A BRIEF 92,000 people have sold The HISTORY Big Issue In response to the growing number of rough sleepers on the streets of … More than In the past 25 200 million years vendors have • Launched by John Bird & Gordon copies of the earned £115 million Roddick in September 1991 magazine sold

• A3 monthly publication – sold 30,000 copies every month

• To provide legitimate income for the homeless and vulnerably housed

• Self respect and order 3,700 new vendors • Remains alone in providing walk through our work of its kind doors every year Three years of ABC increase 2015, 2016, 2017 Up to 2018 Increase of 7.5% over that period to 83073 copies sold per week

At this high point, we realised we needed to move to build for the next five years We began the process in summer 2017. Moved production inhouse to the Glasgow editorial office, the main editorial office for the UK. Previously this had been outsourced in London

Hired a social Hired FIVE new members Hired a media editor of production team. digital editor Worked on three prong attack

Making the Rebuilding Building a whole paper edition digital offering new contact future ready publishing element THE IDENTITY Essence of the outsider, something far from the MAGAZINE establishment, political and dogged, challenging, compassionate and a voice for those without a voice. Funny, not fusty From January 2018 we began overhaul RESEARCH Core DNA to remain Did deep dive research, worked with Latimer Group asking younger readers across Britain what they really liked about The Big Issue, what they didn’t like, what was missing and what would help turn digital natives into purchasers of the paper product

Started to seed different stories through our website to see what connected with readers. We registered some trends – activism were cutting through, as were pieces on food, particularly around production, waste and access. Tech, especially stories about tech that could positively impact on the lives of those outside the mainstream, were being widely read.

Used the learned knowledge of the team to come up with new content ideas around key pillars, and ruthlessly bin what wasn’t working Led by new art director Ross Lesley-Bayne, we made radical changes to the look OVERHAUL Kept key bankers – vendor led content, Letter to My Younger Self, literacy elements

