You’ve probably heard of Coney Island, the iconic amusement park in New York, right at the bottom of Brooklyn. What you may not know is that just next door sits Brighton Beach, the largest Russian-speaking community in the US.

Nicknamed Little Odessa, the neighbourhood is home to tens of thousands of immigrants from Russia, Ukraine and many other post-Soviet countries. It may be sitting yards away from a global tourist attraction, but it is its own little world.

According to a survey from 2021, 67% of its residents reported having a language other than English as their primary language. Back in 2011, another study found that 36% of them didn’t speak English at all.

This probably explains why many of the signs at Brighton Beach’s annual Pride march are written in Cyrillic. Launched by RUSA LGBTQ+ in 2017, it is currently the longest running Russian-speaking parade of its kind in the world. 

“We are the only officially registered nonprofit in the entire Western hemisphere that serves the Russian-speaking LGBTQ+ community, which sounds cool for grant writing and budget proposals but in reality, we wish we had more community”, said Maxim Ibadov, who works for the grassroots group and uses they/them pronouns.

Launched in 2008 by Kyiv-born activist Yelena Goltsman, the organisation seeks to support both recent asylum seekers from Russia and neighbouring countries, and second and third generation immigrants still trying to find their place in the world.

They’re currently busy organising this year’s event, which will take place on Sunday (19 May) by the seafront. “We march through the diaspora of Brighton Beach because it’s important to be present and visible in the Russian speaking neighbourhood” they said. “It’s a visual representation that we are here and we exist, and we’re not people from somewhere else.

“We are people from the community, we speak the same language. We come from the same cities or countries. We eat the same food, we listen to the same music, we read the same books.”

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Born in the US, Ibadov spent their childhood in Moscow, then moved back to New York at 16 after Vladimir Putin’s re-election, having “seen the writing on the wall”. A lot of their family originally came from Odessa.

“Moving to South Brooklyn as a queer person made me feel like I didn’t live in New York”, they said. “I didn’t have access to other queer people. For a long time, I ended up running away from the Russian speaking community because I just felt that I couldn’t be Russian and queer at the same time, because they’re just in contradiction with each other.”

They weren’t entirely wrong. Back in 2012, when they moved halfway across the world, Moscow courts introduced a 100 year ban on Pride marches in the city. Five years later, when the first Brighton Beach Pride march took place in Brooklyn, revellers were heckled by members of the community.

“We had people yell slurs at us, and telling us to go back to where we came from. I was like, ‘But we all came from the same place?’”, Ibadov said with a bitter laugh. Despite taking place in one of the most liberal cities in the world, the Little Odessa march remained stuck in a community so reactionary and tight-knit it felt suffocating.

None of the local politicians wanted anything to do with them, and few of the local businesses wanted them as customers. Then Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Though the outbreak of war led to some tensions developing in the neighbourhood at large, it represented a turning point for the local LGBTQ+ community, all of whom were united against Putin’s actions.

As Ibadov explained, “something shifted after Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2022 and 2023 the theme was ‘solidarity with Ukraine’, so when we were marching, carrying Ukrainian flags and Pride flags, I think the local community saw that as a sign that hey, we actually have more in common than you think, we have similar values.”

Still, there was the occasional hiccup. One of last year’s chants was a traditional Ukrainian call and response which goes “glory to Ukraine! glory to the heroes! glory to the nation! death to the enemy!”. Some Russian attendees felt that, despite being against the war, they couldn’t quite comfortably sing along.

This is why they are going for a “more unifying message” this year, and will march under the banner of “our love is not extremism”, which takes aim at anti-LGBTQ+ legislation recently passed in Russia. 

Another hearty development is that the event will be addressed by Justin Brannan, a local New York City council member and the first politician to speak on the day. Ibadov also spoke excitedly about the afterparty – their biggest ever – which will be hosted by one of Little Odessa’s roof terrace bars. 

“It was always hard to find businesses or restaurants in the community that would welcome us and support us, so it’s a good indicator that things are changing in Brighton Beach, and the Pride marches are having a real, tangible impact”, they said.

It is obviously good news for those planning to march on the day, but the non-profit’s plans extend far beyond Pride parades. “Community building is our main focus because we understand that queer people coming from our part of the world don’t really understand or have never really experienced the queer community in the way that we in the western democracies have”, Ibadov said.

“They’ve had to leave their families behind and then come to a different country and start their own chosen family. We try to be that queer chosen family for all these folks.”

Long may they continue.

Big Issue is demanding an end to poverty this general election. Will you sign our open letter to party leaders?

Liz Carr has been a vocal opponent of assisted dying for more than a decade. With signs that the tide could be turning on the subject, the actor and activist has reflected on how she came to terms with the life-changing disability she developed at the age of seven.

“From my appearance most people will think I was born disabled, but I wasn’t, so I understand what becoming disabled means,” she says in this week’s Big Issue, out now. Carr was disabled from age seven, owing to arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, and has used a wheelchair since she was 14.

The subject of Big Issue’s reader-favourite feature Letter to My Younger Self, Liz Carr shares how her mother recently found a “harrowing” diary entry which detailed how her younger self “wanted to die” when she was 12.

“During lockdown, my mum would ring most nights… She’d go through old diaries and call with the most harrowing bits. It would be, ‘What did you have for your tea? Did you know you wanted to die when you were 12?’ Now, I knew I was miserable but to say I’d rather be dead? It hurts me to hear that my younger self didn’t see a future.

“I would love to tell her you’ll fall in love, have mates, travel the world and do a job people can only dream of. She wouldn’t have believed any of it.”

Carr has created a documentary for the BBC, Better Off Dead?, which explores how changing legislation could affect vulnerable or disabled people.

“I was told all the time that I wouldn’t live to be old, and I believed it,” she says. “I thought I was going to die as a teenager. I thought I was going to die as a 20-year-old. Then I thought I would die by 30. So I’d love to tell my younger self that she won’t die young – because I’ve wasted a lot of my life worrying needlessly. And there’s a lot of things we do need to worry about.”

“I went on a course in a care home in Ross-on-Wye, and within three hours my life changed forever. I met a woman called Sue. She had everything I wanted: lived on her own, had a partner, worked, was funny. Sue took me under her wing.

“Before the course I’d think, I can’t get on the bus because I can’t walk and that’s my problem. They said, what if the buses were all accessible? And it was like a celestial moment. My life’s lightbulb moment. I don’t have to do everything on my own to be dignified and have a good life… That’s where activism started for me.”

To read Liz Carr’s full Letter to My Younger Self, buy this week’s Big Issue. You can find your local vendor here.

Change can often be slow. As we’ve seen with the abolition of no-fault evictions and leasehold reform, the glacial pace of government-led transformation leads to frustration from those affected by injustice. In its place, campaigners and activists can fill the gap.

Named after the housing campaigner Sheila McKechnie, who was at the launch of the Big Issue back in 1991, the Sheila McKechnie National Campaigner Awards celebrate the movements changing the UK.

This year’s shortlist is a window into years of organising and cajoling, with results ranging from changes to the ULEZ to increased protections for renters. Whether you’re deep in a campaign and need a boost, or want to get going and right a wrong, their successes provide a roadmap for getting it done.

1. Camden Imagines

Big problems require different thinking. Teaming up with Moral Imaginations, Camden Council became the first local authority in the UK to train its staff in “imagination activism”. 

Asking “what if?”, imagination activism asks people to look differently at challenges, thinking of the future instead of current constraints. Camden’s initial programme saw 32 council officers trained over a six-month period.

