Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/13/2021 i The Big Issue

I wanted to invest in something that was sustainable and ethical for my sonHelen and Jamie The way The Big Exchange talks about funds was easy for me to understandCaroline and Patrick Build a future for your children in more ways than one this Christmas by putting your savings to work and investing in social and environmental causes you care about. A Junior ISA with The Big Exchange offers tax-free investing for customers and transparency, so everyone knows where their money is being invested. Parents and guardians can build a pot of money for their child while building a positive future for the world they will grow up in. “I like to invest in my child’s future,” says Helen Westhead, who opened a JISA for her four-year-old son Jamie through…

Chelsea Turner, 6, Worthing [above] Clockwise from below left: Jessica Richey, 6, Cambridge, Winnie Allen-Ford, 9, Newark, Amalie Moore, 11, ESMS Schools, Amelia, Brookfield Community Primary School, Preston We’d also like to give a shout out to the teachers and youth group leaders who took the time to send dozens of amazing entries. Special mentions to Alleyn’s Junior School, Beath High School, ESMS Schools, Brookfield Community Primary School. Our group winner is Whybridge Junior School. Congratulations!…

BILLIE PIPER Teen idol turned actor-director Those teenage years are a period of my life that I’m reflecting on now for the first time in my adult life. And there’s a lot of missing pieces, to be honest, which I think speaks for itself. Those first few years were totally thrilling, and I just felt like I was living a dream of mine. But I was often in very strange, very adult situations that I wouldn’t subject my own kids to at 16. Actually, my real takeaway from my 16th year is just how exhausted I was, because I was a teenager going through everything a teenager goes through but very publicly. With a schedule which would rival a high-flying businessperson. It must have looked peculiar from the outside, but…

Five years ago, French filmmaker Julia Ducournau arrived in the film world with a bang. Well, more like a retch, after her debut feature Raw – about a teenage veterinary student turned cannibal – left critics at Toronto Film Festival throwing up and fainting. Now she’s back – as are, according to reports, the weak constitutions (“this new horror movie is so insane, people are fainting!”) – with Titane , her Palme d’Or-winning sophomore effort about a woman who gets knocked up by a car (yes, yes, I’ll get to that, bear with me). It also happens to be – sci-fi vehicular impregnation aside – one of the more realistic depictions in film of the horror of pregnancy. Newcomer Agathe Rousselle is Alexia, who we meet as a child (played…

HEALTH Meet the doctor who gave up her career to fight NHS privatisation A campaign group set up to protect the NHS is gearing up for the battle of its life – defending the NHS from privatisation. EveryDoctor, born out of a Face-book group for medics, is leading the charge against the Health and Care Bill which it says threatens the future of the health service. The bill would allow private companies to sit on the boards of local Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), giving them a say over the provision of services that are, and are not, provided to patients. In an exclusive interview, Every-Doctor founder Dr Julia Patterson told The Big Issue she believes the government has “intentionally underfunded the NHS to pave the way for privatisation”. She said:…

We launched our Stop Mass Homelessness campaign when it became clear that the pandemic had left thousands at risk of losing their homes. We knew urgent action was needed. That’s why we have called for £360 million in rent arrears racked up during the pandemic to be paid off to prevent renters losing their homes. We’ve also urged the Westminster government to make good on its promise to end no-fault evictions and focus on providing training and creating jobs in sustainable industries. Since the summer, we have mobilised community activists to raise the problem in their area. They have taken the issue to the heart of local democracy and councillors across England. Last month, The Big Issue revealed that failing to pay off the country’s rent debt could cost the…

It was a near impossible task to pick a winner from the hundreds of entries we received from across the country. That’s why we enlisted acclaimed children’s author and illustrator Sarah McIntyre and journalist and author Nick Sheridan. Here’s what they had to say about our winners and runners up. Sarah McIntyre: “Thanks so much to everyone who sent in your pictures, I really enjoyed looking at them! Children addressed important issues such as climate change, cleaner seas, racial representation and recycling, all with their own unique takes on them.” Nick Sheridan: “I’m really blown away by the talent that the young Big Issue readers have shown to us this year – and very especially, I’m delighted to see that so many of the covers tackled really difficult issues head-on:…

Today, 2,000 refugees – including around 300 unaccompanied children – are living in wooded areas, disused warehouses and under bridges in Calais. Several hundred more are staying in a forest in Grande-Synth, close to Dunkirk. In 2020, police seized nearly 5,000 tents and sleeping bags in more than 950 routine evictions. The number of asylum applications in Britain fell in 2020 to 29,456. Comparative figures are 93,475 in France and 121,955 in Germany. More than 23,500 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year – more than twice the number in 2020. (Sources: Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Observers)…

Lui submits his work via the 240 Project, an activity centre in London supporting vulnerable adults. He takes inspiration, he says, “from the world around me, the images, ideas and people that fill this city. Just 15 short years ago I was a sign maker. Just goes to show what you can do with a small idea and big dreams. “I am self-taught and drawn to many genres of art. I tend to follow my own intuition, creating fluid pieces that do not necessarily pay homage to any specific artist, but there may be the occasional trace of influence. “Whatever you want in life start chasing it now, before it’s too late.” 240project.org.uk The work on this page is created by people who are marginalised. Contact street.lights@bigissue.com to see your…

