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The Big Issue|6/10/2024Democracy keeps populism in checkIndian prime minister Narendra Modi is facing a tougher than expected third term after his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to secure a parliamentary majority in the country’s general election. Modi’s BJP won 240 seats in the staggered, six-week long election – 32 fewer than needed to take the 543-member Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of parliament. The BJP’s coalition, the National Democratic Alliance, has won 293, taking Modi over the line and giving his supporters cause to take to the streets [left], but meaning that he’ll be dependent on allies for the first time since coming into power in 2014. The opposition coalition, INDIA, secured 232 seats and, at the time of writing, had yet to concede defeat.Modi has pledged to continue as India’s prime minister, but his position is…1 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024Ending poverty’s relentless grip must be a priority for the next government. Here’s how.We’re already more than two weeks into this election campaign, yet the silence around poverty has so far been deafening. At the time of writing, no party has even mentioned the issue, let alone put forward policies to support the ever-increasing number of people who are struggling to get by.I can’t understand this. We know that 79% of the UK public agree that poverty in the UK is a big problem, with almost three in four believing it’s the government’s responsibility to change it. In my day-to-day life, I couldn’t agree more. I see people coming through the doors of the food bank because they are living in a state of deprivation. They haven’t got enough money (because their income is too low) to afford even the essentials like food,…4 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024Emilia Clarke asked doctors to let her die when she had her first brain injury.“I didn’t see any point in carrying on,” the actor admits. It was the beginning of 2011 and Clarke had just finished filming the first season of Game of Thrones, the epic fantasy series which catapulted her to fame in her 20s for her starring role as Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons.It was the first of two brain aneurysms which almost killed her and changed her life.We meet in her small London office with its big wide windows and light pouring into the room. Clarke has deep eye contact beneath those beautifully expressive eyebrows, and an enormous smile.Beyond Game of Thrones, she has starred in films including Me Before You, Last Christmas and Solo: A Star Wars Story and had stints on stage. From an outsider’s view, she is living…16 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024JOHN CALEI think 16 was my teddy boy era. I only dabbled in it. But it was about getting the right haircut and figuring how to keep your hair upright for hours. But it was really a quest for young ladies and charming them. I chased them a bit – I was fascinated, like everybody else my age. And there was a weird dodge I was doing between soccer and rugby. I was so focused on music that I wanted to avoid injuries and not lose too many teeth. So I went for football because it was less dangerous. And it worked.My family were ensconced in music. My uncles were all plugged into a musical parameter that really meant a lot to me. One of my uncles was a composer, some…7 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024The essential guide to book Festivals 20241. ESSEX BOOK FESTIVALUntil 30 JuneEssexRather than hosting at just one venue, the festival hosts more than 100 events spreading over 40 venues all over Essex, from libraries to lightships. Set to headline the month-long event is Dr Sarah Perry, Essex University chancellor, with her highly anticipated new novel Enlightenment. An expected highlight is a parade of 500 flags celebrating hidden gems of the east coast, proceeding from St Leonard-at-the-Hythe church on Hythe Hill to the university campus.essexbookfestival.org.uk2. BORDERS BOOK FESTIVAL13-16 JuneHarmony Gardens, MelroseHighlights will include celebrated comedians Janey Godley and Jo Caulfield, who will discuss their memoirs, and Labour shadow cabinet member Wes Streeting. The festival features a dedicated food village and a range of free family activities to enjoy on a day out in Melrose. Organisers have committed…6 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024Letters to MollyEvery 16 June, literary lovers flock to Dublin for Bloomsday – a celebration of Irish writer James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses. The novel follows a day in the life of salesman Leopold Bloom as he runs errands, eats and drinks around the city, his path crossing with academic Stephen Dedalus. On Bloomsday the streets teem with those following in Bloom and Dedalus’s footsteps. But this year, a new Derry~Londonderry festival, YES, shifts the focus to Bloom’s wife Molly, whose sleepless, stream-of-consciousness thoughts close the novel. Big Issue asked some of the festival’s participants what keeps them awake at night.FLOR MacCARTHYTraining and development coordinator with Women for ElectionHow do we decide who gets our votes? How can we trust what we read? The cacophony on social media often means that he who…4 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson ‘WE LOVE PUTTING THE WHOLE WORLD ON STAGE’Since Good Chance built its Dome Theatre in ‘the Jungle’ refugee and migrant camp in Calais in September 2015, we have been privileged to work all over the world creating art of all shapes and sizes, with truly incredible artists and collaborators. This ranges from our play The Jungle, a story of struggle and solidarity set against the backdrop of the European refugee crisis, to The Walk, our festival of welcome from Syria to Glasgow with Little Amal – a three-metre-tall puppet – at its centre. We have celebrated the culture of Afghanistan by flying kites in 47 cities across four continents in