2. Woodhill

Prison suicide is on the rise, with the numbers of those taking their own lives rising by a quarter in the year to October 2023. HMP Woodmill in Milton Keynes has been in the spotlight, with HM Inspectorate of Prisons finding a “staggering” 20 men took their lives in a seven-year period. In April 2024, a coroner found the suicide of one inmate, Robert Fenlon, was an “unlawful killing contributed to by neglect”.

Against that context, a group of campaigners decided to raise interest with projects including a film and a play, focusing on the experiences of those who had died and lost loved ones. In 2025, there are plans to tour the play – which received a five-star review in the Guardian – to more than 10,000 people.

3. Mothers Rise Up/Insure Our Future

There’s a lot of money in the climate crisis. Mothers Rise Up has taken aim at the insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London, trying to stop firms using Lloyd’s from insuring climate-damaging projects. The group’s stunts have included a Mary Poppins-themed flash mob, and a dance outside Lloyd’s London HQ

They argue that by facilitating insurance for these projects, Lloyd’s enables their harm to the environment. So far, 12 insurers at Lloyd’s have pledged not to insure the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

4. LIVE + BREATHE

Marginalised groups in the UK disproportionately suffer from air pollution. It’s a serious issue – 10-year-old south Londoner Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah became the first person in the country to have air pollution recorded as the cause of her death.

But raising awareness comes in different forms. The collective LIVE+BREATHE are using art and culture to show the impact of dirty air on Black and Brown communities. Their video was shown during Billie Eilish’s gig at the O2, while they believe the arts can be used to spearhead change.

5. Anti-Traveller wide injunction taken to the Supreme Court

Recent anti-protest laws introduced by the Conservative government have also created a more restrictive environment for Gypsy and Traveller communities.

In a collaboration between Friends, Families and Travellers, Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group, and London Gypsies and Travellers, campaigners challenged the use of wide “persons unknown” injunctions against travellers, arguing they prevent the community from living the traditional nomadic way of life. The case resulted in the Supreme Court recognising how injunctions can threaten this way of life, and restricted the use of wide injunctions.

“It is increasingly vital that organisations like us are able to punch above their weight in the legal sphere and be recognised – we hope that this is only the beginning in tackling deeply embedded systemic issues,” said Sarah Mann, CEO of Friends, Families and Travellers.

6. Make Food Waste Count

When the government reneged on a promise to introduce mandatory food waste reporting requirements for businesses, environmental campaign group Feedback took legal action. Steve Barclay, the environment secretary, subsequently promised the government would review the U-turn.

“After many years of research, campaigning, and coalition building, it was litigation that finally forced the government to reopen its decision to scrap plans for mandatory food waste reporting for big businesses – a critical first step to tackle the scourge of food waste and climate change,” said Carina Millstone, executive director of Feedback.

7. The Walking Inquiry into immigration detention

Alongside the inquiry into the Brook House immigration detention centre, the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group began a Walking Inquiry.

Culminating in a report launched in parliament, the Walking Inquiry used walks and workshops to help those with lived experience explore the impact of immigration detention.

8. These Walls Must Fall

Long after the “hostile environment” was coined as a term for the UK’s immigration policies, new laws and schemes have abounded, with the Illegal Migration Act and the government’s Rwanda scheme sparking particular resistance.

At Liverpool Home Office reporting centre today, giving information and support to people threatened with expulsion to Rwanda pic.twitter.com/UgHl6VVjlN

— These Walls Must Fall (@wallsmustfall) April 30, 2024

Organised by Right to Remain, These Walls Must Fall puts lived experience at the heart of the campaign, helping communities get together to oppose the hostile environment. Through monthly meetings, they’re helping migrants navigate the immigration system, and build skills.

9. Holding Our Own: non-policing solutions to ‘serious violence’

Rather than granting the police greater powers, the Holding Our Own campaign calls for serious youth violence to be tackled in a different way. Instead of expanded stop and search and continuing unfair treatment, they want more funding and support for young people. Part of this approach includes an end to drugs policing, and removing police from schools.

The campaign is a collaboration between groups including Liberty, and has produced a guide to how their aims can be achieved. They hope this can break a cycle, and “move away from policing as a response to social problems”.

10. Save St Mary’s Primary School Fivemiletown

In 2023, St Mary’s Primary School Fivemiletown, a school for 42 children in rural Northern Ireland, was earmarked for closure. Parents got together and fought back, as campaigners said it would remove education options for Catholic children in the area.

They won: the closure of the school was reversed, and enrolments have even increased.

11. Free Bus Travel Campaign

While they wait for a decision on their claim, asylum seekers are prevented from working and given a small allowance. Many report difficulties in getting to appointments, or accessing medical care as a result. Highlighting the experiences of those in the asylum system, the Free Bus Travel Campaign pushed the Scottish government to provide free bus travel for asylum seekers.

The campaign to extend free bus travel to asylum seekers in Scotland continues.

It has the support of politicians across Scotland, from the third sector & from faith leaders.

Its impact would be huge & that's why we say 'For Such Small Change, It Would Make A Huge Difference'. pic.twitter.com/QWFXKp5eIE

— Paul Sweeney (@PaulJSweeney) June 18, 2023

In November 2023, it became a reality, with Holyrood committing £2m in funding. It’s even sparked similar campaigns south of the border, including one in London which the Big Issue has reported on. 

12. London Loos

Access to toilet facilities is a human right. But public toilets in the UK are in decline, with hundreds disappearing over the last decade. Led by Age UK, activists have been pushing London councils to reverse this trend, pushing council leaders to agree new plans for loos. Their victories include making Islington Council provide a hard-copy map of loo locations, available in libraries.

13. Sustainable Farming Campaign

Farming in the UK is changing. As we’ve reported, climate change is making producers adapt, and threatening a stable income. But a narrow supply chain means farmers can often have little choice or security. 

The Sustainable Farming Campaign has forced Jacob Rees-Mogg to clarify comments on Somerset residents preferring hormone-injected Australian beef, and with an 11,000-strong petition in its back pocket is getting politicians to agree to the need for supply chain reform.

14. Fawcett Society vs The Sun

IPSO, the press regulator introduced in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry, had never upheld a complaint about sexism. That changed when the Fawcett Society, a small charity with fewer than 10 staff, brought a complaint against The Sun over Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial column about Meghan Markle, where the former Top Gear presenter spoke of a “hate” for Markle on a “cellular level”. Clarkson blamed a clumsy reference to Game of Thrones and a hastily-filed piece of copy, apologising a month after publication.

But IPSO found the column had discriminated against Markle on the basis of her sex, and the complaint resulted in a front page apology from The Sun.

15. The Justice for Omisha Campaign

Imagine your 10-month-old daughter gets diagnosed with cancer, but then the NHS steps in and saves her life with a liver transplant and chemotherapy. What should have been relief for Omisha Shrestha’s parent’s ended up with a £76,000 bill and debt collectors turning up at their door – all because of their immigration status.

Today we’re in Ilford, gathering signatures for the #JusticeForOmisha campaign. Omisha was born in Britain but charged £76k for her cancer treatment because of the #HostileEnvironment.

We are #PatientsNotPassports. Sign the petition to end NHS charging! https://t.co/IrnuTX4q9E pic.twitter.com/S8naLGEUAI

— Migrants Organise (@migrantsorg) May 20, 2023

Omisha’s parents went on to campaign for an NHS that is free for all, with wins including the CEO of the NHS trust which sent the bill agreeing to wipe out the debt and review its charging policy. Crucially, he gave officials the power not to pursue inappropriate debts. Now, the Justice for Omisha Campaign wants to keep pushing and spread this approach wider.

