not going to move into their first home and many would be stuck in scary situations, not knowing when, if ever, they would start living independently. It was especially hard for our trainers who had young people on that path, who now had to return to sheltered accommodation, foster homes or sofa surf as part of the hidden homeless. There was a palpable sense of fear sweeping through all homelessness agencies. The Money House (TMH), as a prevention scheme, was no different. It is a mandatory financial education service for 16 to 25-year-olds on the pathway to social housing in seven London councils – specifically targeting care…

With 50 per cent of the UK population under 40, private ownership of utilities is all a sizeable proportion of the country have ever known. The price volatility and multiple energy company failures in recent weeks may to them appear, while worrying, simply ‘how the world works’. But from the end of the Second World War until the 1980s the British state had increasingly centralised key utilities under nationalised public ownership. And prior to this, it was local authorities that pioneered the energy system. Former councils like the Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch – subsumed into Hackney in 1965 – prided themselves on their mission to bring energy to the masses. ‘More Light, More Power’ went its motto and it operated the impressively-titled Shoreditch Electricity Generating Station and Refuse Destructor. Not…

01 Rabunzel by Gareth P Jones, illustrated by Loretta Schauer You’ve heard of Rapunzel – the fairy tale about a girl with lots and lots of hair (too much if you ask me). What’s better than a princess in a tower? A kung fu bunny rabbit with very long ears… in a tower. A picture book that packs a punch right to the funny bone. 02 Nursery? Not Today! by Rebecca Patterson, illustrated by Nikki Dyson As many kids head to nursery for the first time, this funny story will ease their worries and fill them with confidence (and make nervous parents feel a bit better too). And dog-lovers like me will adore Rosa, the cute pug at the heart of the story. 03 Monster Hunting for Beginners by Ian…

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. Who won the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK in 1976…? 2. …and what was the name of the song? 3. What was the name of the first film that starred Timothy Dalton as James Bond? 4. Which TV sitcom’s lead character was called Hyacinth Bucket? 5. When Tony Blair became Labour Prime Minister in 1997, who was his first defence secretary? 6. What is the capital city of New Zealand? 7. Who founded the Scout movement in the early 20th century? 8. In which year did Rhodesia officially become Zimbabwe? 9. In which year did England last win the Ashes cricket series against Australia?…

VENDORS Following a long lockdown, vendors in England, Scotland and Wales are back out selling the magazine. Please continue to support them. SUBSCRIPTIONS AND SHOPS Since the first lockdown in March last year, we have supported our vendors with more than £1m of financial assistance to make up for lost sales. We still need your help to make sure we can continue to support them through uncertain times. HOW YOU CAN HELP 1. If your local vendor is selling The Big Issue, please buy from them. Vendors buy magazines for £1.50 and sell for £3, keeping the difference and working their way out of poverty. 2. If you cannot buy from a vendor, subscriptions to the magazine are available on a three, six or 12-month basis with a new edition…

Eric Von Cushion-Stuffer started selling The Big Issue in the first few months of The Big Issue. He was short and round with curly black hair and in his twenties, with a permanent questioning smile. He sold well because he sold with a smile and an enquiring nature. He always wanted to know what the purchaser was doing and often heard big stories of pain and suffering. He made friends with happy and tragic people and would ask hard and direct questions of them. Often he handed out advice that was simple and rewarding. But it was not all plain sailing. He had di›ficulties when his sense of anger with the world overcame him, and the kind and friendly person turned into an aggressive accuser. I was a friend one…

It’s not much to ask. Just a door to lock. A door that won’t break when someone kicks it. Door with a keyhole. Respond to that knock Or not. My choice. It’s broke so let’s fix it: The world, I mean. Not the door. That’s OK. It’s my door, to my room. Look: here’s the key. The world, though. That’s different. Somewhere to stay Is what we all need. Somewhere to be me And not just someone you blithely ignore When you see me sleeping on the street. Let’s begin with this. A door. Just a door To start with. A door. Food. Then light and heat. The world must respond to this simple truth: Let’s all have a door. Let’s all have a roof. National Poetry Day is October…

Covid has been an amplifier for any existing problems that communities are facing. Life expectancy has fallen, waiting lists have grown. Children’s literacy lags behind, mental health worsens. And it’s charities and the social enterprise sector that are going to fill the gap and be there for people when they are most needed. A majority of social entrepreneurs have seen the need for their services rise since the pandemic started while, simultaneously, experiencing a drop in both income from trading and from traditional fundraising events. This left many with the difficult choice between using the furlough scheme to survive at the cost-reduced capacity and exhausting internal reserves in order to keep staff and continue delivering services. In short, the enormous efforts to adapt provision to changed circumstances have drained both…

