ISSUE #1394 | 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
A HAND UP, NOT A HANDOUT | EVERY MONDAY
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contents.
BOOKS - P30 P13
JOHN BIRD
How tech addiction is great news – but only for big business
P18
LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF
It’s question time for Laurence Fox – but does his past offer any answers?
P20
LORD DUBS
Why the fight to give vulnerable children a home must go on
P24
Hello,my name is Mark Welcome to this week’s Big Issue. I sell the magazine on two pitches in Cardiff, and I also work in the office on the deliveries and subscriptions. I put the magazines into the envelopes and I’m learning how to use the computer for stocktaking. It’s great feeling part of the team. The subscriptions go to many different parts of the world, and in the future I’m hoping to get to some of those places as I’ve never been outside of the UK. You can read more of my story on page 46.
A HAND UP, NOT A HANDOUT
This magazine was bought by your vendor for £1.25 and sold to you for £2.50. They are proudly working, not begging. Buy it, take it, spread the word.
If you can’t get hold of a copy of the magazine on a regular basis, you can subscribe to receive The Big Issue every week: bigissue.com/subscribe 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
Vendor photo: David Wagstaffe
P46
FUTURE-PROOFING BREXIT BRITAIN
As we approach January 31, Big Issue founder John Bird’s bill is helping us to look forward
P32
FILM
The shocking story of a man who became the media scapegoat for a terrorist atrocity
P34
RACHEL PARRIS
How The Mash Report regular’s much-shared skits have divided the nation
P37
MUSIC
The curious case of Ivor Cutler raises questions about our lax attitude to cultural legacies BIGISSUE.COM | 03
the big list.
What to do this week in England and beyond
Listen to a podcast about the global housing crisis
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As urban planners everywhere from London to Berlin and San Francisco ƍĪĪŤ ƍşŧǀƸĹ?şŲƍ Ƹş ÿŲ ÿdzłşƣģÿěŧĪ housing crisis, a new episode of the BBC World Service’s podcast series The Real Story takes a global view of the problem, and – through examples from German rent controls to the GƣĪŲłĪŧŧ ŸşÇ?ÄŞĆŁ ǿƣĪ á ˛ ƢǀĪƍƸĹ?şŲƍ Ç?ŊÿƸ can be done to make sure that cities are safe and enriching places to live for everyone, not just for the wealthy. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csydf3
Beat the Brexit blues with The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson
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à ŊĪƸŊĪƣ ǣşǀ ŧĹ?ŤĪ Ĺ?Ƹ şƣ ŲşƸá ƸŊĪ Ăƒf ǿŲÿŧŧǣ ĪǢĹ?Ƹƍ ƸŊĪ /Ăƒ ƸŊĹ?ĆŤ Ç?ĪĪŤ ÿǽƸĪƣ Ć¸ĹŠĆŁÄŞÄŞá ľĂżĹ˛ÄŁá ľĂżá ľĹŠĂżĹ§Ĺ‚ ǣĪÿƣƍ of wrangling. To mark the occasion, a satirical Ć Ĺ§ĂżÇŁ ÿěşǀƸ ƣĪǢĹ?Ƹ᥉ƍ ŤĪǣ ĂżĆŁÄœĹŠĹ?Ć¸ÄŞÄœĆ¸ á ˛ ÿŲģ ŲşÇ? the PM upon whom it is incumbent to make Ăż ĆŤÇ€ÄœÄœÄŞĆŤĆŤ şł Ĺ?Ƹ á ˛ Ƹşǀƣƍ ƸŊĪ ÄœĹźÇ€Ĺ˛Ć¸ĆŁÇŁá Ć ĹźĹ˛ÄŁÄŞĆŁĹ?Ĺ˛Ĺƒ on the fateful night in February 2016 when Johnson is said to have decided to back Leave. Features cameos from the spirits of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. NST City, Southampton, February 3-8 (then touring); nstheatres.co.uk
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06 Watch a documentary shedding chilling new light on Auschwitz Marking not only Holocaust Memorial Day but also the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the largest and most notorious Nazi death camp, new series Auschwitz: Untold In Colour depicts the terrifying story of the persecution and genocide of European Jews through newly colourised footage, ÄœĆŁÄŞĂżĆ¸ÄŞÄŁ ÄŞĹ°Ć Ĺ§ĹźÇŁĹ?Ĺ˛Ĺƒ Ăż ĆŤĹ?Ĺ°Ĺ?ŧÿƣ Ć¸ÄŞÄœĹŠĹ˛Ĺ?ƢǀĪ Ƹş Sir Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old. Narrated by Sir Ben Kingsley, it features rare ÇżĆŁĆŤĆ¸á ľĆ ÄŞĆŁĆŤĹźĹ˛ Ĺ?Ĺ˛Ć¸ÄŞĆŁÇœĹ?ÄŞÇ?ĆŤ Ç?Ĺ?ƸŊ ĆŤÇ€ĆŁÇœĹ?ÇœĹźĆŁĆŤ á ˛ ÿŧŧ şł them young children at the time. More4, Sundays 9pm and on demand on All 4
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Taking place every January, Independent Venue Week is a nationwide series of concerts and events hailing the places and spaces that nurture new music year upon year. The programme is led this year with screenings of Long And Winding Road, a new documentary about #IVW presented by Radiohead drummer Philip Selway. Shows in England take place at venues from Newcastle’s The Cluny to the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, London’s Paper Dress Vintage and Brighton Komedia. January 27-February 2, independentvenueweek.com
Image: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
It’s good times for armchair sports fans as a ƍĪǢƸĪƸ şł /Ç€ĆŁĹźĆ ÄŞĂżĹ˛ ĆŁÇ€ĹƒÄ›ÇŁ Ć ĹźÇ?ĪƣŊşǀƍĪƍ ĂżĹƒĂżĹ?Ų do battle in the winter mud over the course of ĆŤĹ?Ǣ Ç?ĪĪŤƍá ÿƸ ƸŊĪ Ć¸ĹźĆ ĹźĹ‚ Ăż ĹŠÇ€ĹƒÄŞ ǣĪÿƣ şł ĆŤĆ ĹźĆŁĆ¸ ƸŊÿƸ will also include Euro 2020 and the Olympics in the summer. England’s campaign begins with a Ć ĹźĆŤĆ¸á ľ ƣĪǢĹ?Ƹ ƸƣĹ?Ć Ć¸Ĺź ƸŊĪ /Ăƒ ÿŲģ £ÿƣĹ?ĆŤ şŲ FĪěƣǀÿƣǣ á™¸á ‡ ŸŊĪ FĆŁÄŞĹ˛ÄœĹŠ Ç?Ĺ?ŧŧ ěĪ ƸŊĹ?ƣƍƸǣ łşƣ ĆŁÄŞÇœÄŞĹ˛ĹƒÄŞá ÿǽƸĪƣ Ăż áš€áš€á ľáš„ ěÿƸƸĪƣĹ?Ĺ˛Ĺƒ ÿƸ ÂźÇ?Ĺ?ÄœĹ¤ÄŞĹ˛ĹŠĂżĹ° ŧÿƍƸ ÇŁÄŞĂżĆŁá ‡ February 1-March 14; sixnationsrugby.com
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Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
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;ÂŹ Âş Ă‹Ä… Ăź Ăš of sport with Six Nations rugby
Celebrate your local independent music venue
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This week on‌ BIGISSUE.COM
07
Maxine Peak ke regrets not tackling bullying b in showbusiness head-on
Why we need to better understand online fascism Ĺ?Ų şƣģĪƣ Ƹş ÇżĹƒĹŠĆ¸ Ĺ?Ƹ
Feeling blue? Author Richard Layard explains how we can all be happy
Witness the ÜËÚ½ ɸÞ ÄˆĂšĂžĂŚ Ăľ Ăš grime ballet
It’s not quite Skepta in a tutu, but London Sketchbook – a brand new, groundbreaking collaborative piece from leading lady of grime Lioness and world-renowned ballet choreographer Alex Whitley – will undoubtedly surprise and delight. Premiering for one night only at Boxpark Wembley, it’s a dramatic coming together of contemporary and classical artforms that promises to open up new possibilities and broaden horizons. Boxpark Wembley, London, January 30; boxpark.co.uk
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rÂŹ Ăś ̊ ÄˆĂšĂžĂŚ ׏ÞË Ă‹ÂŁ Ă„ Ăś online documentary series about homelessness
An interview with award-winning novelist and friend of The Big Issue Raynor Winn launches No Place Like Home, made by Bath-based production company Meaningful Films. Hear all about how, upon losing her family home and discovering that her husband was terminally ill, Winn led the couple on an incredible journey along 630 miles of the south-west coast with nothing but a tent for shelter. youtube/.H-CYegWZM20
Enjoy an intimate encounter with Madonna
Madge settles in for 15 shows at a London West End theatre – recent injury problems permitting – in support of her latest album Madame X, giving British audiences the chance to see her in the kind of intimate space she hasn’t performed in regularly since the 1980s. Madonna’s powers as an entertainer may have diminished since her stadium days, but be sure that when it comes to a mixture of huge hits, high camp, politics and pretension, the Queen of Pop will never be dethroned. Palladium, London, January 27-February 16; madonna.com
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Whether it’s conducting life-altering psychedelic experiments down the woods as an errant teen, or simply cooking a delicious omelette, the humble fungus looms large in all of our lives. Bringing together work by over 40 leading creatives from Takashi Murakami to Hannah Collins, Simon Popper and Mae-ling Lokko, Mushrooms: The Art, Design And Future Of Fungi explores the colourful cultural legacy of toadstools – and how, be it through Ç€Ć ÄœÇŁÄœĹ§ÄŞÄŁ ĂżĹƒĆŁĹźá ľÇ?ÿƍƸĪ şƣ ƍǀƍƸÿĹ?ŲÿěŧĪ ƍŊşĪƍá ŰǀƍŊƣşşŰƍ şdzłĪƣ ĹźĆ Ć ĹźĆŁĆ¸Ç€Ĺ˛Ĺ?ƸĹ?ÄŞĆŤ Ƹş ƣĪģĪǿŲĪ şǀƣ ƣĪŧÿƸĹ?şŲƍŊĹ?Ć Ç?Ĺ?ƸŊ ƸŊĪ Ć Ĺ§ĂżĹ˛ÄŞĆ¸á ‡ Somerset House, London, January 30-April 26; somersethouse.org.uk
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platform.
Your views on the big issues
GET IN TOUCH @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk letters@bigissue.com Editorial, 2nd Floor, 43 Bath St, Glasgow, G2 1HW THIS WEEK WE ASKED YOU...
Going, going, bong. But will Brexit bring any pluses? Nathan Thompson More wealth and services for the working classes and them who have experienced hard times enabling them to achieve a standard of living, not just forgotten about. Andre Rostant Rejoining.
Brush strokes
Nick Mitchener Our return. Though we will never get a deal as good as the one we threw away.
I am an amateur artist who lives way down the bottom of the country in Cornwall. I actually have a hair salon where I work full time but do my artwork in my free time as I find the contrast very rewarding and it helps me unwind. I was persuaded by a client (a retired art teacher) to contact you after telling them I use my old copies of The Big Issue in my mixed-media paintings. We have several sellers in the town and always have a current copy on my coffee table in the salon, but after they’re read I use them as collage detail. Alan Butler, Penzance
Julie Ramsden Government having to take responsibility for issues instead of trying to make people think they are caused by the EU. What excuse will they use going forwards? Lilian Gornall Surely we are all really looking forward to the chlorinated whiff of chicken? Mick Taylor Tory MPs will be obliged to stop blaming the EU for the nation’s ills. Gary Holroyd Blue passports. Gary Knaggs The chance to rejoin when the country gets its senses back!
06 | BIGISSUE.COM
Everyone should get their share I get my weekly Big Issue from a gentleman called Martin outside the BMA Building near Euston. He’s originally from Nigeria. If he knows me, it’s as the big Glasgow guy who supports Celtic! He’s a really friendly guy. On Monday, Martin told me, ‘Money is powerful. We need to share it to help each other.’ The context however wasn’t me giving him money, but him reassuring me (as ever) that he always had change if I needed it through the week. It really chimed with how I see the world. But what struck me most was that Martin was talking about us all getting our share. Not him, all of us. It made me happy, angry, sad, but ultimately determined as I reflected on it. James Cant, email
Jesus of all trades Hello. Why does Michael Tolland think that Jesus was unemployed with no means of support [Letters, January 6-12]? He worked in a carpenter’s shop until the age of 30 then became an itinerant preacher. In those days carpenters worked with all sorts of hard materials including stone etc, so could have turned his hand to anything. Marian Lazell, email
Lord knows If one has to attempt, say, vital slumber under a pier, can one therefore claim for a peerage? Felipe Hewlett, Newhaven 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
Australia ablaze As a vendor in Sydney it has been very hard. The heat in itself was brutal but the effects of all the smoke haze was far worse. Hopefully the rain forecast comes. Marcus Prentice, Facebook @bigissue
@yogaatplay #bigissue – what’s not to love? A hand up not a handout, a business, a social enterprise, a poverty prevention device (@pauldmcnamee). There is always an interesting article, a different view you hadn’t considered, a thought you hadn’t had or heard on a subject. This week’s issue is great, an #odetojoy with an optimistic interview with #richardlayard – he studies happiness (what GSCEs do you do to get that career?!) @CliffeLights In #plymouth and chatted with three @BigIssue vendors. They want to thank customers for purchasing lots of copies in December, but would also like to kindly remind people that the magazine is sold throughout the year #ahandupnotahandout @laurenscottay After not being able to buy a coffee in London because I only had #scottishnotes I found a much better way to spend them. Even got a lovely blether too @BigIssue RE: NEWS STORY THAT FIVE MILLION BRITS DON’T HAVE A COOKER, FRIDGE, FREEZER OR WASHING MACHINE Rebecca Clark Reminds me of ppl who live in the “boonies” who have to take buses to work and have one convenience store in their poor town. Then ppl say they should eat better, wouldn’t be so fat but in research I’ve found that some have no access to good food! I felt so ignorant when I found that out. We must have open minds and compassion. Carol Pentony Lots of people in employment that are so badly paid they just get by. l was in that position many years ago myself. l was working and [so was] my partner. It was one big struggle – have some compassion. Dee Quiney Freecycle sites are always advertising giveaways for free. Local Lions and Rotary will probably help with transport. @tcottagebakery My mother-in-law used wet towels for keeping milk cool in 1920 in west Texas. But that was because there was no electricity in rural Texas then. That this is occurring in 2020 in the UK boggles my mind. Simoney Kyriakou, Facebook When we have tried to give our working fridges/ovens/TVs etc to charity furniture stores, they cannot take them. Even when we’ve offered to get them checked & certified by an electrician, the answer’s ‘No’. We’d love to donate white goods to families in need. Better for all, and for the environment. 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
EDITOR’S LETTER
There are heroes among us
T
here is a moment in the Sir Nicholas Winton That’sLife special that always knocks me sideways and chokes a tear in my throat. I know I’m not alone. Winton, remember, was a remarkable man. After witnessing the horror faced by Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Prague at the end of 1938, he resolved to do something. He organised the evacuation of children. In what became known as Winton’s Kindertransport, he organised safe passage, and homes and places of safety in Britain, for 669 Jewish children who otherwise would have been taken to concentration camps and slaughtered. Many of the parents of those children were killed in Auschwitz. Winton’s selfless act was all the more remarkable because he didn’t seek any recognition, or reward. Famously, it only came to light when a scrapbook containing the names and details of those saved was discovered in the attic of the family home by his wife. Remarkable, really. THIS is a man! When I change a lightbulb at home I expect reverential applause! As a result of his wife discovering that her husband was a hero (a tag he always rejected) Winton had approached the BBC to help trace some of those whom he had helped. This led to the That’s Life special in 1988. In the programme Esther Rantzen detailed some of the names of the refugee children who were saved. In a terribly moving moment she reveals to Winton that the woman sitting beside him was one of them. Winton, stunned, pauses and wipes a tear. Then the woman on the other side reveals she too was one of the children. And then comes the moment. Rantzen asks if anybody else in the audience owes their lives and their futures to Nicholas Winton. As one, the audience stand. The very thought of it is enough to set me off again. Seek it out online. One of those to secure a future and a new life was Alf Dubs, now Lord Dubs. And maybe something of that selfless Winton spirit has been passed along because the work that Dubs is doing is incredible. He’s 87! He should be putting his feet up and sipping good wine and telling stories. Instead, he is in the very teeth of the problem, travelling to refugee camps across Europe to be witness to the horrors children face, and to work to do something about it. He makes people listen. He works to make governments act. It wasn’t enough to make an emboldened Conservative majority in the House of Commons support a plan to help the most inneed refugee children – clearly, to paraphrase Trump, it’s Brexit First. But it is incredible that Dubs keeps a light shining on the problem. And, for now at least, he is making us ask tough questions of ourselves, about how we as a nation are treating the most vulnerable children. See more on page 20. We can frequently get caught up in debates and squabbles, especially online, about what is and isn’t acceptable to think. It can lead to retreat from places of uncomfortable conversation to the comfort of our own point of view. It’s rarely dialectic these days. But the reality is, these rows will flare and fade and though for a moment we’ll think our position is right and righteous (and it may be) it won’t change things. It won’t materially help someone in need. Dubs is out there making a difference, just as Nicholas Winton did. In times of crisis, those with the right stuff stand up. We owe them.
