Archive for April, 2013
Liter of Light
Volunteers at NGO the MyShelter Foundation fill the discarded containers with a solution of water and bleach. In five minutes, they use a hammer, rivet, sandpaper, epoxy and metal sheets to fit one of these into a hole in a corrugated iron roof. The result is a bulb which diffuses 55W of sunlight. This is […]
Prison Island
By Jenny McBain Imagine an island populated by prisoners but light-years from the fortress regime of Alcatraz. It’s a place where offenders undertake meaningful work in pleasant surroundings without the iron limitations of locks and bars. This place exists and it is in Finland. Finding an alternative to the current UK prison system is a […]
Selfless
Dr Naeem Ahmed set up Selfless.org.uk to hook up skilled volunteers with people who could use their help. Here, he and Big Issue founder John Bird ponder the key to social change JB: I feel we are living in a world where people are always looking for someone to blame, always wanting to know what’s […]
Rag Tag ‘N’ Textile
By Jenny McBain Rag Tag ‘N’ Textile- A Social Enterprise Making Material Progress in the Highlands On gate crashing a celebratory lunch at a Highland social enterprise it was impossible to tell who had mental health issues and who did not. Everybody sat around a large table in the cosy work- shop which is situated […]
London Pathway
Big Issue vendor André Rostant speaks to key figures in London Pathway – a project to give homeless people appropriate healthcare whilst using ex-homeless people to facilitate it “The NHS is set up to be comprehensive, universal, and free at point of care regardless of the ability to pay,” says Dr Aidan Halligan, the […]
Souper Powers
The Bath Soup company works with homeless people in its community but also with local growers and restaurants. Big Issue vendor Frank visited to uncover the secret of their magical socially-dynamic broth. “We’re not making soup to give to the homeless as a hot meal – the company the uses soup as a way of […]
Goldman Getting Small Business Moving
It is a cold Wednesday afternoon in Blackfriars, London, but the atmosphere in a large meeting room in the Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre is hotting up. A debate has broken out over the best way to effect change in a business. And seeing as the room contains representatives from 20 or so of the UK’s […]