16. #CrimeNotCompliment campaign

Public sexual harassment has become a specific criminal offence in the UK, thanks in part to the campaigning efforts of Our Streets Now, led by sisters Gemma and Maya Tutton.

The pair used art, illustration and petitions to raise the profile of the issue. It resulted in the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Bill becoming law in 2023, but they continue to work in schools and universities to push for wider cultural change.

17. Josie Argyle

Injunctions have been used to imprison climate protesters across the UK: from Insulate Britain activists to Just Stop Oil members. Before part of it was cancelled, the HS2 high-speed train line was covered by an injunction preventing trespass. Step in activist Josie Argyll, who developed a toolkit to help campaigners understand how these legal instruments can affect their right to protest. She also supported those imprisoned for breach of injunction.

“Injunctions have increasingly been used by both the government and private corporations to suppress dissent. By exploiting this lesser understood form of prosecution to protect private interests, they are completely disregarding and silencing the communities their practices most affect,” says Argyle.

18. The Care Experienced Movement (CXM)

The first movement of its kind for the tens of thousands of care leavers in the UK, the Care Experienced Movement fights for policy change, shows the range of experiences within the care system and puts the voices of care experienced people at the heart of the debate.

After becoming a Community Interest Company in 2023, the organisation is working towards organising a Care Experienced Rally in 2025.

19. Andy Soar – Nope to Hope: Scrap hope value to build social housing

One barrier to building enough social housing in the UK is the little-known wheeze “hope value”. Councils are forced to pay sums, often tens of thousands, above the odds for land, based on what it could be worth if it’s developed in the future.

Campaigner Andy Soar joined forces with Shelter to try and change this. Progress has been made: at the end of April the government announced hope value will be scrapped in certain circumstances, a change described by levelling up minister Jacob Young as a “catalyst for investment in our towns and cities”.

20. Dr Kush Kanodia – Eco Ableism – Disability Discrimination from London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ)

The expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone proved controversial, with elections being fought on the topic and vigilantes destroying its cameras. But it also had the potential to disproportionately affect disabled people in the capital who rely on their cars.

On UN Day for Disabled People, we celebrate #ULEZ campaign success! Providing Reasonable Adjustments to 1/4 Million Disabled People!https://t.co/1VfiLv7F8a@SadiqKhan @MayorofLondon @TfL @LondonCouncils @InclusionLondon @DisabilityGovUK @RishiSunak#London #UN #IDPD #IDPD2022

— Dr Kush Kanodia (@KushKanodia) December 3, 2022

Seeking “reasonable adjustments” to the scheme, Dr Kush Kanodia led a campaign to change the low-emissions zone. He met with mayor Sadiq Khan, who ended up introducing £10,000 grants for wheelchair accessible vehicles and an exemption for 250,000 disabled people.

21. Miss J – End Sexual Misconduct in Sport

Determined to end rape culture and sexual misconduct in Scottish sports, the anonymous Miss J set out on a mission. There is a culture, she says, “that perpetuates sexual violence through silent complicity – even at times overlooking serious transgressions in favour of skill”.

She’s been campaigning to make sure sports teams can tackle sexual misconduct, including by introducing sexual misconduct policies and appropriate training. Clyde Football Club were the first to introduce such a policy, in December 2023.

22. Not Just the Ticket

One big factor in the rolling rail strikes of the past few years has been government plans to close ticket offices at train stations. Disabled people have warned that the closures would leave them stranded.

Coming together as Not the Ticket, disabled campaigners organised resistance against the change, carrying out a detailed analysis of the consequences, and backing a judicial review. The pressure led to the government extending the consultation, and in the end saw the government back down on the ticket office closures.

23. Operation Noah’s Bright Now campaign

The Church of England’s investments are more controversial than many may realise. Recent headlines have seen the religious body in the firing line for holding a “feudal property empire”, as the battle over leasehold reform rages. But their investments in fossil fuels are unlikely to attract such fervour any more, as in 2023 the church announced it would be completely divesting from the sector.

This had been a decade in the making, thanks to Operation Noah’s Bright Now campaign. Now just two-score CofE dioceses are still invested in fossil fuels, with hundreds of millions moved into sustainable investments instead.

24. Campaign for a suicide-safer internet 

Spearheaded by Samaritans, the campaign to make the internet suicide safer managed to push through changes to the government’s Online Safety Act. Internet content can play a powerful role in suicides, and the charity. 

By lobbying MPs and peers, Samaritans helped introduce major changes, so that in the end the bill legislated platforms to remove online access to suicide and self-harm content, and introduced a new offence of maliciously encouraging or assisting self-harm.

25. Honesty in Politics

Some politicians lie to parliament deliberately. Others “inadvertently mislead”. For those who wished to correct Hansard, the official record, there was no easy way to do so. 

Fact-checking organisation Full Fact campaigned to change this. Thanks to the campaign, MPs who wish to can now update the record to reflect the facts.

26. Citizens Advice calls for forced prepayment meter installations to stop until new protections brought in

The forced installation of prepayment meters has become a national scandal since the Big Issue first reported on it back in 2022. The emergence of the scandal prompted Citizens Advice to campaign, and led to a pause in the installation of new prepayment meters.

27. Family Discrimination in Renting

Renting in the midst of the housing crisis can be a nightmare, but especially so when you have children – as Lexi Levens found when she received a Section 21 eviction. Landlords and letting agents were refusing to rent to her, as she had children. So she decided to take the case to tribunal.

Great to hear MPs like @RupaHuq calling for clarity on stamping out discriminatory practices like 'No DSS', and @michaelgove's response that 'we will be clear we can't have blanket bans’. #RentersReformBill pic.twitter.com/2u11AqA6Bv

— Shelter (@Shelter) October 23, 2023

Her victory saw the Property Ombudsman rule that anybody refusing to rent to children for no reason was discriminating against them, with landlords now prevented from having blanket “no children” bands.

28. Don’t Cut the Card

The Day Travelcard offers the ability to get around London for a single day with a single ticket. But its future was under threat in 2023, posing a risk for those with disabilities, or who don’t have contactless. 

The Campaign for Better Transport stepped in to try and save it, and succeeded. A blitz of lobbying, media, and engagement followed. In October 2023, Transport for London backed down and the card was saved.

Eddie Marsan is in Tower Hamlets, at the impressive offices of local charity Streets of Growth. Alongside Darren Way, founder of the charity that works with young people to combat gang and knife crime, Marsan is spending the morning taking the Big Issue on a tour of the area.  

Marsan and Way go back a long way. They grew up on neighbouring council estates off Bethnal Green Road, went to the same local youth clubs and night clubs in the early 1980s, and their lives have intersected at key points since – culminating in Marsan becoming a patron for Streets of Growth last year.  

Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter

In the wake of recent comments by Conservative MP Paul Scully, a former minister for London, saying that parts of Tower Hamlets were “no-go areas,” Marsan is keen to show why he is so passionate about his manor. It is the reason he is talking about Streets of Growth today, rather than his role in Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black or big budget TV series Franklin alongside Michael Douglas. Because the words stung.  

“It’s populist, racist bullshit. That’s what it is,” says Marsan, never one to pull his punches. “And those words have real impact on the kids around here. 

“Because these kids, whether they’re Muslim, Bengali, Pakistani, white or of Caribbean descent, they are all subject to the same challenges, which is what Streets of Growth is trying to address.  

“And they’re the same challenges we went through. Demonising those communities to such an extent means you dehumanise them. And when you dehumanise them, you can justify not funding them and not helping them.  

“But I look at those kids and see myself when I was young. So that’s why I want to champion their cause the best way I can. Because it’s a great injustice. It’s simply not true – there aren’t any no-go areas. There just aren’t.” 

