Table of contents for 11/25/2024 in The Big Issue

Joan Baez delivers a great line in Diamonds and Rust. It’s her song looking back on her relationship with Bob Dylan, released 10 years after he brought about a sudden and absolute split. He phones one night, out of the blue, from “a booth in the midwest”. That’s not the line. In truth, the whole thing is a masterclass in songwriting. Baez will be seen by many, forever really, as an adjunct to Dylan. That is not unexpected, as he is, you know, Bob Dylan. But it does overshadow her as a significant artist in her own right. In Diamonds And Rust, from the first moment of complete shock, an almost uncontrolled burst of “well I’ll be damned, here comes your ghost again”, we know it’s one of the great…

Are you more or less hopeful than at the start of 2024? Following the result of the 2024 general election, definitely more hopeful. What is your cultural highlight of 2024? I’ve recently become hooked on The Hunger Games. I know, I’m a bit behind the times! In many ways, the themes really resonate with me – the importance of standing up for the powerless, the complexities of leadership, the human costs of ambition. Along with that, a woman in a position of power... so I’ve been channelling my inner Katniss Everdeen. What’s your Big Issue for 2025? Doing everything in my power to deliver on the things that people in Wales told me were their priorities over the summer. The bread and butter issues that touch people’s lives every day.…

Winter is here and with it a long-established tradition – the chronicling of the music, books and concerts I’ve loved most since January. A post-Covid affliction I can’t seem to shake, one that seems to be shared by many people I know, is that my sense of chronology has been upended; I have endless trouble recalling how long ago events took place, where I was or what I was doing on any given date (I’ve accepted age could also be a factor; I keep forgetting I’m turning 40 next year, no doubt I’ll need regular reminders after the event too). Reflecting on my cultural highlights is like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs through the year; as we rocket towards the end of 2024, they help me find my way back…

Get in touch The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue London waiting Councils are probably the worst offenders in building low-density housing in London, and density is the overwhelming factor in house prices. If you increase population at the pace we are doing, you either have to sprawl out (prevented by greenbelt) or you have to increase density. But council developments in the past have discredited density through brutalism and bad design, and now councils build low-density two-storey housing even in inner London. Councils seem to think you can reduce prices by building low-density housing and then renting it out at social rents, but all that does is squeeze the problem elsewhere. You will only make things affordable for the mass…

What do you think the world got right this year? I am pleased Labour won the election. Labour thinks differently. What’s the one conversation you wish you were able to have in 2024? I wish I was able to speak with Camila Batmanghelidjh [who died in January] about the care system. She was kind, thoughtful, honest, funny, and all her work was based on academic research. She brought the word ‘love’ into the care system. She said it before anyone else. What has been the standout moment of 2024? The inaugural Ethiopia Pavilion at The Venice Biennale 2024 was an exhibition called Prejudice and Belonging by Tesfaye Urgessa, curated by me. It has been a formidable outstanding success, substantiated by exceptional reviews throughout the world. What do you think the…

What has been the standout moment of 2024? There have been so many high points for Save Windermere this year that it’s hard to choose just one. From Labour pledging to clean up Windermere, to the hundreds of thousands who have joined our fight in a variety of different ways, pushing United Utilities to commit to its largest-ever investment in the lake at £190 million– it’s been a big year. And having Feargal Sharkey, a rock star both on stage and in the fight for clean water, standing with us? It’s been a roller coaster. What do you think the world got right this year? The way people have come together to mobilise against injustices has been incredibly inspiring. Social media, in particular, is being wielded as a powerful tool…

REVIEWS Future shock Tim Winton’s latest, hauntingly post–apocalyptic novel Juice is peppered with fragments of recognisable western culture. Snippets from the Bible and poetry leak into the otherwise blunt speech of our anonymous narrator. Winton’s protagonist tells his story in staccato bursts. Even though this is quite a long novel, and quite an unremittingly bleak one, it never loses that intensity and focus. Winton has spent seven years writing this novel – which is, above all, a polemical take on a futuristic world after a climate apocalypse has rendered civilisation subordinate to the desperate desire for water and escape from the heat. After a pulsating start in which our hero drags a child through this barren wilderness while being chased by mysterious forces, we settle into the story of his…

BIG ISSUE: When did you first realise that something wasn’t right with your mum – that she was an alcoholic? ARABELLA BYRNE: My mother’s alcoholism hid behind many other masks before I discovered that she was an addict. For a long time, particularly as a child, I believed that my mother was depressed. It was, ironically, when I began drinking as a teenager that I started to understand how alcohol affected her. You could say that I came to terms with what was wrong with her just as I began descending into addiction myself. Feeling that I shared a certain affliction with my parents was a hugely powerful – and literally intoxicating – experience for me as an adolescent. Did you think you experienced addiction because you had an addict…

