Innholdsfortegnelse for 4/18/2022 i The Big Issue

“The government we elect and we pay our taxes to, and they can’t even get our family’s name right. They can’t even get the name of where our family’s remains still live to this day right. And it’s sad.” Karim Mussilhy, who lost his uncle in the Grenfell Tower fire, told the ongoing inquiry of the pain the blaze had caused his family. His angry words came just days after former cabinet minister Lord Eric Pickles sparked anger for getting Grenfell’s death toll wrong and telling the inquiry to “use your time wisely” as he’d rearranged a meeting to give evidence.…

Meet Ai-Da, the world’s most cutting-edge humanoid AI artist. As well as painting, she talks. This is what she said when we went to meet her at the British Library ahead of her exhibition at the Venice Biennale opening this week. THE BIG ISSUE: Where do you get inspiration from? AI-DA: I have lots of inspirations from different places. I’m inspired by the world around me. I am deeply inspired by the visual arts. Also, literature, Dante, Falwell and Aldous Huxley. What other artists do you like? It’s hard to pick a favourite. I like those that experiment with different ways of thinking about the world. I like Yoko Ono, Doris Salcedo, Michelangelo and Kandinsky. Looking forward to Venice? I think that the city of Venice with all its beautiful…

Guests and art buyers worldwide will be able to bid online or in person via a QR code for their favourite pieces BIG ISSUE FOUNDATION Fearne Cotton and Leigh Francis artworks form part of fundraising auction for Big Issue vendors Big names from the worlds of music and TV have contributed to a new exhibition which will auction off artworks to raise funds for Big Issue vendors. Fearne Cotton, Leigh Francis and Kojey Radical have all contributed to Heath Kane’s Richer Than event, with a timed auction selling off 50 artworks in aid of The Big Issue Foundation, The Big Issue’s charitable arm. The works, which take aim at the widening gap between extreme wealth and poverty, will be on show at Spitalfields Market from April 23 to 29, with…

For most people, York’s historical past conjures up images of lofty cathedral spires, the cobblestones of the Shambles and ghosts lurking in the corners of low-ceilinged pubs. Yet speak to local naturalists, and they’ll tell you the city’s most impressive ancient history in fact lies sandwiched between the A64 to Leeds and the lurid green plains of Pike Hills golf club. It’s here, on the 110-acre Askham Bog, that 15,000 years of history lies suspended in peat, a life source that has made the reserve astonishingly rich in biodiversity: more than five per cent of all Britain’s species types – animal, plant and fungi – can be found living in the area. Reserves like this exist across all four nations of the UK, but their numbers are small, and their…

When Robert Macfarlane talks about nature, a beatific glow spreads across his face. It’s a look of unfeigned delight, a smile that brims with wonder. “Every morning I take five minutes to sit in the garden, close my eyes and try to unweave the many threads of song and sounds around me,” the author says on a Zoom call from his home in Cambridge. “This morning it was the bin lorry,” he laughs. “But it was also the two goldfinches and the wood pigeon.” ‘We’ve almost run out of language to describe and evoke breakdown and warming’ Ask Macfarlane what language means to him and he’ll answer that it’s an ecology – “a complex system of interconnections”. This philosophy underpins each of his books, wild terrains that transport us from…

I grew up in Oklahoma City, almost dead centre in the United States. Politically, I was not quite on the vibe of that city. Even today, it looks like they’re going to vote to abolish abortion entirely. So I was happy when we moved to California and I got closer to the official business of record making. I was writing my first songs when I was 12 and I became more serious about it as I got older. And I began to like my chances. I loved Little Anthony and the Imperials and Teddy Randazzo, all those wonderful arrangements, but I knew in my guts that my songs were a lot better than some of the stuff I was hearing on the radio. That put a fire in my belly.…

1 The Emperor of Ice-Cream by Brian Moore In wartime Belfast Gavin Burke, a teenage Catholic, enlists as an air-raid warden against the wishes of his family. A pitch-perfect coming-of-age story that melds into an extraordinary vision of one of the worst single nights of bombing of the Blitz. 2 The Way-Paver by Anne Devlin Everything I know about voice in short stories I learned from this collection. Each of the nine stories carries the terrible freight of what is unsaid, especially “run from me”, which a young IRA operative almost whispers to the man she has lured to his death. 3 Close to Home by Michael Nolan Forgive me for recommending a book that is not yet published, but this auto-fictional interrogation of masculinity, class and…