This week on… Damon Albarn and Paul Simonon Teenage nature enthusiast Kabir EU must be joking... has the from supergroup The Good, The Kaul has mapped all London’s humble British veggie burger EDITOR’S LETTER What to do this week in and beyond BIGISSUE.COM Bad & The Queen lament Brexit green spaces. He explains why had its chips? platform. Emission statement the big list. I noted some of the pages of ideas in The Big Issue [April 22-28]. fact/fiction. Old news, truthfully retold Your views on the big issues I guess every idea to reduce greenhouse emissions has different groups who are for or against, thinking they are not ‘fair’ to The Arches everyone. How about an emissions rationing policy whereby Eat badly for a good cause THIS WEEK WE ASKED YOU... in National Doughnut Week Watch some every individual is allocated a number of emission units per cash grab is 01 Scoff all the ring-shaped fried giant-killing Cats kill half a million month. Food, fuel and holidays would have labelling according Can watching seven seconds of a Marvel dough delicacies you like this week – as long as you 07 documentaries birds a week, ruffling to their emissions. Individuals would no longer be able to eat a scandal. We buy them from a participating vendor, you’ll be at the Right Now twitchers’ feathers and beef, take flights or refuel their vehicle without considering its supporting the important work of brain injury charity Film Festival prompting the Royal effect on the climate change. won’t keep quiet film cure you of arachnophobia? The Children’s Trust. Bakers, coffee shops, offices and Led by The Lonely Battle of Thomas Parks conservation Like many measures it is unfair if the same scheme is not educational establishments are taking part, making Reid, Feargal Ward’s David-and- officer to call for moggies adopted by other countries. An even more unpopular measure and selling as many sweet treats as they can, striving Goliath tale of one solitary Irish to be kept inside. So are would be compulsory birth control to reduce the world’s to top last year’s £34,000 fundraising tally. farmer’s fight to protect his ancestral the claws out for cats? population and consumption to 19th-century figures. Not doing hame on them. Shame on them all. thechildrenstrust.org.uk/national-doughnut-week lands from a US tech giant, Right anything risks sending our planet into a heat/cold of extremes Last year, Network Rail sold off some of its property portfolio HOW IT WAS TOLD Now’s no-filler programme of five that would only support a small percentage of the present for £1.46bn. This moved it from public ownership to private. It’s hard to escape the all-consuming power I think we should keep our population, living in caves and underground. S When this deal was in the offing it became clear that it would hard-hitting documentaries is of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially all about fighting the power and cats indoors/in secure runs a) Peter Spurgeon, Bournemouth have a profound impact on the work and livelihoods of thousands of when Avengers: Endgame is currently inequality in the modern world. to protect wildlife and b) to people who for years had been tenants of Network Rail. They had taken dominating in cinemas. Rio Cinema, London and Tyneside protect them. poor locations, mostly in railway arches, 5,476 arches across Britain, You’ll see plenty of belief-defying antics from Cinema, , Kati Jenkins, Facebook places largely unfancied and unused; they made them sing, grew superheroes on the big screen but recent reports Sniff out some fun Keeping things in proportion businesses in them and lives out of them. Mechanics, small shops, at the interactive May 6-12; rightnowfilmfestival.org are suggesting even greater feats are possible. The demise of the bird Regarding Brexit Britain [March 25-31], it is possible that latterly micro-breweries. Working people making a living and building The claim is that watching a seven-second clip of creepy crawlies from 02 festival for dogs population is due to the change Brexit could have been avoided if a quota system had been communities. Small but vital. The leases they had were relatively cheap, Synonymous with huge shows by bad Spider-Man or Ant-Man films can rid a fear of insects in real life. in farming, hedgerows are no put in place as other EU countries have done. The fears that because they weren’t desirable at first. boys of rock from Led Zeppelin to Oasis, The Mirror Online opted for “Watching just seven seconds of Spider- more. Trees cut down to make Blazing a trail fuelled Brexit were the continual crisis in the NHS, the housing But Network Rail needed to plug a hole in their budgets and realised Knebworth House for a change welcomes Browse The Big Issue Man can help people cure a fear of SPIDERS”. way for housing and roads. Sabrina went from situation and the decline in services in general while trying to that they had an asset worth trading. So on the quiet, at first, they tried to good boys galore for Dogfest – a weekend Shop collection for The claim comes from a study published in the Frontiers in Psychiatry Pollution and other factors. to accommodate over 250,000 more people a year. Why wasn’t sell them off. The traders, smelling a rat, mobilised. They suspected that of activities for canines and canine 08 World Fair Trade Day journal by Israeli researchers from Ariel University and Bar-Ilan University. Marie Morgan, Facebook senior firefighter this thought through? following the sell-off, rents would shoot up and they’d be out of business. owners alike. Bond with your four-legged Saturday May 11 marks an The story reached publications all over the globe, with the New York APRIL 15-21 The need for labour in various industries was due to the fact And all the local communities would suffer. They formed Guardians of friends with Hay Bale Racing, the Great international festival of Cole Illustration: Miles Post also insisting that Peter Parker’s Hollywood exploits held the key to What, no! No animal locked that there are not enough trained personnel in this country, but the Arches, a tenants’ pressure group united to ask Network Rail to think Dog Walk, the Fun Dog Show and Doga, events celebrating Fair SABRINA COHEN-HATTON, THE BIG ISSUE SAVED ME banishing arachnophobia or myrmecophobia, the fear of ants. up. Like population control, why does a nation of 67 million people need to poach so many again. The deal was overseen by the Department of Transport, under which is yoga for dogs. Didn’t know that’s Trade and its contribution to The Daily Mail stopped short of swinging into a full cure, instead reduction is the solution. skilled workers from countries that are more in need of them? Chris Grayling. So what could possibly go wrong… a thing? You do now. sustainable development insisting that watching a flick could “curb” the symptoms. Heather Scholey, Facebook Sabrina’s an inspiration India, for example, where medical needs must be paramount. We got behind the Guardians of The Arches because we knew it Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, May globally. The Big Issue Shop And The London Economic held back a step further – instead opting for Thank you for the interview with Sabrina Cohen-Hatton [April 15-21] who was homeless at 15. She Britain does need proportional immigration but it also needs wasn’t right what Network Rail were doing. We shared their concerns. 11-12 (plus further dates at different always carries an extensive “Arachnophobia can be reduced by a fifth by watching a seven-second I think the biggest threat to the truly is inspirational! I was homeless at 16, in 1976, and like Sabrina, no one was really concerned or more self-sufficiency and an honest look at how to plan for Big Issue founder John Bird hosted an event at the House of Lords locations in June); dog-fest.co.uk range of great Fair Trade clip from Spider-Man, say scientists”. goods, supporting all from natural world is man. cared about me. I had no emotional or financial support. My mum (who had just lost her husband) the future. The problem is not due to immigration itself but a to see if they could agitate the legislator to reconsider. We ran stories, Interestingly enough, both the Mirror Online and The London Economic football makers in India Victoria Bridger , Facebook was put in a hostel as we lost our flat above the restaurant my dad worked in. My two brothers were complete dependency on it, which should have been avoided we showed up, we made demands. It looked like we were all getting opted to use a photo of the recent Spider-Man video game to illustrate and Pakistan to coffee placed in a kids’ home. I’m now 58 and still relive the awful trauma. There were no mental health by our politicians had they the foresight. somewhere. In July, noises came from the then junior minister Jo articles rather than the Sam Raimi-directed films of the Noughties that See some live art at the farmers in Peru. My two cats are indoor cats and services, no duty of care, no safeguarding. This year I got diagnosed with PTSD. Like Sabrina, I too ate TG Springthorpe, Southend-on-Sea Johnson that they were prepared to listen to alternatives to the sell-off the reports refer to. Yardworks Graffiti Festival bigissueshop.com/ are perfectly happy. I used to out of dustbins. I would make a cup of tea last two hours in a cafe so I could keep warm for a while. of the whole estate. This didn’t happen. But is there any truth in these claims? Or is it just a web of lies? Duty of Care: A 5 News Tonight Special have a cat who was a roamed After three years of living in awful hostels or kipping on someone’s floor, I finally found a bedsit. I In September the sale went through. Financial services and 03 More than 120 street artists from collection/fairtrade- Illustration: Miles Cole around the world will descend on Glasgow for a two- When Universal Credit is the main form of financial collection and would have hated to stay worked full-time as a cleaner to pay for this, which was half my low-paid salary! To