the space of one day, and presented new pieces of theatre, art, music and dance in cities from Istanbul to Algiers, from Paris to Washington DC.The golden…4 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024THE DISPATCHBIG ISSUE EXCLUSIVETwo-thirds of Brits think politicians use refugees to stoke ‘culture wars’, study finds: ‘It’s time politicians from all sides catch up with where the public is at’As Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK compete to see who can shout “stop the boats” the loudest, new research suggests voters don’t actually want to hear it.Nigel Farage’s shock announcement at the beginning of the month that he will stand for parliament as a Reform candidate suggests immigration is going to be front and centre until Britain places its vote in the ballot box on 4 July.But despite the increasingly hard-line rhetoric – and legislation – around the issue in recent years, almost two-thirds (63%) of Brits think politicians use refugees as a weapon to stoke the ‘culture wars’.That’s according to…12 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024BIRD’S WORDSThere’s no debate – the cult of personality serves no purposeHow impolite do things have to get before we can get to the so-called truth? I watched the Starmer/ Sunak debate last week and realised that it was fraught from the start. You can’t ask two professional politicians who are seriously ambitious about the next election to debate coolly, when among the audience are many who have been injured by the political and economic processes of the last dozen years or more.That adversarial kind of TV is a joke anyway, an extension of the joke that you have in the Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions. The contest of the shouting mouths. If we were sure that we needed to elect shouting mouths – talking and disagreeingly mocking leaders – then…5 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024FREE RUNNING IN GAZAFounded in 1985, Freedom from Torture is a human rights charity dedicated to the rehabilitation of refugees and asylum seekers who have survived torture.Their annual open photography competition is a fundraiser which invites photographers of all ages, nationalities and technical skills to respond to a simple question – what does freedom mean to you?A selection of the photographs will be exhibited around the UK, and a winner in each age group as well as a number of runner-ups selected by a professional jury made up of eminent photographers Kolbassia Haoussou MBE, Aisha Olamide Seriki and director of Panos Pictures Adrian Evans.Among this year’s entries is this image by esteemed Danish photographer Klaus Thymann, titled Free Running in Gaza. “Kids doing free running in Gaza,” he captions the photograph, “it is…1 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024How fiction can help children understand povertyThe Wrong Shoes is my first full-length novel for children (ages 8+) and explores the crushing challenges facing children living in poverty today. The story is narrated by the main character, 12-year-old Will, whose father has been injured in an accident and is unable to find a job. Everything seems to be spiralling out of control for Will as his family’s debts pile up and any hope of achieving his dreams, or even just getting by seem to be fading.According to the Child Poverty Action Group, 4.2 million children were living in poverty in the UK in 2021/2022. That’s one in three children, like Will, who struggle through no fault of their own, whose options in life will be severely limited. It’s hard to focus when you’re cold, tired and…3 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024When prison libraries break down wallsTo many, AG Smith is the Librarian – the creative force behind ghostly storytelling project Weeping Bank. But the author, who in 2020 and 2022 spoke to Big Issue about Paperchains, a creative project through which prisoners shared their experiences of lockdowns, also works in prison libraries across the UK.That began when Smith was working for a landscaping firm that trained ex-offenders. “The very last apprentice we took on had spent some time in [young offender institution] Brinsford,” he says. “He said to me that it saved his life. He was only in there for about six months, but was taken on by the farms and gardens team. I started to think, how interesting would it have been to be one of many people who would have maybe helped to…3 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024ROBIN INCE IS ON THE ROADI am a hypocrite. I try my best. My best is not good enough. All the above are true statements. We have 24-hour-a-day access to stories of the worst of humanity. Even then, there are many atrocities that will go unreported because they are not politically expedient or just not seen as fitting the entertainment quotient of the news. We are overwhelmed and yet only seeing a fraction of the horror of the world. We are exhausted before we have even managed to do anything concrete that may help. We are lost.We try to do something and then a horde of critics will tell us we haven’t done enough or we’ve done the wrong thing. Doing nothing is such a secure place to be. By doing nothing, your actions cannot…3 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024PuzzlesCrosswordCRYPTIC CLUESAcross1. Four trouser supports (4,2,6)9. Suitable device to serve one’s purpose (9)10. Tailless animal in India (3)11. Sounds like quadruped incurred penalty in the game (7)12. Some risked getting stuck with a small anchor (5)13. Hold the admiral (6)15. Men she arranged to catch (6)18. Lantern that is easy to carry (5)20. The case of a sheriff perhaps (7)22. He sounds a bright lad (3)23. Deceitful at home from that time on, note (9)24. Declare hidden facts, but hopefully not to the enemy (5,7)Down2. Habit will shock soldiers going in (7)3. It sticks up in Cambridgeshire (5)4. Somehow make it safe for the festival (6)5. Tear apart little Kenneth, who had been caught again (7)6. Many old people unable to get