Innholdsfortegnelse for 6/19/2023 i The Big Issue

The fall of Johnson brings to an end a long career of being a clever old Etonian and a riotous old Oxonian. With all the breaks in life, mixed in with a devilish sense of humour and a disregard for rules, he filled a gap in politics that needed filling. Like Thatcher he was destroyed by his party and could not stay on. His end came about because of the disloyalty of his former allies. He promoted Rishi Sunak up the government ladder and eventually Sunak turned against him. Which makes it obvious that politics and betrayal go hand in hand. And Thatcher’s fall was from such commanding heights. She had broken the organised working class but could not handle a strange alliance that stretched from punks to pensioners. She…

The arrival of HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks on 22 June 1948 has become a defining moment of modern Britain. The ship carried more than 800 passengers from across the Caribbean, and that generation and those that came after have shaped society, whether by rebuilding post-war infrastructure, playing a key role in getting our growing transport network moving or supporting the fledgling NHS. Yet the Windrush generation has not always been fairly treated, especially by the government keen to be seen to be tough on immigration. Windrush Day is a time to celebrate the impact of those who by seeking a better life made all of our lives better too. Alford Gardner was born in Kingston, Jamaica but has called Leeds home for decades. The 97-year-old is one of…

GARY BUTCHART, 45 I used to sell The Big Issue back in 2017 before leaving. Back then my pitch was in Botley, Hampshire, where the old shops used to be. I left because I was getting fed up with it. It’s very different over there now. This time I’ve been selling the magazine since March. It’s been going alright since I got back and sales have been going OK. People have been giving me lunch on my pitch, I have a few regular customers who look after me, and everyone’s got to know me at M&S. It’s a lot better selling the magazine over here than it was in Botley. Meeting people is what I like most about selling the magazine. It’s why I came back to sell The Big…

Basic awareness Paul McNamee’s article regarding universal basic income [Editor’s letter, Issue 1568, 12 June] is very positive. As a long-standing supporter of UBI and part of the team trying to make the East Finchley trial a reality, I salute that! You say “At heart, the only way for UBI to work is for it to be truly universal. And that then runs into financial, moral and philosophical walls.” There may be financial considerations (hardly walls) but there are definitely no moral or philosophical ones. The real moral walls here are the ones we have already erected, where we punish and blame the poor for being poor and make it as difficult as possible for them to get help. And where we condemn people to cycles of poverty and tell…

WINDRUSH AT 75 On 7 June 2020, the statue of slave-trader Edward Colston was pulled down from its plinth and thrown into Bristol Harbour as the world was waking up to the historical injustices and ongoing systemic racism which surrounds all of us. Jen Reid, who was in attendance, spontaneously climbed onto the empty plinth and raised her fist above her head. That defining moment was memorialised in a statue made in collaboration with artist Marc Quinn, called A Surge of Power. Reid has written a book, A Hero Like Me, imagining these events from a child’s point of view, proving to them that they have the power to change the world. THE BIG ISSUE: What is a hero? JEN REID: Heroes demonstrate extraordinary bravery in the face of adversity,…

Long-time regular Street Art contributor Vallely’s colourful, aquatic paintings are her way of helping to deal with a history of depression and homelessness. “It’s great that The Big Issue gives me opportunity to showcase my work,” she says, “as it helps me develop and makes my self-esteem improve and my depression ease. With every artwork I produce the pain gets easier.” Vallely submits her work the 240 Project, an arts and health activity centre in London for people affected by isolation, homelessness and exclusion. 240project.org.uk The work on this page is created by people who are marginalised. Contact street.lights@bigissue.com to see your art here. To see more and buy prints: bigissueshop.com. At least half of the profit goes to the artist.…

REVIEW Burning love: The Wicker Man at 50 Sunset on a remote Scottish island, and things are about to get freaky. Like the imposing thatched figure that dominates its final scenes, the much-garlanded folk-horror classic The Wicker Man casts a long shadow. If its initial 1973 cinema release was a compromised affair – director Robin Hardy’s film was hurriedly cut to function as a tight 90-minute amusebouche on a double-bill with Venice-set shocker Don’t Look Now – its reputation has grown ever since. It helped, of course, that in the years before streaming and deluxe Blu-ray rereleases, this dark fairytale starring Edward Woodward as an uptight copper and Christopher Lee as a louche laird existed as the cultiest of cult classics, a near-mythical artefact surrounded by spooky whispers. Have you…

