Vlog in text:

folks we are here with Wayne who’s not a homeless person now but you used to be a homeless many years ago and now you you’ve got a place to stay yeah and you sell the big issue what is what is a big issue for people who don’t I would explain the big issue is a magazine to help the homeless starting to help themselves it’s a magazine way of basically people to earn money to pay their way and support and to support themselves

you’ve been selling that some big issue for how long 11 years 11 years and I’ve seen a lot of differences since I started when I first started there was literally it was it would be it was proper for people to buy nowadays it’s covered and lockdown there’s been a lot of a lot of downfall it’s been the cells and the basically the popularity of the big issue has dropped it’s dropped yeah because nowadays people are barely very rarely buying the magazine now but it’s a bit too much for him but it worked for me I just I just dealt with them you know hey I’m a street breakfast I’m rough I’m ready for it you know yeah he’s actually at the bathroom at the moment because he’s had a form of a breakdown but yeah I’ve ended up in in London alcoholism my parents were drinkers themselves

West Africa

the system’s broken I’ll pay tax all my life in the UK yeah all in the UK I ran an events company big company [Music]

foreign

established in 1991 and it was aimed its aim was to help people that were on the streets to help themselves to be get like pay pay for proper like places to live feed themselves clothe themselves and literally earn a living and being self-employed so did you start selling big issue when you were a homeless person I I was at the time I was literally sofa surfing at the time so far surfing yeah I mean I was sleeping Here There and Everywhere I was like spending time on the streets off the streets here there wherever I could and I was begging at the time to earn money because well it was I didn’t basically no I think at the time I didn’t know about the big issue it took a vendor that like saw me one day that I used to give money to every day every time I used to see him when I used to go shopping I used to see him I just go there you go okay get yourself something to eat don’t worry about the mag because he used to try and sell it to me he saw me one day begging and it took him seeing me and he said to my friend what are you doing I went trying to get some money to get sent to me he goes my friend do what I do and he he helped me and I still I’m still grateful for to this day that you’ve been selling that issue for for 11 years no 11 years now yeah I think the magazine comes out weekly it comes out it comes out on a Monday through till Sunday it’s a different magazine every week that comes out it’s always different basic covers and different articles that basically on in the magazine how much does it cost now now it costs four pounds it’s four pounds yeah that’s that’s a lot of money when I first when I first started as I say when I first started it was literally two pounds for the customers to buy then they put it up to 250 been a few have been a few months of me starting it went up to two pound fifty which was a reasonable price because it because of the cost of inflation and stuff of cost of them Printing and Publishing it cost them a bit of money to actually can you show the big issue to the camera please yeah that’s what this is the big issue and as I was saying and at the time it was too fit it went up to 250 fair enough and that then covered it was 250 for quite a while then covert happened when covert happened and the lockdowns happened the magazine went up after lockdown to three pound and then it’s recent only this year from January like this month that’s gone up to four pounds for customers to buy because it’s the cost of every of everything going up in the world basically everything’s gone up in price okay it costs more and how it works with the big issue we pay we pay by the magazines to sell them so we buy it paying for half the price and sell them for the for the price on the mag I see so how it works we us all us vendors we make money by selling the mag so we we make our money back we spent on the mag plus the other half in profit because it’s because of the what the price is so we buy it for we buy it for basically two pound and we take it from four so we’re making our two pound back plus two pound profit on every magazine we sell and with that we we where are you where our Spenders are able to basically support ourselves to feed ourselves clothe ourselves and basically if we if we got a place to live to pay the pay the bills for the place where we live in it’s it’s basically being self-employed and you’re it’s and its aim is to help us to help ourselves giving us that step on the ladder to help ourselves to make money it did help you in your case because yeah you’ve been like so fast sofa surfing and then you just started to sell the issue big issue and you become you rent a flood yeah and that’s why that’s what I’m saying I’m not the only one it’s helped many people because I’m I’m just one one of many that do the big issue there’s literally you oh you’re fine if you go anywhere else there’s a lot of people there’s a lot of vendors everywhere and a lot of vendors will say the same thing it’s their aim is to help to help them help like put away with them us helping ourselves to actually be like okay how can I explain the word help us basically to not to rely on others to help that we’ve actually help ourselves yeah and it’s way it’s a way of us working and she’s doing the job but being self-employed and actually been able to basically support ourselves and that’s that’s the way and I am grateful for the big issue for wait wait basically it what it’s about but and I’m grateful in a way as well from the vendor that helped me to get me get me started on it he’s the one who recommended me said to me that come and do what I do and still to this day I’m grateful for him to actually he actually already done because if it weren’t for him they weren’t for him I could have basically turned to the like to the life of crime done a bit about basically being in trouble with the law but I it with what he’d done but helping me to recommend the big issue to do what he’d done he’s then put me on a way of me being on the straight and narrower to help myself right to basically make a living support myself and pay pay my way all right wait so you being on the streets for so long do you see the problem of homelessness rising in the UK or yeah that’s basically I can tell you now it’s not just the UK it’s worldwide there’s a lot of homeless problems worldwide not just in England especially in other countries as well the homeless problems is basically is a big problem for Ev for many countries there’s a lot of places it’s more than it used to be I used I would just say because it’s that the reason why I’m going to say that I’m going to say this as well the reason why is because there’s not it’s because of covid because kovit caused a lot of problems for a lot of people and a lot of people suffered with it well I’ve heard that coffee helped a lot of homeless people because they’ve been sheltered for that that’s what I’m saying they help people they’ve got people off the streets temporarily but I’m saying covert in general calls a lot of people to actually then become homeless because they’ve lost jobs they’ve been made redundant because I’m placing covid and the business said the business is shutting down and people losing their jobs because of covid and and the lockdowns because it’s just because the cost of it all is basically sent the country sent the countries into it basically crumbling worldwide economical crisis all over the place yeah so you understand what I’m saying it’s literally not just England it’s basically covert has caused a lot of problems worldwide in being because it was a very basically a really nasty virus that literally brought the country to its knees it literally the country was all countries are on the brink of being brought to their knees and actually not actually surviving it I and that’s you you could go down any local High Street and you’ll find a lot of business that used to be there are not there now because they’ve had they’ve had to shut down because the cost of it and now now now we’re all everyone’s suffering with the cost of living because the cost of living is literally making it even worse now the cost of things people can’t afford things as like they used to because like as I could say now that’s why like even with the big issue now not many people buy it because many people can’t afford money to buy anything anymore they’re just scraping by themselves yeah so are you seeing a lot of like sub substances on the on the streets like drug abuse or anything like that there’s a lot of that everywhere basically I can tell you this now there’s a lot that everywhere no matter where you go there’s a lot of people let’s see that people drink take drugs but I never judge anyone is that if they it’s down that’s what they chose to do is what they then that’s that that’s their their thing I don’t pry into people’s things of that is they can have many reasons why they do it so it’s it’s with that with that it’s up to them why they do it and there he goes but I can tell you now there’s a lot of basically drink drugs below where you go no matter what country you’re in there’s always basically problem with drugs because you’ve got a lot of gangs basically uh basically entice people with drugs and stuff like that so I hear there’s a lot of space that somebody told me yeah and I see a lot of that’s laced with stuff and you can literally make if they see either basically cause you problems or basically get this and be very addictive

