Innholdsfortegnelse for 10/30/2023 i The Big Issue

BIG PICTURE The Dark Hedges became globally famous after taking a starring role in TV phenomenon Game of Thrones. The avenue of beech trees in County Antrim became the Kingsroad of Westeros. Thousands of visitors have made this a must-see Northern Irish destination alongside the Giant’s Causeway and Titanic Quarter, but its future is in doubt. At least seven of the trees nearing the end of their natural lifespan have been lost in storms over recent years, and a survey of the 80 remaining found that only 30 were in a fair condition. The rest may need to be removed as breaking branches pose a very real threat to selfie-taking tourists. The news will upset the Grey Lady, a ghost believed to haunt the grove who flits from tree to…

It’s 1981, and for large portions of the UK, a time of frustration and anger. Austerity measures have hollowed out communities. Trust in the police is low, unemployment is high. It’s in this febrile atmosphere that The Specials’ protest masterpiece Ghost Town reaches the top of the charts. It will come to be seen as the totemic musical depiction of a country in which industry was being dismantled and young people – particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds – were left behind. There are very clear echoes in the current moment. Still, it’s a surprising song for Duran Duran – the ’80s’ most glamorous band – to cover. “I was never a big ska fan. I liked glam rock and electronic music, and punk and disco, but not so much…

Picture this: you’re on your way home from a long day at work, waiting for your train in a draughty station. The minutes pass like hours as the delay on the board extends. After what feels like an eternity, the dreaded message appears on the screen: ‘Cancelled’. There’s no person on the tannoy to give an explanation. Exclusive data from Network Rail shared with The Big Issue has revealed the causes for every single train cancellation over the past five years, shedding light on one of the most frustrating experiences for people who use them. According to the numbers, there were almost two million train cancellations between March 2018 and July 2023. In the last full year of results, between April 2022 and March 2023, there were 412,834 cancellations across…

The UK’s best-known prison arts charity, Koestler Arts, have been championing and platforming artwork from within the criminal justice system for more than 60 years. Their 16th annual London exhibition at the Southbank Centre is curated by TS Eliot Prize-winning poet Joelle Taylor. In Case Of Emergency will feature nearly 200 artworks selected from among over 8,000 pieces entered into the 2023 Koestler Awards by individuals in prisons, secure mental health facilities, immigration removal centres, young offender institutions and on community sentences across the UK. Having worked in prisons for over 20 years, Taylor wants to showcase not just artistic excellence but also the ingenuity that springs from secure settings, through artworks made from unusual materials such as crisp packets, prison issue soap, rice, seeds and even clinical waste bags.…

ANALYSIS Rom com royalty returns The holy trinity of modern romantic comedies is the much-loved informal trilogy of When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and You’ve Got Mail (1998). The incandescent onscreen presence of Meg Ryan, combined with the wit of late writer and director Nora Ephron, supercharged the rom com, dispelling the shallow and gendered cliches of the genre (spoiler: a bubbly female character enjoying a happy ending doesn’t make up for complex interiority or flimsy narrative). As Ryan makes a much-anticipated return with What Happens Later, out in the US this week, now is the time to celebrate her successive slays, especially as Ephron’s graceful protagonists. In her book, I’ll Have What She’s Having, Erin Carlson discusses Ryan’s early soap opera days: “Yes, she could…

If someone had told me a year ago I would be building huts in the jungle, swimming with sea turtles in the Caribbean and learning craft and cuisine from an Indigenous gender nonconforming community while not paying a single penny, I wouldn’t have believed it. I found out about workaway when I didn’t have much cash in the bank and wanted to experience something different from staying in hotels while travelling solo. I was craving meaningful connections with people and places, so when I saw the wealth of opportunities out there, I was astounded at what I had just stumbled on. With the rise of eco-sustainable travelling, workaways are a feasible way forward: by staying with local communities and families, you decrease the demand for holiday lets, and by helping…

Look to the stars “Imagine if you had just spent six months off planet Earth,” Chris Hadfield begins. “Your spaceship undocks from the space station and then comes plummeting through the atmosphere, exerting tremendous forces on your body. The parachute opens and you slam into the world. You open up the hatch, pull yourself outside and stand unsteadily on your feet... What do you do now?” While commanding the International Space Station, Canadian former fighter pilot Hadfield became the best-known and most-loved astronaut of our age. In the post-Apollo era, much of the magic of space travel has been eroded. No longer do we have heroic figures like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin returning from the moon to ticker-tape parades (at least outside of Indiana Jones movies). But when Hadfield…

RENTERS REFORM BILL This is what is happening with the Renters Reform Bill, and why you should be angry about it Last week the Renters Reform Bill resurfaced in parliament after The Big Issue’s End Housing Insecurity Now campaign called on the government to act on their promise to protect renters. The return to the Commons should have been a sign of much-needed progress to help renters. Instead, tenants across England were hit with a hammer blow. The government confirmed it will not scrap no-fault evictions, also known as Section 21 evictions, until courts have been reformed, but neglected to give a timeframe for that, effectively delaying it indefinitely. Michael Gove’s last-minute change sparked anger. The Renters Reform Coalition called the move a “pathetic last-minute concession to keep the Conservative…