all the moaning Body talk investment firms Blackstone and Telereal Trillium became the new day celebration of live and 04 support for care leavers, they are five times more likely to indoors, I think it depends on millennials out there – Generation Rent did not start in the 21st century. Millions of us rented bedsits owners. Still, there were some positive noises about tenants being Photo: Laurent Jacquet be convicted of a crime, and only six per cent (compared to almost 50 per the cat what is fair. My main etc in the 1960s/70s/80s. And housing conditions were much worse than today; no central heating, To TVB [Platform, April 22-28], just in case you didn’t know… listened to and fears over massive rent hikes being allayed. curated graffiti art. More Stats: www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk/encyclopaedia/p/article/phobias than 700 metres of wall cent of the wider population) attend university, why is the inequality of reason for not letting the cats and in some cases I shared a toilet/bathroom with 14 other people. I’m sick of reading in the press you have decided to donate your bodies to medicine, but do It was all rubbish. It was a dirty piece of business. WORTH opportunity for these young people not a bigger national scandal? Aired Write to your MP to out is I don’t trust other people. how all old(er) people own their own home and have it easy. you realise there may be too many at the time you die and your Last week the National Audit Office, Whitehall’s spending watchdog, space will be transformed FACTS. CHECKED REPEATING into colourful murals. over two evenings, this vital 5 News special looks at the challenges for the demand a cap on Too easy to be hit by cars. Miss Dee, London donation may still be rejected? My aunt thought she was OK published a report into the sale. They found that the impact of the sale There’ll be street food 10,000 young people leaving care each year as they are forced to grow up 09 consumer credit Amanda Gilmour , Facebook when her husband died but Uni had too many on tenants was NOT considered. It was bluster and misdirection from Calling this a cure for arachnophobia is a bit strong. The London Economic was accurate with its headline, vendors, bars, a skate overnight at 18, coping with independence, the cruelty of benefit sanctions interest rates and charges bodies so she still had to arrange a funeral even though her the highest office. Clearly, they wanted this sale and while they said nice The study worked by dividing up 424 participants while the Daily Mirror gave false hope of a cure. THE 22ND ramp and more. and mental health issues arising from what can be a chaotic childhood. Expensive debt forces some of the poorest husband wanted his body to go to medicine. things on the face of it, the thing was a long-time done deal. Tenants into four groups to watch different clips. Two watched That is not true – at least not yet. Professor MCU filmAvengers: Endgame SWG3, Glasgow, Channel 5, May 7 and 8, 6.30pm households into a toxic spiral of borrowing Back to basics Cheers Christina! Jane Barker, Facebook were only considered right at the end of process, because a big enough scenes from Spider-Man 2 and Ant-Man while the other Menachem Ben-Ezra, one of the researchers behind grossed $1.2bn worldwide on May 11-12; swg3.tv to make ends meet, and the problem is Just to add to the letter from Sarah from Lost in pain and panic over the last few stink had been kicked up. By then it was too late. two control groups watched the Marvel opening the study, insists that the results open a new direction its opening five-day run – getting worse. It’s time the government Birmingham, in praise of Rutger Bregman's months after rib and muscle problems, I have Shame on them all. The lives of so many working people were ignored the fastest film to break the KD LANG LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF common to all their films and a scene featuring nature. for positive exposure therapy to treat phobias that is protected borrowers by putting a cap on the views [April 15-21]. I have been reading Yuval been supported, hugged and regularly prayed because Grayling’s department chased a quick buck. A short-term gain It should be said that these excerpts weren’t just the more affordable and readily available than using virtual $1bn barrier that will impact thousands for years to come. It’s a grubby dark deal. cost of credit. Fill in your postcode on the Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century and for by Christina, our amazing Big Issue seller superheroes swinging through the air or punching reality. Using such mainstream properties may also GET IN TOUCH @bigissue In other times, demands would be made for a deeper dive into what Get lost in music Jubilee Debt Campaign website, they’ll find it is quite a complicated read but it is the first outside the Co-op in Helensburgh. Now as I baddies in the face – they showed the insects they destigmatise therapy and encourage people to Listen to a podcast happened here. But that Brexit cloud is still the shadow on everything so at The Great Escape your MP and provide a letter for you to sign. @bigissue time I have read about universal basic income. recover I want to appreciate her in print. derived their monikers from in action. complete homework that already forms part of lifting the lid on these things pass by. Stock up on “I saw them org.uk/actions/write-to-your-mp-to- It struck me as such a good idea. Sheila Talman, Helensburgh All four groups were then asked to fill out an online cognitive behavioural therapy programmes. 2009 05 homelessness 06 @Sab_Phantom_06 Enough. Enough of the tin ear of government. Enough of the is the only year to go before they were famous” bragging rights extend-the-cap-on-consumer-credit I have been lucky and never had to claim survey assessing the socio-demographic variables and Professor Ben-Ezra and his colleague Professor The latest episode of open-platform /bigissueUK When I came out my parents knew, they just wanted duplicitous treatment of those who simply want to work and provide and without an MCU film since at this south coast new music weekender, allowances apart from maternity (and have each person’s familiarity with Marvel movies as well as Yaakov Hoffman are now planning to continue their current affairs blog Backbench’s Backchat me to admit it to them. Funny thing we had a fight over do the right thing. What happened here is not right. it kicked off 11 years ago taking place at more than 30 venues. always paid my taxes gratefully for an NHS the phobic symptoms they had displayed. Marvel-based research to assess the impact of watching podcast series deals with a subject close system etc). However, my immediate thought pizza for supper that night. And we want to speak for all of you, everybody who knows they Don’t miss the likes of Big Joanie, @bigissueuk Green hero While the latter groups showed no significant these films on people who suffer from post-traumatic to The Big Issue’s heart – how shoddy about the universal basic income would be have right on their side, but they lack the elbows to make those in power Kobi Onyame, Black Midi, I am in the middle of reading these change, researchers reported a 20 per cent reduction in stress disorder. Their theory is that superhero films official figures showing a 165 per cent See homeless art from around the globe how useful it would be, how civilised to feel listen. We will be your elbows. We will advocate and agitate and make Lewsberg, nor probably one of [email protected] [environmental] articles [April 22-28] and have phobia symptoms from those who watched the may have several beneficial psychological attributes increase in homelessness since 2010 Café Art’s This Is Where I Live exchange programme engages like there is a safety net in case you ever did just finished Kabir Kaul's contribution. Bear @missglenny a nuisance on your behalf. We will do it early and we will not relent. The Bigobscure the trueList and worsening scale your last chances to see Lewis Platform Spider-Man and Ant-Man scenes. by making people feel better aboutFact/Fiction themselves and 10 with international partner organisations in cities from New need it. Obviously, people don’t claim just in mind this youngster has his schoolwork to I love this. Who we all were years ago and all the Now is the time. of Britain’s homelessness epidemic. Capaldi in an intimate venue Editorial, 2nd Floor, From this, the academics concluded that it was not offering up “the true underlying spirit of confronting York to Mumbai and Dar es Salaam to circulate illuminating pieces by because they can. It’s because they need to. do but he has found the time to compile this mistakes we made helped to shape us into the people we 10 before he hits arenas. 43 Bath St, the calm of nature or the fun and fantasy of a Marvel flick one’s fears” away from the stress of everyday life. Journalist Natasha Livingstone speaks to homeless artists around the globe. This piece by Mariyan Dyankov will Sarah’s sentiments were a confirmation of extraordinary London Wildlife catalogue. I am became today. I heard that they’re not considered mistakes million Ruth Ehrlich, a policy officer for Shelter. Various venues, Glasgow, G2 1HW that made the difference but the specific exposure to So the study is a giant leap forward – if not a full cure. people in the UK are feature in the London exhibition this week. what I had read. elevated by his enthusiasm. if one learns by it. I once wrote a letter to my past self, Paul McNamee is editor of The Big Issue bbench.co.uk/backchat Brighton, May 9-11; insects in the context of the films that was behind For now, a brave pal with a bit of card and a glass will still estimated to have Kahaila Cafe, London, May 9; cafeart.org.uk Jo Moulds, Gloucestershire Anthony Taylor, Chelmsford forgave her and then destroyed the letter. @pauldmcnamee [email protected] greatescapefestival.com the impact. need to be kept on hand. a phobia (NHS Direct)

