Innholdsfortegnelse for 7/11/2022 i The Big Issue

Counting the real cost of crime I was in a debate in Parliament last week about prisons. Having been gathering evidence recently about the true cost of poverty, I was interested in what it cost to keep people in prison. What support was given for the reform of prisoners while inside and what help there was to integrate them back into society when they left. It’s a sorry affair. With recidivism levels in the first year after release reaching about 40 per cent, with it costing £44,000 per annum to keep each person in prison, we don’t seem to be getting value for money. For an investment of more than £3 billion, we have almost 90,000 prisoners and rehabilitation has not been put top of the list of priorities. Why?…

USA 1 With the US overturning Roe vs Wade, Washington-based street paper Street Sense reported on how making abortions more difficult to access will impact poorer people most. Nearly half of people who receive abortions live below the federal poverty level. Another quarter identify as being “very close” to poverty. Studies show up to 20 per cent of women seeking abortions were experiencing homelessness or housing instability. In Maryland, abortions after viability (meaning the baby could survive if born) are restricted. Because people living in poverty typically do not have access to health care and insurance, it can be hard to detect a pregnancy and receive an abortion early on, according to obstetrician Dr Karen A Scott. Often when a person is experiencing homelessness or living in deep poverty, they…

REVIEWS Two damaged souls healed by a beautiful bond One of the great joys of reading fiction is getting an insight into cultures and countries different from your own. Broadening your horizons through novels is a simple and easy way to increase empathy for others, and this week we have a couple of brilliant books that do just that. First up is the subtle and sublime Tasting Sunlight, written by German author Ewald Arenz and translated by Rachel Ward. This is Arenz’s first novel to be translated into English, and is already a huge success in his native country. Tasting Sunlight tells the story of two damaged women, and the friendship and support they find in each other despite their troubles and the external forces working against them. Teenager Sally…

INTERVIEW Ultimate Thunder cause a storm Ultimate Thunder are discussing their musical influences. “Listening to James,” says percussionist John Densley, although he doesn’t mean the Mancunian indie veterans, he means his bandmate, guitarist James Heselwood. “I like old songs,” chips in Kenneth Stainburn, who plays guitar and synth. “Like Buddy Holly, Slade, The Platters, really old. I like Smiley Culture.” “I like watching music channels,” says drummer Scott Anderson. “I like Sepultura, Iron Maiden, Pantera,” responds keyboardist Alex Sykes. “I like the biggest bands,” says frontman Matthew Watson. “I like Abba and Queen.” His bandmate Anderson reacts enthusiastically to this by breaking out into an impromptu chorus of Dancing Queen. Meet the most punk-rock band in Britain. A Leeds eight-piece, also featuring bassist John Greaves and synth player Stuart Illingworth,…

ENVIRONMENT Summer is the time to get out and enjoy nature… do it while you can! More than 100 rare and threatened animals and plants could be at risk if the government scraps a law protecting special habitats, environmental charities have warned. Environment Minister George Eustice told MPs in a select committee the government is planning to remove the Habitats Directive, which protects important habitats across the UK. Eustice said he hoped to amend the EU law in the forthcoming Brexit Freedoms Bill, suggesting the directive generated unnecessary red tape and was fundamentally flawed. But environmental groups have condemned the minister’s comments, saying scrapping the law would put vital species and ecosystems at risk from development. Richard Benwell, CEO at the Wildlife and Countryside Link, said it would “at best”…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue London limbo This was a great article covering the idiocy of so-called “regeneration”. [Issue 1516, June 6] Just to fill one small gap. In his marvellous book Estate Regeneration and its Discontents Paul Watt exposes that the average loss of social housing through this process in London is 27 per cent, despite densification (ie loss of open space) within those sites. The process usually takes in the region of 13 years, in which time residents are living in limbo land, seeing their familiar landmarks destroyed. Kate Macintosh RIBA Up the workers More people need to strike. It’s about time these multibillion-pound companies start taking a hit on profits to pay hard-working…

When I was 16 I was living in London with my parents. My dad worked for North Sea oil and we moved around a lot. He got the sack a lot for being obnoxious, to be honest with you. Everywhere we went he fell out with someone, so we had to move. We ended up in Bromley in London, but before that we lived in Norway and Paris and Amsterdam and Glasgow and Invergordon – all the big lights. We always had a big family in Glasgow. The longest I’d ever lived anywhere was Paris for three years. I keep going back, but Paris in the ’70s was really special. I was still at school but I never really went. School isn’t for everybody. There was quite a strict smoking…