so and like I said and there’s a lot of gangs and stuff and what like the other thing as well I I’m gonna I’m gonna say one other thing literally the other thing as well what’s causing the problems for the cost of living is the war in Ukraine to do with Putin being a warmonger and that is all he is he just wants power power power and that’s what the problem is because he didn’t like it that Ukraine was wanting to be independent he didn’t like it because he weren’t in power he couldn’t control and he’s basically caused more of the basically for other countries to suffer as well because because where the oil and stuff and fuel when that comes from Russia and getting everything else so he’s basically it’s costing more problems for the the Western countries to suffer more than the cost of stuff because now literally they can’t so what people that’s why the cost living Sky High Sky High it costs more now to basically to shop feed yourself and everything else all right Wayne what what would you like to say what else would you like to say what we also like to say basically the government needs to wake up to see the government’s worldwide need to wake up and realize there’s a lot of problems in the country in their own country before they choose to choose to help anyone else in other countries the government needs to help the help that people like like even like the UK government they need to realize and the UK government need to realize before before they send that money to like other countries that are basically suffering they need to basically focus on helping people in their own in the country as well first as well as the other country they need to make sure councils have enough enough funding NHS has enough funding and stuff like that and literally and the government need to realize they need to go back to the negotiation tables with all the unions that with all the stuff that’s with all the units that are striking and negotiate the bet the a better pay especially for the nurses and the ambulance drivers because they literally are on the front line the nurses especially especially they’ve been on the front line all the way through covid fight and helping to fight the disease and helping patients and they’re literally the ones who now start having to suffer because they literally don’t have enough they’re not they’re being paid not enough the government need to really go back and focus and sit down with the with the nurses Union and actually discuss the pay rise that they want and give them the pay rise they want because they deserve the pay rise but is there anything about homeless people uh you’ve noticed around that’s what I said I can tell you a lot about the homeless people there’s a lot of the homeless people are basically are homeless because they choose to be homeless a lot of people that rather choose to be on the street than being a flat because it’s something I could I don’t know how to explain it it’s the something meant mentally that they think being in the flat they’re enclosed and they don’t like it they’re like being out because a lot of people at homeless people I know have told me they’ve had many top many times offered a flat to live but they will choose to be on the street because they’ve been on the street so many years and they like the freedom of being out because they can get some money by begging on the streets yeah I’m not about in general there’s a lot of homeless people rather choose to live on the street when they could actually live in a place but they’ll choose to live on the street because knowing that they basically they’re they’re literally they’re free and they don’t they don’t like to be enclosed I have spoken to a many I’ve spoke to a homeless person before and he told me he got given a flat they’ve been within six months of him having the flat he then decided to give it up chose to go back to the streets because he didn’t like it he felt like he was a prisoner because where he was used to being out on the street and he chooses and he told me in his own words he goes I choose to be back on the streets because I get I’ve got my freedom and the freedom I know exactly where I am out in the open I know where I am but being indoors it’s I I could not sleep in a bed I could not think he goes I didn’t feel like like I basically belong where he said he’d been on the streets he felt like he belonged and he was literally living on this where he lives the contact was a society rather being closed in four walls that’s what I’m saying and there’s basically there needs to be more support for people that this with mental health that basically the reason of that are on the streets there’s a lot of people that have been on the streets when you working with the big issue and around homeless people for so long could you give an advice to homeless people what help they can get out there basically I my advice is if you basically if you’re if you’ve got suffering with mental health go and seek the help because there’s a lot of help out there to help there’s a lot of help with people that could actually listen and literally listen to what you what problems you have but there’s a lot of people that chooses not to because they don’t know that there’s help that’s what my advice is people that need help and you basically seeking help go and speak to the local authorities and they literally would put you in touch with the right people so basically that can help you is that big issue you know one of one of the places the biggest shoes is an organization especially to help to help yourself to earn money but there’s actually the big issue Foundation there’s actually there’s two parts of the biggest big issue the magazine and this big issue the foundation you can’t get you can even get in contact with the biggest shoe Foundation they can help you to put you into hostels and get you the help and support that you need right away thanks a lot for the interview all the best for you and I’ll see you around my friend no problem okay thank you thanks a lot my friends greatly received