We are hearing a lot about China in the run-up to COP26, November’s UN climate conference in Glasgow. Specifically about the fact that China is still investing in coal-fired electricity generation. I have noticed that the people who favour this agenda are the very same people who, until very recently, have said climate change is not a problem. So what is the real story on coal? Who is really still putting money into coal and why? Much of the action to end fossil fuel investment is taking place under the label of ‘divestment’. That is to say, campaigning to pressure those holding valuable assets to shift their money away from fossil fuels and towards the sustainable economy of the future. Understanding divestment is key to understanding what your money is…

What keeps families together? Perhaps the more pressing issue is what drives them apart. Sarah Gilmartin’s probing new novel Dinner Party: A Tragedy poses these two questions, wrapped in the tale of two young twin girls forced to learn the single, awful answer to both of them. Twin sisters Elaine and Kate Gleeson were once vivacious Irish teenagers, always spoken of together, as a unit, the most exciting girls of the area, pushed hard by their ambitious, socially demanding mother. But as the family come together for a meal in 2018, their mother is spoken of in resigned tones, their father not at all, and Elaine’s name only sets off tears. The tension in the family is palpable from the first scene, when we get a sense of the unspoken…

I’m an outdoors person. Waking up to the hills covered in mist – I love that Apparently I’m the first vendor co-ordinator in Scotland – I find out something new about myself every day! That means the magazines get delivered to my digs on a Monday morning and I supply the other vendors. I do all the counting and the tallying up. I’m around to see if anybody needs any books or if there are any problems I can help them with. I’ve got a few health problems myself – my eyesight is not so good and I have a bad back – but even if I have to have the day off I’ll go out and sort the other vendors out. I’ve been doing the job full time since…

At The Big Issue we’re delighted to announce the launch of a brand new talent lab for young people who face barriers to accessing careers in the media. Housed within our award-winning media business, Breakthrough is a youth-led unit feeding into our digital expansion. It will offer opportunities to talented 18 to 24-year-olds from underrepresented and less privileged backgrounds who are passionate about a career in the media industry. Working with the DWP’s Kickstart scheme, there are four places, based in London. The scheme will offer training across all aspects of journalism including digital, social, video, audio, design and writing. The recruits will create content for bigissue.com and contribute to The Big Issue magazine, tackling themes such as homelessness, diversity and climate change. “Stakes were high enough pre-pandemic for young…

It’s not exactly Convoy. For Kris Kristofferson it was all CBs, staying one step ahead of the law, brawling, being a bit lusty and leading a long line of trucks across a desert to the Mexico border. Forgive the ancient reference. That film made quite an impression. The reality is a bit different. HGV driving is long, long hours on low wages, hard miles away from family, packed roads and fears about personal security while parked up. There is little talk of Rubber Duck and Ali McGraw. We know that many EU-based drivers left when Brexit hit and made it impossible for them to work in the UK. And now we’re all paying the price, with empty petrol pumps and dwindling supplies in shops. The call for the army to…

Sign our petition via the link below Become a Community Champion to spread the word and take action in your area Write to your local councillors to ask them to support our council motion Contact your MP to urge them to back the campaign Get in touch with The Big Issue at SMASSH@bigissue.com to share your story or for further information on getting involved For more details and to get up-to-date news on the campaign, head to bigissue.com/stop-mass-homelessness…

The Big Exchange, co-founded by The Big Issue, is a financial services platform that is building a movement within the industry towards fairer, more inclusive and sustainable finance. Despite the challenges of launching during a pandemic, The Big Exchange is growing its customer base on average by 150 per cent month-on-month, with Assets Under Management of over £15m since its launch in October 2020. Backed by some of the biggest names in the industry including Aberdeen Standard Investments, Artemis, Columbia Threadneedle, Schroders and JP Morgan Asset Management, The Big Exchange is also attracting a diverse customer base, with a significant number of female, first time and younger investors joining. Socially Responsible Impact investment funds have grown 270 per cent since the start of 2021, topping £7.1bn, and one in three…

The other day at the bus stop at the end of my street I got talking to an elderly man who was leaning on a walking stick. We chatted about the weather and why buses always came in threes – the usual kind of small talk. When I helped him on to the bus he thanked me and asked where I was from – a rare occurrence, in my experience, because in London so many people possess multiple identities that difference is presumed to be the norm. If you want to explain everything properly – where your parents were born, where you grew up, where you now live – it takes too long, and people don’t have the time for all of that. Still, the question hung in the air.…

A hand up... Our sellers BUY the magazine for £1.50 and sell it on for £3, keeping the difference. Not a handout… Vendors earn a legitimate income, and gain valuable social and employability skills. With your support, we can continue to help them now and in the future. The right to citizenship… The Big Issue Foundation, our charitable arm, helps magazine sellers to tackle social and financial exclusion. Prevention… Big Issue Invest offers backing and investments to social enterprises, charities and businesses that deliver social value to communities.…