Dubs makes us ask tough questions about how we treat vulnerable children
Paul McNamee is editor of The Big Issue @pauldmcnamee Paul.McNamee@bigissue.com BIGISSUE.COM | 07
news. LGBTQ homelessness struggles laid bare
London’s Pleasance Theatre is to be transformed into a sauna for a play telling the unique stories of LGBTQ homeless people. No Sweat, created by Vicky Moran – ex-assistant director of homelessness theatre company Cardboard Citizens – explores how prejudice and austerity combine to create a critical situation for young LGBTQ people – thought to make up a quarter of the UK’s young homeless population. The script, drawn from real stories and interview clips, is set in a gay sauna where many young people seek shelter. It shines a light on how difficult it is for LGBTQ people to find shelter when the government consistently cuts back services. Cast member Denholm Spurr was previously homeless and said: “I’d been to a sauna a couple of times and discovered through that process that Monday nights were free. I was fresh out of university and discovering who I was as a gay man. “There’s a false confidence in feeling that everything’s fine and the hidden homeless aspect of not believing I was homeless.” The play includes characters like Charlie, a Pakistani asylum seeker who must prove his sexuality if he is to be granted UK citizenship. The No Sweat crew is also running a pay-it-forward scheme and inviting £15 donations, each of which will buy a ticket for a homeless or formerly homeless person. No Sweat runs from February 4-29
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Couple open ‘food library’ in own home A pair of artists are doing their bit to tackle food insecurity, the climate crisis and library closures all in one – after they opened a library dedicated to food in their living room. Michael Mayhew and Laura Elliott, from Northampton, say their collection of more than 400 books on growing, finding and preparing food will be available for anyone who wants to join. They have also kitted out their kitchen so locals can try out some of the recipes. It is hoped this will allow those with limited means to boost their skills and their diet. “Restaurants are closing down because no one can afford rent on the high street.
Then they started shutting libraries down. We should really value those spaces – they’re little windows into our existence,” Mayhew said. The retired artists also did a course at a chef’s academy in Devon in preparation for running workshops out of their home. The Food Library will open “two or three Saturdays a month”, but Mayhew insist he has plans to extend that and he will even issue membership cards like traditional libraries. Contact michael@food-library.co.uk
Universal Credit ‘driving people to loan sharks’ Universal Credit has been slammed for “driving people to loan sharks” after a debt charity revealed more than half of its clients have gone without two or more essentials in the past month. A further 27 per cent of StepChange’s users had recently visited a foodbank, while 10 per cent said they’d had to use a loan shark or turn to high-cost credit to make ends meet. A quarter of those receiving Universal Credit are in problem debt – three times
the rate among the general population. StepChange cited unaffordable deductions from benefits to repay debt and design features of Universal Credit like the five-week wait and unpredictable payment swings. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation agreed. Policy and partnerships chief Iain Porter said: “It is indefensible that anyone is going without essentials like food, shelter, heating and toiletries. We must ensure compassion and justice underpin Universal Credit.” BIGISSUE.COM | 09
fact/fiction.
Old news, truthfully retold
Did Nasa really discover that a pineapple plant can stop snoring? HOW IT WAS TOLD
Illustration: Miles Cole
YouknowNasa.They’rebehindsomanyscientificachievements: putting a man on the moon, pioneering the space shuttle and, erm, discovering that pineapple plants can stop people snoring. The last one sticks out a bit but that hasn’t stopped it occasionally cropping up on the news agenda over the years. Last week The Sun and The Mirror, as well as a host of local newspapers, carried a story based on the supposed research. The Sun opted for the headline: “POT IT TO BED: This £10 plant from Morrisons could stop your partner snoring – according to Nasa” while The Mirror opted for “Morrisons is selling a plant Nasa says can stop your partner’s snoring – and it’s only £10” and linked back to The Sun’s piece. The story even attracted the attention of ITV daytime mainstay Loose Women. It’s not the first time that the story has appeared – take, for example, the rash of stories in July that plugged the plant’s availability in Asda rather than Morrisons. The Sun were at it again with an almost identical headline that even repeated the same pun. The Daily Record also reported the story, as did the Daily Express under the headline: “Stop snoring: Can this plant really stop you snoring at night? Nasa says YES”. But surely there isn’t another example, you say? Wrong. In November 2017 Metro and Mail Online both reported that pineapple plants were available from Asda for the steeper price of £12. They asked: “Can THIS house plant stop you snoring? Nasa scientists recommend sleeping with a quirky £12 flower to improve your breathing at night”. But is it true?
WORTH REPEATING
FACTS. CHECKED It’s completely false and the journey to find where the stories come from could be one for Nasa themselves. It’s baffling that none of the national news outlets bothered to check for the original research carried out by Nasa, because they’ll find that there is no evidence of a pineapple plant, or any other plant for that matter, helping to prevent snoring. However, freelance space journalist Jonathan O’Callaghan did. He tweeted Asda’s customer service team back in 2017 and was told that there were two reports behind the claim. One was from Nasa – “Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution and Abatement”, published in September 1989. The other was published by the American Chemical Society, “Selecting the right house plant could improve indoor air”, in August 2016. Both support claims that house plants improve air quality by removing pollutants from the air. Trouble is that neither tested the pineapple plant – or Ananas comosus under its Latin name – or its impact on snoring or sleep. But how did such a misunderstanding come into common knowledge? It was a hoax, according to Nasa. Syndicated US talk show The Doctors contacted the space agency in 2018 to get their verdict and the response was 10 | BIGISSUE.COM
a firm rebuttal: “We’re not aware of any Nasa research that has studied pineapple plants as a cure for snoring. Unfortunately, we routinely get pulled into internet hoaxes which can detract and distract the public from learning about the real and amazing research Nasa does and discoveries we make.” That hasn’t stopped the story from being touted around the UK news agenda twice since or even being used in the product’s marketing on Asda’s website, which still reads in the description: “Several studies showed that the pineapple/Ananas is one of the most purifying plants by night and strongly improves the air quality and contributes to a better sleeping quality by a deeper sleep and reduction of sleep apnoea or some snoring symptoms.” Even the air quality claim has been called into question – according to a study review by academics Bryan Cummings and Michael Waring published last year – and the snoring claim definitely isn’t right. The NHS says that snoring is caused by things in your airways, like your tongue, mouth or throat, vibrating as you breathe. There’s no way a house plant could have an impact on that.
There are approximately 15 million snorers in the UK That breaks down to 10.4 million males and 4.5 million female snorers 58 per cent of snorers are aged between 50 and 59 (British Snoring)
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Don’t look up, it’s bad for business
listened to Nick Clegg, now working for Facebook, on the radio talking about the need to do more so that our children are not damaged by the social platform revolution and the digital revolution that has over-swept the world. Nick Clegg you will remember was the junior partner in the recent coalition government that brought austerity and a hollowing-out to our communities, through cutting local government support. The precursor you might say to the politics of Brexit. That sense of that local austerity-engineered emptiness produced the rejection of Europe by the majority of those who voted in the referendum. You reap what you sow. Of course, Clegg may have tried in the coalition to modify some of the excesses of cuts, but now he is off with Facebook, and trying to put a good face on Facebook itself. Make it presumably look more reasonable. I think Nick Clegg has got one of the most reasonable, thoughtful and kindly voices, encouraging to a T, I have ever heard in British politics. And now he has that reasonableness available for the vast Facebook corpus. It was a great coup for Facebook to get this guy on their side. The problem is that you only have to take your son to school and look at the enormous flotilla of schoolchildren not looking at the traffic or the birds tweeting on the naked winter trees, but buried in their phones, to realise that you have a problem of epidemic proportions. An illness in the making. A meltdown of dynamic intellectual proportions. A death of the old way and the creation of a new way, where constant entertainment and distraction become the order of the day. I blame Elvis. It’s all his fault. I woke up one day aged 10 and jumped out of bed and scoffed my two shredded wheat to rush around the corner to my mates who had a record player to listen to Blue Suede Shoes again and again and again, before we reluctantly took the bus to school. Where all we talked about was Elvis and music and dancing around. The only problem now is that technology, with enormous fortunes being created out of it, brings a vast repertoire of distraction to anyone able to own a phone. Elvis and the music revolution he led was fuelled because big record companies could get bigger out of youthful appetite for distraction. But now all of those companies that provided young people with their distractions are dwarfed by the enormous billions and billions and billions when a third of the world is connected with you. Is human life really about dull interludes for school and work, followed by music and film and distractions? Is that what we are all about? We know that Greta Thunberg objects to that, rejects that, and told the Davos attendees last week. And Donald Trump was there to give a view that suggested that we don’t need to listen to little Scandanavian Jeremiahs. Hope and optimism will get us out of the sticky stuff.
THIS WEEK JOHN WILL BE READING: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Drawings by Christopher Lloyd LISTENING TO: Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner, conducted by Daniel Barenboim
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WATCHING: Sex Education on Netflix SPEAKING: About future generations at St Joseph’s Catholic High School in Slough, organised by Eton College’s Social Impact Society
Mass destruction Profit from addiction is nothing new, as E Duncan’s opium wars painting shows
But extinction is being prepared on the road to school, so it seems. When virtually every child is caught up in gawking and absorbing. That recreation of the human being to become an extension of their gadget. But it is not this generation, but former generations that started the post-war distraction game. We have had 70 years of an increasing emphasis on getting out of our heads on TV, and now followed by gadgets. Whereas once we talked obsessively about the latest detective show on last night’s TV in the playground, the show has moved on to even more social control and the diminishing of us into addicts for our mobiles. We do seem to be going the wrong way in our complete dependency on technology. It’s been coming this way since HG Wells wrote about new weaponry in The War of the Worlds. But he saw it as weapons that we could not stand up against. And it was Martians who invaded us. The invasion though of today is from California’s Silicon Valley. We don’t need foreign aliens. We just need investors in pursuit of profit, enormous, out this world profits. Money and capital and addiction neatly come together with the digital revolution. Though of course there have been advances mixed in with the mind-numbing of our children. I can
now turn off my boiler remotely and have all sorts of medical procedures that owe their development to the digital age. Win-win you might say. Distance learning! Wonderful things. But seeing our children locked into gadgets does make it feel that extinction can’t be far behind. Do remember that the pursuit of comforts that can be got from profits that create addiction are ages old. Perhaps the ultimate example of that must be the 19th-century British opium trade to China, where Great Britain used its navy to stop China from banning the opium dens that British opium companies supplied. Firing on Chinese cities with long-range guns was not capitalism’s finest hour. Health warnings should be attached to all phones. “They fuck your mind”, or some such words, could be a good start. There is nothing new about addiction. And there’s nothing new about big companies making big profits out of it. John Bird is the founder and Editor in Chief of The Big Issue. @johnbirdswords linkedin.com/in/ johnbirdswords john.bird@bigissue.com BIGISSUE.COM | 13
Tackle Tough Mudder with #TeamNSPCC
Use e prom o c o d r ADVERT fo £ 1 e nt r y !
Tough Mudder Various dates and locations Run, crawl and climb your way to the finish, conquering obstacles as you go. Get muddy, and help protect children from abuse. Experience an amazing atmosphere as you take on an unforgettable challenge. Join #TeamNSPCC nspcc.org.uk/toughmudder2020 Fundraising target £350
What you’ll get when you join #TeamNSPCC:
Training plan
Fundraising pack
Running vest
Medal
©NSPCC 2019. National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Registered charity England and Wales 216401 and Scotland SC037717. J20191336. The people pictured are volunteers. Photography by Tough Mudder.
“It was definitely muddy! So thrilled that I was able to finish and support the NSPCC’s amazing work.”
changemakers. The thinkers. The creators. The agitators
WHAT’S IN A CART? Hospitals who are gi�ted or choose to buy a gaming cart receive: • NHS-approved hospital cart, attached to: • Xbox One S 1TB gaming console • 2 x wireless controllers • 24-inch HD gaming monitor • At least 10 age-appropriate pre-loaded games, including Fifa 20, Forza Horizon, Minecra�t, Crash Bandicoot, Rocket League, Lego and educational games. • Full training in how to use the cart with continued support
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Jonny Miree TheRockinR
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onny Miree, along with wife Carol and daughter Jessie, are behind TheRockinR, a charity that provides gaming equipment to children in hospitals and hospices. Driven by the tragic loss of their 11-year-old son Reece to an incurable brain tumour, the family saw the comfort that games brought him during his illness and decided to pass the experience on. Now dozens of hospitals across England have TheRockinR gaming carts, which are making a di�ficult time a little bit easier for sick kids and their loved ones. Miree, from Wakefield, was in the Royal Marines for around eight years and now does counter-terrorism training part-time. That, he said, o�ten doesn’t square up with the kind of charity he runs in the minds of many; but he and Reece “were always gamers”. In May 2017, Reece developed double vision. The following month, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour known as DIPG (di�fuse intrinsic pontine glioma) and given less than a year to live. For the next nine months, Reece and his family were in and out of hospital while he received six weeks of radiotherapy, scans and surgeries. In February 2018, he had lost the use of his le�t arm (something his dad notes as a huge blow because it impacted on his ability to play games), and the following month he died. “Any parent would say the same, but I do believe that Reece had much more to o�fer,” Miree tells The Big Issue. “My son loved to give, and we were helped out a lot when he was ill. “So I thought: How do I honour my boy? It seemed obvious to give something back to other children, something he would have liked.” TheRockinR was Reece’s online gametag. The family was already well aware of how big an impact gaming can have when life is turned upside down. “When he was unwell, his life changed,” his dad says. “The way he looked, his mobility, and that’s where gaming came back into it.