I am not very good at having days off. I say yes to almost everything that comes my way, whether paid or not. It is a habit I share with my eldest sister, who always tells me to slow down shortly before I tell her to slow down. If I do take a day off, it normally coincides with an event. Both my mum and my dad died when I was having a day off, as if, in the most English way of trying not to be a bother, they let go of life after checking my diary. For my day off in June, I returned to my father’s house after performing at the Stoke Newington Book Festival and sat with his docile but jolly dog, whose pleading eyes make…

PHILOSOPHY Our future depends on recognising that we are not alone In an article published last year in the Scientific American, contemplating developments in our search for extraterrestrial life, Andrea Gawrylewski writes, “Given the math, it seems impossible that we humans would be the only living things in the cosmos.” At first glance, this comment may seem perfectly innocuous – even profound. But at a time when humans are orchestrating the sixth mass extinction on our planet, the fact that we could casually refer to ourselves as the “only living things in the cosmos” is alarming. We needn’t step outside of the circles of our world to find other forms of life – after all, Homo sapiens are only one of millions of species who inhabit this planet. We are…

If you think Beyoncé is great, think again. She has driven inflation to a new high in Sweden. The fiend. The core rate grew there 8.2% in May. And Nordic economists believe that much of it was down to demand for hotels pushing up prices when Beyoncé opened her Renaissance world tour over two nights in Stockholm at the start of May. It’s not clear whether that was driven by all the, ahem, single ladies. Or just others who were crazy in love with the icon. But it does put a new wrinkle on the reasons behind the volatility of advanced economies. Does this present a new solution for chancellor Jeremy Hunt? He is always hammering on about the stubbornness of UK inflation rates. So put the blockers on Harry…

Mokhammed Moradi’s first thought was his family when he heard the sounds of gunfire and tanks rumbling through his home city Kyiv, as Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. He feared for his young children and pregnant wife, and he knew they had to flee. “It was scary,” he remembers. “When I left my home, the tanks were shelling and the earth was shaking. I left because I wanted to save my family and my children. “They were small and they were scared. They used to ask me: ‘Daddy, will we come back?’ They used to say: ‘My toys are there.’ We did not bring everything. We brought a few clothes but nothing else. All my children’s toys were left there.” Moradi, 42, had been a salesman in a bazaar…

“This is the suitcase that held all my auntie’s and my uncle’s worldly belongings as we travelled to the UK from Jamaica in 1968. My great aunt says that they use to call the case a ‘grip’. The fabric in the background is in the colours of the Jamaican flag, it reminds me of a small part of my heritage.” Amira, aged 13 “This Dutch pot was given to my grandma by her mother when she left Jamaica to come to England in 1960. She carried it in her suitcase.” Shakeira, aged 16 “This Jamaican doll was bought for me by my mother when I was six months old as I lost my teddy on a plane on my vacation in Jamaica. It was very precious and I was crying…

REVIEWS The enduring horrors of everyday life In her stonkingly good collection, This Is Not Miami, Fernanda Melchor writes about infamous historical events in her childhood home of Veracruz in Mexico, using a docu-dramatical approach to chronicling the realities of living in a city where violence is commonplace as breath. Its 12 narratives acknowledge the fictions that shape family gossip or hearsay on the street. Tragic happenings become the stuff of urban legend – shaped by the subjectivity of each new storyteller. In ‘The House on El Estero’, Melchor relays the disturbing tale that her ex-husband unleashed on their first date, about the demonic possession – and subsequent exorcism – of his friend. The story seems both a gift and a burden; Melchor deconstructs the haunted house of this past…

Forget Elton John. At this year’s Glastonbury, the septuagenarians you need to see will be over on the Park Stage. Sparks have never done anything the easy or conventional way. And now, 50-plus years into a career that’s unsurpassed in variety and oddity, they’ve pulled off another triumphant curveball. The Maels – singer Russell (singular style, fantastic hair) and older brother Ron (keyboard player, principal songwriter, striking moustache) – are in the middle of an extraordinary, extremely late career renaissance. The last month has seen their latest album, The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte, go into the UK top 10 and sell more physical copies than anyone else that week. They’ve electrified venues up and down the country – including two nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Primavera was…

JAZZ Preserving the legacy of a percussive pioneer I’ve written previously in this column about Jazz Is Dead, the provocatively named record label and live music company founded by producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. In its six-year existence it has yielded new and interesting work by such revered heritage artists as Gary Bartz, Azymuth, Jean Carne and Lonnie Liston Smith among others. JID’s latest project might be its most ambitious yet – an LP of brand new music, co-created by Younge, from the late drummer Tony Allen, extolled by many as the inventor of Afrobeat. Allen, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 79, is best known for his work with Fela Kuti throughout the late 1960s and early ’70s. During this period he pioneered a…