The Big Issue 5/23/2022

There were lengthy queues around the Soviet block when the first McDonald’s in Russia opened on Moscow’s Pushkin Square in 1990. After 14 years of negotiations, customers were promised: “If you can’t go to America, come to McDonald’s in Moscow,” and branches quickly spread throughout the country. Now, the invasion of Ukraine has put McDonald’s on the frontline. After suspending operations in Russia in March, the company has announced it is closing all 850 of its outlets in the country for good due to the “humanitarian crisis” and “unpredictable operating environment”. This is an incredibly significant move, with far-reaching economic and political implications. For decades, the meals McDonald’s have served have been happy not only because of the cheap plastic toys they entice young customers with, but because the fast food chain symbolised…

Michael Gove has hailed a new “deal for renters” to scrap ‘no fault’ evictions and improve the standard of homes, but has backed down from a 2019 Tory commitment to build the homes needed to end the housing crisis. The long-awaited Renters’ Reform Bill was unveiled in the recent Queen’s Speech, and the government says it will improve tenant rights and the conditions of homes. The new law will prevent landlords in England from being able to evict tenants without giving a reason – which ministers claim could help renters by preventing moving costs. The Scottish government scrapped ‘no-fault’ evictions in December 2017. Wales will follow suit this year. The new Bill will also extend the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. The standard was previously only applied…

Ministers have rejected a recommendation from backbench MPs to make water companies measure the amount of sewage they discharge into rivers in England. The snub was included in the government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) report on water quality in rivers, which underscored the dangerously high levels of sewage, agricultural, plastic and chemical pollutants in England’s waterways. EAC chair Philip Dunne MP called the government’s acceptance of the majority of the committee’s recommendations “broadly positive”, though the committee said it was “concerned” and “disappointed” that other key recommendations had been rejected. The report, sent to MPs in January, warned of a “chemical cocktail” of pollutants in England’s rivers which risks breeding antibiotic-resistant bacteria as well as compromising human and animal health. The government accepted 23 of 55 recommendations, and “partially agreed…

It is easy to believe the narrative that immigration is the number one burning issue in the country today. The UK government’s hardline Rwanda plan and provocative headlines in parts of the press would have us all believe a majority are against immigration. The 2016 EU referendum saw a peak of 48 per cent of people in Britain tell pollsters Ipsos Mori’s Issues Index that immigration is one of the most important issues facing the UK. But this chart paints a different picture now. The Financial Times graph shows that now just 10 per cent believe that. Annual immigration to the UK has continued to rise to around 700,000 people per year. SOURCE: IPSOS ISSUE INEDEX;ONS…

It has been 12 months since the inspirational protest on Kenmure Street in Glasgow that saw a community come together to say no to deportations. Hundreds of people surrounded a Home Office van after two men, Sumit Sehdev and Lakhvir Singh, were detained on the street last year and defiantly refused to budge until they were released. A year, and several controversies over the Westminster government’s immigration policies, later, hundreds of people gathered on the Glasgow street once more for the Kenmure Street Festival of Resistance, celebrating community, anti-racism and solidarity. Organised by local community groups including Govanhill Baths Community Trust and Pollokshields Trust, there was a vigil held for late refugees on Friday May 13, as well as the planting of a peace tree in a nearby park. The following day stalls…

Last week’s inspection report of HMP Bronzefield made for shocking reading. In it, Chief Prison Inspector Charlie Taylor highlighted the scale of homelessness among those leaving the prison. Inspectors found that, of 507 women released from HMP Bronze-field in a six-month period, 72 (14 per cent) were expected to be homeless upon departure. This is likely the tip of the iceberg, as it does not capture those leaving prison into unstable accommodation such as sleeping on friends’ sofas or staying in hostels. Many prison leavers still struggle to access the accommodation they need to rebuild their lives. Only last month, new figures revealed that one in 10 prison leavers were expected to be homeless after release, with a postcode lottery dictating peoples’ chances at a fresh start. In the East Midlands, there…