Illustration: Matthew Brazie
Reece’s rockin’ legacy J
“At home it kept him distracted, it gave him some sense of normality, and crucially the headset kept him in touch with his friends since he wasn’t at school any more.” But when in hospital, Reece grew bored and tense. The family wished they could pull some gaming equipment up to his bedside. The Mirees quickly got to work on setting up a charity a�ter Reece died, something his father says helped him hold it together. They set up a crowdfunder which raised nearly £7,000 from the public which helped them get the venture o�f the ground, and later they were awarded £8,000 of National Lottery funding. “The idea was to make sure each cart had two controllers, so you’re setting up a social interaction,” Miree says. “Not just between children, but siblings and parents can get involved. It could be the only normal-feeling thing they do that day.” TheRockinR started in local hospitals where Reece had received treatment, but soon hospitals up and down the country were getting in touch. The set-up is simple: a medical cart with a monitor and an Xbox One attached, loaded with up to 24 of the most recent games. Within a matter of months, TheRockinR had a waiting list of 76 hospitals. The charity fundraises to be able to donate gaming carts, but many hospitals also choose to buy one through their own charities. There are now more than 40 gaming carts in operation; Birmingham Children’s Hospital recently ordered 11 in one go. Other facilities use the equipment with
adults coming out of stroke rehabilitation because the games help hand-eye coordination, while play specialists might make a deal with children in their care – if they go for a blood test, they can play games. “One kid in Nottingham said he didn’t want to leave hospital because of the gaming cart. If that doesn’t say we made his time in treatment easier I don’t know what does.” The charity is made up of just Jonny, his wife and his daughter, and together they deliver gaming carts all over the country. (Last year they held a competition on Facebook to give a cart to one hospital. One hundred and thirteen entered. They ended up driving to Plymouth to deliver it.) That means they’re feeling the pressure to fundraise at the same time. “A lot of the time hospitals say, ‘It’d be great to see you again’. We realised if we get them shipped we’ll become another faceless charity. This is a purpose so personal to us, it wouldn’t seem right if we weren’t delivering the carts personally too. And it means we can pass on Reece’s story.” TheRockinR reckon they’ll hit 100 gaming carts before the end of the year, and they’re in the process of moving into Scottish hospitals. The goal remains the same – to keep Reece’s generosity alive in the minds of everyone whose time as a patient is made so much easier. Interview: Hannah Westwater FIND OUT MORE therockinr.org.uk BIGISSUE.COM | 15
the big picture. GROWTH INDUSTRY This is a futuristic farm, pioneering technology that could provide food security and more nutritious and delicious fruit and vegetables. The Tigris farm owned by indoor agriculture company Plenty is based, of course, near San Francisco, where it grows acres-worth of produce in an area the size of a basketball court. Fruit, leafy vegetables and herbs are cultivated on 20ft towers using less than five per cent of the water and 99 per cent less land than traditional farming methods. One million plants are monitored 24/7, with light and water conditions designed to maximise the development – and flavour – of the crops. Plenty plans to open its second farm in the city of Compton in Los Angeles County later this year, but it has its sights set on global growth. Vertical farms could be built almost anywhere, cutting down transport and storage costs, ultimately reducing the price we pay for our five a day. Other companies around the world are focused on bringing farming inside. Last week, Memphis Meats secured enough funding to scale-up its production of cell-based meat, which promises juicy steaks without the bitter ethical and environmental aftertaste.
Photos: Spencer Lowell
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BIGISSUE.COM | 17
I
letter to my younger self.
was a pretty angsty teenager. I was extremely gangly, very late into puberty. I had absolutely no ambitions at all, except for earning a bit of money. And going to the pub on Friday. I wanted to be really popular but I wasn’t, not as much as I wanted to be. I tried too hard to be cool. I didn’t like being at boarding school very much, I was a bit of a mummy’s boy. I just wanted to be at home. I had lots of homesickness. And I wasn’t very good at obeying rules. I’ve always been a bit confrontational, though obviously not the massive shit magnet that I am today. It comes from being third in the family. Third out of fve. The biscuits have run out by the time it’s your turn. So I was always looking for attention.
Laurence Fox
Privileged white male
Photo: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
2012
With actor father James and mother Mary at a charity event in London
Photo: ITV/Shutterstock
2019
Playing Lord Palmerston in the ITV show Victoria
2020
Making his controversial Question Timeappearance
18 | BIGISSUE.COM
My relationship with my mum was the same as it is now, though I sit on her lap less often. She was loving and straight talking, an extremely authentic woman. Someone who insists on people being able to express themselves. She was a nurse, so you couldn’t get anything by her, you know, you never got off school unless it was serious. I think I’ve got a lot of her in me but she’s not a huge fan of actors. She thinks they’re all a bit self-involved. I would agree with that. There are lots of parts of me that are still like my teenage self. I think you remain a child a lot of your life. You just have a lot more to deal with. But I also remind myself so much of my dad when I’m with my kids, the way I behave. He was a loving father but you know that tone that you put on with your children if they’re not doing what you say – I’ve realised I sound exactly like my dad. I don’t mind that though; my parents are awesome so if I turn out like them that would be an excellent life for me. I’m not as good as them. If I was half as good as them, that would be an excellent life for me. I remember going from only wanting to be around my mates to suddenly falling in love. The frst time I fell in love was when I was seven and it’s probably still one of the big moments in my life. I actually saw her the other day. I don’t fancy her now, not at all, but the love I felt when we were seven was very, very strong. But I was terrible with girls. I had absolute dread and fear. I didn’t want to make the frst move, I wasn’t particularly comfortable in my skin. And like every man I was really batting out of my league. I think the first impression I gave then was probably very like it is now. I was like ‘yeah, everything’s fne’ but deep down I was insecure and worried like most kids of that age. I’m much calmer than I was. I became a bully once. I had been bullied myself and it’s no fun being bullied so you allow yourself to become a bully. It’s not pleasant. In boarding school when you get to the top you get more power and you decide to exercise it. But you forget that the younger kids are much more sensitive than you are. So there are bits of me, certainly when I was younger, that I’m not particularly proud of. Upsetting younger boys – that makes me feel sad when I look back on it now. In terms of my career I don’t really care what people think about me and my situation [as a member of the Fox acting dynasty alongside father James, uncle Edward and cousins Emilia and Freddie]. I never have. When it comes to choices I’m like, well that’s what I want to do, and if you don’t like it, jog on. You’ve still got to be good at it. I decided I wanted to act when I spent a year earning £30 a pound a day as a gardener. I got bored of getting £150 a week and spending it all by halfway through Saturday afternoon. I thought, this is no way to live. I went to see my old English teacher at Harrow, who was a really amazing man and a great teacher. And he just literally taught me how to act from scratch. It was 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
1994
THE YEAR LAURENCE TURNS 16 • Nelson Mandela becomes South African president • Ayrton Senna dies in a accident at the San Marino Grand Prix • Jeff Bezos founds retail giant Amazon
Photo: Leonie Morse / Camera Press
just me and him, often quite late at night, when the school day was finished. I would drive up from my mum and dad’s house in Wimbledon and we’d do a couple of hours on how you actually do acting. On making you think about what you’re saying, and why you’re saying it. Simple stuff.
why we’re here, in my mind – and I’m really, really, really happy that I am. But I went through a horrific divorce and it took me a couple of years to get over it. I feel OK now, though not according to Twitter. According to Twitter I’m having a nervous breakdown.
I do have times when I really love acting. It’s quite good fun when it’s good. But I don’t take it very seriously. I hate people who take it seriously. You should just turn up, do the best you can, try and be in the moment, go home. Some people need to feel like they’re doing something akin to brain surgery. But the job of an actor is just to speak the writer’s lines. When I did Lewis it was stable and I had a young family. It was quite good for my profile and it was good for getting paid – when you have kids you become much more aware of the need to make money. The plots I can vaguely remember, the rest I’ve just totally wiped. I liked doing Victoria. That was much more what I’m like as a person. Naughty, and a little bit wrong. Doing my best to prod any elephant in the room.
Twitter is quite sad actually. There’s a lot of nastiness on there. [Following an appearance on Question Time, in which he made some questionable comments about white privilege, Fox went further in a number of online exchanges about contemporary culture wars.] You think, oh, are people that nasty? I think the problem is that if you do walk away or allow yourself to kowtow to the trolls, then they kind of win. If you keep as much humour as possible going, and gently remind them that it’s water off a duck’s back then it’s a small victory. But yeah, I probably should walk away more often. I think it does have a little effect on you. Maybe not now but in the long run. I certainly find it more tricky to sleep, but that’s mainly because of the death threats.
I’d tell my younger self to listen more to other people. I think I’m only just learning now. There are loads of times I wish I’d done that. Loads and loads. But I’d also tell myself, don’t give yourself such a hard time. I still give myself quite a hard time actually. But fortunately I have a lot of good people around me, people I love, and they remind me I’m not a total arsehole. That’s always a bonus.
If I could go back to any point in my life it would be when I was about 20 and I was in the driver’s seat of my first ever Jag – taking my first ever serious girlfriend down to the south coast in this old but super-comfortable Jag. It was the most beautiful late spring day, and I was totally... it was just bliss. I remember thinking, this is a very special moment. Remember it. This is the happiest you’ll ever be.
If I was giving myself advice about my marriage [to actor Billie Piper] I’d would say... try and make sure your values align. Unless you do, you’re going to have problems. But when you fall in love it’s not the first thing you think of. It’s almost the last thing. Some good things happened; I always wanted to be a dad – that’s 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