out (5)7. Mark cheers an unorthodox eastern entertainer…2 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024EDITOR’S LETTERDon’t be swayed by election deceptionsIn Northern Ireland, they’re arguing over crisps. Stay with me, this is going somewhere.While it may be a massive leap forward from armoured cars and tanks and guns, an argument over crisps, on the face of it, is a curious one. And it’s not even about the best flavour. There is a stooshie brewing because a flavouring additive needed to create smokiness in smoky bacon crisps (and presumably other smoky-related items) is being banned under EU regulations. There are toxicity concerns over eight of these flavourings. And due to NI’s position as agreed within the Windsor Framework, that thorny post-Brexit legal agreement between the EU and the UK, many EU rules still apply in Northern Ireland. There is a flipside benefit to this as it…3 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024LETTERSGet in touchThe Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HWletters@bigissue.com@bigissue/bigissueUK@bigissueuk@thebigissueBird watchLord Bird is right about dismantling ‘Westminsterism’ [Issue 1617, 27 May-02 June]. His toponymic description captures the perennial blight of government. It’s a phenomenon that has long neglected the voices of those living outside the M25.Devolution was seen as the solution, but it’s pushed rural councils to financial collapse. Homelessness has skyrocketed and poverty has returned close to pre-pandemic levels. The effect has been an obscuring of accountability at a time when trust in politics is at an all-time low.Given the impending general election, the time for radical systemic change is now to begin dismantling ‘Westminsterism’.Seth Dellow, SomersetPublic enemyIt is private schools that have destroyed the state sector, not Labour’s new plans. The suggestion that taking away…4 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024Women’s workJUSTINE CIARROCCHI: When Kabul fell to the Taliban again in August 2021, Jen [Lawrence] had a pretty immediate reaction. She asked us to find an Afghan filmmaker and offer resources for them to capture what was happening in real time. We stumbled upon A Thousand Girls Like Me, which was Sahra’s last documentary and one of the most poignant, stunning docs I’ve ever seen. We got to work tracking her down, which took a few weeks. She was already collecting footage from women on the ground, so we said, we’ll raise money and get you some resources, please go make a movie.SAHRA MANI: When Kabul collapsed, so many women lost their jobs. Many didn’t get their salary for the last six months under the previous corrupt government and some were…3 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024BooksSPONSORSHIP STANDOFFDO OUR FESTIVALS HAVE A FUTURE?Book festivals have a flattering reputation for camaraderie and intellectual exchange. Those of us who annually attend major festivals like Edinburgh or Hay look forward to losing ourselves in the heady buzz created by hundreds of book lovers hoping to score a friendly spat over Rushdie vs McEwan, or Mantel vs Erpenbeck.Conversations are fiery – readers are usually passionate and informed people – but the atmosphere is rarely too spiky to rule out another convivial glass of red. This year, though, the mood has changed. International geopolitics has entered with a controversy so combustible it threatens the continued existence of many festivals.Several weeks ago a number of writers, including singer Charlotte Church and comedian Nish Kumar, pulled out of the Hay book festival citing…2 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024FilmREVIEWThings are gonna get hairyCheck your pagan calendar because there must be some sort of solstice looming for movies about the great outdoors. Whether by accident or design, this week we are getting a cluster of independent films exploring the majesty and potential lethality of untamed nature (even if the big Hollywood offering – Pixar’s Inside Out 2 – is more concerned with a teen girl’s interior landscape).In the agrarian thriller Arcadian, Nicolas Cage and his two young sons seem to be embracing the simple life on such a nice little steading you half expect Worzel Gummidge to amble into frame. But at night they must fortify their farmhouse against violent, unseen terrors desperate to claw their way inside.The similarly unsettling low-budget horror The Moor dredges up disturbing memories on…4 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024MusicCLASSICALEcstatic revelations at close quartersTo my left, the oboe sang the theme; it was taken up by the violins behind me. To the right, cellos danced atop the offbeat bassline. I couldn’t see the flutes, but I could clearly hear when it was their turn for the melody. It soared across the instrumentalists’ heads and around the cathedral. As a reviewer, I’ve been privileged to have some excellent seats, stalls in some of the loveliest historic opera houses in Europe; that left-hand viewpoint in Wigmore Hall where you can perfectly see the pianist’s hands. And, as a fan, I’ve sat in different positions around the Barbican purely to hear how the acoustics change. I’m a regular purchaser of the bargainous (£8) – and vertiginous – balcony seats at the Royal…3 min
The Big Issue|6/10/2024MY PITCHRICHARD LEWIS, 49I’ve been rough sleeping off and on for 35 years. I’m one of the original vendors from London back when Big Issue first started. We were battling against homeless beggars back then – that was the reason John Bird set it up initially.When it first started, I was anti-Big Issue for the first six months. That was the case for me and all my homeless mates because one minute we had nothing and the next minute we had people coming up to you saying, I have more rights than you. Eventually we latched on because people were turning to the Big Issue. We thought, ‘You know what? This is easier than sitting on the floor and begging for money.’ We stood up and had a little pride and…3 min