06 | BIGISSUE.COM 06-12 MAY 2019 06-12 MAY 2019 BIGISSUE.COM | 07 04 | BIGISSUE.COM 06-12 MAY 2019 06-12 MAY 2019 BIGISSUE.COM | 05 10 | BIGISSUE.COM 06-12 MAY 2019

WASPI Women Shanti Das, hip-hop heroine WASPI women are furious – and rightly so. Having worked hard their whole After giving the world hip-hop sensations changemakers. careers investing in their futures and planning towards the point in their OutKast in her role as a music industry mover The thinkers. The creators. The agitators 0 5 lives they would get their state pension, they were stiffed when the pension 0 7 and shaker, most people would have been happy age that had been hiked upward from 60 to 65 in line with men’s – which was announced with their achievements in life – not Das. The music biz mogul in 1995 – was brought forward further in 2011. changed her tune to spearhead a raft of social innovations Justifiably outraged, in 2015 the Women Against State Pension Inequality through her Hip-Hop Professional Foundation. (WASPI) campaign started the fight for women born between 1950-1955 who were The 47-year-old philanthropist has fed homeless people given too short notice of the changes to re-plan for retirement – some claim they in her native Atlanta with No Reservations Needed; collected I created a team received no notice at all – and facing financial hardship. back-to-school supplies for hard-up local mothers with her After a 100,000 signature-strong petition saw the issue debated in Parliament, Backpack Blessings project; oranised shoebox appeals to WASPI’s work paid off – their maladministration complaints reached authorities collect toiletries for homeless mothers and children; relief of disabled and are now the subject of a preliminary enquiry. The organisation is confident it for earthquake-hit Haiti; and Turn the Page – a reading will be found in their favour this year, as they continue their work amplifying older programme for schools. And her Silence The Shame project women’s voices. waspi.co.uk attempts to break the stigma around mental health. superheroes for @ShantiDas404 Joshua Coombes, founder of #DoSomethingForNothing Who Cares? Scotland my daughter There’s more to the #DoSomethingForNothing movement than a February 15 has been desginated Care Day, a time 0 6 millennial-friendly social media campaign. to recognise the challenges and successes of care A barber by trade, Coombes began the movement in 2015, roaming the 0 8 experienced people. And leading the way is Who he world might be in the grip of superhero streets of London on his days off and offering free haircuts to rough sleepers. Cares? Scotland. From their beginnings in 1978, the organisation fever, but for Fareham’s Dan White it means Joined by friends Matt and Dave and the now notable hashtag, the movement has been supporting and amplifying the voices of care experienced T something a little different. The self-trained has spread globally. A knitter creating shawls to donate to a local nursing home, people. With an innovative approach to campaigning, the artist’s daughter Emily was born with spina bifida, a a mobile laundry service washing clothes for rough sleepers and vets out on charity empowers care experienced young people to shape Jade Anouka, actor condition that stops the spine developing properly. the streets checking over pets – just a few of the thousands of initiatives using changes to laws and holds government to account. They also Currently starring alongside Sheridan Now aged 12, Emily has loved comic books for years, #DoSomethingForNothing. work with the creative community to tackle lazy or inaccurate Smith in ITV drama Cleaning Up, Anouka but had always been disappointed by the lack of This year, the 30-year-old has teamed up with high-street bath bomb behemoth media representations of people in care. Look out for their Rally 10 is best known as one of the leading lights disabled representation not just in comics but on Lush to document the stories behind the heads of hair he cuts on the streets of for Love in October. in Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female Shakespeare trilogy at TV, in books and in movies. London, Manchester and Bournemouth. player.lush.com/tv whocaresscotland.org Donmar Warehouse and Broadway. So White created Department of Ability, a comic But in 2019 it is her work as an activist, which began book following the story of a group of disabled last year, that Anouka will come in to her own. She superheroes. What began as a way to show his daughter Illustration: Lyndon Hayes set up Black Panther Peckham in 2018 inspired by the that using a wheelchair didn’t mean she was excluded movie Black Panther. “I heard Viola Davis and others from the magic, it changed the game for disabled children wheelchair flies and the wheels come Moore (writer of Watchmen and V for were hiring cinemas in the States to get young people around the world. off to be used as shields). She’s joined Vendetta). He expects it will be ready to who couldn’t normally afford it to see the film because He grew up on comics, “from the early days of reading by Azzi, an alien who crash-landed to shop around publishers before the end they thought it was important. I felt that exact way, that The Beano and The Dandy to the DC and Marvel imports”. And earth and now has a prosthetic arm. of the year. Amika George, young black people particularly needed to see this film. art is in the family – White’s father was an artist, something Pawsy, a cheetah, had an accident Now, he is in the process of founder She set up a GoFundMe page and hired a screen at Photo: Matt Writtle/Eyevine the 47-year-old inherited but treated as a hobby while at London Zoo but now reaches recording an audio version of the of #FreePeriods Peckhamplex cinema and brought 200 kids to see the working his “boring nine-to-five”, working for an electrical super speeds on his fusion-powered first comic for children with visual 09 George started the #FreePeriods film, with free smoothies, popcorn and merchandise. retailer. “But I always felt I wanted to do something to leave running blade. Claypole is a partially impairments. He is also in talks to write movement in 2017 aged 18 after learning that “It was such a special day,” she says. “I got friends on Friends of Dorothy a mark,” he says. resurrected scientist – this means he a series of children’s books around a set her peers were skipping school because of board – actor Paapa Essiedu and one of the stunt girls “I met my partner in 1955. I was 24 and he was 36. There was no And it was when he became the father of a child with is visually impaired and uses a white of new disabled characters. period poverty. Success came in a 165,500-strong from the film to answer questions about the industry.” coming out in those days, we could have gone to prison. Even in our a disability that his whole worldview changed: “Suddenly, cane. Billy the dog, rescued from a hit