We set off through Tower Hamlets, walking through street food markets and traditional clothing and fabric shops, large council estates and gentrified coffee hotspots. All of East End life is here.  

Eddie Marsan and Darren Way talk about their childhoods, recall their time as bodypoppers in the 1980s, and talk with passion about the richness of the cultural education they received in Tower Hamlets, even as they grew up surrounded by poverty. 

Marsan even turns the tables on the Tory MP’s words about no-go areas. He instead talks about new developments catering for city workers and the extremely wealthy in the East End, which serve to push prices up, push local families out and divide the community.  

“The only no-go areas are these gated communities,” Marsan says, quietly, but with a look of barely contained fury we’ve seen in so many of his screen performances.  

“There are the new developments where maybe 25% are social housing. And the kids from the social housing are not allowed to use the playground. So those are the real no-go areas. And they are based on class prejudice.” 

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This has been a tough week for Way. One of the young people they work with has been seriously injured and he is attempting to deal with the fallout – trying to prevent what he calls the ripple effect of violence.  

As we walk through the neighbourhood he knows so well, he explains how his life has intersected with Marsan’s through the years – including, ironically, on the film Gangster No 1.  

“It’s almost like Sliding Doors. We both grew up in Tower Hamlets, we were both into dancing and bodypopping, and my friend was his best mate,” he says.  

“I left school and ended up in construction, he went into the print industry before getting into acting. And I was looking to retrain as an actor.  

“We both ended up on this gangster flick filming in Kingston. He had a part and I was an extra. I banged on his cabin door and we had a chat. Then he really went into acting and I gave up my acting dreams to go into gang intervention work.” 

Way went to the Bronx, Philadelphia and Boston on a Winston Churchill Fellowship to get trained by ex-gang members in intervention work.  

“I started to learn how you link outreach and street work with building programmes that can progress them into employment, while still supporting them,” he says.  

“When they start coming into organisations like ours, they become more at risk. because they’re no longer involved in harm and violence and those they used to have trouble with can start picking on them simply because they’re trying to change. Getting kids out of gangs is one thing. Keeping them out is the toughest part.” 

On 11 September 2001, Streets of Growth opened their first premises, armed with “10 quid and two chairs”, to tackle gang and knife crime and youth exploitation.  

This is complex and dangerous work. And it is exacerbated by the harsh times we are living in that force young people into short term decision-making, with long-term prospects appearing so bleak in terms of housing, employment, family.  

“In the last 24 years, we’ve worked with more than 5,500 young people. I can’t tell you how rare it is that young people talk about ever owning their own flat,” says Way.  

“For a young person to save up for a 10% deposit for a one bed apartment in Tower Hamlets on a low pay job, they would have to save until they were 55. It feels so unreachable.  

“They’re not talking about whether they can have kids because they haven’t even got a bedroom of their own. They might be sharing a bedroom with three or four other kids, so their bedroom becomes the street corner. And that street corner becomes the family and they get involved in crime. If all of a sudden, the young person’s earning 500 pounds a week, why would they go on a training course? And that’s how they end up trapped in that world.” 

Way talks of the stairwells in the council blocks where people like himself and Eddie would hang out now being closed to young people. Many of the football courts have been built on. But this is not the main cause of the issues Streets of Growth exists to combat. 

“The young people I speak to don’t want to talk about snooker tables and table tennis. Youth clubs are not the answer – only part of an answer. Because they want a job and to earn a decent living. What we’re talking about here is developing an approach that genuinely gives young people rites of passage from teenagehood to young adulthood,” he says. 

“We are working on lifestyle, environment, education and career – and if we can give them a sense of a life that’s healthy, with those four pillars, maybe we’ll create the branches where they can reach out and grow above and penetrate this glass ceiling.” 

We visit Oxford House, a youth centre both Darren Way and Eddie Marsan recall with fondness. It is currently home to an exhibition of Philip Cunningham’s 1970s photographs called Lost East End – which includes one of a young Marsan, in a Superman costume, surrounded by his brothers from the estate. 

“I grew up on Kedleston Walk, just off Bethnal Green Road. It was mainly white and Afro Caribbean – there was a very large St Lucian community at the time,” says Marsan.  

“My parents had a difficult marriage. They did their best, but it wasn’t easy for me as a kid sometimes. And there was a St Lucian family on my state – my best friend Emmanuel, his brothers Nelson and Alan – and the door was always open to me. I took a kind of emotional refuge with them.  

“I’ve called Mrs Mitchell ‘mum’ since I was 10. My kids go and see her still. When I look back now, I benefited from the kindness of this family. Mum came over in about 1958, so just after the Windrush, but she’s of that generation. And they saved my life. They instilled in me a love of films, art and music, they taught me to dance, they fed me all the time. And they gave me unconditional love as well.” 

Eddie Marsan’s eyes brim with tears a few times during our conversation. This place and these people are in his bones. He knows how much he owes to Tower Hamlets and the social housing he grew up in. 

“I’m the product of social housing. I think it was a very privileged upbringing,” he says. “Not in an economic sense but in a loving sense, and in the sense of diversity. It instilled in me an incredible curiosity.  

“I’m working with Shelter on a campaign to encourage more social housing. It’s very close to my heart. There has to be a sense of economic justice. If you create poverty and economic pressure, people make short-term choices.  

“We need to give people economic stability and take away the unbelievable pressures they are under at the moment in order for communities to thrive and people to blossom.” 

Our walk ends at Pellicci’s café on Bethnal Green Road. This is a real home from home for Marsan, who is greeted with warm embraces, huge smiles and traditional East End banter by Nev, who runs the café with his sister Anna and cousin Tony. They have known each other since Marsan was four. It is like witnessing a family reunion. 

“They knew me when I wasn’t famous. And they loved me when there was nothing in it for them,” says Marsan.  

“When you do become, to a certain extent, famous, it does complicate things. It comes into the room with you. So when you see the people who loved you before all that, you appreciate the love they had for you and that generosity. I am just Eddie here.”  

He explains how he would break up the journey home from Basildon when his mum was terminally ill in 2018 with a stop at Pelicci’s. “Tony knew my mum was dying. He’d be opening up and would just sit with me. I can’t tell you how much it helped with what was going on.” 

Marsan and Way have lasagne, The Big Issue chomps down a huge plate of cannelloni. The food is delicious, the atmosphere joyous and convivial. We even get extra chips because we are with Marsan. I never want to leave.  

“Look at the life here!” grins Marsan. This is the East End they want to celebrate. This is true community. He poses for pictures with a Canadian family of Ray Donovan fans, who can’t believe their eyes on seeing one of the stars of their favourite show at the table next to them.  

This is why Eddie Marsan is very particular about how he portrays characters from round here in his work.  

“I don’t play cockneys on coke. And I don’t work with cockneys on coke,” he explains.  

“Why do you want to make a film about nasty people? Don’t make a film about gangsters taking money from shopkeepers, make a film about somebody like Darren. Make a film about the Bengali youth workers or the person saving a kid’s life, like they do here. That’s the story to tell.” 

We return to Streets of Growth, a charity working to protect and build the community that Eddie Marsan cherishes, where the important work continues.  

“They have spent the last few days with a kid who’s in a coma,” says Marsan.  

“They’re trying to stop other boys reacting. So while you’re interviewing me, the ‘movie star’, Darren is in the room next door trying to save someone’s life.” 

Find out more about Streets of Growth here.

Eddie Marsan at the ready

In his high-profile day job, Eddie Marsan has a couple of big – and very different – roles coming up.

