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The Economist Report on The Big Issue.
All Downhill All The Way.
Edited By Uncle Monty at Tatsfield.
Graphics By Alex Albion.
Burns Night Photo By Gary Day.
:::
"DANIEL CROITORU did not find London’s streets to be paved
with gold when he arrived from Romania in 2007. Neither did he
find well-paid work. Within weeks he was sleeping rough in a park.
A stranger drove him to a day centre where staff gave him a hot
meal and a change of clothes, and allowed him to wash. There he
learned about the Big Issue, a weekly magazine that he could
buy cheaply and sell for profit. Three and a half years later,
Mr. Croitoru lives on the income he generates from
selling the magazine.
:::
"Billed as “a hand up, not a handout”, the Big Issue was founded
in 1991 with the aim of helping the homeless to work. The people
who sell it must show that they are sleeping rough or living in
accommodation that they have no right to remain in, such as
a friend’s flat. They buy copies of the magazine for half the
cover price and sell them, pocketing the difference.
:::
:::
"Alas for its vendors, the Big Issue is struggling along with many
other magazines and newspapers. A lacklustre economy has
compounded the woes of an industry battling to compete with
the internet for advertisers and readers. The launch of free
newspapers has further hobbled the paid-for variety. Since
2007 the circulation of the Big Issue has fallen from
167,000 to less than 125,000.
:::
"Meanwhile the rise of internet shopping has lured potential
magazine-buyers away from the high street. Slick “chuggers”
bounce people who do venture out into donating to charity,
and make them less sympathetic to dishevelled rough sleepers,
reckons John Bird, who co-founded the Big Issue. There is
also growing competition between vendors, partly because
more people are homeless. Local authorities deemed 46,550
households to lack a roof of their own in the year to September
2011, up 14% on the previous year. Broadway, a charity,
reports increasing numbers sleeping on the streets in
London: more than 2,000 at the last count.
:::
"Sellers from eastern Europe—who account for 30% of rough
sleepers in the capital, according to Broadway—hawk the Big
Issue in fair weather and foul. In winter, when shoppers tend
to be at their most generous towards the homeless, they are
joined by British and Irish vendors who sell the magazine only
for a few months of the year. That raises tensions: Mr Croitoru
says he was threatened by another man who sells
on the same street.
:::
"The Big Issue plans to raise its game. A re-aunch scheduled
for January 16th will see a return to a campaigning style of
journalism, which the magazine shed—along with many of
its journalists—a decade ago in an effort to trim costs. It has
recruited new columnists and will add political analysis and
comment to its existing staple of arts and culture. Celebrity
stories will be less prominent. Vendors have complained
that such fluff attracts only opportunistic buyers and, in
some cases, have refused to buy editions that they thought
they would struggle to sell. The magazine will also try to
build an online community, with more space for reporting
by its sellers. The cover price will rise, too.
:::
"It is not clear whether this will be enough to revive the strug-
gling title. Publications prosper when they occupy a niche in
which they excel. For the Big Issue, that opening is to appeal
to those who are interested in the plight of rough sleepers
and the poorly-housed. And their number does not nec-
essarily increase in step with the homeless population.
.
End of The Economist Report.
:::
.
How Can Big Issue Vendors Become 'Reporters'
When Many Cannot Even Read & Write?
...
Homeless Teach Homeless To Read.
A homeless man who teaches other rough sleepers how
to read said society should be ashamed at the number
of people with literacy problems. Matt Holgate, 41,
has taught nine people under a new scheme run by
Westminster Council which pairs up illiterate people
in hostels with a reading coach - either a fellow
resident, a hostel worker or a volunteer. The
council, which wants to roll out the project across
London, said 40 per cent of rough sleepers have
literacy problems, making it harder for them to access
benefits, housing, employment and training services.
Holgate, who stays at the Salvation Army's Edward Alsop
Court hostel in Westminster, said: "We are one of the top
five developed countries in the world and it's pretty damn
sad we are in this situation." The council today urged
more homeless people to take advantage of the reading
scheme and called for more volunteers to join up, as
Mayor Boris Johnson encouraged other London
local authorities to adopt the programme".
...
Vile Big Issue Sod Peter Bird.
....
Big Bad John Bird, The Big Issue's 666.
Next Gong To Be Stripped Should Be A.J. Bird's.
By Uncle Monty.
...
After RBS bonzo and ex-banker Fred Goodwin was justly
stripped of his gong and unknighted last week with the
consent of Her Majesty, isn't it time to also strip The Big
Issue's Pigface John Bird of his politically-influenced MBE?
...
His gong or medal was given about 12 years ago, I guess,
for his so-called "services to the homeless," but since then
he hasn't done a damn thing for the homeless other than to
make loads of dirty money off the sweat and tears of
them for all too many years.
...
There are at least 10 strong reasons why he should be
stripped, which I'll discuss in detail in a later article
calling for his MBE to be annulled. For once, Bird will
find what it is like to be truly "debadged" once the
shoe is on the other foot. My story title may be some-
thing like ... "Give Him Some of His Own Medicine:
Debadge Bird of His Undeserved MBE."
.
Such would be yet another pointer to seeing The
Big Issue continuing to go "all downhill all the
way ..." Yes, BRAVO!!
...
.
No, The News Doesn't Make Us
Sick, But The Big Issue Does!!
...
.
...
Very Sincerely, Uncle Monty At Snowy Tatsfield.
+Septuagesima, 2012.
+Eve of Queen Elizabeth II's
Diamond Anniversary Accession
To The British Throne, 1952.
.
.
Comments & Feedback
...
.
Today's Vile Third World Gang Subculture Inside UK.
And, It's Getting Worse By The Day With Black Youth
Gangz Sprouting Up Everywhere As They Freely Kill & Rob.
...
.
And, More Menacing Muslims Inside The UK.
Islamist Terror Gang Plotted To Bomb London Stock Exchange.
L-R: Mohammed Chowdhury (from London), Shah Raham
(from London), Omar Latif (from Cardiff), Gurukanth
Desai (from Cardiff), Abdul Miah (from Cardiff).
...
.
He's Shaved Off His Cornrows ... Did The Black Ant!
He's Just A Smart Ass or Bad Arse.
Put The Black Ant In The Dock:
Black Anton Ferdinand vs. White John Terry.
By Uncle Monty.
...
.
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{ Click on any image to Enlarge }
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3 comments:
Bird uses his MBE to make money for himself like he's done with
Big Issue. I think your idea of stripping him is jolly good.
The lucky thing is that Bird
didn't get the highest order since
the MBE is the lowest that comes.
I agree he doesn't deserve any
sort of gong even the lowest he's
got. I am a former employee of
his who he sacked in one of his
big fits. He's a nasty creature
behind the scenes.
Praying for you. We pray the operation will turn out to be
good. Wishing you the best.
Karen, Maggie, Liz, Sweetoe,
Bunny, Mary, Gwyn, Marge,
Zizzy. xxxxxx.
KICK the bucket
MAKE it fast
TATA Uncle Monty
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