When White isn’t leading the way petition and thousands protesting outside Look out this year for more from Anouka, putting 1 2 families, it was never discussed.” Eric Mountain, a sprightly 88, is you’re seeing the total inaccessibility of everything. But not and run, gets around on carbon wheels in inclusive comics, he works part-time Downing Street, sparking a domino effect activism at the heart of Peckham. @JadeAnouka part of a generation of gay men for whom being true to themselves in their youth just shops and streets – the media too. I can’t forgive its total with a tail that acts as radar and a jet. with children’s charity Variety. But countrywide. High street giants shouldered the was a crime. They are also the survivors of the 1980s, when so many saw friends, failure to show people Emily could relate to. White released a free colouring he is also a prominent voice in the VAT cost, and brands like Always and Bodyform peers and loved ones die during the Aids epidemic. These days, many older LGBT “When you’re in this community and you see these kids book and, after some savvy social media as a campaigner for disabled launched campaigns to tackle the crisis. people face a new challenge – loneliness. who are desperate to be involved but they just can’t do it, media work, gave away 15,000 copies. children and their families. Last George’s next battle for 2019 has just been Meg Neilan, Golden Years Not only are older LGBT people 50 per cent more likely to be living alone than just because things are stacked against them... you either He quickly launched a crowdfunder year, he teamed up with Scope to announced. Together with community project It was first-hand experience of the impact of their straight peers, but they are more likely to be estranged from their families see red and go off the rails or take the bull by the horns and which, along with support from lobby the government for a minister the Red Box Project, #FreePeriods will take on swingeing funding cuts on the elderly care system and less likely to have children. try to fix it yourself,” he says. children’s health charity Strongbones, for disabled children – marching to Westminster in a legal battle to follow in the that sparked Neilan into action. Friends of Dorothy launched in in 2017 with the specific aim to combat He decided that if no one else would include disabled made it possible for him to publish a Downing Street with a petition and 1 1 footsteps of Scotland, where the Holyrood A former nurse, she saw how many elderly people were isolation among older LGBT people. There are monthly gatherings at the Ruby people in the fun of fantasy, comics and action, he’d do it 44-page one-shot teaser comic. 40,000 signatures. government has supported the Big Issue Invest- isolated from much of society and the detrimental effect Slipper Café for a natter and a platter – where friendships are made and inter- himself. In 2016, White wrote the story that would become “It’s a completely accessible story “When your child is born, you feel backed Hey Girls! period poverty campaign to that had on their health and wellbeing. So she launched generational links forged with younger gay men and women. the first iteration of Department of Ability, before illustrating for everyone but it doesn’t lecture,” he so isolated because you effectively help 18,800 women access free products. Golden Years – a community group tackling poor health “It is about respect to that forgotten generation,” says local business leader it by hand. Emily is a central character in the story (her says. “It pokes fun at itself.” have to do all your own groundwork,” If George's campaign is successful, it will and isolation in the elderly population of Wellingborough, Craig Burton, who set up the group. “Social isolation is invisible and difficult to Nearly 1,000 copies were ordered he says. “To look for benefits, to find see Westminster working with Red Box Project Northamptonshire. Encouraging good health and mental diagnose because most of us will never admit to it.” in less than a month which, White relevant charities, all at the same time to put free period products in all schools and wellbeing in the ageing community, Neilan is a force of Eric’s partner died in 2014. “When they brought in civil partnerships I asked if says, is both “a great, humbling as dealing with this sudden change to colleges across England. A campaign to raise nature, organising confidence-boosting day trips and events he wanted to take it up and he said no, because he never wanted to do anything NAME: Dan White thing” and a concern – because it your entire lifestyle. No time to enjoy £10k in 30 days to cover legal fees has begun. from skydiving to ice skating, always with local independent to embarrass his family. I found out when he died that they all knew anyway. demonstrates how huge the demand being parents of brilliant children.” freeperiods.org businesses. “It’s such a simple concept, but it works,” NeilanChangemaker tells If he had lived another six months it would have been 60 years. We never lived PROJECT: Department of Ability No minister for disabled children for disability-inclusive comics is. He The Big Issue. “It’s been a real life ine to so many people, they’ve together.” was sent photographs of children and and families has been introduced yet, HIGH PRAISE: Culture titans and celebrities finally found themselves again.” Junior Solomons, 28, was one of the first younger people to join Friends of adults reading Department of Ability but phase two of the campaign is set to like comic books godhead Alan Moore have backed In 2019 Golden Years aims to achieve charity status, as well Dorothy. His reason for joining is simple: “I have been really lucky. I don’t have everywhere from Germany to Australia kick off later this year. White’s Department of Ability idea, and comedian as working with supported housing to offer their residents day any stories. I have not had to go through any hardship. I have found life really to the far corners of the UK. Interview: Hannah Westwater Adam Hills recently said: “This is honestly one of the trips, in exchange for space to host lunches and dances. easy and never had any issue with coming out or being accepted. I have had best ideas I’ve seen, from one of the most Now a 230-page graphic novel, it @hannahjtw The group will be busking outside St Pancras on February 11. the easiest ride. I found it so easy because generations ago they went through kind-hearted people I’ve met. Let’s get behind the took White three years to complete, So look out Ed Sheeran! such hardships. I’m now trying to support them to make sure they don’t live in world’s first disability superhero comic strip!” but he has had “phenomenal support” FIND OUT MORE facebook.com/communitysocialsupport isolation, they are not forgotten about. It is paying back.” @FODleeds from the likes of comics icon Alan departmentofability.com >