Back to Black

It’s a beautiful tribute to Any Winehouse. I’m very proud to be part of it. Marisa Abela is incredible playing Amy and Jack O’Connell is amazing as Blake. It’s a beautiful story. It’s a love letter to her. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a film that sanitised or demonised the family – addiction is the only bad guy in this film. So I wanted to tell the complexity of the story, because great stories have the courage to sit with complexity and nuance. Reductive, didactic storytelling is an affront to our intelligence. 

Franklin

I was going to play John Adams years ago in the HBO series about him. I was working with Paul Giamatti on The Illusionist and said to him that they had approached me to play John Adams. I said, why don’t they get you to do it? He said, they’ll want an Englishman to play him, that’s the American mentality. Anyway, HBO, as quite often happens, dropped the project, dropped the director, cleared the decks, they didn’t need me. And six months later, Paul Giamatti played John Adams and he was brilliant.

Then, when I was filming Fair Play, the writer Kirk Ellis emailed to ask if I would play John Adams now for him, opposite Michael Douglas as Benjamin Franklin. So I lucked out. I researched John Adams and I loved him. What an amazing man. And it was brilliant working with Michael Douglas. I’m an actor who gets very into character, but there was always a point in every scene where I would be thinking: fucking hell, it’s Michael Douglas! I couldn’t help it. But he was so generous and such a great company leader. He took responsibility for his fame and his position and put everyone at ease. 

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy!

If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue or give a gift subscription. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play

The Grand National has introduced new safety measures for the 2024 race – but animal rights activists claim the rules are mere “tweaks” to a “cruel” sport.

Ambush protests delayed the famous Aintree horse race by 14 minutes in 2023.

This year, organisers have made a number of changes – including reducing the number of horses from 40 to 34 and moving the start time forward – to protect horse welfare. But campaigners have questioned how effective the changes will actually be.

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“The idea that you can take six horses out and fix the race is far removed from reality… they’ve just tweaked the edges,” said Dene Stansall, horse racing consultant for Animal Aid.

“You’ve still got the longest race in the racing calendar, with more jumps than any other race in the racing calendar to jump. You’ve still got horses carrying huge weights… all in all, it’s still cruel and dangerous.”

What are the changes to the Grand National in 2024?

In addition to cutting the number of horses, organisers have moved the start time forward from 5.15pm to 4pm – which will help improve the Aintree ground – introduced a standing start, and added additional vet checks. They have also cut the distance to the first fence, which will ensure a slower speed for the first jump.

Organisers have denied that the changes are to do with protests at last year’s race, at which Animal Rising activists invaded the course.

“We undertake a review after every Grand National and constantly make changes as a result of this evidence-based process, which is all part of our relentless focus on putting the care and safety of our horses and jockeys above all else,” a spokesperson said last year.

Animal Rising have ruled out a similar protest at this year’s meet – but believe that their action triggered the changes.

“Last year the British public saw through the myths of the horse racing industry as a spotlight was put onto the Grand National. It’s plain to see that 2023 was the beginning of the end for horse racing,” said Ben Newman, one of the organisation’s co-founders.

“All that remains to be done is for the Jockey Club to continue to dig the industry’s grave by continuing to force horses to – tragically – race to their deaths.”

PETA echoed this concern, with vice president of programmes Elisa Allen calling for an outright ban.

“Any measures that make the race less perilous are welcome and long overdue, but these changes do nothing to mitigate many of the big issues with the horse racing industry – including that there is no retirement plan for horses and thousands of them are sent to abattoirs every year once they’re no longer profitable,” she said.

Some 63 horses have died from injuries sustained at the Grand National meeting since 2000. Around 200 horses die on British racecourses every year.

Emma Judd, head of campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, said that the new rules do not go far enough, calling for whips to be banned and for the introduction of a new racing watchdog.

“The shocking number of deaths at the Grand National Festival begs the question as to whether the current horse racing authorities have their house in order when it comes to safety of horses and their jockeys,” she said.

“A new independent regulatory body with horse welfare as its number one priority needs to be created. Horses are being sacrificed for people’s entertainment and gambling, and one death is one too many.”

YouGov’s current figures on horse racing show that around 47% of Brits disapprove of horse racing, while around 23% approve.

A one-time racing fan himself, Stansall says he understands the appeal – but that the cruelty means it’s “not worth it.”

“When you’re there with your friends, and you’re drinking your drinks, and having a meal, and the sun is shining, and the horses flash past you, it all seems quite innocent and enjoyable,” he says.

“But the reality is far from that. If the horse falls and is fatally injured, people don’t see behind those green screens that go up on a racecourse, where a horse is injected or shot. That’s what made me change my mind about racing.”

Nestled against the Yorkshire Dales, Skipton, a market town in North Yorkshire’s Craven district, is a site of beautiful architecture and natural scenery. In 2014, The Sunday Times named it the best place to live in the UK, and this year, it came second in a Rightmove survey of Britain’s happiest towns.

But behind these accolades is a shadow of deep poverty that leaves generations of young people with difficult childhoods and limited prospects for the rest of their lives. It was in response to this crisis that Emma Pears, who then worked in schools with North Yorkshire County Council, founded SELFA Children’s Charity in 2007.

Following the election of the coalition government in 2010, cuts led to Pears being made redundant from her council position, and she decided to dedicate herself to SELFA full-time. Since its foundation, the charity has grown from a voluntary operation with a £500 budget to an organisation that supports 150 children and young people per week.

SELFA is now based in a building that was a school until 2017, when it closed due to a shortage of pupils. There, Pears and her team provide wellbeing support, one-to-one and group classes, meals and food boxes from a community fridge that is funded partly from grants and partly from a partnership with FareShare. Children also have access to a playground and an allotment.

Pears loves Skipton and is proud of the recognition it has received. “But that doesn’t always tell the real story about those hidden pockets of deprivation – particularly the rural poverty that we see here,” she says. “It is a great place to live and a lovely place to grow up, but it’s not so great if you don’t have access to services.”

That need has grown exponentially. “Our work has ramped up every year,” Pears says. “Since Covid, our reach has increased by a third, and our income’s increased by that as well.”

Before Covid, she says, “a lot of [local families] were just about coping, getting by, and then Covid and the cost of living hit and we’ve seen a lot of families really struggling. We have people who work in supermarkets and factory workers coming to access our community fridge, because they just can’t make ends meet.

“We also provide mental health support now, which we never did before. In our community, the need for mental health support has grown so much.”

This is delivered through a subcontract from the NHS to provide sessions with children in schools, at the centre and in the community, as well as offering group sessions in schools and drop-ins.

Pears also works hard to break down the stigma attached to the need for support in feeding a family. “Some people say to me, ‘Putting food on the table’s the first thing I’d do,’ and I say, ‘Yeah, but there’s somewhere you can go to for food!’” she says.

“It’s about thinking strategically when you’re running a household – what could I get help with and what can I not get help with? You know, you’ve got to keep a roof over your head.”

Beneficiaries of the community fridge primarily come from referrals from GPs, health workers and social prescribers, but families can also self-refer, and there is no means-testing in place.

SELFA also provides transportation for food boxes, and also for children, who may have no other means of getting to and from the centre due to a lack of public transport infrastructure.

Others rarely leave their homes at all. “My main worry at the moment is those children who are at home all day in their bedrooms alone,” says Pears, referring to a recent report found that almost one in three children are avoiding school because of anxiety. “It’s incredibly detrimental for children’s wellbeing, and we’re seeing it more and more.”

She and her colleagues also support children with complex needs whose parents used to work part-time to support them, but now, “because of the cost-of-living crisis, [are] having to work full-time.”