Laurence Fox’s new album A Grief Observed is out now. His UK tour starts on February 17. laurencefox.co.uk Interview: Jane Graham @Janeannie For more interviews see bigissue.com/letter-to-my-youngerself BIGISSUE.COM | 19
lord dubs the hero.
There are tens of thousands of children lost in Europe, alone and far from family and hope. They’ve been ģŏƫƠŧÿĜĪģ ÿƫ ÿ ƣĪƫǀŧƸ żł ĜżŲǵŧŏĜƸ ÿŲģ ŃƣŏŲģŏŲŃ ƠżǜĪƣƸǣ ŏŲ their home nations. And, shamefully, Britain has decided Ƹż ŰÿŤĪ ŏƸ ĜƣŏƠƠŧŏŲŃŧǣ ģŏdzǿĜǀŧƸ łżƣ ƸŊĪŰ Ƹż ƫĪĪŤ ƫÿŲĜƸǀÿƣǣ and peace here. While there is much celebration from ŰÿŲǣ ƢǀÿƣƸĪƣƫ ÿěżǀƸ ƣĪǢŏƸ᠁ ƸŊĪƣĪ ÿƣĪ ŰÿŲǣ ģÿŲŃĪƣżǀƫ consequences. żƣŏƫ dżŊŲƫżŲᡉƫ ƣĪǜŏƫĪģ /à àŏƸŊģƣÿǝÿŧ ŏŧŧ Ŋÿƫ ŃżŲĪ ÿ ŧżŲŃ ǝÿǣ Ƹż ĪŲƫǀƣŏŲŃ ƸŊÿƸ ŊĪ ᡆŃĪƸƫ ƣĪǢŏƸ ģżŲĪᡇ᠇ ǀƸ ƸŊĪ ĜżƫƸ żł ƸŊĪ ƣĪšŏŃŃĪģ ģĪÿŧ ǝŏŧŧ ěĪ łĪŧƸ ŤĪĪŲŧǣ ěǣ ƸŊĪ ĪƫƸŏŰÿƸĪģ ᚅᙶ᠁ᙶᙶᙶ ǀŲÿĜĜżŰƠÿŲŏĪģ ĜŊŏŧģ ƣĪłǀŃĪĪƫ ŰÿŤŏŲŃ the perilous journey across Europe. Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May’s bill may have been widely rejected by Parliament but it included a ƠƣżŰŏƫĪ Ƹż hÿěżǀƣ ƠĪĪƣ hżƣģ ŧł 'ǀěƫ ƸŊÿƸ ƸŊĪ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ ǝżǀŧģ ěĪ ƣĪƢǀŏƣĪģ Ƹż ƫĪĪŤ ÿŲ ÿŃƣĪĪŰĪŲƸ ǝŏƸŊ ƸŊĪ /à Ƹż ĪŲƫǀƣĪ ƫÿłĪ ƠÿƫƫÿŃĪ łżƣ ĜŊŏŧģ ƣĪłǀŃĪĪƫ Ƹż ƸŊĪ Ãf᠇ Johnson’s deal watered down that commitment, ƣĪƠŧÿĜŏŲŃ ŏƸ ǝŏƸŊ ÿ ƣĪƢǀŏƣĪŰĪŲƸ łƣżŰ ƸŊĪ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ Ƹż ŰÿŤĪ ƫƸÿƸĪŰĪŲƸƫ ǀƠģÿƸŏŲŃ £ÿƣŧŏÿŰĪŲƸ ŏŲƫƸĪÿģ᠇ ¼ŊĪ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ Ŋÿƫ ŏŲƫŏƫƸĪģ ƸŊÿƸ᠀ ᡆ£ƣżƸĪĜƸŏŲŃ ǜǀŧŲĪƣÿěŧĪ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ǝŏŧŧ ƣĪŰÿŏŲ żǀƣ ƠƣŏżƣŏƸǣ ÿǽƸĪƣ ƣĪǢŏƸᡇ ÿŲģ ǜżǝĪģ Ƹż ƣĪŏŲƸƣżģǀĜĪ ƠƣżƸĪĜƸŏżŲƫ ŏŲ ÿ ŲĪǝ SŰŰŏŃƣÿƸŏżŲ ŏŧŧ᠇ But it was still a slap in the face to Lord Dubs – himself ÿ ƣĪłǀŃĪĪ ÿŲģ żŲĪ żł ƸŊĪ ᚂᚂᚅ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ǝŊż ĪƫĜÿƠĪģ ƸŊĪ ĜŧǀƸĜŊĪƫ żł ƸŊĪ tÿǭŏƫ᠁ ŰżƫƸŧǣ łƣżŰ £ƣÿŃǀĪ ŏŲ ᙷᚅᙹᚅ᠁ ǝŊż ǝĪƣĪ ěƣżǀŃŊƸ Ƹż ƸŊĪ Ãf ÿƫ ÿ ƣĪƫǀŧƸ żł tŏĜŊżŧÿƫ àŏŲƸżŲᡉƫ ƫĪŧǵŧĪƫƫ fŏŲģĪƣƸƣÿŲƫƠżƣƸ᠇ hżƣģ 'ǀěƫ ǿƣƫƸ ƠÿƫƫĪģ ÿŲ ÿŰĪŲģŰĪŲƸ Ƹż ƸŊĪ SŰŰŏŃƣÿƸŏżŲ ĜƸ ŏŲ Ơƣŏŧ ᙸᙶᙷᚂ ƸŊÿƸ ƫĪƸ ǀƠ ƸŊĪ 'ǀěƫ ®ĜŊĪŰĪ ᠲ żdzłĪƣŏŲŃ ÿ ƠÿƸŊǝÿǣ Ƹż ěƣŏŲŃ ᙹ᠁ᙶᙶᙶ ŧżŲĪ ƣĪłǀŃĪĪ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ Ƹż ƸŊĪ Ãf᠇ ®ŏŲĜĪ ƸŊĪŲ᠁ ƸŊĪ 'ǀěƫ ®ĜŊĪŰĪ Ŋÿƫ łÿĜĪģ ÿ ěÿƸƸŧĪ Ƹż ĜżŲƸŏŲǀĪ żdzłĪƣŏŲŃ ƫÿłĪ ƠÿƫƫÿŃĪ Ƹż ƸŊĪ Ãf ǝŏƸŊ šǀƫƸ ᙸᙸᙶ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ƸƣÿŲƫłĪƣƣĪģ Ƹż ƸŊĪ Ãf ŏŲ ƸŊĪ ǿƣƫƸ Ƹǝż ǣĪÿƣƫ ÿƫ ƣżǝƫ żǜĪƣ ŧżĜÿŧ ÿǀƸŊżƣŏƸǣ ĜÿƠÿĜŏƸǣ ÿŲģ ƸŊĪ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸᡉƫ ƫǀƠƠżƣƸ łżƣ ƸŊĪ ƫĜŊĪŰĪ ƣÿŃĪģ żŲ᠇ Lord Dubs has been just as resolute for the EU Withdrawal Bill and refused to withdraw his amendment Ƹż ƠƣżƸĪĜƸ ƸŊĪ ƣŏŃŊƸƫ żł ƣĪłǀŃĪĪ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ᠇ ÿĜŤĪģ ěǣ ĜŊÿƣŏƸŏĪƫ ®ÿłĪ £ÿƫƫÿŃĪ ÿŲģ NĪŧƠ ¦ĪłǀŃĪĪƫ ÿŲģ ÿ ᙸᙷᚂ᠁ᙶᙶᙶᠵƫŏŃŲÿƸǀƣĪ ƠĪƸŏƸŏżŲ Ƹż ƠƣĪǜĪŲƸ ƸŊĪ ěŧżĜŤŏŲŃ of that avenue to sanctuary, Dubs rallied thousands of ƫǀƠƠżƣƸĪƣƫ ÿƸ ÿ £ÿƣŧŏÿŰĪŲƸ ®ƢǀÿƣĪ ƠƣżƸĪƫƸ ŧÿƫƸ rżŲģÿǣ᠇ ¼Ŋŏƫ ƫŊżǝ żł ƫǀƠƠżƣƸ ǝÿƫ łżŧŧżǝĪģ ǝŏƸŊ ÿ ĜżŲǜŏŲĜŏŲŃ ģĪłĪÿƸ łżƣ ƸŊĪ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ ŏŲ ÿ NżǀƫĪ żł hżƣģƫ ǜżƸĪ żŲ ƸŊĪ ÿŰĪŲģŰĪŲƸ᠁ ǝŏƸŊ ÿŲ ᚄᙶᠵƫƸƣżŲŃ ŰÿšżƣŏƸǣ ěÿĜŤŏŲŃ ƸŊĪ ÿŰĪŲģŰĪŲƸ ÿŲģ ƫĪŲģŏŲŃ ƸŊĪ ěŏŧŧ ěÿĜŤ Ƹż ƸŊĪ żŰŰżŲƫ᠇ ǀƸ ƸŊĪ ĜÿŰƠÿŏŃŲ ĪŲģĪģ ŏŲ ǜÿŏŲ ᠲ ƸŊĪ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ ŊĪŧģ ǿƣŰ ƸŊĪ łżŧŧżǝŏŲŃ ģÿǣ ÿƫ żŲƫĪƣǜÿƸŏǜĪ r£ƫ ƠǀƸ party politics above vulnerable children to reject the ÿŰĪŲģŰĪŲƸ ǝŏƸŊ ÿŲ ᚄᚄᠵǜżƸĪ ŰÿšżƣŏƸǣ᠇ ƫ ƸŊĪ Ãf ĪǢŏƸƫ ƸŊĪ /à ƸŊŏƫ ǝĪĪŤ ÿŲģ᠁ ƠżŏŃŲÿŲƸŧǣ᠁ ƸŊĪ ǝżƣŧģ ŰÿƣŤƫ NżŧżĜÿǀƫƸ ¦ĪŰĪŰěƣÿŲĜĪ 'ÿǣ żŲ dÿŲǀÿƣǣ ᙸᚃ᠁ hżƣģ 'ǀěƫ ƸĪŧŧƫ ¼ŊĪ ŏŃ SƫƫǀĪ ǝŊǣ Ŋŏƫ ǿŃŊƸ Ƹż ŃŏǜĪ vulnerable children a safe home and protection from ƸƣÿdzǿĜŤĪƣƫ ÿŲģ ĜƣŏŰŏŲÿŧƫ ŰǀƫƸ Ńż żŲ᠇
Image: ¼ hG fr/t᠓ F£ ǜŏÿ GĪƸƸǣ SŰÿŃĪƫ
Labour peer Alf Dubs’ life was saved by the Kindertransport rescue mission that brought him to Britain when he was ·êÞæ Þ¬û ü ÚÞ Ë½ DËö © ɸÞ Ĉ¤©æ¬Ä¤ æ© government to give other refugee children a safe future here
Driven by hope Now 87, Lord Dubs has been ǿŃŊƸŏŲŃ łżƣ ƣĪłǀŃĪĪƫ łżƣ ģĪĜÿģĪƫ
“A
nyone who has visited the refugee camps in Greece or Calais cannot fail to be moved by the plight of the refugee children stranded there. ¼ŊĪƣĪ ĜÿŲ ěĪ łĪǝ ƫŏŃŊƸƫ ŰżƣĪ ŰżǜŏŲŃ ÿŲģ ģŏƫƸƣĪƫƫŏŲŃ ƸŊÿŲ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ǝŏƸŊ Ųż łÿŰŏŧǣ᠁ ŏŲ ÿ łżƣĪŏŃŲ ĜżǀŲƸƣǣ ǝŊĪƣĪ ƸŊĪǣ ģżŲᡉƸ ƫƠĪÿŤ ƸŊĪ ŧÿŲŃǀÿŃĪ᠁ ŧŏǜŏŲŃ ŏŲ ŰÿŤĪƫŊŏǽƸ ƫŊĪŧƸĪƣƫ᠁ żǜĪƣĜƣżǝģĪģ ĜÿŰƠƫ żƣ ƣżǀŃŊ żŲ ƸŊĪ ƫƸƣĪĪƸƫ᠇ The journeys these children undertake can take years and ÿƣĪ łƣÿǀŃŊƸ ǝŏƸŊ ģÿŲŃĪƣ ÿŲģ ĪǢƠŧżŏƸÿƸŏżŲ᠇ rǣ šżǀƣŲĪǣ ŊĪƣĪ ÿƫ ÿŲ ǀŲÿĜĜżŰƠÿŲŏĪģ ƣĪłǀŃĪĪ ĜŊŏŧģ ÿŃĪģ ƫŏǢ ƸżżŤ Ƹǝż ģÿǣƫ żŲ ÿ ƸƣÿŏŲ łƣżŰ £ƣÿŃǀĪ ÿŲģ ƠÿŧĪƫ ŏŲ ĜżŰƠÿƣŏƫżŲ Ƹż ƸŊĪ šżǀƣŲĪǣƫ ěĪŏŲŃ ǀŲģĪƣƸÿŤĪŲ ěǣ ƸŊĪ ĜŊŏŧģ ƣĪłǀŃĪĪƫ żł Ƹżģÿǣ᠇ ¼ŊĪ ƠÿŏŲłǀŧ ƣĪÿŧŏƸǣ łżƣ ŧÿƣŃĪ ŲǀŰěĪƣƫ żł ƸŊĪƫĪ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ŏƫ ƸŊÿƸ ƸŊĪǣ ŊÿǜĪ ěĪĪŲ ƫŰǀŃŃŧĪģ᠁ żƣ ǝżƣƫĪ ƫƸŏŧŧ ƸƣÿdzǿĜŤĪģ᠁ ǝŊŏĜŊ ŰĪÿŲƫ ƸŊĪǣ ŊÿǜĪ ᡆĪÿƣŲĪģᡇ ƸŊĪŏƣ ǝÿǣ Ƹż /ǀƣżƠĪ ƸŊƣżǀŃŊ ƫŧÿǜĪƣǣ᠁ ƠƣżƫƸŏƸǀƸŏżŲ żƣ ĪŲłżƣĜĪģ ŧÿěżǀƣ᠇ ¼ŊżǀƫÿŲģƫ żł ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ƫŏŰƠŧǣ disappear en route, absorbed by criminals and their networks. Even once in the camps S ŊÿǜĪ ěĪĪŲ Ƹżŧģ ěǣ ģżĜƸżƣƫ ǜżŧǀŲƸĪĪƣŏŲŃ ŏŲ GƣĪĪĜĪ ƸŊÿƸ ƸŊĪ ĪǢƠŧżŏƸÿƸŏżŲ ĜżŲƸŏŲǀĪƫ᠁ ÿŲģ ƸŊÿƸ ƣÿƠĪ ŏƫ ĜżŰŰżŲƠŧÿĜĪ᠇ dǀƫƸ ƸŊŏƫ ǝĪĪŤ ƸŊĪƣĪ ǝĪƣĪ ÿŲŃƣǣ ƠƣżƸĪƫƸƫ żǀƸƫŏģĪ ƸŊĪ rżƣŏÿ ĜÿŰƠ żŲ hĪƫěżƫ ŏŲ GƣĪĪĜĪ ƸŊÿƸ S ǜŏƫŏƸĪģ ŧÿƫƸ ǣĪÿƣ ǝŏƸŊ ®ƸĪƠŊĪŲ żǝÿŲ᠁ ǝŊż ŧĪÿģƫ ƸŊĪ ěżƣżǀŃŊ ǝŊĪƣĪ S ŧŏǜĪ ÿŲģ Ŋÿƫ ƸÿŤĪŲ ŏŲ ƫżŰĪ żł ƸŊĪ ŰżƫƸ ģĪƫƠĪƣÿƸĪ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ᠇ ¼ŊĪ rżƣŏÿ ĜÿŰƠ ǝÿƫ ěǀŏŧƸ Ƹż ÿĜĜżŰŰżģÿƸĪ ÿƣżǀŲģ ᙸ᠁ᙶᙶᙶ ƠĪżƠŧĪ ěǀƸ ŏƸ ŏƫ ĪƫƸŏŰÿƸĪģ ƸŊÿƸ ƸŊĪƣĪ ÿƣĪ ÿƫ ŰÿŲǣ ÿƫ ᙸᙶ᠁ᙶᙶᙶ ŧŏǜŏŲŃ ƸŊĪƣĪ Ųżǝ᠇ SƸ ŏƫ ƸŊĪ ĜŧżƫĪƫƸ ƸŊŏŲŃ Ƹż ŊĪŧŧ żŲ ĪÿƣƸŊ S have witnessed. ®żŰĪ żł ƸŊĪ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ŏŲ ƸŊĪ ĜÿŰƠƫ żƣ żŲ ƸŊĪ ƫƸƣĪĪƸƫ ŊÿǜĪ łÿŰŏŧǣ ŊĪƣĪ ŏŲ ƸŊĪ Ãf᠁ ƠĪƣŊÿƠƫ ƸŊĪ żŲŧǣ ƫǀƣǜŏǜŏŲŃ ƣĪŧÿƸŏǜĪƫ ƸŊĪǣ ŊÿǜĪ᠇ ¼ŊĪŏƣ ƣŏŃŊƸ Ƹż ěĪ ƣĪǀŲŏƸĪģ ǝŏƸŊ ƸŊÿƸ family is enshrined in law, but that law will be scrapped when we leave the EU if the ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ ŃĪƸƫ ŏƸƫ ǝÿǣ᠇ ƫ ŰĪŰěĪƣƫ żł ƸŊĪ /Ã᠁ ǝĪ ÿƣĪ ƠÿƣƸ żł ƸŊĪ 'ǀěŧŏŲ ¦ĪŃǀŧÿƸŏżŲ᠁ ǝŊŏĜŊ ÿŧŧżǝƫ ǀŲÿĜĜżŰƠÿŲŏĪģ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ǝŏƸŊŏŲ ƸŊĪ /à Ƹż ÿƠƠŧǣ łżƣ ŧĪŃÿŧ łÿŰŏŧǣ ƣĪǀŲŏżŲ ǝŏƸŊ ƣĪŧÿƸŏǜĪƫ ĪŧƫĪǝŊĪƣĪ ǝŏƸŊŏŲ ƸŊĪ /Ã᠇ ®ż᠁ łżƣ ĪǢÿŰƠŧĪ᠁ ÿ ®ǣƣŏÿŲ żƣƠŊÿŲ ǝŊż ÿƣƣŏǜĪƫ ŏŲ GƣĪĪĜĪ ŊżƠŏŲŃ Ƹż ǿŲģ ÿŲ ÿǀŲƸ ŏŲ hżǝĪƫƸżǽƸ Ŋÿƫ ƸŊĪ ƣŏŃŊƸ Ƹż ÿƠƠŧǣ Ƹż ěĪ ƣĪǀŲŏƸĪģ ǝŏƸŊ ŊĪƣ᠇ ǀƸ ǝŊĪŲ ǝĪ ŧĪÿǜĪ ƸŊĪ /Ã᠁ ǝĪ ǝŏŧŧ Ųż ŧżŲŃĪƣ ěĪ ĜżǜĪƣĪģ ěǣ ƸŊĪ 'ǀěŧŏŲ ¦ĪŃǀŧÿƸŏżŲ᠇ ¼Ŋŏƫ ƣŏŃŊƸ ǝÿƫ Ƹż ŊÿǜĪ ĜżŲƸŏŲǀĪģ ÿǽƸĪƣ ƣĪǢŏƸ᠁ ŊżǝĪǜĪƣ᠁ ÿǽƸĪƣ Űǣ ÿŰĪŲģŰĪŲƸ Ƹż Theresa May’s Withdrawal Bill was voted on in the Lords by peers from across the ƠÿƣƸŏĪƫ ÿŲģ ÿĜĜĪƠƸĪģ ěǣ ƸŊĪ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ ŏŲ ƸŊĪ żŰŰżŲƫ᠇ ®ż᠁ S ǝÿƫ ģŏƫŰÿǣĪģ Ƹż ģŏƫĜżǜĪƣ ƸŊÿƸ ŏŲ ƸŊĪ ŰżƫƸ ƣĪĜĪŲƸ ŏŲĜÿƣŲÿƸŏżŲ żł ƸŊĪ ŏŧŧ᠁ ěƣżǀŃŊƸ šǀƫƸ ěĪłżƣĪ ŊƣŏƫƸŰÿƫ ěǣ ƸŊĪ ĜǀƣƣĪŲƸ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ᠁ ƸŊŏƫ ƣŏŃŊƸ Ŋÿģ ěĪĪŲ ƣĪŰżǜĪģ᠇ ¼ŊĪ hżƣģƫ żŲĜĪ ÿŃÿŏŲ ěÿĜŤĪģ Űǣ ŧÿƸĪƫƸ ÿŰĪŲģŰĪŲƸ ǝŊĪŲ ŏƸ ǝÿƫ ģĪěÿƸĪģ ĪÿƣŧŏĪƣ ƸŊŏƫ ǝĪĪŤ᠁ ÿŲģ ƸŊĪ ƠǀěŧŏĜᡉƫ ƫǀƠƠżƣƸ Ŋÿƫ ěĪĪŲ żǜĪƣǝŊĪŧŰŏŲŃ ᠲ ÿŧŰżƫƸ ÿ ƢǀÿƣƸĪƣ żł ÿ ŰŏŧŧŏżŲ ƠĪżƠŧĪ ŊÿǜĪ ƫŏŃŲĪģ ÿ ƠĪƸŏƸŏżŲ ÿƫŤŏŲŃ łżƣ ƸŊĪ ŃżǜĪƣŲŰĪŲƸ Ƹż ƣĪƫƸżƣĪ ƸŊĪ ƣŏŃŊƸƫ żł ƣĪłǀŃĪĪ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ Ƹż łÿŰŏŧǣ ƣĪǀŲŏżŲ ŊĪƣĪ᠇ ǀƸ ǀŲłżƣƸǀŲÿƸĪŧǣ łżƣ ƸŊĪ ĜŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ƫƸƣÿŲģĪģ ŏŲ GƣĪĪĜĪ ÿŲģ ÿŧÿŏƫ᠁ r£ƫ ƣĪšĪĜƸĪģ Űǣ ÿŰĪŲģŰĪŲƸ᠇ I believe that the way we treat the most vulnerable people is a test of who we are, what kind of country we hope to live in and what humanity we have. Britain has a Ơƣżǀģ ƸƣÿģŏƸŏżŲ żł ŊǀŰÿŲŏƸǣ ÿŲģ ŊżƫƠŏƸÿŧŏƸǣ Ƹżǝÿƣģƫ ĜŊŏŧģ ƣĪłǀŃĪĪƫ᠁ ŰǣƫĪŧł ŏŲĜŧǀģĪģ᠁ ƫż ÿŧƸŊżǀŃŊ żǀƣ ĜÿŰƠÿŏŃŲ ƫǀdzłĪƣĪģ ÿ ƫĪƸěÿĜŤ ƸŊŏƫ ǝĪĪŤ᠁ ŏƸ ŏƫ ŲżƸ żǜĪƣ᠇ ¼ŊĪ ŲĪǢƸ ĜŊÿŧŧĪŲŃĪ ǝŏŧŧ ěĪ łżǀŃŊƸ żǜĪƣ ƸŊĪ ŲĪǢƸ łĪǝ ŰżŲƸŊƫ᠇ ŊŏŧģƣĪŲ ÿƣĪ ĜżǀŲƸŏŲŃ żŲ ǀƫ Ƹż ǝŏŲ ŏƸ᠇ᡇ @AlfDubs
20 | BIGISSUE.COM
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‘I believe that the way we treat the most vulnerable people is a test of who we are, what kind of country we hope to live in and what humanity we have’ ALF DUBS
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Young lives on hold Denying children the right to family reunion betrays all our values, says Cowan
Image: Adam Berry/Getty Images
Howonecouncil isbattlingtobe ahomefor child refugees 22 | BIGISSUE.COM
Hammersmith and Fulham Council leader Stephen Cowan explains how a pint with Lord Dubs spearheaded a battle to bring children to the UK. But they face resistance at every turn – from those at the very top June 23 2016 was an historic day for our country. But for me it was also the beginning of a journey I’ve been privileged to take with one of our local heroes, Alf Dubs. That journey would ultimately take Alf and me to the camps in Calais and Greece together to see for ourselves the terrible conditions children survive in. It would also lead to 26 so-called “Dubs children” – those with no family at all – completing their own journeys to safely settle in this borough. Alf lives in Hammersmith, where I am the leader of the council. After he and I had spent a long referendum day knocking on doors, we shared our fears over a beer. It was then that Alf explained to me his worries about the plight of child refugees. This week Alf’s worst fears were realised when the government voted down his amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill. My first priority is always our residents, which is why Hammersmith and Fulham has the third-lowest council tax in Britain, taken all children out of homeless B&B accommodation, offers free homecare to our elderly and disabled residents and provides free breakfasts for all primary school children. But during the worst global refugee crisis in the post-war period, I also believe we 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
have a duty to some of the most desperate, traumatised people of all – unaccompanied refugee children. I also have a duty to do all I can to keep our residents safe. Scrapping children’s legal right to family reunion not only betrays our great British humanitarian traditions but it also fuels organised crime which contaminates our communities, because when legal routes to safety for refugee children are closed, illegal smuggling and even trafficking flourish. Westminster may be where policy affecting refugee children is decided, but it is local authorities that are at the coalface of the refugee crisis. When children arrive in our borough, age assessments are undertaken. The overwhelming majority of the children assessed are indeed children. All of the Dubs children in our care suffer from trauma, but they’re all doing well. All but two are in full-time education and 16 of them are studying for university degrees. Given the dangerous journeys they have taken without family to protect them, their achievements are extraordinary. One of our Dubs children lived for two years in the Calais Jungle before being granted a legal right to asylum here. Three years on, and despite arriving here speaking no English, he is a model student with an excellent attendance and behaviour record at school. His passion and talent for cricket won him a fully funded place on a local team, and he has passed his trials for a national training programme that starts this month. Another of our Dubs children crossed continents to arrive here. He also came speaking no English but is already predicted high grades in English and Maths GCSE and Maths A level. He is in the top stream at his school and won a prestigious award for outstanding academic achievement. He is also a very promising footballer and last year he was offered a place on a prestigious football apprenticeship programme. Despite our willingness to play our part in the global refugee crisis, the government has not made it easy for us and other councils willing to step up. Although the government publicly stated that it supported their return to the UK, our offer to take the British orphans found in the camps in Syria was stonewalled.