14 | BIGISSUE.COM 06-12 MAY 2019 18 | BIGISSUE.COM 14-20 JANUARY 2019 14-20 JANUARY 2019 BIGISSUE.COM | 19 OVERHAUL

TV RADIO FILM MUSIC AUTHOR FEATURE REVIEW INTERVIEW REVIEW Learning the Tractors, coffee Arctic pits one Classical music Steve lessons of and other things man against the will get you Kippax Chernobyl set to kill us cruellest elements through exams Jared Harris Robin Ince Graeme Virtue Claire Jackson Her majesty’s Notes on a scandal Discomfort blanket Doug Johnstone is gripped by the tale of a young girl’s BOOKS TOP 5 BOOKS ‘We’re at a point In Arctic a crash survivor is marooned and alone. But displeasure readjustment after her escape from a communist cult ON UNCONVENTIONAL beyond the ice there’s an extra shot of adrenaline in this As Brixton Prison turns 200, Christopher tale of human survival, says Graeme Virtue MEDICINE FILM & TV Impey looks back at a history marked by hen you read a lot of fiction you woman, who it turns out is actually some where people grim conditions as well as oyster addicts, tend to come across the same form of alien, shape-shifting presence. The Foundations of hen we first meet Mads pioneering women and Mick Jagger stories again and again, so When the woman mysteriously disappears 01 Chinese Medicine Mikkelsen in the life-or- W when something highly original on rescue, George becomes obsessed with her, by Giovanni Maciocia death drama Arctic he’s got arrives on the desk it’s a shot of adrenaline to as well as struggling with what he had to do The textbook on Traditional don’t believe’ chills and unfortunately CULTURE | CULTURE W rixton is London’s oldest prison and this the brain. This week’s books are both fantastic to survive. Chinese Medicine (TCM). Written they are multiplying. As the lone survivor year marks its bi-centenary. Over its 200 pieces of storytelling that are indefinable but As the story progresses, we get more of in a clear and easy-to-understand After playing a Soviet scientist forced to of a plane crash in a vast snowfield, he is years, it has held hundreds of thousands of utterly compelling. the alien’s point of view, a lonely, abandoned but far-from-simple way, this is help cover up the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear sleepwalking through a Groundhog Day B people and while all of them have different First up we have the thrillingly evocative creature searching for more of its kind on the “industry standard” book for | CULTURE accident, Jared Harris can see parallels with groove of survival. Swaddled in all-weather stories to tell, most are connected by poverty, Nina X by Ewan Morrison. This is Morrison’s a planet that seems bizarre compared to its the Westerner who is seriously contemporary politics outerwear – the nametag on his grubby disadvantage and the feeling of being cast out. first novel in seven years, but it’s been worth previous experiences. The story moves forward interested in TCM. red parka identifies him as “Overgard” Throughout its existence, the jail has long been at the wait. The story is told through the journals in time and George’s son becomes involved – the shivering Dane cycles robotically the heart of the prison debate, as pioneering as it has of Nina, a young woman recently rescued in both plots, his sense of being an outsider Organon of Medicine he official death toll from the Chernobyl through a daily routine tending the rickety been ruthless. from a bizarre communist cult based in a mirroring the other plot strands in what is a 02by Samuel Hahnemann disaster in 1986, perhaps the biggest camp he has bodged together around the Those sent to Brixton immediately after it was London house. The story switches between highly unconventional book that nevertheless It seems to be in vogue to denigrate environmental catastrophe in modern downed aircraft’s fuselage. built in 1819 were truly destitute. London had swelled Nina’s journals post-release and her earlier manages to be completely mesmerising. and belittle homeopathy, and history, is 31. The actual number may be closer Prodded by a schedule of alarms on Frozen in time T Most days are quite to become the first city in the Western world to reach diaries as a young girl inside the cult from 16 Rawson uses this set up to examine huge who wouldn’t? Those incredulous to one million. his watch, he grimly chisels out a gigantic similar when you’re the million mark and many of its inhabitants were years previously. themes – the nature of existence and society, gullible fools are being conned into The machinations that led to such an absurdly low SOS sign in the snow despite the fact the battling for survival migrants from the countryside, looking for a better What quickly transpires is that Nina was the symbiotic relationships between us all – taking a pill that has nothing in it… official count, with as much effort spent preventing sky remains resolutely empty. Then he life in the city. Instead, they found themselves living born and raised in the cult, and has been but it’s also deeply personal and ultimately very so say the Twitterati metropolitan political as well as nuclear fallout, are brought to vivid checks his ad hoc ice-fishing holes in hope in the dirt and squalor of slums and doing whatever deprived knowledge and access to the outside moving. Extraordinary work. chattering liberal elite. If you have life in a new HBO/Sky Atlantic co-production. The key of finding a trout. Then he heaves a chunky they could to make ends meet. world almost completely in a misguided effort an inquisitive mind, and don’t issues – trust in our politicians, the brutal treatment GPS transponder up a hill to hand-crank It meant Brixton had no shortage of guests. to make her a more ‘pure’ vessel of communist @doug_johnstone believe MSM, find out for yourself of whistleblowers and humanity destroying the natural enough electricity to bring it back to Most had been convicted under the Vagrancy Act ideology at the hands of her charismatic male about this system of medicine that world – could scarcely be more current. tentative, beeping life. Then he trudges back to base, zips himself up into a sleeping bag – legislation passed in the 1820s which made it an cult leader and his female disciples. We also get has been used for over 200 years. Jared Harris plays Valery Legasov, the and does it all again the next day. During these early scenes, the camera itself seems offence to sleep rough or beg and which remains in Illustration: Joseph Joyce comments on those earlier diaries from other Nina X chief of the commission investigating frozen in place, capturing static vistas of immense but bleak beauty as the convincingly place today. They were punished beyond their loss of cult members, as well as typographical self- by Ewan Morrison Ayurveda, the Science the disaster and attempting to speaking weather-beaten Mikkelsen shuffles through the frame. liberty by being made to climb the treadmill. It looked edits, as Nina, known as The Project, tries to (Fleet, £14.99) 03of Self-Healing truth to powerful politicos including Judging by the scraggly beard and iffy, whiffy state of his blackened toes, this like a giant, elongated waterwheel; its victims – men, facing trial in London – and a handful company would bid for it. correct her own ‘faulty’ thinking and language. by Vasant Lad then-leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Having has been going on for some time. But suitably for a film where a hazardous but women and children – had to tread the boards that of women – would pass through it, all Over the next two decades, At heart, this is an emotional story about Ayurveda is the traditional previously starred as advertising numbing present has blotted out all thoughts of past or future we never hear about ran along it for up to eight hours a day. awaiting their day in court. positive change came, albeit slowly. trauma and survival, but it’s funny along the From the Wreck energetic healing system from the executive Lane Pryce in Mad Men and the circumstances that left him clinging to life at the end of the world. The similarly