SELFA works with children with all levels of need and disability, from one-to-one support and mentoring to small group activities, larger classes and residential holidays. Often, children and young people move on to more sociable activities as they grow in confidence.

“Our ultimate aim is that young people will grow in self-esteem and independence and aspiration and want more for themselves,” Pears says. “Children have a sense of belonging here, and they feel part of something here, and that’s the crux of it all, really. They can take that sense of belonging to other places as well.”

Their success in achieving that goal is reflected in the aspirations of the young people they support. “We have a volunteer programme for 19- to 25-year-olds, so we do have a lot of young people who come back to us to volunteer,” she says.

They are now seeking funding to create more paid roles for former service users. “We’re getting to the point where we say to young people, ‘What do you want to do?’ and they say, ‘I want to work at SELFA’, so we want to see how we can make that possible.”

Elsewhere, young people move into jobs in the local community, proving that SELFA’s work has social and economic benefits as well as helping its beneficiaries on a personal level.

Pears is also proud of the diversity within the SELFA workforce. “There’s a lot of experience in this team – people who were young carers or grew up in foster care, people who are neurodiverse and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and many people who’ve come from a place of, ‘I didn’t have the best childhood, so I get it, I understand’,” she says.

“We had our first Pride in Skipton in 2022 and our young people really drove that for the whole town and were involved with the town council, and because the team member who led on that is part of the LGBTQ+ community, the young people felt that they were seen, too, so that was really, really important.”

SELFA has also always modelled itself on the principles that now form the basis of trauma-informed approaches – “years ago, we used to call it the SELFA way,” Pears laughs – and all staff attend mandatory training on restorative practice.

That means that “every achievement is acknowledged and lauded,” Pears explains. “We have an annual SELFA celebration, and one parent said, ‘My child has never, ever won anything before.’” That child, who was adopted and had struggled in a school that did not cater well to neurodiversity, had been chosen as the SELFA Superstar of the year by their peers.

“Children and young people want care, they want it close to home, and they want it from people they know and trust. My motto is, ‘What more can we do?’”

SELFA’s financial independence comes with barriers, such as a reduction in funding for the north despite the government’s Levelling Up scheme. But “we can meet the need when we see it, rather than having to meet some other agenda,” Pears says. “The voice of children and young people is always at the centre of what we do.”

They also have flexibility, allowing them to give children and young people options – because, as she tells them, “you are valued and we want you here.”

Their in-house training has allowed them to support mild to moderate psychological needs, like anxiety, they have also received training from Mind on mental health first aid and one-to-one mentoring, and there is at least one trained crisis worker in every group.

This allows them to go some way towards plugging the socioeconomic gap at play in home-based wellbeing support – parents who work long hours and are under intense stress, Pears notes, are less equipped to support their children than those who have more comfortable incomes and the flexibility to work from home.

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When the Big Issue visits, the Youth Action Group – one of SELFA’s offerings for secondary-aged children – are getting ready for dinner. “We do things that help other people,” explains one participant, who started attending SELFA when she was four and is now 12. “So, for example, in the past, we’ve given refugees blankets for the winter, and we did a bake sale.”

Elsewhere, a group of primary-aged children are using mood cards to discuss their emotions. “What does empathy mean?” asks a young girl, to which the group leader replies, “That’s a really good question!”

Since the election of the coalition, deprivation and poverty has increased across the UK, and “children and young people have been the worst-hit in the last 14 years,” Pears says. But she remains optimistic.

“I don’t want to read another report or another article about how terrible things are in this country. We need people to do the doing! We need people out there, and I think that if we’re not working directly with children and young people then we’re not doing our job.

“Children and young people want care, they want it close to home, and they want it from people they know and trust. My motto is, ‘What more can we do?’”

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? We want to hear from you. Get in touch and tell us more.

When he inherited £100,000, David Clarke decided to let 12 strangers give the money away. Clarke brought together 12 people from Liverpool’s L8 postcode, in a project called Wealth Shared. The strangers met for four two-hour sessions, where they debated how to use the money.

L8 is in Liverpool Riverside, the 37th most deprived constituency in England. The total median income is £7,000 lower than the national average. Participants had seen wealth disparities first-hand, from boarded-up buildings to rough sleepers. They also knew the reputation of local charities and organisations working to address these issues.

Wealth Shared recently revealed how the 12 participants gave the money away. 

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They split the funds between four local organisations: £25k each to The Florrie community centre; The Dingle, Granby and Toxteth (DGT) Collaborative – a network of schools; the Team Oasis children’s charity and the Granby and Toxteth Development Trust.

The money could prove vital to the DGT Collaborative. Headteachers in the group’s schools say they have “never known” such financial pressure. Food banks on school premises have seen a surge in demand and the schools are providing extra meals to children who would otherwise go hungry. Staff have resorted to whip-rounds to cover rising utility costs. 

The headteachers say that the money will improve life prospects for around 1,000 kids in their care. Beyond the direct impact of funding, some of the chosen organisations describe a “morale boost” from being selected by local people.

Participatory budgeting, similarly, allows community members to decide how government money is spent. Developed by the Brazilian Workers’ Party in the 1980s, participatory budgeting has been used in local government in Scotland. Take the ‘Wee Green Grants’ initiative. In 2019, Glasgow City Council allocated £150,000 to be spent on green spaces. Eight community members from across the city formed a panel, allocating funding to 28 applicants.

In their book City of Equals, Profs Jonathan Woolf and Avner De Shalit say participatory budgeting isn’t about the money; it’s about giving participants a “sense of meaning” within their community. The Wealth Shared report concluded that “perhaps the lasting impact for us… is the culture of trust, mutual support and altruism.” It’s hard to put a price tag on that.

Chris Poole is a freelance journalist.

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy!

If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue or give a gift subscription. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play

Lorraine Byrne scrubs and scrubs the walls but black mould keeps coming back. She lives in a damp and cold two-bed council flat with her husband and four children on the Nags Head estate in Tower Hamlets, East London.

Last winter she moved the chest of drawers in the bedroom where her three eldest children sleep, and mould covered in fluff stretched up the unit. She was pregnant at the time.

“I just want to know that my kids aren’t suffering from breathing in those damp spores,” Byrne, 38, says. “There’s only so much you can do. We can mask it but it’s still there. It’s in the air. It’s in the walls. It’s like one of those horror movies.”

Byrne’s neighbours on the Tower Hamlets estate face similarly dangerous living conditions – black mould causing respiratory problems, slugs coming through the floors, crumbling staircases and mice.

Their housing association Peabody, a non-profit claiming “to create affordable homes and inclusive communities where people can flourish”, has failed to provide long-term solutions.

Residents on the Nags Head estate have had enough of feeling ignored and blamed. They are grouping together to fight back and demand better living conditions.

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Supported by the London Renters Union, Disability Rights UK and Medact, the residents have been connected to lawyers and journalists putting pressure on the housing association, and they are hopeful that they will finally see change and inspire other estates to rise up against their landlords.

“I want to get my placard out and go marching,” Byrne says. “We were made to feel like we were alone and it was our fault, but we’re not on our own. We’re not going to suffer in silence.”

The group was started by residents Kevin Biderman and his partner Helena Walsh, who both have experience in activism. There has always been old-fashioned neighbourliness on the estate, which grew during the pandemic. They hosted gardening activities and a Jubilee party.

As they became closer, they realised the severity of problems. They began leafleting and started a WhatsApp group and now have a newsletter and meet regularly in a local pub where they are referred to as “the mould people!”

“We wouldn’t have thought mould would bring people together, but it’s also been really lovely,” Biderman laughs. “Individually we are disempowered but, when we work together, it is fantastic.”