places are full. We know that is not the case'
We have even had to sue the government in order to win the right to bring a deeply traumatised child to safety here. The Syrian boy, who was being cared for by charities in Greece, had such acute psychiatric needs that he was moved around a number of institutions before being placed in a locked detention centre, and was highly medicated. We became involved after a charity told us about the boy’s history of suicide attempts, but despite his precarious mental state and lack of appropriate support, the government refused our offer to bring him safely into the care of our children’s department. We took legal action against the government and were unsuccessful. Some months later after the boy made further attempts to end his life, by stuffing his mouth with rags to try and choke himself, we took further legal action against the government, this time successfully, and we finally won the right to care for him. Our council is far from unique in terms of the efforts we’ve made to rise to this refugee crisis. Local authorities across the country have offered to take over 1,400 unaccompanied refugee children. So far, however, according to the Home Office, only 450 unaccompanied children have been reunited with their family in the UK, and just 220 children have been transferred under the Dubs scheme. Refugee charities in France and Greece say they have been told not to make any more referrals as the places are full. We know that is not the case. Alf arrived as an unaccompanied refugee child, aged just six. He went on to be part of the team that negotiated peace in Northern Ireland and was the driving force behind the government’s decision to ban Don’t look away cluster bombs. This borough and Dubs and Cowan fight on this country is the richer for people despite indifference from like Alf Dubs and indeed the Dubs the government children of today.
Image: Andrew Aitchison / In Pictures via Getty Images
27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
Ahmed is an unaccompanied asylum-seeking Afghan child who lived in the Calais Jungle for about two years before he arrived here in October 2016. He is also a ‘Dubs child’. Ahmed does not appear to understand how it was decided that he should travel to the UK, however he knows that his parents had concerns for their safety in Afghanistan, which is why they made the decision to pay his paternal uncle to help him travel to the UK. He has said little about the journey other than there was a lot of walking. He has no contact with his family and does not know whether they are still in Afghanistan or whether they too left the country to seek asylum elsewhere. Ahmed started at London’s Chelsea Academy in January 2017 where he thrives on all levels of school life. Ahmed lives in foster care and is now settled. His school describes him as hardworking, focused and attentive. He has made lots of friends. Ahmed plays cricket for Fulham Cricket Club and has a real talent, he has a fully funded place on the team. He also passed his trials at Surrey County Cricket Club and is on a winter training program which will be starting in January at the Oval. Ahmed is a Y10 student at Chelsea Academy, he has a 100 per cent attendance record and punctuality and has never had a detention. Supplied by Candida Jones, programme manager at Hammersmith & Fulham Council
@StephenCowan BIGISSUE.COM | 23
today for tomorrow.
HOW THE BIG ISSUE WILL FUTUREPROOF BREXIT BRITAIN As sure as bongs are buzzworthy, Brexit is now inevitable. But we have a plan. This is how we build a country with wellbeing at its heart. Liam Geraghty gets ready
24 | BIGISSUE.COM
27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
A
t 11pm on January 31, Britain will leave the EU. Or the country will actually start a transition period running until December 31. That’s the REAL crunch date. While much of the triumphalist rhetoric from the Leave side, topped by the Big Ben bong banter has been hard to stomach for a huge percentage of Britain – almost half – the event is a reality. And there are two ways for us to face up to this reality. Either we can step up to resist it, or we can accept it and work out ways to chisel some success from it. The latter is the only reasonable and pragmatic approach. Rather than being fearful, it’s time put our collective energy into looking ahead. This is where the thinking around Big Issue founder Lord John Bird’s Future Generations Bill comes in. It is embedded planning for a brighter future. It is a mindset that is needed now. The Future Generations Bill goes beyond Brexit. It aims to combat the short-termism that, for some, Brexit has come to define. It will prevent a future where we are doomed to an endless cycle of repeating yesterday’s mistakes. Lord Bird was inspired by a place where forwardthinking, sustainability and wellbeing have already become baked in to policymaking and the hard decisions. Wales’ own Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, gave future generations commissioner for Wales Sophie Howe the power to scrutinise the decision-making of public bodies to ensure they consider the impact on those who are yet to be born. In Scotland, too, sustainability and wellbeing have become the key buzz words. The Scottish Government was ahead of the game when it set up the National Performance Framework in 2007, before revamping it in 2018, to measure wellbeing across a range of economic, social and environmental factors. Just last week First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reaffirmed Scotland’s commitment to making collective wellbeing “as fundamental as GDP” in a speech at the Edinburgh’s Wellbeing and Economy Alliance conference. Next in the House of Lords for a second reading on March 13, the Future Generations Bill will build on the Welsh example. It will create a UK Future Generations Commissioner role with the legal backing to demand public bodies and government departments set wellbeing targets and stand by them. It will give everyone a say through a citizens’ assembly, offering an explicit legal right for individuals to hold those bodies to account. The legislation will be a body blow to short-termism, ensuring that those who have been left behind in poverty will not be cut adrift by the consequences of the Brexit that many who felt disillusioned and disenfranchised backed. Don’t just take out word for it – leading academics, politicians and progressive thinkers have spoken up for the power of the Future Generations Bill to take us into a brighter future. 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
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BIGISSUE.COM | 25
IF I HAD SOMEWHERE TO LIVE… I COULD GO ANYWHERE IN LIFE When Abi’s mum died, life got tough. She didn’t get on with her dad and the arguments became violent. Abi felt her only choice was to leave home. With just the clothes on her back, and no idea where to go, she ended up sleeping on the streets in the freezing cold.
Right now, you could give a homeless young person like Abi somewhere to start their future Abi’s life changed when she was given a room at Centrepoint. A safe place to sleep and recover. A place to develop the skills and confidence she needed to rebuild her life – and leave homelessness behind for good. Now, Abi believes she can go anywhere.
Thousands of homeless young people like Abi are desperately trying to find their place in the world – but first they need a place to start again. You could help right now by sponsoring a room at Centrepoint for just 40p a day. We know this support changes lives. 88% of the young people we help move on positively in life. So please, help someone like Abi today. Thank you.
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education Libraries are absolutely part of the solution to the UK's social care crisis, but the crisis itself could have been averted if successive governments had simply heeded the demographic data since the 1970s. That's why I support Lord Bird’s Future Generations Bill.
young people Young people are rightly calling out current leaders who are failing to act on issues which will affect their futures such as climate change. Policy-making is invariably short-term and siloed and often focused on fixing things once they’re broken. The intergenerational divide we have in the UK is crying out for a solution which will require politicians to test the impact their policies will have on future generations. Our internationally groundbreaking legislation in Wales, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 provides this framework alongside an independent mechanism to hold government to account. Never has there been a greater need for something similar covering UK government. Future Generations veteran: Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
Libraries and literacy campaigner Nick Poole (CEO, Cilip)
public services Similar aspirations to the Social Value Act, but with a clear focus on future generations. And what can be a more laudable aim than that? Indeed, the Bill’s website’s call to arms is the very powerful slogan: Today for tomorrow, Act Now for Future Generations! A successful private member’s bill, or more accurately, for a bill to become an act, is a very rare thing indeed. There are a number of bear-traps along the way; a lack of consensus across the parties, a reluctance by the governing party to accept the good idea of an opposition member, the objection of a member of what has not become affectionately known as the “awkward squad”, the potential cost or the unintended consequences of the proposed act. A responsible government should support its principles and assist in its unhindered passage to Royal Assent. I, for one, as the author of the Social Value Act, recognise its potential. It has my full endorsement. Lawmaker: Chris White (director, Institute for Industrial Strategy, King’s College London and architect of the Public Services (Social Value) Act)
politics As someone who helped to develop this law from its beginning to its end in Welsh government, I have seen what a difference it has made to our public bodies, to Welsh government, and to people’s lives in Wales in terms of long-term decision-making. Will the minister commit his government to bringing in this future generations law for the whole of the UK? Political agitator: Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North MP speaking in the House of Commons)
democracy Democracies find it hard to act for the long term. Short-termism undermines economic and social policy and the government’s response to the climate emergency and emerging technologies. Future generations are, by definition, not present to make the case for their interests to be considered. Electoral cycles push politicians to prioritise short-term returns to sell to the electorate. Voters do not trust politicians to deliver on long-term promises. Vested interests resist change. The Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill promises to change the rules of the game. The Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development particularly supports the emphasis on public involvement in the Bill. Our response to long-term challenges needs to be inclusive, creative and democratic. Long-term visionary: Prof Graham Smith (chair of the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development thinktank and professor of politics and director at the University of Westminster’s Centre for the Study of Democracy)
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climate The failure of successive governments to think for the long term has contributed to the unprecedented challenge of climate and environmental breakdown facing current and future generations. A Future Generations Act is crucial to breaking the culture of shorttermism that besets politics and policy by compelling governments to consider and address the long-term impacts of their policies. Futuregazer: Josh Emden (research fellow at IPPR thinktank)
wellbeing As an organisation who has worked for over 100 years to improve the wellbeing of the people in the UK and Ireland, the Carnegie UK Trust welcomes the introduction of the bill. There is clear appetite for change, to both protect and improve the wellbeing of people living in the United Kingdom today, and for future generations to come. As well as utilising the learning from the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, what is most exciting about the UK bill is the potential to build on the evidence not just from Wales, but from other jurisdictions too. Wellbeing is a key driver for a new way of governing for complexity, and we are enthused by the possibilities that the Future Generations Bill might bring. Policy Changemaker: Hannah Ormston (policy and development officer at the Carnegie UK Trust)
BIGISSUE.COM | 27
BOOKS Why we need to show way more respect for our elders Lee Janogly
FILM The man who went from ‘hero’ to the chief suspect in a fatal terrorist attack Graeme Virtue
BROADCAST War – what it is good for? Well actually, it helps give us a bit of perspective Sam Delaney
STREET ART
Missed the Boat By Michael Crosswaite After years spent travelling and squatting, Michael ended up homeless in London with a drug habit. “I got into a hostel and eventually got myself clean,” he says. “Now I’ve got a Peabody Flat and things are cool.” He likes there to be humour in his work. “The more ridiculous the better,” he says. “I loved Monty Python and the whole silliness thing. I think the world is a very silly place and hopefully this comes though in my pictures.”
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.
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BIGISSUE.COM | 29
CULTURE | BOOKS
AUTHOR FEATURE
Age concern Stop patronising older people. Lee Janogly argues that they are deserving of a lot more respect
M
y friend Eileen, 84, went to her doctor with a minor ailment. She happened to be accompanied by her daughter as they were going shopping afterwards. Once seated, the doctor – male – turned to her daughter and said soothingly, “So how has she been lately?” Eileen raised her arm and said ‘Hello doctor, I’m here! I’m not deaf or senile, I can answer for myself.” The doctor had the grace to look slightly abashed. On a recent episode of Have I Got News for You, a comedian gave his impression of an old person eating ice cream. Hunched over, he screwed up his face and mimicked licking an imaginary cornet whilst making slurping noises. This was spiteful and demeaning. I know this comedian is the father of two young children. Why is he teaching them it’s OK to represent older people this way? While it seems we have reached a stage where everyone is offended by everything, it is correct that no-one should be mocked for the colour of their skin or their religious beliefs. However, old people are fair game for verbal abuse. Jokes about deafness, incontinence and senility are acceptable subjects for humour and no-one turns a hair. Phrases like “grumpy old sod” and “stupid old bat” are commonplace. Ageism – that is when people are defined by their age rather than their personality, individuality or beliefs – is alive and well in our society. What about the way older people are portrayed in films and sitcoms? They always seem to have stooped postures, wrinkles and grey or thinning hair. A grandfather is introduced descending the stairs in a stairlift clutching a walking stick; that’s that one sorted. These stereotypes bear no resemblance to the people I know in their 70s and 80s. That is why I have written my book, Getting Old, Deal with it. I want to dispel the notion that old people are slow, frail, dim-witted and, to use a favourite media phrase, a “burden on society”. All the people I mix with ensure their days are filled with activities: they are either looking after grandchildren in the school holidays, going to the gym, doing charity work or meeting their friends for lunch and playing bridge or bingo. They are nothing like the frail pensioners depicted in the media. We are not all sitting at home knitting covers for our hot water bottles. Let’s knock some of the more common myths on the head: For starters, the general assumption is that old people are
30 | BIGISSUE.COM
Illustration: Joseph Joyce
slow-minded. This is not so. There may be some cognitive changes as they age but this just means they may perform better in certain areas of intelligence and not so well in others. Maybe they find it difficult to add up a series of numbers in their heads, but I’m sure the younger generation with their reliance on the calculators on their phones would be exactly the same. Their grandparents adapt to the slowing of memory by making lists and altering their approach to retaining information. Certain mental capabilities that depend very much on accumulated experience and knowledge, like dealing with people in authority, clearly get better with time. Motoring organisations acknowledge that older people have fewer accidents than youngsters hot-rodding it along the motorways (we’ll overlook Prince Philip somersaulting his car at the age of 97!). They’re aware that their reactions may be slightly slower so they drive more cautiously and with greater care on the road. Another assumption is that old people are weak and fragile. Some may be, especially if they’ve suffered a fall which has knocked their confidence. But I go to a gym in North London and most of the treadmills are occupied by white-haired people striding along to pounding music. The popular saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is also a fallacy. While researching my book I spoke to
many people in their 70s and 80s who were taking courses in writing, painting, architecture appreciation or learning a new language. The most popular pastime was compiling a memoir of their lives for their grandchildren, who probably couldn’t care less at this juncture – but when they become parents themselves they might be fascinated by grandma’s life story. Older people will admit they can be forgetful and worry when a familiar name escapes them. They can picture the face but the name is just on the edge of their memory, and the more they strive, the more elusive it becomes. Later, when they are relaxed and thinking about something else, the name will pop back into their minds. The only reassurance is that it happens to everyone, including young people. Surely it’s time to knock the numerous negative stereotypes on the head and acknowledge that old people are just young people who have lived longer. We’re all on a continuum from young to old, we’re not two separate species. So how about making a pact; we’ll appreciate each other’s differences and opinions and be kind to one another. Wouldn’t that be nice? Getting Old: Deal with it by Lee Janogly is out now (Mensch, £10) 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
REVIEW
Lisa Williamson
The lost emperor
Top 5 books featuring teenage friendships
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The Body by Stephen King “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 – Jesus, did you?â€? As a teenager, S Ç?ÿƍ şěƍĪƍƍĪģ Ç?Ĺ?ƸŊ ƸŊĪ ᙡᚅᚄᚂ ǿŧŰ Stand By Me and its depiction of the loyalty and intensity that ŰÿŤĪƍ ĂżÄŁĹźĹ§ÄŞĆŤÄœÄŞĹ˛Ć¸ Ĺ‚ĆŁĹ?ĪŲģƍŊĹ?Ć ĆŤ ĆŤĹź special. The novella on which it Ĺ?ĆŤ ěÿƍĪģ ÿģģƍ ĪǢƸƣÿ ŰĪÿƸ Ƹş ƸŊĪ ƸĹ?ŰĪŧĪƍƍ ĆŤĆ¸ĹźĆŁÇŁá ‡
descriptions of individual pictures taken by à ʼnĊơʼnĊƢ Ŏơ ĹŽĆŞ Ć&#x;ƢŎƪŝŹĊƢƪ ʼnƿƢŌĊĢ ŝŠŠÞ ěŌŎŠŠÞŹĢ into the sun “like Icarusâ€?, or Minim as the emperor ŝŹ Ăž ʼnŝƢƪĊ ᥉ơʼnĊ Ĺ ÄŠÇœÄŠĹŚĆŞ ĚƢÞŎĢĊĢ ŎŹơŝ ơʼnĊ ÞŹŎůÞŌᥒƪ ĹŻĂžĹąÄŠá „ ŠŌÞƪʼnŎŹł ĹŚĹŽĹŁÄŠ Ăž ơʼnŝƿƪÞŹĢ ÄŠÇ˘ÄŠĆŞá „áĄ? rĊŹłŎƪơĊ ěƢĊÞơĊƪ indelible images and makes everything she ơŝƿěʼnĊƪ ĊǥơƢÞŝƢĢŎŹÞƢǢá ?
