The Big Issue – The Big Con That Gets No One Off The Streets
The Big Issue is a UK street newspaper founded in September 1991 and now published in four continents. It exists to offer homeless people, or individuals at risk of homelessness, the opportunity to earn a legitimate income, thereby helping them to reintegrate into mainstream society. It is the world's most widely circulated street newspaper.
To become a vendor, one must be homeless or almost homeless, vulnerably housed or marginalised in some way. Basically, anyone can sell it. It has nothing to do with rough sleeping, yet the vast majority of the general public thinks it has.
Big Issue North is a Manchester version launched in December 1992 to cover the North of England. This is the only publication I have worked with, witnessed on the streets, and spoken to their vendors and staff. I have never bought the magazine and regularly convince others not to. Why?
The Big Issue is a con. It may not have started that way, but for the last fifteen years, while I have been aware of it, it has been. It is successful because it has a great narrative – buy a magazine and help someone off the street. A simple message – but a complete load of rubbish for many reasons.
The magazine has nothing to do with rough sleeping. I am not aware of one single person who was rough sleeping to ever sell it, not one, and I have two decades of working with rough sleepers. Individuals who are sleeping on the streets are in no state of mind to sell magazines. They cannot collect money from sales and save half of it to purchase new copies the next day. These damaged individuals cannot see past the next few hours and are only concerned about where their next fix is coming from.
The magazine is legalised begging on a corporate scale. If the vendors are not sleeping on the streets, then who are they? They fall within two groups. Eastern Europeans have replaced traditional begging with this new form of respectable begging which is officially classed as a job. The other group are functioning drug addicts who use the money they earn to subsidise their drug habit. Of course, the odd exception can be found and highlighted when the uncomfortable truth is discussed. I am not the only person within the homeless sector to feel this way about the magazine. Many do.
I watched a video a few years ago produced by The Big Issue showcasing their work and vendors. One vendor was talking about how The Big Issue is wonderful and explained why he sells it. If my memory serves me correctly, he was working on a building site but did not like the hours so decided to start to sell the magazine instead. He now has a better quality of life and earns more money. What sort of project enables individuals in full-time employment to quit their jobs and become beggars on the streets selling a magazine? The answer is clear – a project that makes a profit from the sale of magazines. The Big Issue is only about sales and profit. I have spoken to former staff who say exactly the same thing.
If it was about moving people into a better life, then why are the same vendors working on the streets of Manchester for decades? I know one man who sells this magazine on a particular street in the city centre. He has been there for at least 15 years which I know of. He is a well-known heroin addict and so emaciated that a gush of wind could knock him over. Why is he still standing on a street corner? Why can he not be helped with a better job? Why is he trapped selling a rag to fund his habit?
There are many stated rules you have to follow to sell the magazine, but of course, they are all ignored and not enforced for this affects sales and profits. It is the Wild West on the streets once you put on your branded hi-vis waistcoat. Many vendors openly beg for money. Ask for more than the stated magazine price, and even encourage customers not to take the magazine so they can sell it again. Some vendors sell their branded waistcoats and lanyards to non-vendors and report them lost or stolen to the office for a replacement.
I remember in my old council job trying to deal with a non-official vendor who had purchased a hi-vis waistcoat to look the part but was engaged in fraud. His scam was to buy one real magazine from a vendor and place it on top of a handful of free magazines from local shops or the free supplements in newspapers. Like a card cheat, he would deal from the bottom of the deck when he made a sale. He would take a free magazine, roll it up, and kindly place it in the customer's shopping bag. The magazine would not be opened until they reached home. We got a few complaints but no one wanted to put in an official statement so nothing could be done.
Another memorable incident was a Roma family who sold the magazine outside a sandwich shop targeting lunchtime workers. They took it in shifts to work and all sat in a wheelchair when outside the shop. At the change of shift, they jumped up to allow their relative to sit down and continue the con. Props are important, that is why many have dogs.
The huge flaw with street magazines is they keep people on the streets. This is the last place we want them to be. They socialise with other broken individuals, have easy access to drugs, are preyed upon by evil individuals, and continue their chaotic lifestyle. We need to move people off the streets and into decent productive lives with jobs.
Our bigotry of low expectations allows them to continue their cycle of self-damage while selling a magazine that no one really wants.
We tell vendors that selling The Big Issue is a real job, but we all know they are beggars.
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