The Big Issue 5/2/2022

The fight to ease the climate crisis is a complicated one. In Bolivia, the Charquini glacier, little over 10 miles north of the capital La Paz, is receding fast. Losing 1.5 metres in thickness every year, the glacier has already lost three quarters of its original mass. But the glacier is also an important tourist attraction. The government sells climbing permits and visitors provide important income for the local ‘cholita’ population who act as guides. Increased activity – including tourists snowboarding down the glacier – could hasten its disappearance, but halting all activity will have a negative impact on the local economy. This has already happened. In the same area is the abandoned Chacaltaya ski resort. It was the world’s highest – even rising above the base camp at Mount Everest – until…

CLIMATE CHANGE Man ends 37-day hunger strike outside Parliament after MPs agree to climate change briefing “Indescribable” was Angus Rose’s verdict on the peanut butter he ate after ending his 37-day hunger strike outside the Houses of Parliament. The activist ended his protest after receiving a letter from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change, agreeing to have Sir Patrick Vallance brief MPs on the climate crisis. Rose said, “This is a small but vital step in helping to ensure that our nephews, nieces, children and grandchildren have a better chance at a liveable future. “With improved understanding, our decision makers will be more likely to adopt policies and take actions that are in line with the science. “My hope is that if MPs understand the science, they will act with the required urgency.” Boris Johnson…

It’s an old play for some governments to insist publicly owned bodies can’t do the job of private companies Going anywhere nice this year? Planning some time in the sun? Remember how you promised yourself a brilliant break after all the misery and containment of lockdown? It was going to be about seizing the moment, grabbing life, recalibrating what was important. Out, out, out into the great blue yonder. It’s getting tricky, though. The fears around the cost of living are circling and griping. What is cheaper – heating a home or jumping on a flight to the Algarve and contributing to global warming? Even if a holiday has been booked, the passport delay is making things tense for many families. HM Passport Office is warning of delays of 10 weeks to issue new…

Can Keir Starmer repeat Blair’s trick by finding the sweet spot of centreground opinion, which New Labour so skilfully discerned? When Tony and Cherie Blair made their way up Downing Street on May 2 1997, glad-handing their jubilant Union flag-waving supporters, you could be forgiven for assuming the new Prime Minister’s only tenuous connection to Northern Ireland was his theme tune. Things Can Only Get Better pumped out of every loudspeaker at New Labour rallies after Blair’s spin doctors decided the D:Ream track, written by Derry’s Peter Cunnah, captured the mood for change across the UK. If you were a Blair admirer living in Northern Ireland, you weren’t allowed to join the party until 2006 (even then Labour made the move so grudgingly it banned me from filming would-be members handing in…

Truth and lies Our PM is priceless. He tells us his lies are lies because he didn’t know they were lies. I have a grandson who will stand holding the offensive item while telling me he isn’t holding the said item; he is seven. I expect more from a supposedly responsible elected adult person. Johnson, you have failed this country. I am rather sad that I am a member of a country that allows you and your cronies to ‘rule’. As a kid I would have been made to stand in the corner, head bowed, though thankfully the Dunces Cap was a thing of the past. Steven Elliott James Ah, you’ll have to excuse Boris, he forgets. And doesn’t understand right from wrong when he’s breaking the law. Especially the laws imposed by him…

The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue YOU RESPOND TO OUR EARTH DAY SPECIAL [ISSUE 1509, APRIL 18] Thanks to @BigIssue for sharing a really crucial message this Earth Day that biodiversity is in crisis. @CharityComms I noticed. One lone starling, one jackdaw, no robins, no thrush. In a few weeks the local council will again engulf all things green deemed unwanted in glyphosate. Madness. @PrimeFeral This wrong thinking is embedded into the language of our councils – “weeds” instead of plants, “pests” instead of rodents. To change our world we need to change our minds, but to change our minds we need to change our language. @dazzaross I haven’t used pesticides for years and my garden is lovely (as many people who pass by tell me). They are unnecessary, expensive and harmful. @crjessel It’s brilliant…