Among them was Edward Dando, the oyster They included some famous Most significantly it changed from a way too. Morrison has a lot of fun poking by Jane Rawson, Indian subcontinent, and has been King George VI in The Crown, he knows a Photo: Matt Sayles/Invision/AP/Shutterstock stranded Matt Damon in The Martian dealt with being alone and in mortal danger by eater. My discovery of his story inspired me to – and infamous – names. The jail that served the courts to one that at both the tenets of communism and the (Pan Macmillan, £14.99) continuously used for at least the bit about selling a story and how power yammering away endlessly in a series of video diaries. Overgard is a man taciturn to the write my book, The House on the Hill. His modus prison’s switchboard was jammed served its community, becoming a appalling brazenness of capitalism and last 2,000 years. This book covers structures work. extreme, as impassive as the looming mountains that surround his crash site. He is a operandi was simple – he feasted on what he couldn’t by concerned Rolling Stones fans resettlement and training prison – consumerism. On her release, Nina all of the main areas of Ayurveda – Harris was 24 at the time. “I sub-zero Crusoe, frozen emotionally as much as physically. By this point, you are either afford, touring London’s eateries consuming huge when Mick Jagger as sent there on a helping those coming to the end of struggles hopelessly to come to terms diagnostic techniques, herbs, remember the news reports,” he says. Nuclear power ranger fully invested in an austere one-man survival saga because of Mikkelsen’s soulfully stoic quantities of food then refusing to pay. Oysters were drugs charge in 1967; the philosopher their sentence prepare for life with the wider world, almost preferring diet, etc. “I remember the warnings about the Harris as Valery Legasov performance or you are getting a teensy bit bored and hoping a polar bear abandons his weakness which, at the time, were a staple of Bertrand Russell was ordered there after release. the familiar abuse of her previous life cloud coming as it worked its way across in Chernobyl their perch on a Fox’s glacier mint and ambles over to eat him. the London poor. He served a string of sentences twice for his pacifist activities; Today, anyone on the outside to the uncertainty and confusion that Healing With Europe. I remember being told ‘Don’t Overgard and Arctic both get a crucial disruptive jolt with the dramatic arrival punctuated by what he liked to call ‘blow-outs’ at Oswald Mosley, the leader of the can book a meal in the esteemed faces her. 04Whole Foods drink milk’. I remember there being of a young woman (never named, but played by Icelandic actor Maria Thelma oyster shops. He died in poverty, though Charles British Union of Fascists, appreciated Clink restaurant – where those The narrative voice in Nina X is an by Paul Pitchford some issue with Welsh lamb. But we Smáradóttir). Her situation rapidly becomes even more precarious than Overgard’s, Dickens wrote fondly of him, imagining ‘he was the time Brixton gave him for who prepare, cook and present the absolute triumph – completely unique This is Pitchford’s magnum opus, seemed to be focused on the cloud, and which upends his strict regime and belatedly inspires him to plan a marathon do- buried in the prison yard and they paved his grave reading; the arrival of the Krays in food are serving prisoners. Others and yet empathetic and familiar at a tour de force of a book which once the cloud passed us and dumped it into the Atlantic, or-die expedition to reach help. This is where the film finds a gear that is somehow STREET ART with oyster shells. 1968 put the whole prison on high work in the Bad Boys’ Bakery, which the same time. The reader’s heart covers just about every base from a we all forgot about it. even more gruelling, as Overgard goes to desperate lengths to ferry and protect London continued to grow, and by the middle of alert for fear of a breakout; Giggs, the supplies bread and cakes to cafes on breaks because of Nina’s situation, nutritional point of view. “What was apparent from working on this is that it someone who is essentially a complete stranger. Can they possibly make it beyond the THIRTEEN the century Brixton became so overcrowded it had rapper, was a more the outside. The Bounce Back charity both before and after her release, was spewing all that shit out for months. We were misled Cripes. The drama, though, cleverly begins with the intimate, “When the public no longer expect to get the mountains? Is there some intangible nobility in merely trying? An exhibition by artists from Creative Future to be shut down. In 1853, it reopened as a prison for recent visitor. runs an award-winning painting and and Morrison expertly crafts an Culpeper’s Complete then on this idea that it was this one big cloud and once it emotional stories of individual firefighters, miners and citizens truth, that is a very dangerous place to get to,” Arctic is the feature-length debut of writer and director Joe Penna, an industrious convict women – the first such jail in the country. A stay in Brixton though, is rarely decorating course. Some inmates emotional climax that leaves a burning 05Herbal and English passed we were going to be fine.” of nearby Pripyat. Images of families gathering on a bridge (that says Harris. Brazilian filmmaker who broke through with a series of inventive short films on Each weekend in May, Creative Future – a charity supporting artists Those sent there were guilty of the most serious one that could ever be described a present on National Prison Radio impression on the mind long after Physician The new drama has a very effective way of subsequently became known as the Bridge of Death as there were “We’re at a point where people don’t believe, YouTube. That an artist who unexpectedly carved out a hugely successful career on excluded from the mainstream by barriers such as neurodiversity, mental crimes. Until then, they would have expected to pleasure. Never was this truer than which – from its studios under the the final page is turned. A wonderful, by Nicholas Culpeper communicating the scale of Chernobyl to a non-science no survivors) to view the unfolding disaster at the power plant they don’t trust the government, they don’t trust social media has created a story that deliberately maroons his protagonist so far away health problems, disability and other social circumstances – present an have been transported to Australia, a policy which during the latter half of the 20th chapel – broadcasts life-changing disturbing, brilliant book. The best-known and original herbal audience, as Legasov tries to describe what is unfolding and children dancing in the dust as politicians gaze down from an experts – the idea that any facts that don’t align from the tendrils of the internet feels like an intriguing sidenote. But even with such exhibition as part of the Artists Open Houses event in Brighton and Hove. Street Art is created had suddenly been brought to an end when the century when conditions reached information to over 80,000 people in And voice is also key to our second [book] in English. Was much loved to politicians and arse-covering power-plant executives. office deciding whether to evacuate the area are haunting. with your opinion can be dismissed as being a disconnected, standalone tale, Penna proves himself to be a compelling storyteller. Titled Thirteen, it features an eclectic mix of pieces from 13 regional artists, by people who are Australians, understandably, began to object. inhumane levels and the prison more than 100 jails. superb novel, From the Wreck by as this was one of the first books to “It’s like three million billion bullets floating in the Legasov’s moral compass is sent haywire as decisions about invented or spurious or fake. Like the best survival yarns, there is a visceral feel to every tiny triumph or setback surveying Culturea diversity of styles from abstract to figurative to landscape. marginalised. Contact Brixton’s uniqueness as a women’s prison was population had risen to such an Brixton’s story has been a troubled Australian author Jane Rawson. This is be written in English, so folk could wind,” is one nightmarish vision. “It’s like two times the whether to send two people to their death knowing it could save “Once that happens and they disengage that Overgard encounters.Writers And if you must spend 90 minutes mostly staring at the They include this piece – Brighton Pier by Joel Apps – a self-defining [email protected] reflected by its complement of around 70 staff which extent that men were being held one – but at least those who come Rawson’s third book and is read it, rather than Latin. Hiroshima blast every hour for potentially 100 years” is thousands land on his desk. with power and you can no longer hold power same face, Mikkelsen’s sculpted features contain multitudes, despite the convincingly “outsider artist”. Apps had a stroke when he was just a few months old, to see your art here. was almost entirely female; Victorian sensibilities three to a single cell for up to 23 through its doors today are given some part-historical fiction, part-sci-fi another example. “Legasov gets drawn into that world of lying for political to account – power is at that point operating crinkly eyes, blotched cheeks and chapped lips. Artfully and empathetically shot, Arctic leaving him with a disability that motivates a strong interest in visual To see more and buy prints: precluded men from being in charge of women. This hours a day. Inspectors described opportunity for change, and hope. romp that has rightly won a bunch of “That was an attempt to take it away from science and necessity. As opposed, of course, to the scientist’s search, which under its own guidance and its own interest. is a contemplative reminder about the difference between simply living and having language and finding new forms of self-expression. He creates his work bigissueshop.com included the de facto governor, the remarkable Emma living conditions and cleanliness as prizes Down Under. Steve Kippax’s Health put it in terms that we can get our head around,” says is always for the truth and facts,” says Harris. “What fascinated That is very dangerous.” something to live for. by taking multiple photographs, combining them digitally and creating At least half the profit goes Martin, who lived in the prison with her 12 children. ‘nothing short of scandalous’. Come The House on the Hill by The story is set in 1850s Australia in Theory and Practice Harris. “The reactor site will be good for 100 years and me about that scene was just how quickly Gorbachev makes that collages of altered views and surreally interacting layers. to the artist. Brixton later became a convict prison for men the millennium, it was named the Christopher Impey is and starts with George Hills surviving is out now then the containment structure over it will degrade and calculation. There is something kind of sickening about it.” Weekends throughout May, Barker and Stonehouse, Hove; aoh.org.uk and – briefly – a military prison. But at the turn of the worst prison in the country. It was available for pre-order the wreck of a sunken steamship. (Aeon Books, £14.99) they will have to figure out what to do with it again. But Another Legasov line from Episode One sounds tailor-made to Chernobyl will be available on Sky Atlantic and 20th century it took on the role of London’s remand in such a decrepit state that when (Tangerine Press, £14). George survived many days in the the half-life of the uranium at Chernobyl is [thought to speak to modern politics: “If you hear enough lies, you no longer Now TV on May 7 Arctic is in cinemas on May 10 prison. For the next 90 years or so, almost every man it was put out to private tender, no thetangerinepress.com water with the help of a mysterious Illustration: Neasden Control Centre be] 25,000 years.” recognise the truth.” Words: Adrian Lobb @adey70 @GraemeVirtue