SĹą Ä›ĹťĹąĆˇĆ˘ĂžĆŞĆˇá „ ŌĊůĊŹƪ rĊǢĊƢᥒƪ ěŝŌŌĊěơŎŝŹ ŝŠƪʼnŝƢơ stories Dark Satellites is a celebration of life on the ůÞƢłŎŹƪá ? ŽĊơ ĹŽĹą GÄŠĆ˘ĹŻĂžĹąÇ˘á „ ʼnŎƪ ěʼnÞƢÞěơĊƢƪ á ľ Ăž ơƢÞŎŹ ĢƢŎǛĊƢ ÇœĹ‰Ĺť ʼnŎơƪ Ăž ŌÞƿłʼnŎŹł ůÞŹ ŝŹ Ăž ĆˇĆ˘ĂžÄ›ĹŁá „ ÞŹ ŝŌĢ ůÞŹ ÇœĹ‰Ĺť ƢĊůŎŹŎƪěĊƪ ÞĚŝƿơ Ăž ĚĊÞěʼn Ć˘ĂžĹŽĹŚÇœĂžÇ˘ á ľ ÞƢĊ also haunted, but quietly, reminding us all lives have ơʼnĊŎƢ Ć&#x;ƢŎǛÞơĊ ơƢÞłĊĢŎĊƪá ? ĊÞƿơŎŠƿŌŌǢ ơƢÞŹƪŌÞơĊĢ ĚǢ fÞơǢ 'ÄŠĆ˘ÄšÇ˘ĆŞĹ‰ĹŽĆ˘ÄŠá „ Ŏơ ůŝǛĊƪ ǴŌƿŎĢŌǢ ŠƢŝů Ć&#x;Þƪơ ơŝ Ć&#x;ƢĊƪĊŹơ ĹŽĹą Ć&#x;ŝŎłŹÞŹơ ƢĊěŝłŹŎơŎŝŹ ŝŠơʼnĊ ÇœĂžÇ˘ ǜĊ ěÞƢƢǢ ŝƿƢ ŌŝƪƪĊƪ ÇœĹŽĆˇĹ‰ ƿƪá ?
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Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein ŸŊĹ?ĆŤ à şƣŧģ à ÿƣ ᙸ ģƣÿŰÿ Ç€Ĺ˛ĆŁĂżÇœÄŞĹ§ĆŤ ƸŊĪ Ĺ?ŲƸĪŲƍĪ ÿŲģ ǀŧƸĹ?ŰÿƸĪŧǣ Ć¸ĆŁĂżĹƒĹ?Äœ friendship between pilot Maddie and Queenie, a spy who is caught by the Gestapo while undercover in ĪŲĪŰǣ ƸĪƣƣĹ?Ć¸ĹźĆŁÇŁá ‡ ĂƒĆ¸Ć¸ÄŞĆŁĹ§ÇŁ ĹƒĆŁĹ?Ć Ć Ĺ?Ĺ˛Ĺƒá ‡
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Piglettes by ClĂŠmentine Beauvais à ŊĪŲ rĹ?ĆŁÄŞĹ?ŧŧĪá NÿŤĹ?Ĺ°Ăż ÿŲģ ƍƸƣĹ?ÄŁ are awarded the bronze, silver and gold ‘trotters’ for being the ‘ugliest’ girls in the school, they unite and ĪŰěÿƣŤ şŲ ÿŲ Ç€Ĺ˛Ĺ‚ĹźĆŁĹƒÄŞĆ¸Ć¸ĂżÄ›Ĺ§ÄŞ ƣşÿģ ƸƣĹ?Ć Ć¸Ĺź £ÿƣĹ?ĆŤá ‡ ŸŊĪ Ĺ°Ĺ?ƍǿƸ Ĺ‚ĆŁĹ?ĪŲģƍŊĹ?Ć they develop along the way is a joy to witness.
@DaniGaravelli1 Č„ÄŠ ÂŽĹ‰ĂžÄ˘ĹťÇœ fŎŹł by Maaza Mengiste is published on January 30 (Canongate, ÂŁ16.99) 'ÞƢţ ŽÞơĊŌŌŎơĊƪ by Clemens Meyer, translated by Katy Derbyshire (Fitzcarraldo Editions, ÂŁ12.99)
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Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon ŸŊÿŲŤƍ Ƹş Ăż ƣÿƣĪ łşƣŰ şł ÂŽÄŞÇœÄŞĆŁÄŞ şŰěĹ?ŲĪģ SĹ°Ĺ°Ç€Ĺ˛ĹźÄŁÄŞÇżÄœĹ?ÄŞĹ˛ÄœÇŁá rÿģģǣ Ĺ?ĆŤ ÄœĹźĹ˛ÇżĹ˛ÄŞÄŁ Ƹş ƸŊĪ łşǀƣ Ç?ÿŧŧƍ şł ŊşǀƍĪ Ç?Ĺ?ƸŊ şŲŧǣ ĹŠÄŞĆŁ ŰşƸŊĪƣ łşƣ ÄœĹźĹ°Ć ĂżĹ˛ÇŁá ‡ ĂƒĹ˛Ć¸Ĺ?ŧ ŧŧǣ Ĺ°ĹźÇœÄŞĆŤ next door and the two begin to ÄœĹźĹ°Ĺ°Ç€Ĺ˛Ĺ?ÄœĂżĆ¸ÄŞ ěǣ ÄŞĹ°ĂżĹ?Ĺ§á ‡ ÄœĹźĹ°Ć ÄŞĹ§Ĺ§Ĺ?Ĺ˛Ĺƒá ƸĪŲģĪƣ ÄŁÄŞĆ Ĺ?ÄœĆ¸Ĺ?şŲ şł the transition between friendship ÿŲģ ĆŁĹźĹ°ĂżĹ˛ÄœÄŞá ‡
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Illustration: ŌŌŎĊ NŎƢƪơ
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bout a third of the way through her multi-layered masterpiece, ČƒÄŠ ÂŽĹ‰ĂžÄ˘ĹťÇœ fŎŹł, Maaza Mengiste takes us inside the ʼnĊÞĢ ŝŠ/ơʼnŎŝĆ&#x;ŎÞŹ ÄŠĹŻĆ&#x;ĊƢŝƢ NÞŎŌĊ ŽĊŌÞƪƪŎĊá ? Sơ ĹŽĆŞ áš€â€ŤÚ˜â€Źáš‚áš„á ? NĹŽĆŞ ěŝƿŹơƢǢ ʼnÞƪ ĚĊĊŹ ŎŹǛÞĢĊĢ by Italy as Mussolini pursues his policy of ÄŠÇĄĆ&#x;ÞŹƪŎŝŹŎƪůá ? NÄŠ ƪʼnŝƿŌĢ ĚĊ ŎŹƪĆ&#x;ĊěơŎŹł ơƢŝŝĆ&#x;ĆŞ ĹŽĹą ÞĢǛÞŹěĊ ŝŠơʼnĊ Ĺ ĹťĹŚĹŚĹťÇœĹŽĹąĹ‚ ĢÞǢᥒƪ ŝDzŠĊŹƪŎǛĊá ? SĹąĆŞĆˇÄŠĂžÄ˘á „ ʼnĊ ĹŽĆŞ Ć&#x;ŌÞǢŎŹł Ă&#x;ĊƢĢŎᥒƪ Aida á ľ ơʼnĊ ƪơŝƢǢ ŝŠÞ ơƢĊÞěʼnĊƢŝƿƪ /ơʼnŎŝĆ&#x;ŎÞŹ Ć&#x;ƢŎŹěĊƪƪ ÇœĹ‰Ĺť ÞĚÞŹĢŝŹƪ ʼnĊƢ ěŝƿŹơƢǢ ŠŝƢ ŌŝǛĊ á ľ ơŝ ȀƢĊ ʼnŎů ĆżĆ&#x;á ? ÌĊơ ʼnŎƪ ŝĚƪĊƪƪŎŝŹ ÇœĹŽĆˇĹ‰ Aida ĹŽĆŞ ÞŌƪŝ ŌŎŹţĊĢ ơŝ ʼnŎƪ ĹťÇœĹą Ä˘ĂžĆżĹ‚Ĺ‰ĆˇÄŠĆ˘á „ Ă°ÄŠĹąÄŠÄšÇœĹťĆ˘ĹŁá „ ůÞƢƢŎĊĢ ŝDzŠơŝ Ăž ěƢƿĊŌ ʼnƿƪĚÞŹĢ ơŝ ĚŎŹĢ ĆˇÇœĹť ŠÞůŎŌŎĊƪá ? ŽĊŌÞƪƪŎĊ ŎłŹŝƢĊĢ ʼnĊƢ pleas to come home and she died, possibly Þơ ʼnĊƢ ʼnƿƪĚÞŹĢᥒƪ ʼnÞŹĢƪá ? Ă°ÄŠĹąÄŠÄšÇœĹťĆ˘ĹŁáĄ’ĆŞ łʼnŝƪơ ƪơÞŌţƪ ŽĊŌÞƪƪŎĊ ĹŽĹą ʼnŎƪ ĢÞƢţĊƪơ Ĺ‰ĹťĆżĆ˘ĆŞá „ ƢĊůŎŹĢŎŹł ʼnŎů ŝŠʼnŎƪ ĹťÇœĹą ĚĊơƢÞǢÞŌá ? Mengiste takes a story of 20th-century ÇœĂžĆ˘ ÞŹĢ ĊŌĊǛÞơĊƪ Ŏơ ơŝ ơʼnĊ ŌĊǛĊŌ ŝŠŝĆ&#x;ĊƢÞ ŝƢ GƢĊĊţ ůǢơʼná ? NĊƢ /ơʼnŎŝĆ&#x;ĹŽĂž ĹŽĆŞ Ăž ŌÞŹĢ ŹŝŎƪǢ ÇœĹŽĆˇĹ‰ ĆŞĆ&#x;ĊěơƢÞŌ ǛŝŎěĊƪá ? ČƒÄŠ ĢĊÞĢ ĊǥĊƢơ ÞŹ ŎƢƢĊƪŎƪơŎĚŌĊ Ć&#x;ĹťÇœÄŠĆ˘ ŝǛĊƢ ơʼnĊ ŌŎǛŎŹłá ? hĹťÇœĹŚÇ˘ ƪĊƢǛÞŹơ NŎƢƿơᥒƪ ŠÞơĊ ĹŽĆŞ ĢƢŎǛĊŹ ĚǢ her determination to recover her stolen ÇœĆżĹ ĹŽĹ‚Ć˘Ăžá „ ơʼnĊ łƿŹ ʼnĊƢ ŠÞơʼnĊƢ ƿƪĊĢ ĹŽĹą ơʼnĊ ȀƢƪơ SĆˇĂžĹŚĹťá ¸/ơʼnŎŝĆ&#x;ŎÞŹ à ÞƢ ᚃᙚ ǢĊÞƢƪ ÄŠĂžĆ˘ĹŚĹŽÄŠĆ˘á • ʼnĊƢ ÄŠĹŻĆ&#x;ŌŝǢĊƢ fŎĢÞŹĊ ÞŹĢ ʼnŎƪ ÇœĹŽĹ ÄŠ ƪơĊƢᥒƪ ĚǢ ơʼnĊ Ōŝƪƪ ŝŠơʼnĊŎƢ ǢŝƿŹł ƪŝŹá ? tŝơ ÞŌŌ ơʼnĊ łʼnŝƪơƪ ÞƢĊ ĢĊÞĢá ? /ơơŝƢĊ tĂžÇ›ĂžĆ˘Ć˘Ăžá „ Ăž dÄŠÇœĹŽĆŞĹ‰ Ć&#x;ʼnŝơŝłƢÞĆ&#x;ʼnĊƢ ƪĊƢǛŎŹł ÇœĹŽĆˇĹ‰ ĚƢƿơÞŌ SơÞŌŎÞŹ ÇœĂžĆ˘Ć˘ĹŽĹťĆ˘ ŝŌŝŹĊŌ Fucelli is tormented by a letter from his father, Leo, revealing secrets from his Ć&#x;Þƪơá ? ĆŞ rƿƪƪŝŌŎŹŎ ěƢÞěţƪ Ä˘ĹťÇœĹą ŝŹ dÄŠÇœĆŞá „ hÄŠĹť ÇœĂžĆ˘ĹąĆŞ ʼnŎů ŹĊǛĊƢ ơŝ ěŝůĊ ʼnŝůĊá ? Fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, banishment, violence ÞŹĢ ĹťĆ&#x;Ć&#x;ƢĊƪƪŎŝŹ ÞƢĊ ÇœĹťÇ›ÄŠĹą ơŝłĊơʼnĊƢ ĚǢ rĊŹłŎƪơĊᥒƪ ᥉ěʼnŝƢƿƪáĄ? ÇœĹ‰ĹŽÄ›Ĺ‰ ţĊĊŹƪ ơʼnĊ Ć&#x;ƢŝơÞłŝŹŎƪơƪᥒ ĢŎƪơƢĊƪƪá ? ᥉ ĚŌĊƪƪĊĢ Ä˘ĂžĆżĹ‚Ĺ‰ĆˇÄŠĆ˘á „ Ǣŝƿ ÇœĹ‰Ĺť ĆŞĆ&#x;ĹŽĹą ĹŽĹą ĆŞĹŚĹťÇœ Ä›ĹŽĆ˘Ä›ĹŚÄŠĆŞá „áĄ? Ă&#x;ŝŎěĊ SSS ŌÞůĊŹơƪ ĚĊŠŝƢĊ NŎƢƿơ ĹŽĆŞ ƢÞĆ&#x;ĊĢ ĚǢ fŎĢÞŹĊá ? Č„ÄŠ ÂŽĹ‰ĂžÄ˘ĹťÇœ fŎŹł takes its title from ÇœĹ‰ĂžĆˇ ʼnÞĆ&#x;Ć&#x;ĊŹƪ ÇœĹ‰ÄŠĹą /ơʼnŎŝĆ&#x;ĹŽĂž ĹŽĆŞ ŝŹ ơʼnĊ ĚƢŎŹţ ŝŠĢĊŠĊÞơ ÞŹĢ ŽĊŌÞƪƪŎĊ Ç´ĹŚÄŠÄŠĆŞá „ ŌĊÞĢŎŹł ĹťĹąÄ›ÄŠá ¸ĹŚĹťÇ˘ĂžĹŚ ǛŎŌŌÞłĊƢƪ ơŝ łŎǛĊ ĆżĆ&#x;á ? ČƒÄŠĹą NŎƢƿơ ŹŝơŎěĊƪ ŝŹĊ ŝŠơʼnĊŎƢ Ä›ĹťĹ‰ĹťĆ˘Ćˇá „ rĹŽĹąĹŽĹŻá „ ĹŽĆŞ ơʼnĊ ĢŝƿĚŌĊ ŝŠơʼnĊŎƢ ÄŠĆ˘ĆŞĆˇÇœĹ‰ĹŽĹŚÄŠ ŌĊÞĢĊƢá ? ČƒÄŠÇ˘ ĢƢĊƪƪ ʼnŎů ĆżĆ&#x; Þƪ ŽĊŌÞƪƪŎĊ ÇœĹŽĆˇĹ‰ NŎƢƿơ Þƪ ƢŝǢÞŌ łƿÞƢĢá ? à ŝƢĢ ĆŞĆ&#x;ƢĊÞĢƪ ơʼnÞơ ŽĊŌÞƪƪŎĊ ʼnÞƪ Źŝơ ĢĊƪĊƢơĊĢ ÞŹĢ ơʼnĊ ǛŎŌŌÞłĊƢƪ ƢĊěŝǛĊƢ ơʼnĊŎƢ ůŝƢÞŌĊá ? NŎƢƿơ ĹŽĆŞ Ăž Ä›Ĺ‰ĂžĆˇĆˇÄŠĹŚá • rĹŽĹąĹŽĹŻá „ Ăž ěŎĆ&#x;ʼnĊƢ ÇœĹ‰ĹťĆŞÄŠ ŹÞůĊ means “nothingâ€?, and the book is a ŌǢƢŎěÞŌ Ć&#x;ÞĊÞŹ ơŝ ơʼnĊ ŌŎĚĊƢÞơŎŹł Ć&#x;ĹťÇœÄŠĆ˘ ŝŠơƢÞŹƪŠŝƢůÞơŎŝŹá ? Mengiste is also interested in ơʼnĊ Ć&#x;ŝơĊŹěǢ ŝŠĆ&#x;ʼnŝơŝłƢÞĆ&#x;ʼnǢá ? ŌŝŹłƪŎĢĊ ơʼnĊ ƪʼnŝƢơ ěʼnŝƢƿƪ ěʼnÞĆ&#x;ơĊƢƪ ÞƢĊ
Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard ÿƣŲÿƣģ Ĺ?ĆŤ Ăż ŰÿƍƸĪƣ ÿƸ ÄœĂżĆ Ć¸Ç€ĆŁĹ?Ĺ˛Ĺƒ ƸŊĪ ÄœĹźĹ°Ć Ĺ§ÄŞÇ˘Ĺ?ƸĹ?ÄŞĆŤ ÿŲģ ÄœĹźĹ˛Ć¸ĆŁĂżÄŁĹ?ÄœĆ¸Ĺ?şŲƍ şł teenage friendships. This follow-up to her 2016 hit Beautiful Broken Things explores friendships old and ŲĪÇ? ÿƍ ÄœĂżĆŁÄŞ Ĺ§ÄŞĂżÇœÄŞĆŁ ÂŽÇ€ÇÿŲŲĪ ĂżÄŁĂżĆ Ć¸ĆŤ to adult life. Paper Avalanche by Lisa Williamson is out now (David Fickling, ÂŁ7.99)
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CULTURE | FILM REVIEW
Suspect device The 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing brought suspicion on security guard Richard Jewell, but Graeme Virtue says he’s not the real villain in Clint Eastwood’s film
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n the 1990s hall of USA infamy, Richard Jewell may not be a name as instantly recognisable as OJ Simpson or John Wayne Bobbitt. But in the summer of 1996, Jewell was at the centre of a whiplash-inducing media hurricane. First he was the breakout star of the Atlanta Olympics, a stocky security guard at a crowded celebratory concert who raised the alarm about a suspicious rucksack and initiated an evacuation just before it exploded. The nail-stuffed pipe bomb still killed one bystander and injured over 100 others but without Jewell’s vigilance the body count could have been much higher. Even at a time of tragedy, the local and national news could not resist going big on such a compelling story of hometown heroism. Then an opportunistic newspaper front page claimed Jewell was being treated as a suspect by the FBI and the feeding frenzy began. Did this schlubby loner who still lived with his mother fit the profile of a duplicitous ‘hero-bomber’, planting the device so he could then revel in the glory of being the one to discover it? Even if you remember Jewell’s name, you may not recall exactly how everything panned out after the initial frenzy, in which case Clint Eastwood’s latest film as director will function as even more of a suspense thriller than a biopic. Exploring how society – or, more commonly, bureaucrats – treat or judge ordinary people thrust into the spotlight has become a late-career preoccupation for the grizzly old cowpoke. Fans filing into his 2016 hit Sully expecting an unashamedly triumphant retelling of how veteran pilot Chesley Sullenberger successfully ditched his faltering plane in the Hudson river likely came out cursing those goddamn spineless suits at the National Transportation Safety Board, who Eastwood showed questioning Sully’s every move after the fact.
DIAMOND GEEZER An Adam Sandler movie that begins with the star having a colonoscopy sounds like one of his usual lowbrow comedies. Uncut Gems – which received a limited cinema release earlier this month and arrives on Netflix this week – is actually a totally different beast: a scuzzy, sweaty, street-level thriller set in New York’s bustling Diamond District featuring Sandler as a loquacious wheeler-dealer burning through the patience of some very dodgy heavies. It rocks. Uncut Gems is on Netflix from January 31
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In that instance, things were never in doubt because the subject was embodied by Tom Hanks, our preeminent screen avatar of nobility and wholesomeness. Richard Jewell has a far less familiar face at its centre: he is played by Paul Walter Hauser, who previously had a memorable supporting role as a dim-bulb heavy in real-life figure-skating farce I, Tonya. As played by Hauser, Jewell is a well-meaning but literal-minded jobsworth whose molassesslow vocal delivery seems to encourage ridicule. He loves video games and guns. Under the investigative spotlight, unhelpful incidents from his chequered past keep cropping up. But Jewell was demonstrably innocent, and the typically straight-shooting Eastwood ensures that is never in doubt. With the recently Oscar-nominated Kathy Bates as his doting mother and Sam Rockwell as his righteous and enjoyably combustible lawyer, it takes very little persuasion to be firmly in Jewell’s corner. Eastwood’s real targets are the FBI and the media, personified by Jon Hamm and Olivia Wilde as the senior agent desperate for a plausible suspect and a local reporter determined to make a splash respectively. While both actors play against their natural charisma, they also seem to be having by far the most fun, whether it is Hamm ruthlessly and sarcastically stitching up his gullible target or the exuberant Wilde going full Cruella de Vil as she runs rings round her exasperated peers. After a tension-filled opening act leading up to the bombing, Richard Jewell subsequently settles into a queasy holding pattern as the FBI goes through the motions but struggles to make much headway. There are arguably too many scenes of poor Richard stumbling through a bloodthirsty, disorientating media pack, and the 1996 period trappings have an authentic but unappealing gaudiness. But at the grand old age of 89, Eastwood has still crafted a decent portrait of an unfairly maligned everyman.
Richard Jewell is in cinemas from January 31 @GraemeVirtue 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
CULTURE | BROADCAST
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INTERVIEW