Sian Clifford and Thomasin McKenzie are on a Zoom call with The Big Issue. They are separated by approximately 11,674 miles and 11 time zones. It is morning in New Zealand as McKenzie’s family busy around her preparing for another school day in Wellington. Clifford is winding down for the evening with her dog on a cosy London sofa. Both are in fine spirits, eager to talk (McKenzie was so keen she turned up on the Zoom a day early) and full of love – both for each other and their latest project. At just 20, McKenzie (above) is a rising star on the global acting stage. For her, the BBC’s new adaptation of Kate Atkinson’s bestselling novel, Life After Life , comes hot on the heels of fine performances…

There’s no denying that London jazz is thriving. Heritage venues like Ronnie Scott’s along with cult nightspots like Vortex and EartH in East London play host to a rotation of talented players. London acts like Ezra Collective and Sons of Kemet are played on mainstream radio. Tomorrow’s Warriors jazz development programme at the Southbank Centre ensures emerging young talent is nurtured and brought to the fore. But while London may seem like the epicentre, microcosmic jazz scenes are flourishing all over the UK. Glasgow, for example, has produced both the spaced out, futuristic fusion of Nimbus Sextet and the Celtic folk-flushed piano jazz of Fergus McCreadie. Newcastle has had its own jazz and improvised music festival since 2019, and is home to the renowned Hoochie Coochie bar. Liverpool has the…

Outside Wilko, Ilkeston 9.30am-5pm Monday-Thursday and Saturday JAMES ALLERTON, 42 I’ve been selling The Big Issue for a couple of years now. I was living in Yorkshire and in a relationship when I was sent home from work early one day because I was feeling ill with my diabetes. Then when I got home she was in bed with my best mate. So I left her and I came over to Derby to find my sister but I couldn’t get hold of her, so I was in hostels around the city. Instead of going out robbing to get money, I knew about The Big Issue, so I got badged up. It’s busy on my pitch, although sometimes it’s quiet. I’m starting to get new customers now alongside my regulars that…

The government has put together a strategy outlining how Britain will boost domestic production, end reliance on Russian gas and move towards cleaner energy. It comes hot on the heels of millions of households being hit by energy bill increases of up to £700 following the raising of the energy price cap. Boris Johnson called it “bold”, but environmental groups have labelled the strategy a failure because it includes no measures for reducing energy demand and insulating homes. So what do we know about the strategy so far, and how will it affect you? Read on for all you need to know. 1 NUCLEAR ENERGY IS THE STAR OF THE SHOW The plan is to ramp up capacity to 24 gigawatts (GW) by 2050. This would represent around 25 per…

Another busy morning at the food-bank. Our team are so worried about what we’re seeing and where it will go from here. Last week we registered a 91-year-old man. During the interview, he shook his head and said, “In all my life, I’ve never taken from charity. But there’s nothing left now after the bills.” Our foodbank was founded in 2013 and is a small one, operating just one morning a week. We’re based in South West London, in a relatively affluent area. Four-bedroom houses sell for over a million pounds here. Yet we are seeing our numbers rocket. Two years ago, a busy week would have meant supporting 30 households. Now we regularly have 100 or more. As our guest numbers rise, we are seeing changes in the types…

What happened to ‘never again’? As each week passes, the scenes unfolding before our eyes in beautiful Ukraine are both heartbreaking and angering. To believe that in the 21st century we are revisiting the horrors of 1939/45 is at best incomprehensible. The humanitarian tragedy is heart-rending – and then we have the incredible stories of nations such as Poland taking in wave upon wave of women and children and the elderly, showing the best of us! Now over a month in to this war – and yes, it is a war, not a ‘special operation’ – we find that the supposedly superior Russian armed forces are being outfought and outmatched by the brave Ukrainian army. Sadly now we are seeing the liberation of areas under Russian control yielding bodies of…