JODIE WHITTAKER In the opening episode of Time, Jodie Whittaker’s character Orla O’Riordan loses everything when she is sent to prison. Her home, her children, her freedom and her future, all gone. Her crime? Being poor during a cost of living crisis and, in desperation, making one poor decision. If series one of Jimmy McGovern’s prison-based series was powerful – Sean Bean and Stephen Graham producing brilliant performances as it explored crime and punishment and redemption – then series two, this time set in a women’s prison, could not be more timely. Whittaker stars alongside breakout star of The Last of Us, Bella Ramsey, and Tamara Lawrance, whose performance alongside Letitia Wright in The Silent Twins is etched on the minds of anyone who saw it. They play three very…

DIALECT Are regional accents really disappearing? Every now and then, a story will appear in the media about regional accents disappearing. About how everyone in the north of England will eventually sound the same, or maybe even how they will all start to sound like people from the South. How accents across Scotland are losing their distinctiveness, and how the Welsh lilt will soon be a thing of the past. Well, I’m here to say that this is not going to happen. Now, on the one hand, I accept that it’s monumentally foolish to attempt to predict what will happen to language; its unstoppable and innovative natural development over time is one of the things that makes it so fascinating. But on the other hand, I think I’m right. And…

It’s been a strange road for Right to Roam. It was after the Second World War that the government first proposed complete access to England’s countryside to complement the newly formed NHS. It was rejected by landowners in the House of Lords who deemed it a step too far. In its place was the watered-down National Parks Plan. Today, only 8% of England and Wales has right of access, restricted to mainly remote areas – meaning people can only access green spaces if they live nearby or can afford travel and overnight stays. Walking or camping on the other 92% is trespassing. This leads to over-tourism where access is permitted. Over the years, proposals to expand Right to Roam throughout England and Wales, to match the full rights enjoyed in…

Caroline Blakeney had only been back home a week after the trip of a lifetime to Egypt before she made a booking to go to India. The 62-year-old hadn’t been abroad for 23 years before she took the flight to Cairo, now there’s no holding her back. “It’s all out there to be seen, you’ve got to go for it,” she says. “A couple of people I knew of a similar or younger age had died of heart attacks. I thought, ‘Come on Caroline. You’re never going to see the world unless you go’.” With eyes well and truly opened and new friendships forged, Caroline, from Thornbury near Bristol, is a prime example of a new kind of midlife woman dubbed the ‘queenager’. Some like Caroline are still working, others…

In the vibrant heart of Birmingham, where culture and literature intertwine, my journey began – a journey that brought me to the forefront of the UK publishing scene and led me to champion the Black British Book Festival. I am Selina Brown, and I hope to stand as testament to the power of determination, breaking down barriers, and the belief that women can balance family and career. My life has been marked by an affinity for words, nurtured from an early age as the daughter of a Black British mother and Jamaican grandmother. This deep-rooted connection with language and culture guided me. I achieved milestones, becoming a youth MP for Nottingham at the age of 16 and obtaining two degrees and a Masters by the age of 21. These provided…

Crossword CRYPTIC CLUES Across 1.He, an old railway worker, now steers the ship (8)5. Leave out the captain (4)8. One who has recently joined the union (5-3)9. Boy will hold ring before long (4)11. Facial characteristic to set aside? (7)13. Back a thousand to prepare again (5)14. Ordinary people becoming private soldiers (4,3,4)18. Rasher philosopher? (5)19. Shorten a game (7)21. Mistake that should not be showing sartorially (4)22. Normal type of lamp (8)24. Many an individual is cheated (4)25. One who originates most of the catalogue (8) Down 1.Bach and Elgar included another composer (6)2. Deeper scowl (5)3. Holding up a plane – but not before take-off (10)4. Wonder what’s in the drawers (3)6. One who cannot be told anything (4-3)7. Both parents go round an isthmus (6)10. Choice type…

Over the summer, many of the UK’s favourite holiday destinations were affected by extreme heat, with global warming fuelling heatwaves and wildfires in Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain and Portugal. After the hottest summer on record, the tourism industry is under pressure. Yet it is, in part, a victim of its own excesses. The sector is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change but contributes between 8-11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Tourism must reinvent itself if net zero is to be a possibility by 2050. The SUNx Program, an EU NGO supported by Malta’s Ministry of Tourism, is helping travel and tourism companies to become more sustainable in line with the target of the Paris Agreement, keeping global warming below 1.5°C. The project was inspired by Maurice Strong, the…

It’s July and I’m singing with strangers. I can’t speak the language. I can, at least, recognise some of the voices. The Bostonian who flew thousands of miles to be here, voice husky from cigarette smoke. The German lady who fell in love with Ireland through its literature. The locals who have known this song since their youth. Together, they breathe new life not only into this ancient folk song, but also into a language facing disappearance – Irish, one of many minority languages under threat. This is a normal evening at Oideas Gael, a cultural centre in Donegal, Ireland. Here, people come from around the world for intensive courses in the Irish language. By day they attend study sessions with expert tutors, in classes sorted by ability. By night…