Innholdsfortegnelse for 7/8/2024 i The Big Issue

The Euros have not been great so far. Quite a number of average matches, no breakout players and an insistence on high-pressing football as the ONLY way to address the modern game has meant it’s not been a classic. So far, it’s the sublime beauty of England’s creative flair that has, alone, moved the dial. Only kidding! They’ve been terrible! By the time you read this, they might be out. If they are, and you support them, I commiserate with you. It must be frustrating to be promised so much and to see so little so timidly delivered. And yes, that’s a very obvious bald political analogy – thank you, thankyouverymuch. In truth, only the freewheeling, frantic chaos of Türkiye has offered genuine never-know-what-to-expect-next excitement. One benefit of Euro 2024…

If the new government fails to take any decisive action to end the housing crisis that’s been growing for decades, they can’t say they weren’t given every opportunity. Big Issue’s Blueprint for Change (see over the page) has already laid strong foundations for political leaders to do what generations of MPs have failed to do: ensure everyone has a safe and affordable home. That won’t be the only plan the prime minister can build on – he’ll have Kwajo Tweneboa’s too. Britain’s most high-profile housing campaigner now has his own book Our Country in Crisis, released just two weeks after the country voted for who would sit in Number 10 for the next five years. The book goes broader than Tweneboa’s own experiences and those of the hundreds of tenants…

Regular Street Art contributor Cassisa’s latest work is a very personal portrait drawn in graphite on grey tinted paper. It’s of her father, Tony Cassio, who died in 2017. “My father came from a troubled past and had many issues from his childhood,” says Cassisa. “He became a professional British wrestler in the 1960s, which he retired from in June 1980. He was a single parent bringing up my sister and me in Hastings. His struggle as a single parent with a manic disposition meant that mine and my sister’s childhood was at times deprived, traumatic and terrifying. “With therapy, I have learned to understand the effects of PTSD that can be triggered in stressful situations, and have found that it is safer for me to work in solitude, creating…

CULTUREINTERVIEW “When you grow up with no money and then you get a big chunk of money, you have to spend the poverty out of your system… to celebrate.” Meet Mia Sinclair, central character of new BBC Two comedy Spent, a story of homelessness unlike anything we’ve seen on television. It’s no accident that the working title for the series, created by and starring Michelle de Swarte, was High-End Homeless. Because before finding herself sofa surfing and staying in a hostel, Mia lived the high life as a successful catwalk model in New York. Fancy hotels and designer clothes were her life until, like many before her, she aged out of modelling. With no income and nowhere to call home, Mia returns home to South London to a rude awakening…

ROUGH SLEEPING ‘You can’t criminalise your way out of homelessness’: UN warns of politicians demonising rough sleepers and rise of far-right populism By Sam Gelder “You can’t criminalise your way out of homelessness. How many people are you going to keep arresting?” This is the message Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, will deliver to representatives at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. His new study finds growing evidence that people experiencing homelessness and poverty are facing criminal penalties for simply sleeping, washing, cooking, eating, begging and working on the street. The report was published on 25 June. Just a few days later on 28 June, the US Supreme Court ruled that cities can punish unhoused people for sleeping in public, even if…

I suppose I identify mostly with those who are leading a drifting and broken life of poverty. Those who in my younger days I was most like. Moneyless, hopeless and often antisocial. Restless, reckless, feckless and lost. Not sure of anything other than trying to get by. Appalling education, appalling social skills and appalling futures. The big difference between now and my young times is that there was, then, no government relief to rely upon. You were on your own. You had to fit in, get a job, find unsavoury work; you had to find the means to pay your way. All that has changed through the years since the ’70s when I was a young man. Now, especially since so many redundant workers were put on social security when…

INTERVIEW: KATHLEEN JAMIE ‘There’s something fragmentary in the air’ On the first floor of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh hangs a photograph of the country’s Makar (National Poet) Kathleen Jamie. It was taken in 1994 when Jamie was in her 30s and shows her bent forward on a chair, her head bowed, her eyes half-closed in thought. Though most of her body is in shadow, the sun catches her face and plays on the wall behind her. Thirty years on, I meet her in the cafe downstairs. She still has that pensive air, but time has taken its toll, as it does on us all. The cafe is noisy, and we are both slightly deaf, so we move into the echoey Great Hall, then neither of us can…

Oh Look, there’s Charlotte Church singing We Shall Overcome beautifully. And there’s Billy Bragg leading a chant-along of A New England with an eager crowd. And there’s Bow Anderson performing a song about eating disorders and how we can damage our body due to our fears of having the right shape. And that is all within 10 minutes. It is the time of year for people to say, “Glastonbury! What’s all the fuss about?” Let me tell you. There is no other festival like it. Watching on TV you might just think it is a bunch of well-known bands, but it is so much more than that. First of all, it is a wonderland of stone circles, sculptures, towers and art. There are the most beautiful and eccentric costumes and…

SEAN CULLEN, 20 I became homeless in December. For me, it was better than what I was going through at home. It felt like freedom. I stayed at mates’ houses and then eventually ended up at the YMCA. I met another vendor there who helped me with food and set me up with Big Issue. It’s more than about making money for me. It’s about bringing joy to people and putting a smile on their faces. I enjoy watching people be happy and making their days better. I play music on my pitch from speakers. It’s mainly about putting on music that everyone wants to listen to – and I’ll take song requests for 25 pence! But mostly, people enjoy what I’m already listening to. I tailor the music to…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue Survivor stories In response to the story of the male domestic abuse survivor [on bigissue.com]: What a very strong man! Well done Max. My three children and I were victims of domestic abuse by my ex-husband. Where he says he ‘felt like giving up’ I understand that fully. I felt like I was in a dark tunnel with no way out and it was horrendous. I got custody of my children (as they were then) and a court order for life against my ex. I put up with the abuse for 17, almost 18 years, but my son said something that shook me by the shoulders. “Either he goes or I…

At the age of 16, my preoccupations were reading and writing. I was writing poetry for my own amusement and just getting through school. I was studying chemistry, classical civilisation and sociology. Within two weeks of chemistry I realised that, as much as I loved the subject, there was no way I could do an A level in it. So I changed it to English and thank god I did. I think when I was choosing, I was thinking about getting a good job. Instead of choosing stuff that I enjoyed. If I had to speak to my younger self, I’d say choose the things you’re interested in in life. My mum taught me about resilience from an early age because she had to dig deep when she and my…

INTERVIEW Fran Healy’s snow globe is well shaken In the 25 years since Why Does It Always Rain On Me? was released by Travis, precipitation in Glasgow has increased by 10-20%. The song is more relatable than ever to those in the west of Scotland, as thousands belting it back at Travis on stage at the OVO Hydro prove. It’s become an “unofficial anthem of this city,” Fran Healy tells the crowd, “because it’s aye pishin’”. Travis (Healy with bandmates Andy Dunlop, Dougie Payne and Neil Primrose) are back home supporting The Killers on an epic arena tour. It was at a Travis gig in Las Vegas in 2001 that Killers frontman Brandon Flowers decided to re-dedicate himself to forming a band. Travis were touring with Oasis at the time,…