Mashed up Parris has caused a stir on social media
he’s a political comedy sensation, but Rachel Parris’s skits on The Mash Report have divided opinion in the same way Brexit has. She tells Steven MacKenzie how she’s coping with the attention
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uccess brings fame, fortune and nowadays, people publicly wishing you cancer. Rachel Parris found herself going viral after her skits from BBC political comedy The Mash Report like ‘How NOT to sexually harass someone’ and ‘Why does Meghan Markle get so much hate?’ were shared tens of millions of times at the start of 2018. But today, fame and shame go hand-in-hand. “I do get a lot of people calling me a cunt on Twitter and on Facebook. I got messages wishing me cancer.” Not dwelling on being a victim, she talks instead about her eyes being opened to the new people she’s crossed paths with. “The rich tapestry,” she laughs, dryly. Parris’ journey to comic presenter-come-pariah was unexpected. She studied Music at Oxford where she fell into a comedy group. For the last decade she has performed stand-up, largely focusing on musical comedy, which remains her true love. She has also been an integral member of Jane Austen-inspired improv show Austentatious, which became a staple at the Edinburgh Fringe and will begin a residency in London next month. Her next solo tour, All Change Please, starts in March and gives Parris the opportunity to reflect on the “big flip” her life has taken recently. “Exactly within the same two weeks of suddenly going viral, I got together with someone [comedian Marcus Brigstocke], it got very serious, we very quickly got married and I’ve now got two stepkids,” she says. “My career was simple before – keep writing shows about depression. I had no one to worry about except myself, now suddenly I’m thinking about a husband and two teenagers. In most ways, they were all very good changes, and I’m very lucky, but it did cause me to go a bit mad and get very anxious. “The Mash Report being what it is, no matter what you say there is always going to be a lot of people who disagree with you. But there are also a lot of trolls just because you’re someone who’s got opinions. And a woman as well – it doesn’t help.” The Mash Report has run for three series so far. Presented by Nish Kumar (recent victim of a politically-fuelled bread roll attack), it’s as close a programme to The Daily Show as we have in Britain. It can be a bit hit-and-miss, but many of the knockout
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blows are delivered by Parris as she dissects big issues of the day by emphasising the ludicrousness of the subject in a butter-wouldn’tmelt, relentlessly cheerful manner. “It’s an exaggeration of the way I’ve always performed,” she says. “I always perform with a smile and in a polite way. Some people really like it, I think it drives other people mad.” So it’s a win-win? “Exactly. I’ve been called patronising. It can be tricky. The Mash Report is a comedy show and we’ve covered child poverty, war, sex abuse. There’s always something to mock and ridicule – the government’s attitude to child poverty, the ridiculousness of institutional prejudice against rape victims – and I think that is our job. But if you tune in for five seconds, what you see is me smiling while I talk about child poverty. If you don’t enjoy the humour then it looks like you’re being frivolous about incredibly serious issues.” The serious issues have included “serious journalism”, a segment that featured a once-seen, never-forgotten illustration of Piers Morgan interviewing Donald Trump – with his tongue stuck firmly up the president’s covfefe. It divided opinion. What doesn’t these days? But Parris is at the front line when it comes to people wanting to demonstrate their wrath. 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
TV
The conflict zone If you fancy some life perspective, Sam Delaney recommends getting on a war footing
Forces of nature Band of Brothers captures the horrific reality of war
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Sensible advice Raising a pertinent topic on The Mash Report
“There’s a real immediate fury on social media,” Parris says. “There are so many opinions around now that you’re surrounded by so many different thoughts every day. People feel safe entrenching themselves in their tribes – people, websites and newspapers who agree with them. I’m exactly the same. I think we all do this so that you know where you stand amongst all of this chatter. When you see something that threatens your way of thinking it can be very scary. “People call it the echo chamber – or for me the liberal metropolitan bubble. “If you have an opinion on, for example, which of the Labour leaders you support, instead of being, ‘Oh, well, I can see the pros of them but I think this guy is more appropriate’, the response is, ‘I’m SO gutted, you’re not the person I thought you were. I’ve been let down.’ “Nobody has to be let down, we just think different things! There’s such binary online that if someone doesn’t think exactly the same thing as you, they’re the enemy. I really hope that changes.” All Change Please tours from March 2-June 27. rachelparris.com Austentatious runs at London’s Fortune Theatre from February 24-July 27. atgtickets.com @stevenmackenzie 27 JANUARY-02 FEBRUARY 2020
ar. Legs blown off in the blink of an eye. Severe facial burning. Entire villages wiped out by men controlling drones from the other side of the globe. Tears, grief, destruction, madness. What an absolute bastard. War has been on my mind lately. First I started rewatching Band of Brothers, an epic series I never completed when it was originally released almost 20 years ago (but is currently available on Sky as a box set). It’s a genuinely harrowing depiction of the hideous mania of armed conflict. There is poetry written about war; there are spine-tingling tales of heroes and adventures; there are the cool uniforms and sexy artillery for people to fetishise. But Band of Brothers is more brutal than any of that: it tells the plain truth about one platoon’s struggle through the bloody battlefields of Europe in 1944. It is meandering, just like war. There are no neat narratives with satisfying endings. Soldiers die suddenly in front of their best friends. Just as you are getting to know or like a character, his head is blown off. There are no sacred cows in Band of Brothers, just ‘human collateral’ as today’s politicians call it. And if you think that’s bad, World War 1 was even worse! I went on a date with my wife to see 1917, the Sam Mendes film that follows two young British soldiers on an impossible mission behind enemy lines. Just as merciless as Band of Brothers, it is even more difficult to watch, putting the viewer slap-bang in the middle of suffocating trench warfare. When a gas bill has just landed or a VAT return is due; when your football team has lost and you’ve had a row with your other half about something to do with the recycling, it’s good to remind yourself of how lucky we are to live in a place and time where peace prevails. In fact, watching the horrors of war in the comfort of a luxury cinema somewhere in the indulgent western world can really cheer you up. Mind you, as I said to the wife in the car on the way back from the cinema, World War 3 could kick off at any moment. “The planet is dying and the big powers are trying to work out how they can carve up what’s left of it,” I explained. “It will all boil down to America versus China fighting over the last bits of clean water and oxygen. The rest of us will either be dead or living on rafts trying not to drown or get eaten by mutant post-nuclear sharks.” She turned up the volume on the radio and told me I’d ruined date night. Some people just aren’t ready for the realities of war. Band of Brothers is also available on Amazon Prime and YouTube @DelaneyMan BIGISSUE.COM | 35
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A wildly eccentric Scots musician is fnally getting the tribute he deserves, says Malcolm Jack. But his previous lack of recognition is symptomatic of a wider problem
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et to be launched this week with a one-off concert in Glasgow as part of the Celtic Connections festival, ReturntoY’Hup: TheWorldofIvorCutler is a fun, fitting and surprisingly very first album tribute proper to one of the great nearly-forgotten cult heroes of Scottish and British music history. Born in Govan, Glasgow and based for much of his career in London, glowering bespectacled humourist, poet, philosopher and surrealist Cutler (1923-2006) was an inspiration for The Beatles, who cast him as Buster Bloodvessel in 1967’s Magical Mystery Tour. He played more Peel Sessions than anyone except The Fall, and released material across six decades on labels from EMI to Harvest, Rough Trade and Creation. Never heard of him? That’s maybe not surprising given that Cutler – a member of the Noise Abatement Society, who disliked amplified music and would request that his audiences applaud at half-volume – was a marginal figure in many ways by his own eccentric design. Yet his influence is great, as the list of guest performers on Return to Y’Hup confirms – from Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos to Camera Obscura’s Traceyanne Campbell, Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch, Robert Wyatt and even Cutler’s partner of 40 years Phyllis King. The musician-academics behind the project, Glasgow University’s Dr Matt Brennan and Edinburgh University’s Professor Raymond MacDonald, have succeeded in creating something not only quirky, affectionate and immersive, but which also thoughtfully platforms Cutler’s output for younger and future generations to discover. There’s a phrase they’ve used to describe their work which catches my eye – “a pioneering experiment in the field of imaginary archaeology”. It refers mainly to their exploratory digging up of the fantasy world the album inhabits, Y’Hup, a fictional island of vigorous flora and fauna where Cutler and his coterie of curious characters and critters dwelled. But it could just as easily apply to the way in which they have unearthed for posterity Cutler’s legacy from the shallow dust of music history.