I think we all have those things within us that we’re afraid of revealing or uncovering. We’re consciously growing as humans TV records were different pre-pandemic. Before everybody was forced to stay home and binge they meant more. Back in ye olde 2019, The Witcher smashed them, becoming the most streamed series of all time as 76 million households fell under its spell in the first four weeks after its release. Based on the book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, which also inspired epic, immersive, lockdown-salving video games, the much-anticipated second series in the TV adaptation launches this week. Set on the Continent, where humans, elves, dwarves and a bucket-load of monsters live, witchers are a breed of quest-going warriors for hire, using special powers to overcome the plethora…

The soundtrack to the 1982 adaptation of Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman uses subtle orchestration to bring the hand-drawn on-screen animation to life. A swirling flute solo accompanies the boy as he reaches up to place a hat on the newly built snowman’s head. Then, as he draws the mouth and stands back to admire his creation, the musical ensemble comes together with a flourish. The distinctive treble vocals (later popularised by a cover sung by Aled Jones) are universally known: “We’re walking in the air/ We’re floating in the moonlit sky/ The people far below are sleeping as we fly.” After snowman and boy have touched down under the aurora borealis, they enter a dark and snowy forest, accompanied by an ominous passage in the strings. This soon develops into…

Like much of modern life, Christmas is now dominated by the internet. Between online shopping, managing our money online at an expensive time of year and staying in touch with loved ones, getting connected is vital. Yet more than 11 million Brits face being digitally excluded this festive season. Having access to and the skills to use a smartphone, a computer and the internet could be the difference between staying afloat and being trapped in poverty as the cost of living bites. Being digitally excluded has been linked to poorer health and lower life expectancy, World Health Organisation figures have shown. Around 10 million people in the UK struggle to navigate the digital landscape that dictates much of everyday life, according to Lloyds Bank research. Here’s what you need to…

Santa! Mince pies! Mistletoe! The only Chris Rea song anybody can name! Christmas is time to dust down old favourites that are never really aired beyond the seasonal period. The newest, and some would say most welcome, tradition is the naming of Scottish gritter trucks and snow ploughs. What began as an attempt by road services in Scotland to encourage interest in children has become an annual event that brings suggestions from around the globe. Here are this year’s newly minted truck names • Buzz IceClear • Spready Mercury • Mary Queen of Salt • Brine Freeze • License to Chill • Bear Chills • Gritney Spears • You Only Grit Ice • Gritly Come Dancing…

A massive congratulations to seven-year-old Gabriela Beard from Worcester – the winner of The Big Issue’s Kids Christmas Cover Competition 2021, in association with WHSmith. Gabriela took our theme of ‘Christmas Wish’ and was inspired to show how Santa can help fix the housing crisis. As you can see, this year Father Christmas is delivering houses to homeless people, thanks to his incredible ‘Shrink Vay’ gadget that makes them small enough to fit perfectly into his sack for easy transportation. Gabriela and sister Isabella, 10, both entered the competition, and mum Ana has been proudly displaying their entries in the front window of their home. Ana said: “It’s fantastic, I’m really thrilled, and she had a big smile when telling Daddy about the competition! I think the whole school (Broadheath…

Parents often find rhyming text more fun to read aloud. This can be a crucial endurance factor if the book becomes a regular request Ages 0-6 1 Ergo By Alexis Deacon Illustrated by Viviane Schwarz (Walker Books, £12.99) Well, this is an intriguing little book. Introducing children as young as three to the philosophical ideas of Plato, Descartes, Freud and Lacan is an audacious ambition, to say the least. But somehow this book cleverly manages it, avoiding any sense of shoehorning its notions of emerging self-awareness and development of language by telling a simple tale of a newborn chick inside its shell beginning to wonder what will happen to it next. Under-fives are natural question-askers, full of curiosity about their place in the world; this will inspire in them…

Between the ages of four and 14 I shared a bedroom with my brother Cas, who is seven years older than me. There was an informal border down the middle of the room. On my side, there were torn out pictures from Shoot magazine stuck to the wall, jumbled toys spilling from shelves and West Ham ephemera draped everywhere (he was a QPR fan but just had to put up with it). His side was completely sparse like the rarely used pied-à-terre of a travelling salesman. He had nothing on the walls and, seemingly, no personal possessions beyond a few items of clothing he would keep crumpled on the floor. I thought he was a bit of a bully because, sometimes, he would lock me in the airing cupboard. But…

Christmas is all about being with family to share your love for each other I came to this country with my parents from Bucharest in Romania in 2009. I wasn’t scared to leave as my parents wanted to have better opportunities here, but I did miss my country at first. We left family there who I used to see a lot but I’ve been here a long time now – since I was a child. I went to school here and I feel like this is my home now. I found out about The Big Issue and got my pitch here in Uckfield. It’s not a very big town and it’s really quiet at the moment. Sometimes it’s really hard out there. My husband stays home to look after my…