The Big Issue 1/24/2022

This image comes just after the start of the march that took place on January 30, 1972. Thousands took to the streets of Derry to peacefully protest against a new law that allowed authorities to imprison people without trial. Later, in the Bogside area of the city, British soldiers opened fire. Thirteen people were killed, another 15 wounded. This was Bloody Sunday. Years of cover-ups and misinformation followed. The Saville Inquiry finally reached its conclusion in 2010. It found that troops fired first and shot fleeing unarmed civilians. Prime Minister David Cameron apologised on behalf of the British government. Fifty years on, the victims are remembered. A new book by Julieann Campbell, On Bloody Sunday , tells the story of the day through interviews with eyewitnesses, relatives of victims and politicians, as…

EMPLOYMENT Top Doc’s prescription for combatting NHS staffing crisis – a four-day week A top doctor reckons a four-day work week will help the NHS solve its ongoing staffing crisis. Professor John Ashton says the model could help to address the burnout that is seeing health service staff quit or retire early. “I think the four-day week will come over the next 10 years, and if the NHS doesn’t embrace it, the labour shortages will become even worse,” he told The Big Issue. Ashton believes that a four-day week – without loss of pay – could “reduce sickness absence, improve morale which would improve the quality of what people are doing when they are working”. The former president of the UK Faculty of Public Health has long been an advocate for bringing the standard working week…

Good, smart leadership looking to the future is what is needed. A brave plan to invest in energy It turns out the answer actually is blowing in the wind. At least some of it. Last week the Scottish government announced they were giving the go-ahead for up to 1,000 wind turbines to be set in the sea around Scotland. If they’re successful these massive, big-bladed beasts will generate around five times the total amount of electricity that Scotland needs. The nation will become a net exporter of electricity. This is both very good, and in some ways, not so good news. The good first. It means that in a generation a wholesale switch to clean renewables could be achieved, weaning off the reliance on fossil fuels for much of our energy needs. Clearly the extra generated…

I admit to few passions greater than that appertaining to art. So the world may be full of ire over our rulers taking the piss out of Covid controls they themselves have introduced, winter may be turned to spring and summer to firestorms, yet I will as long as I have breath get excited about art. So on an unusually sunny day last week, just before the obnoxiously framed Police Bill passed through to the Lords, I took myself to Dulwich Picture Gallery to see the work of a woman whose art I have been fascinated by since I first saw it 60 years ago. Helen Frankenthaler, who died in 2011, was an American abstract expressionist, and as I subscribe to the idea that the best art of this movement is…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue Grim statistics Having lost my mother in December at the age of 85, I was especially moved by your In Tribute page [December 27/Jan 3]. The average age of the vendors who died in 2021 (where an age was given) was an appallingly young 48. The oldest person was only 64. I contrasted this with the death announcements of The Daily Telegraph of January 8. An average age of death of 88 years old, and the youngest death reported was of a person who was 67. We can’t escape death, or the reality of other people dying. And all of these people are unique individuals with their own story – all are mourned by…

E-BIKES The Big Issue eBikes are go The Big Issue launched its eBike scheme in Bristol last week, the start of a national rollout The programme, built by The Big Issue Group, in partnership with ShareBike, will see more than 400 of the eco-friendly Big Issue branded bikes for hire across the city. Plans are in place for many more bikes to follow. The Big Issue eBikes scheme is the first of its kind to recruit and retrain unemployed and vulnerable people and provide them with access to support and services. All employees will be paid a Living Wage. The scheme is also designed to meet environmental needs and encourage healthy living by reducing congestion and encouraging people to cycle, rather than drive. Big Issue eBikes will directly benefit Bristol’s Clean Air plan by providing a…