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Photo: Mark and Colleen Hayward/Redferns
Beatle chum Cutler on the Magical Mystery Tour with admirer John Lennon
CULTURE | MUSIC
Photo: Marc Marnie / Getty Images
Ivor Cutler and the collapse of legacies
Y’Hup-ster Ivor Cutler may have been a figure on the margins, but he influenced a host of musicians
It got me thinking about something I wrote previously for The Big Issue, relating to the Rip It Up exhibition of Scottish pop when it opened in Edinburgh in the summer of 2018 – incidentally the same exhibition which inspired the Cutler album, after Brennan had been left wondering why Cutler hadn’t been represented somewhere in its entertaining sprawl of historical memorabilia. I would echo that thought, and furthermore, use it as an opportunity to again ask: why aren’t our cultural custodians better at permanently preserving the tactile legacy of popular music – at archiving in publicly accessible ways the places, spaces and things which speak to one of the defining art forms of our age? The BBC announced in 2018 that their Maida Vale studios in London – where Cutler, The Fall and others played so many memorable Peel Sessions over the years – were to close, pending the building’s probable conversion into posh flats. The wheezy harmonium which Cutler played on many of his most famous recordings, and which legend has it he abandoned at Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre after he – true story – fell out with it, resurfaced at a props store several years ago, before being bought by Celtic Connections director Donald Shaw, who occasionally loans it out to interested parties (it features on Return To Y’Hup, and was used in performances of a Cutler play by the National Theatre of Scotland). Much of Cutler’s vast archive of lyrics, sketches, artworks,
letters, press cuttings and posters, meanwhile – a small sample of which featured in an exhibition at Goldsmith’s CCA in London in 2018 – languish in storage, in search of a proper home. Couldn’t one be found – alongside other items from the Rip It Up exhibition among others – in Cutler’s native Glasgow? A Unesco City of Music, a city with the largest music economy in the UK outside of London? A city famed the world over for its legacies of pop and shipbuilding, and yet which, for some mystifying reason, has a full museum to neither? In 2023 it will be a full century since Cutler was born. As such, he presents a useful case study in what happens when a post-war pop culture star – one who only began to find fame in his 40s, amid the swinging Sixties – starts to fade beyond living memory. It’s already half-a-century this year since The Beatles broke up. In another 50 years Camden Council will likely still be repainting the lines on the Abbey Road zebra crossing – a rare example of a pop-music related listed monument protected by English Heritage. But if traces of even an artist who inspired the Fab Four can start to be reclaimed by the dusts of time, then as the decades pass, surely it can happen to just about anyone else? Return to Y’Hup: The World of Ivor Cutler is out now on Chemikal Underground Records; launch show at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, January 29; celticconnections.com @MBJack BIGISSUE.COM | 37
CULTURE | VENDOR CITY GUIDE Street secrets revealed by the people who know them best
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Illustration: Megan Reddi
Cologne, Germany
Our guide this week Lothar, 57, has lived in Cologne for nearly 40 years. Since 2018 he has been selling the local street paper Draussenseiter. His favourite hobby is spending time in nature, and he goes walking all over the Rhineland area of Germany.
Why I like living here There are lots of places set up to provide help for people living out on the street. And there aren’t too many really cold days. Apart from that, I like it here because, over the last 40 years, the city hasn’t failed to challenge me with something new every day. This city is also my home; there are people here who accept me as I am. That’s something we in Cologne call the “Kölsche Gefühl”– it means something like “the Cologne feeling”.
the Rhine. If you stand directly in front of the homeless support centre that produces Draussenseiter – from there you can look back towards the historic Rheinauhafen waterfront, you can see the two bridges, the distinctive multi-storey buildings designed to look like harbour cranes, and the symbol of our city – Cologne Cathedral. Aside from the nice view, this part of the river bank is also nicely peaceful and shaded in the summer months.
barbecue there twice. It isn’t a problem to set up your barbecue in there because it’s such a big area. Also, the park is in my part of town – the Zollstock Stadtviertel. In the Cologne dialect, if you want to say “area of town”, you would say “Veedel” instead of using the normal German word “Viertel” – it means the same, but you’ll sound more like a local if you say it like that. I can meet my friends in this part of town, and it’s here that I feel welcome.
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Cheap eats If you take public transport to Hertastraße, in the Zollstock area, there’s a Middleberg bakery there. They do an affordable breakfast, as well as coffee and tea. On Gottesweg there’s also a really good Chinese food place, where I treat myself now and again – it’s good value and tasty. The best view of the city You get the best view of the city from what’s known in Cologne as the “rough side” of the river: the right-hand bank of
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Cologne’s five seasons From November to February, people in Cologne celebrate carnival. This time of year is known locally as Cologne’s fifth season. I’m not so much of a carnival fan, though. I prefer the city in spring and summer, when the parks are in bloom and looking particularly beautiful.
My favourite place My favourite spot would be the Vorgebirgspark – a nice park in the southern part of the city. It’s a place that tourists don’t stumble upon that often. In 2019 I had a
Top tips for tourists Get away from the cathedral at the main station – because it’s what every tourist goes to see – I would recommend Cologne’s green spaces. I think Flora, the botanical garden opposite the zoo, is nice. Entry is free. If you want to get away from the noise of the city, you can go to the Südpark or the Vorgebirgspark. These two parks are on the edge of the city centre. Photo:MarieBreer Translated from German by Jonathan Drake draussenseiter-koeln.de BIGISSUE.COM | 39
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Home Study Course Started A 21-Year Writing Career “The flip side to this is that I became inundated with work at various points in the course,” explains Heather. “This is because, if you have an article accepted by a magazine then it makes sense to follow it up with another while your name is fresh in the editor’s mind.”
“I’m sure that without The Writers Bureau I would never have had the confidence to self-publish my first novel. They taught me valuable skills, which I put to good use every time I write. I am now lucky to be earning a living doing something I love, and it all started when I studied the Creative Writing Course.”
Can creative writing really be taught? Manchester based author, Heather Burnside, is proof that it can. She says, “the skills I gained on The Writers Bureau’s course have been invaluable. During my studies I learnt writing techniques that have stood me in good stead as an author and copywriter. It gave me the knowledge and confidence to pursue writing as a career.” The course is very practical and students are encouraged to submit work to publications as soon as their tutor feels they are ready. This means students can start earning from their writing very quickly. The Writers Bureau take this side of the course very seriously and even offer an amazing money back guarantee if students don’t earn their fees back from published work by the end of their studies.
Even though she was enjoying her work, Heather’s heart lay with writing a novel. So, after a while, she dusted off her original manuscript, reworked it, changed the title and her first gritty crime novel, Slur, was created. She independently published it on Amazon in 2014, shortly followed by two more books making up the The Riverhill Trilogy.
Why Not Be A Writer?
As a freelance writer, you can earn very good money in your spare time, writing the stories, articles, books, scripts etc that editors and publishers want. Millions of pounds are paid annually in fees and royalties. Earning your share can be fun, profitable and creatively fulfilling. To help you succeed, we offer you a first-class, home-study course from professional writers with individually tailored tuition and expert personal guidance from your tutor. You learn about writing articles, stories, novels, romances, Embark on an exciting writing journey of your own for only £444 (or Easy Pay Plan from £41pm).
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In 2016 Heather was signed to Aria Fiction at the Head of Zeus. They published her second set of books, The Manchester Trilogy as well as republishing The Riverhill Trilogy. She’s just recently signed another three-book deal with them.
historicals, journalism, writing for children, radio, TV, the stage etc.You are advised on style, presentation, HOW TO SELL YOUR WRITING, copyright and much more. In short, you learn how to be a successful writer. If you want to find success as a writer, this is a way to start! It’s ideal for beginners. No previous experience or special education required. You can earn while you learn. Details free. Full refund if not successful.Visit our website or call our Freephone number NOW!
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Heather Burnside took a home study Creative Writing Course with The Writers Bureau in 1999. 21 years on Heather is still writing and has recently signed another threebook deal with Aria Fiction at Head of Zeus.
During the course Heather wrote the first three chapters of her book, Nightclubbing, drawing on her experiences of growing up on one of the toughest estates in Manchester. At the time she approached several publishers but no offers were forthcoming. Undaunted, she continued writing articles as well as setting up a writing services business offering proofreading and copywriting.
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Years of Success
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FOUNDERS John Bird and Gordon Roddick GROUP CHAIR Nigel Kershaw
QUICK CLUES
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ADVERTISING: 020 3890 3899 Dennis Publishing, 31-32 Alfred Pl, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7DP Group advertising director Andrea Mason Advertising director Helen Ruane Deputy advertising manager Rebecca New Classified and recruitment: 020 3890 3744 Account director Jenny Bryan Account manager Imogen Williams VENDOR COMMENTS vendor.comments@bigissue.com THE BIG ISSUE GROUP 020 7526 3200 113-115 Fonthill Road, Finsbury Park, London, N4 3HH Group finance director Clive Ellis Group marketing & communications director Lara McCullagh Group HR director Elizabeth Divver Director of sales and operations Chris Falchi-Stead Head of partnerships and programmes Beth Thomas Big Issue Invest CEO Danyal Sattar BigIssueFoundationCEO Stephen Robertson
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Across 1. Playful (8) 5. Glimpse (4) 8. Jewel (8) 9. Brother of Abel (4) 11. Relayed (anag.) (7) 13. Bisect (5) 14. Join in (11) 18. Ptomaine (5) 19. Eradicate (4,3) 21. Frame of mind (4) 22. Concluding section (8) 24. Facial feature (4) 25. Bitter feud (8) Down 1. Silly laugh (6) 2. Embalmed body (5) 3. Soaking (10) 4. Males (3) 6. Illuminated at night (7) 7. Jerked (6) 10. Faded by being on display (10) 12. Room scheme (5) 15. Apprehensive (7) 16. Pollen producer (6) 17. Greek goddess (6) 20. Should (5) 23. Edgar Allan ---, US writer (3)
CRYPTIC CLUES Across 1. Low spirits in an equatorial region (8) 5. Had by someone else first (4) 8. Defamed dreadfully dated cur (8) 9. Is able to include fi�ty in family (4) 11. Luke and Lee play a musical instrument (7) 13. In duel open fire and run away (5) 14. Two fools turn antiestablishment first and kill (11) 18. Vestment returned with no charge initially on French mountain (5) 19. Not a weighty feeling of doubt (7) 21. Jug found in the brewery (4) 22. Verse may be rewritten exactly as before (4,4) 24. Neat container (4) 25. A game withAmerican soldier having a written defence (8)
Down 1. It won’t bring one straight to the point (6) 2. Allow to remain – or go (5) 3. Regular journey taking a month is a long exhausting walk (5,5) 4. Miss West, oriental scholar first (3) 6. Complete clearance is a betrayal (4-3) 7. Su�fering from slight depression? (6) 10. Three names for a species of mint (10) 12. Moves gently and releases more than half (5) 15. Common plant in the main? (7) 16. Take exception to something (6) 17. He read about Ivy (6) 20. Penny called a�ter the crash (5) 23. Thespian’s part not perceived in a normal sense (3)
SUDOKU To win a Chambers English Dictionary, send completed crosswords to: The Big Issue Crossword, second �loor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 1HW by Feb 4. Include name, address, phone and issue number.
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EDITORIAL editorial@bigissue.com 0141 352 7260 2nd �loor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 1HW @bigissue
AWARDS PPA Scotland consumer magazine of the year, 2019, 2017 Paul McNamee PPA Scotland editor of the year 2019, BSME British editor of the year 2016 Ross Lesley-Bayne PPA Scotland designer of the year 2019 Jane Graham PPA Scotland writer of the year 2018 BSME cover of the year 2017
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MANAGING DIRECTOR Russell Blackman EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION Editor Paul McNamee Managing editor Vicky Carroll Features editor Steven MacKenzie Senior reporter Liam Geraghty Sta�f reporter Hannah Westwater Books editor Jane Graham News & entertainment Adrian Lobb Radio Robin Ince Music Malcolm Jack and Claire Jackson Art director Ross Lesley-Bayne Production editor Sarah Reid Production journalist Alan Woodhouse Designer Gillian Smith Junior designer Matthew Costello Digital brand editor Sarah Howell
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Issue #1393 answers
CRYPTIC: Across – 1 Highly amused; 9 Insolence; 10 Era; 11 In�lame; 12 Tamil; 13 Garish; 15 Cosmos; 18 Cacti; 20 Idiotic; 22 Ova; 23 Malleable; 24 Legal adviser. Down – 2 Insofar; 3 Halma; 4 Yonder; 5 Maestro; 6 Steam; 7 Deadly secret; 8 Riding school; 14 Seismal; 16 Mutable; 17 Filled; 19 Clang; 21 Iceni. QUICK: Across – 1 Breathe again; 9 Ordinance; 10 Raw; 11 Nacelle; 12 Balsa; 13 Enlist; 15 Scrimp; 18 Antic; 20 Impeach; 22 Tin; 23 Exploiter; 24 Dressing-gown. Down – 2 Radical; 3 Annal; 4 Hanger; 5 Acerbic; 6 April; 7 New Hampshire; 8 Counteracted; 14 Success; 16 In a stew; 17 Nippon; 19 Tonne; 21 Prong.
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MY PITCH
MARK RICHARDS, 44 Charles Street/Queen Street station, Cardiff Tuesday-Friday and Sundays
I’ve been spat and sworn at. I feel like saying to these people that this is a proper job
Before I sold The Big Issue I was living on the streets. I’d had a flat but some undesirables were using it and wrecked it. I ended up sleeping rough and begging but I thought to myself, I can do better than this. I’d had enough and I wanted to change my lifestyle, so when I heard about The Big Issue I went and signed up. The first sale of the day is always the hardest, but I’m always polite. I sell the magazine most days and sometimes you ask someone if they want to buy one and they’ll just totally ignore you. I’ve been spat at and sworn at, and I feel like saying to these people that this is a proper job. It’s not like I’m sitting under a cash machine asking for their money. I’ve got two pitches and they’re both quite busy. Sometimes you have a good day and sell 15 or 20 but on other days you struggle to sell two or three. It varies. You get to meet all sorts of people, if someone needs directions I’ll stop selling for five minutes and take them there, or if an OAP is struggling with their shopping I’ll help them. People really appreciate that and it can help with sales. Sometimes I dress up, Dracula for Halloween or a snowman at Christmas. Someone could be having a rubbish day and that sort of thing can make a difference to them. I never pressure though, I just wish people a good morning and see what happens. On a Monday I come into The Big Issue office from 8.30am until 2.30pm and I work on the subscriptions. I put the magazines in the envelopes and send them out, and it gives me a regular income. I’m slowly learning to use the computer for stocktaking, and now I can send emails or book time off work on the system. It does help with your confidence. I also come in on a Saturday to help
with the deliveries for the following week. I get on with all the staff in the office, it’s a good team atmosphere. Once I’ve got the subscriptions ready, they go out to Australia, America, Japan, France – all over the world really. What I’m hoping for is to get a passport because I’d like to see the world. I’ve never been overseas. I’d love to do a cruise or something. I just want to experience different cultures. The Big Issue will help me with all the paperwork so I can go to the passport office in Newport. I left my home city in Cambridgeshire when I was 22 and travelled up and down the country. At one point I thought, the only place I haven’t been to is Wales and when I got to Cardiff I found there were a lot of friendly people here. I’ve got a private flat in the city now and there’s a lot to do here, like Cardiff Castle or the football. Sometimes about 10 of us from The Big Issue get tickets to go and see the Wales side play. My family’s in Lincolnshire now. I lost my dad three years ago and the last time I went back was for his funeral. It costs quite a bit to get from Cardiff to Lincolnshire, 140 quid sometimes – and that’s just one way. But I’m close with my brothers and sisters, I phone them when I’ve got credit, or if not I write them a letter. If I could get the finances sorted I would love to have a week away with them all. For more information about the subscriptionfunded Sheltered Employment Project that Mark takes part in and how you can support it, email mike.angill@bigissue.com Interview: Sarah Reid Photo: David Wagstaffe
THE BIG ISSUE MANIFESTO A hand up, not a handout... Our sellers BUY the magazine for £1.25 and sell it for £2.50. Trade, not aid… Which is why we ask you to ALWAYS take your copy of the magazine. Our sellers are working and need your custom. Poverty is indiscriminate… That is why we provide ANYONE whose life is blighted by poverty with the opportunity to earn a LEGITIMATE income. The right to citizenship… The Big Issue Foundation, our charitable arm, helps sellers tackle social and financial exclusion. Prevention… Big Issue Invest offers backing and investments to social enterprises, charities and businesses which deliver social value to communities.
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