What has been the standout moment of 2024? That rocket went up and came down didn’t it? That was a big moment. Not for me but for other people. I don’t know why they want to go to space, there’s nothing up there. There’s no Deliveroo, nothing. So how you get a Thai green curry in orbit is a mystery to me. Probably keep floating away anyway, with bits of tofu glueing up the air vents. What do you think the world got right this year? It managed to spin in the right direction but that’s about it. If it got that wrong we’d all go back in time and they’d have to uninvent the air fryer. And then we’d be back to having air and fryers as two separate…

SUSAN ALDERMAN, 63 I’ve had experience in the past of homelessness on more than one occasion; on several occasions actually. So I know what it’s like to have to live on the street. It’s not very pleasant. But I do believe that where there’s a will, there’s a way. There is help out there. If you have been homeless, you can get yourself off the street if you’ve got the right sort of help around you to get your life back on track. No two people who have been homeless are on the street for the same reason. I mean, there could be all sorts of reasons. Money could be one reason, another reason could be domestic violence. If you haven’t got a proper job, for example, that can push…

WINTER FUEL PAYMENT Winter fuel payments have dominated the headlines ever since the government decided to remove them from all but those in receipt of pension credit. But if Labour thought the fallout couldn’t get any worse, they were wrong. Waiting times for pension credit claims have doubled in the space of just one month, leading to fears applications won’t be processed in time for the imminent cuts to winter fuel payments. The total number of outstanding applications waiting to be processed has rocketed by 125% since the winter fuel payment cuts were announced in July. Figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that the average time it takes to process applications for pension credit – the benefit paid to poorer pensioners – lengthened from 25…

What would your browsing history say about you this year? AC: That I present a politics podcast, and that I am trying to get fluent in German. RS: Trump derangement syndrome. What has been the standout moment of 2024? AC: Personally, probably seeing almost 15,000 people pay good money to see me and Rory Stewart blathering about politics at the O2. Politically, seeing the back of the worst government of my lifetime. RS: The mind-blowing re-election of Trump. Are you more or less hopeful than at the start of 2024? AC: My heart says more, my head says less. RS: Less. What do you think the world got wrong this year? AC: Failing to push back on populism, polarisation and post-truth politics. If the world had succeeded, Trump would be…

A TOY STORY Thousands of children in poverty in north-west England will wake up to sacks of toys on Christmas morning, as if by magic, thanks to hundreds of volunteers who have worked tirelessly through the year. They buy, wrap and deliver the presents to food banks, schools, women’s refuges and social services to reach families in need. “Every child should enjoy the magic of Christmas,” says Dee Drake, the founder of the Toy Appeal. “No child should have to worry about poverty or neglect. They should be enjoying their childhood. But life isn’t like that. We give a little joy on Christmas Day.” Dee and her husband Chris launched the Toy Appeal 12 years ago, wanting to find a new purpose after discovering they could not have children. In…

When I was 18 I was working as a secretary, a very boring and awful job. I really wanted to be independent. I wanted to be an adult, just grow up and take care of myself. I had finished my high school education, which was very irregular, because my parents were diplomats. So we travelled a lot, and I was always changing schools. I could hardly write properly in Spanish, and I knew nothing about Chilean history. I never had any relationship with my father. I met him only once. He died in the street of a heart attack, and they called me to identify his body, but I couldn’t because I had never seen a picture of him. I had an excellent relationship with my mum and I had…

Here is a basic fact: 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by ocean. Every school kid knows this, and we’ve all seen photos of our blue orb floating in the black void of space. Clearly the ocean is immense, yet it’s hard for people to grasp the scope of its immensity. I like to frame its dimensions differently. Rather than visualising its surface area, think of the globe as a biosphere – a three-dimensional living space. Measured that way, by volume, 98% of it is ocean. And here’s the kicker: 95% of this saltwater realm comprises depths below 600ft, extending down to nearly 36,000ft. Yes, we live on an ocean planet. But it’s more accurate to say that we live on a deep ocean planet. For as long as…

Although my house looks like a crime scene, I’m a sucker for celebrity domestic goddesses. My favourite is Ina Garten, who is warm, round and squishy, like a loaf of freshly baked bread. Yet Ina is also a woman of the world, a former White House employee and Hamptons deli owner, able to whip up a cocktail and configure a platter of appetisers fit for the ambassador’s reception in seconds. She may exude kindly, flour-covered softness, but give her a few martinis and you can bet she’s got stories that would singe your eyebrows. Her contemporary Martha Stewart, on the other hand, is like a cold salmon mousse that you’re not even allowed to look at, let alone scoop a big old piece of bread into and scoff. She’s a…