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Big Issue

hifinutt

hifinutt

hifinutt
Bought a copy of big issue today from a charming lady selling them .very interesting and lots of variety with thought provoking articles .better than the last one i read . Anyone read one recently ?
 
I've not bought a Big Issue for a while as I rarely venture into town. But I have a rule that I always buy one from an official vendor with the official seller hi vis if I see one. Always support those worse off than yourself...

Not directly linked, but related to the homelessness issue - if anyone fancies supporting the homeless (as well as other at risk groups - for example these have been driven out to Ukraine) then you could either donate to this charity, or join a pod build day. I have no connection to this organisation other than I've done several build days. These literally save lives.

Sleep Pod – For dreams of a better future

sleeppod.org.uk sleeppod.org.uk
 
had a big advert on back page about this ethical investment trust which looked interesting

An ethical investment that helps end homelessness

Investors in Green Pastures help fund property to those in need. Local partners support residents, and Investors earn up to 5% return.
www.greenpastures.co.uk www.greenpastures.co.uk

Imagine lending some of your savings to Green Pastures, to help provide a home for someone who is homeless. Then after a set time (that you choose) your money is repayable - with interest, having been used to help change someone’s life.

We use invested funds to buy properties used by local projects to provide a secure home and compassionate wraparound support for people in need.

You can invest from ÂŁ1000, for 12+ months and choose to earn interest of up to 5% annually. On average, every ÂŁ30,000 invested helps us house someone in need. Investments with Green Pastures are unsecured.
 
Stopped buying locally when I saw the sellers being picked up at days end in a nice new Range Rover 🤔
 
mikeyb said:
Stopped buying locally when I saw the sellers being picked up at days end in a nice new Range Rover 🤔
Click to expand...
None of us have to buy anything but, as a reason for not doing so, that is pathetic. Sellers are homeless or people for whom homelessness was a recent experience. Given that many have criminal records TBI is often the only form of continuing employment available to them. The person who picks them up at the end of the day could bs someone working for the parent company on a salary; they could be using their partnets car; some BI offices with sellers in isolated locations have their own vehicle and so on. There is no obligation on a seller to use a specific form of transport and nothing to stop you asking them how they get home. My local seller had a city job which she lost through addiction. She has a decent BMW. She also lives in it.

I read TBI weekly via the Readly iOS app but only started to do so once I was clear the app made a clear contribution via subs. It’s a relatively quick read but is excellent on a number of fronts not least it’s data graphics.
 
Slightly funny story. There s a local seller in Hampstead who I once gave 20 pounds to ! Trouble is she always spots me a mile away now.... Wonder why :D
So I dodge her lately and donate to somebody else..... only now and again though, as on fairly low income
 
I was with a work colleague about 20 years ago who paid for a copy but declined to take it telling me the sellers sometimes get mugged and still have to account for every copy they headed out with so he pays for one but doesn’t take it. I’ve followed the same giving philosophy myself whether that was true or not.
 
I’m full of admiration for homeless people who sell the Big Issue. Although I buy copies I never take them on the grounds that the vendor can sell my copy and make some extra cash. Am I being idealistic or stupid ?
 
I used to buy a copy now and again when I worked in London. A seller started regularly appearing in our local town but didn’t fit the profile of our your regular local struggler; out of investigative interest I bought a copy and asked her where she was from, expecting her to say Leicester which is 20 miles away. I have a big issue (pun absolutely intended) with someone (presumably not the seller) paying to bring her in ply her trade in other than her home town/city. I was gobsmacked to hear that she travelled from
Birmingham every day; that’s over 50 miles away. Since then I’m afraid I’ve become rather cynical about the “business model” which sits behind an apparently excellent cause and only rarely buy a copy.
 
Not bought one recently, partly as we don't often pass a seller, and partly as we rarely have cash. We used to buy them quite often in Manchester though.
And for all those who use excuses such as not local, picked up in a car, etc, they are justifications, not reasons.
 
TheFlash said:
I used to buy a copy now and again when I worked in London. A seller started regularly appearing in our local town but didn’t fit the profile of our your regular local struggler; out of investigative interest I bought a copy and asked her where she was from, expecting her to say Leicester which is 20 miles away. I have a big issue (pun absolutely intended) with someone (presumably not the seller) paying to bring her in ply her trade in other than her home town/city. I was gobsmacked to hear that she travelled from
Birmingham every day; that’s over 50 miles away. Since then I’m afraid I’ve become rather cynical about the “business model” which sits behind an apparently excellent cause and only rarely buy a copy.
Click to expand...
An entirely misplaced concern on multiple levels and once again based on spectacular ignorance. If you can only obtain 5 licences for a city centre, for example, but you have 10 potential vendors for that gepgraohical location then your choices are to somehow tell 5 people that you cannot support them or find locations for them to sell. Guess what TBI do.

Then add in that the profile of vendors has changed and includes a lot of Roma in deep poverty and ostrscised from their community. People who cannot possibly be seen to be selling near their former community. Same principle applies if you’re an addict escapimg dealers; escaping from domestic violence and so on.There is also now a much better understanding of the complex needs of vendors. Greater recognition that some of the specialist support services they need may not exist in the area where they might ordinarily be expected to sell.

Your cynicism is ill-informed to say the least.
 
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