For their first eight years in the property, the bath’s overflow pipe was unconnected so water went into the foundations. Slugs came up. They have also had cockroaches, mice, silverfish and mould.

“If we weren’t washing our daughter’s room, it would be covered in black mould,” Biderman says. His daughter has just turned 18. “One day we moved her wardrobe and saw black mould behind it. In lockdown, we had to spend a lot of time in the house and she started having respiratory problems.”

Next door, 57-year-old Simon Pearce rents an almost-identical property. His doctor has told him not to scrub the mould off because it was damaging his chest. One room is now unliveable, mould stretching up the wall and around the windows. It’s freezing cold, even on a mild day, and damp hangs in the air. 

“Peabody did a mould wash or two, but that’s not a solution,” Pearce says. “The spores stay in the plaster.”

After Pearce’s property featured on Channel 4 and ITV News, Peabody promised action – but that was more than two months ago and nothing has been done. 

He says: “They’ve done nothing for seven years. ‘Speak to the solicitor’ is essentially my line now. They said three years ago they were going to come so I booked a week off work. Nobody came. I phoned and phoned and phoned and got no response.”

A spokesperson for Peabody said: “We’re really sorry for the poor conditions in some of the homes and communal areas of this aging estate. It’s clear that wide-ranging improvements need to be made and we’ve launched a programme of repairs to fix the immediate problems, while also looking at longer-term investment. 

“We’ve met with residents and have partnered with a specialist company to inspect every home on the estate, ensuring we’re aware of every issue and can make the necessary repairs. It’s our priority to ensure all Peabody homes are safe and well maintained.”

Peabody claims to have spent £356m on looking after residents’ homes and it plans to spend a further £2bn over the next few years. It also says it carries out more than 1,000 proactive home inspections each month and has a dedicated damp and mould team.

Biderman says Peabody has recently increased all tenants’ rent on the Nags Head estate.

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Poor living conditions are a widespread problem across the UK. Nearly 5,000 excess deaths were caused by cold and damp homes last winter, according to the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. 

The death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in 2020 put a spotlight on the catastrophic health impacts of poor-quality homes, but stories continue to emerge. The Big Issue exposed a recent case where a baby was hospitalised six times because of mould.

In April, the government is introducing Awaab’s Law, which will force social landlords to make emergency repairs within 24 hours. It is a significant step towards ensuring healthier living environments in social housing, but residents of Nags Head are demanding bigger and long-term changes to their properties.

Mould is not the only concern. Khadija Hussain-Chowdhury, who lives with her dad and brother, has faced extensive housing problems which have exacerbated her physical and mental health conditions.

The 19-year-old suffers from anxiety, depression, asthma and has ligament issues in her knee. She recently fell down the stairs, up to her property on the third floor. “It cracked completely. It crumbled under me. I ended up falling down the stairs and fractured my foot.”

“It’s not just the physical impacts but also the emotional mental impact,” she adds. “I haven’t left the house. The only time I left the house I ended up having a panic attack that almost sent me to hospital.

“Prior to this incident, my anxiety was starting to get a little better. I was slowly being able to leave my house. But this completely set me back. I was making so much progress. I was so proud of myself and now it’s all just gone back to nothing.”

Peabody boarded up the stairs after Hussain-Chowdhury featured on ITV News – but the stairs are now uneven and she says she has spoken to residents who have “fallen down the stairs because of their quick-fix methods”. 

It’s the strong community keeping residents on the Nags Head estate – as well as there being few options for affordable housing in London. Peabody offers a combination of market rent homes, social housing and key worker accommodation.

Mikey Erhardt, housing campaigner at Disability Rights UK, said: “It is appalling that the tenants of Nags Head suffered for so long before Peabody even acknowledged the issue. We know this culture of mismanagement, poor conditions, and tenant exploitation is rife across the social housing sector.

“The consequences of their negligence crisis are stark and frightening. The disabled tenants of Nags Head need certainty and consistency in their housing situations. Peabody needs to take this situation seriously, finally listening to the tenants of Nags Head and working with them so everyone gets warm, safe, accessible housing.”

Inside the house, Hussain-Chowdury says there is condensation and dripping pipes. Her dad sleeps in the living room and when it was raining, water kept coming into the living room because the sealant was broken. They had to chase Peabody multiple times before it was fixed.

“Peabody negate responsibility through outsourcing,” Biderman says. “Even with damp and mould, sometimes someone would just come with a bit of mould spray and we could probably have done that ourselves. There wasn’t the level of care we needed.”

Peabody has sent a surveyor round properties, but residents claim they were there just 15 minutes. By comparison, an independent surveyor was there for two hours.

The residents believe huge structural changes need to be made in each home to make them “fit for human habitation”. They share walls, ceilings and floors. Every property needs to be fixed or problems will spread.

For Byrne’s family who are unable to afford anything but the two-bed flat assigned to them by the council, moving is not an option. She has noticed two of her children suffer with coughs, possibly caused by the mould. “If I’m brutally honest, I hope they bulldoze the whole lot down and rehouse us,” she says. 

A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets council said: “We are disappointed to hear about the issues residents are facing. We expect all housing providers in Tower Hamlets to ensure their homes are of a good standard, safe, and free from damp and mould.”

They advised social housing tenants to lodge a formal complaint with their landlord and, if they are not satisfied with the response, to escalate their complaint to the housing ombudsman.

The residents of Nags Head agree there is power in joining their neighbours to fight for better living conditions, and they are hopeful Peabody will finally be forced to take action.

“I’m pretty sure that every single person on this estate has experienced negligence from Peabody,” Hussain-Chowdhury says. “No matter how big or small the negligence is, every voice matters. There is strength in numbers.

“We’re fighting for our voices to be heard. We want our problems taken seriously. We’re paying all this flipping rent and council tax. They’re not doing their part in keeping us safe. We deserve to feel safe.”

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? We want to hear from you. Get in touch and tell us more.

The last 10 years have been punctuated by a chain of damning scandals in adult social care. Despite ever-growing and militant disabled activism in the UK, the 21st century has seen the most severely learning disabled subjected to continued institutional neglect.

At their best, residential care homes for the disabled operate in a context of stretched-to-the-limit financial resources, with adult social care budgets being among the first cut by austerity policies. At their worst, they provide a backdrop to horrifying tales of violence and torture against our most vulnerable citizens.

These stories haunted Peter and Sally Lawrence as their son, Simon, approached his 25th birthday. Simon is severely autistic, non-verbal, has severe learning disabilities and epilepsy. He was soon due to leave the residential specialist school where he had been since the age of eight and the future looked bleak. Nowhere in Surrey had the capacity to look after Simon, and the council seemed set on sending him to a residential site over 200 miles away from his family.

Desperate for an alternative, Peter and Sally took matters into their own hands. Pointing out the financial strain of sending young people out of county – it can cost social services £350,000 a year per placement – as well as the council’s duty of care over its most vulnerable, they approached Surrey County Council with a revolutionary plan.

Through perseverance and publicity, the couple persuaded Surrey to build and finance Linden Farm, a six-acre site that has been home to 10 severely autistic adults since 2019. The residential facility offers its disabled tenants a range of activities, from horse riding and sailing to arts and crafts and horticulture. Equally important, it provides a safe outdoor space for vulnerable young people who have a range of challenging behaviours.

The home is funded by a combination of disabled living allowances, social care funding and charitable donations. The Simon Trust, Peter and Sally’s charity, provided £250,000 worth of specialist additions, including a 400m bike track, sensory room and allotment. “It’s an amazing place,” Peter says. “Every day, we get letters from desperate parents wanting to know how we did it.”

