We have been advised to stock up with baked beans in a recent Sunday newspaper. Shortages may well be coming our way. The last time I read this advice about baked beans I was a newly married 27-year-old living in a rented flat in Paddington that now would... See more
If there was a question in the Big Issue quiz as to where it expanded to after its launch in London in 1991, you’d be hard pushed to find the answer. Was it Glasgow or Manchester, Cardiff or Birmingham? Its first notable expansion was overseas to Hamburg,... See more
Last week my eldest brother Tommy died aged 83. If there had not been a health service he would have died much earlier in his life. If there had not been a decent provision by the local authority he would have died possibly in a poorly maintained flat, bu... See more
Once upon a time I was a road sweeper for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. I swept very posh streets around Chelsea, off the King’s Road. Despite getting up at 5.30am to get to the depot by 6.15am, I loved the work. Why, you may ask. Well, it ... See more
Practitioners of trades are usually only invited into parliament to fix pipes, patch roofs or some such. Yet because of the upset in British politics Hannah Spencer, plumber and recent recipient of a plastering certificate, won the Gorton and Denton by-el... See more