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In our big Christmas week, vendors sold 315,000 copies. No offers, no subs, all sold on the street – the biggest Christmas week sale ever. New Look DIGITAL

Digitally, we focus on breaking news and a place to taste comment from mag. This leads social content. CASHLESS FUTURE

On the street some of our most exciting developments are galloping. We knew we had to find a way for our vendors to be able to sell the magazine to customers who want to buy but just don’t carry cash anymore. So, we’re working with izettle on rollout of card readers. Started in early December, expanding with three weeks

Vendors at transport hubs report growth of 20% AUGMENTED REALITY

People do everything with their phones to hand, so why not add more to the page that they can access through their phones, not as a gimmick, but part of experience. Working with Konica Minolta, we ran a special AR edition in early January.

We have since included AR elements in magazines most weeks. It’s extra work, but it keeps the reader on the page and I believe it could change things very positively for print magazine. CONTRACT PUBLISHING

In August 2017, we worked with Southampton FC & Saints Foundation to publish a special edition of The Big Issue, a match day programme for Southampton’s first home game of the season

We produced a unique printed product that carried The Big Issue tone and identity, mixed with the matchday essentials (teamsheet on the back page) and content about the work of the Saints Foundation in their local community.

Extra kicker was that some Big Issue vendors who were involved in selling the special edition on the day and in the week leading up to it, were then taken through work programmes with the Saints Foundation.

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