1 The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss The tall anthropomorphic cat in the red-and-white top hat may be the most famous hat wearer in childrens’ literature. Mayhem and madness ensue when he comes to brighten Sally and her brother’s dull day. 2 The Fabulous Story of Fashion by Katie Daynes The fascinating story of fashion – from cave dwellers’ coats to the catwalk couture of the modern age. Beautifully illustrated with fabulous fashion detail, this brings costumes alive through every fold, sequin and pearl. 3 Under my Hijab by Hena Khan Grandma wears it clasped under her chin. Aunty pins hers up with a beautiful brooch. Jenna puts it under a sun hat. Zara styles hers to match her outfit. A young girl observes the ways very different…

ANALYSIS Like your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel is about a teenager who gets superpowers and wrestles with their identity – while trying to save the world. But Ms. Marvel swung into new territory for the all-dominant Marvel Cinematic Universe. Through its heroine Kamala Khan, the story is less about her spectacular abilities and more about family, heritage, immigration, belonging and how growing up in a dual culture parallels the double life of a superhero. “I think the definition of superheroes is changing and the way we see superheroes is changing,” says six-times Emmy and double Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who helmed two episodes. “The world is more accepting because of these streaming platforms that are open to the rest of the world, reaching a very diverse audience. This is…

JIM PELHAM, 44 It’s been challenging but OK on my pitch recently. Some days I can do all right but there have been some days with the rain where I’ve had to maintain good humour, so the gaps in between can be golden. Luckily I lived in Ireland for three years, and if you can’t maintain a good humour in the rain there then the first winter will kill you. I was there back in 1998 working as a barman and a legal secretary and my daughter was born there. I was looking for a quiet life. Other than that, I’ve been living around Salisbury since 1979 and it has everything really. It’s big enough that you can have your creature comforts, like ground coffee, and I’ve lived in the…

In these fast-moving, febrile times it’s helpful to have a plan Remember last week? All that way back then? Remember when some commentators decided that everything was ‘febrile’? The atmosphere in Westminster, in Number 10, among backbenchers. Everywhere was febrile. A trip to the shops? Febrile! Junior ministers were resigning with such frequency that if nobody chucked it for 20 minutes we felt a bit lost. When Andrew Murrison went, many people suddenly learned that there had been a parliamentary trade envoy to Morocco. Though, to paraphrase Noel Gallagher, Murrison’s departure was hardly Paul McCartney quitting The Beatles. Things are moving so quickly, who knows who will be in charge by the time you read this. Maybe it’s you? Maybe you’re getting to be chancellor. Or the bloke in my…

SCHOOL’S OUT The pandemic was hard for everyone, but it was perhaps toughest for the UK’s kids. Locked up in lockdown then sent back to school swaddled in masks and dripping in hand sanitiser, the joys of childhood must have seemed like a myth for millions. The stats speak for themselves: Nearly six in 10 families struggled to cover essentials like food, rent, transport and childcare during the pandemic. Restrictions may have ended but in the last months energy bills, national insurance contributions and the cost of food and fuel have all shot up. More than four million children in the UK were in households below the poverty line before the pandemic, a number which could top five million by April 2023. More and more mums and dads like Anthony…

New Street Art contributor Georgina submitted this artwork via the 240 Project, a West London arts and health activity centre for people affected by homelessness and exclusion. “I’m like a crow,” she says. “I love all that glitters, so many of my materials have a metallic, iridescent sparkle. And what’s the inspiration? The sun is my deity!”…

I’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnoea. It’s a condition that causes you to stop breathing in your sleep. I know what you’re thinking: don’t you die if you stop breathing? Well, I’m no doctor, but I think you need to stop breathing for a good couple of minutes to be properly dead. Sleep apnoea generally interrupts your breathing for just a moment or so, causing you to wake up, adjust your sleeping position and drift back off again without even noticing. The worst symptom is that you feel really tired in the daytime. Even if you think you’ve had a good eight hours, you have, in fact, been awake on numerous, imperceptible occasions. An interrupted sleep like that can leave you not only knackered but – according to the NHS…