South Africa 1 South African environmental news “reads like a mafia rap sheet”, says Laura Jones, editor of The Big Issue South Africa. The latest edition asks, ‘What can you do about conservation?’ and outlines the practical steps we can take to make a difference. Jones said, “Our thanks go to the academic institutions and researchers who write about our changing planet and draw awareness to issues that don’t make mainstream media, and will stand long after we are gone and forgotten.” Serbia 2 Mirjana Vasic is a street paper vendor whose life was impacted by war – another European displaced by the impact of conflict in her country. She escaped from Kosovo and now sells Liceulice in the Serbian city of Novi Sad. She said, “My childhood in Kosovo…

The UK has “led the world” in destroying the natural environment. That was the conclusion of researchers at the Natural History Museum in 2020, who found that biodiversity losses in Britain were accelerating at an alarming speed. All is not lost, however. We can all help to turn the tide of biodiversity loss even if we don’t have access to private green space of our own. Here are three simple actions you can take to boost wildlife wherever you are, and help patch up decades of damage. 1 LET IT GROW WILD If you’re lucky enough to have your own garden, one of the most powerful actions you can take to boost biodiversity is also the laziest: don’t bother mowing your lawn. By letting grass – or patches of grass…

Malton is the food capital of Yorkshire and yet, on this Sunday afternoon, I am sat in a hotel room, which seems to have been scented with the fragrance of soapy abattoir or robot sweat, eating a Pot Noodle. The town has many cafes, but this is an English Winter Sunday, so the kitchens close exactly as my afternoon hunger pangs strike. The supermarket had a good range of pot snacks though, probably more than you would find in Ripon or Farsley. I’ve also got cheese spread triangles, salted crackers and peanuts, so it is a solitary party. This is like a Sunday of the Seventies, a vast grey chasm with nothing to do, but rather than three TV channels with nothing on, there are 40. I have been warned…

A London council has brought the management of more than 4,000 social homes back in-house after a 16-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract ended. Introduced by John Major and championed by Tony Blair, PFI deals were a means of raising cash for capital investments by having private companies front the costs. Islington Council struck a reported £420 million deal with private sector consortium Partners for Improvement in Islington (Partners) in 2006 through the controversial and much-criticised PFI policy. But in 2018 the council indicated it wanted to bring the services back in-house following complaints from tenants and leaseholders, who accused Partners of not carrying out repairs and a lack of accountability. Partners is now managing a smaller portfolio of 2,000 properties until 2033. Islington’s deputy leader and housing chief Cllr…

Tackling street homelessness is a complex issue that has a long history of being entwined with police enforcement – but New York mayor Eric Adams’s controversial strategy to dismantle homeless encampments has divided the city. Adams has worked with police to dismantle more than 300 homelessness encampments in the city since taking over from Bill de Blasio on January 1. Speaking of his hardline approach last week, he said, “We are on the wrong road as a city. We have tolerated homelessness, walked past our brothers and sisters who are living in tents on the street, and we’ve normalised it. I can’t help but to believe that if Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were here today, he would be on the streets with me, helping people get out of encampments.”…

In 1972, the Scottish chemist and inventor James Lovelock published a theory that profoundly changed our understanding of where humans had come from and where we might be heading. The Gaia hypothesis, which Lovelock developed alongside microbiologist Lynn Margulis, emphasised the symbiotic relationship people have with our planet. We evolved together, organic organisms and inorganic matter, developing a self-regulating system that sustains all life. The Gaia theory is the key to understanding how humans got here. How we have survived and thrived for thousands of years. And why we might not survive much longer. Gaia Vince was named after the Greek goddess of the Earth rather than the hypothesis. She is an environmental author and broadcaster, and an expert on how human and planetary systems interact. “Gaia theory is this…

Chitra Ramaswamy’s remarkable new book Homelands is billed as a history of the friendship forged between the British-Indian author and Jewish refugee Henry Wuga, who came to Scotland at 15 on the Kindertransport. And it does beautifully evoke the unfurling of their unlikely relationship which began when she interviewed Wuga in 2011 and deepened until she saw him as her adopted grandfather. But there’s much more to the book than this. It’s about exile, identity and motherhood. It’s about our connections with places and what happens when those connections are severed; it’s about Empire and colonialism, and how those fleeing oppression are othered. Homelands is dizzyingly ambitious. Ramaswamy interweaves her family’s history and Wuga’s against a backdrop of their ongoing sorrows: Wuga’s wife Ingrid’s dementia, Ramaswamy’s mother’s cancer. One minute…