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Deirdre is mother to 20-year-old Newman, who has autism as well as complex needs. He’s outgoing, energetic and great company. He’s also a big eater and enjoys climbing and running around outdoors. Despite struggling with communication, he loves to be with other people. But Newman currently spends his days sitting alone in what Deirdre describes as “a box”, the only social accommodation the council had to offer when the two found themselves homeless last year.

When Newman was 17, Deirdre, her husband and their then-seven-year-old daughter were at breaking point. “We realised we couldn’t do it much longer,” Deirdre says. “It was getting harder and harder to stretch ourselves to meet his needs.” Despite the council allocating Newman a local, purpose-built flat, for reasons unclear to Deirdre they seemed reluctant to move him into it anytime soon.

Over the following two years, both Deirdre and her husband suffered nervous breakdowns and their relationship eventually broke down too. In desperation, Deirdre left home with Newman and called the council to tell them a vulnerable adult was now homeless, forcing them to find him emergency accommodation. “It had to get to that point for them to do something,” Deirdre says. “We had been through absolute hell.”

A month later Newman moved into supported accommodation, the flat where he remains today. Some days he doesn’t leave the tiny space at all, sitting alone watching YouTube videos. He rarely has any interaction with the other residents as there’s no shared communal space. “He’s literally like a caged animal in that flat,” Deirdre describes.

Early last year, during a period when staff turnover was especially high, Newman began self-harming. What started as him clenching his hands tightly into his palms turned into skin picking and at one point he had nine open wounds on his body. It was a brutal sign of the emotional stress that the instability of the care staff was causing and Deirdre knew she had to act.

Inspired by Linden Farm, Deirdre has formed a group with nine other sets of parents in Dorset who, like her, want to build a local alternative to the current social care options. They’re currently looking for land they can build on and will then present a proposal to the council. “We all want the same thing, not only for our children but also for the next generation,” Deirdre says. “We want to be the pioneers of something new because this situation can’t continue.”

Newman’s experience of sub-standard care and unsuitable accommodation is not unique. Forty years of privatisation in the sector have left local authorities and the NHS with little control over services. The common assumption behind privatisation was that it would both increase efficiency and reduce cost. However, with lax monitoring of contracts and vague specifications of standards, privatisation can lead to a race to the bottom in terms of quality of care.

Deirdre is adamant that her son’s quality of life should be the priority. “We have to create a world where people matter more than money,” she says, adding: “The thought of other parents going through what I did a year ago is horrifying.”

The Disabled Children’s Partnership found that only one in seven disabled young people had the correct level of support from social care. More than 70% of parents reported their disabled child’s health had deteriorated due to delayed or reduced support. According to Mencap, over 2,000 people with a learning disability are currently being held in inpatient mental health hospitals.

Living hundreds of miles away from Deirdre, Sophie has had to battle throughout her son’s life to get him the support he needs. Twenty-three-year-old Tom has limited motor skills, severe learning difficulties, epilepsy, is non-verbal and a full-time wheelchair user. He can’t drive his own powerchair, so is always dependent on someone else – unless he’s in the water, where he can walk unaided. Like Newman, Tom loves to be outside. He’s recently developed a taste for classical music. “It’s been really nice,” says Sophie. “Instead of endless Trolls movie songs, we’re listening to a bit of Bach.”

When Tom turned 15 it became clear his school couldn’t cope – wheeling him out into the corridor to ‘calm down’ being their main strategy to address his increasingly challenging behaviours. Surrey County Council resisted Sophie’s request for a more suitable school and forced her and her husband to take the case to tribunal. They won – but it came at a massive financial and emotional cost. “They push it to the wire because they want you to give up,” Sophie explains.

Sophie now senses another battle on the horizon as, when Tom reaches 25, he will have to leave college, and she doesn’t know where he will go next. It’s not safe or physically possible for Sophie to look after Tom at the family home and, like all parents of children with learning disabilities, Sophie is acutely aware of the need to have suitable accommodation and care for Tom in place before her and her husband pass away. Like Peter and Sally, she’s haunted by the tales of abuse in care homes. “My son is so vulnerable, he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone,” she explains. But she’s adamant: “I’m never going to let that happen.”

Linden Farm is the kind of environment Sophie envisages for Tom going forward. Like Deirdre, she too has joined forces with a group of local parents, hell-bent on building an alternative future for their children. They’re currently in the process of putting together a proposal to the council and Sophie is gearing up to battle for Tom, again. “I’m going to fight,” she says. “Nobody’s going to do it for me.”

Deirdre and Sophie are just two of the hundreds of parents who have contacted Peter and Sally. And now, the couple are campaigning to expand their new model of social care for disabled adults nationwide. Peter is adamant that, even where local authorities are short of cash, through collaboration and innovation, parents and councils can create change.

“They’ve each got a problem,” he says. “They have to find a solution together.”

Big Issue founder Lord John Bird pledged to “slit the throat of poverty” as vendors and staff gathered at the House of Lords to celebrate National Vendor Week 2024.

Vendors, staff and Big Issue ambassador Sophie Winkelman met in Westminster, London, to pay tribute to the 3,700 people who sell the Big Issue magazine – and to reaffirm the Big Issue’s commitment to eradicating destitution.

In a rousing speech, Lord Bird congratulated the vendors who work hard to make a better life for themselves.

“Homelessness should not be encouraged to be a lifelong condition. It should be a transitional place,” he said. “We [should] work in society to break people from homelessness, to get them out, to give them not just a voice but to give them an exit.”

Lord Bird celebrated the “incredible” work of the Big Issue group, which – through its recruitment and investment arms – has “reconfigured itself into the world of preventing homelessness.”

“We have even more people who are just as desperate as our vendors… but they’re often living in homes, and only just about hanging on,” he said.

“[The Big Issue] is going to have to stretch our arms wide to include all those people so that we don’t leave anybody behind.”

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Amidst the celebration, the Big Issue founder didn’t hesitate to put the government on notice for its “scattergun” approach to poverty, reiterating his call for a dedicated Ministry of Poverty.

Royal, actress and Big Issue ambassador Sophie Winkleman paid tribute to the “brave and strong” vendors who face “relentless hardship” to sell the magazine every day.

“I firmly believe that helping hands should be available to anyone and everyone who finds themselves in the horrific reality of being homeless or vulnerably housed,” she said.

“What are we as a society if we don’t help our brothers and sisters who fall along the way?”

Winkleman is a self-professed “big fan” of the magazine – when she worked in LA for six years, her mother posted her the magazine every single week. But the actor and Peep Show star urged the public to acknowledge sellers even if they can’t buy a copy themselves.

“Random eye contact a smile, a few words are free… we’re all human,” she said. “We’re all exactly the same, separated only by some bad luck, either in childhood or along the way, and social interaction is crucial during tough times.”

The event was attended by current and former vendors, many of whom shared their inspiring stories.

Bournemouth vendor Karl Burns entered care at age three and said he spent time in “every type of institution and prison this country has to offer.”

Three years ago, he was hospitalised by a brutal attack. But the Big Issue helped him piece his life back together and to regain contact with his children.

“I see my children every single day now,” he said. “I now have a flat on the other end of the road to my children. I love [selling the Big Issue], and there isn’t anything else I would do.”

Bristol vendor and aspiring author Jack Osbourne-Richardson said he was “humbled’ by the generosity of his customers, who raised money to buy him a laptop.

“99.9% of people would rather give you a hand up than a kick in the face,” he said.

Over the past 12 months, the Big Issue group has given 4,000 people the opportunity to change their lives through enterprise, including by selling the magazine or being helped into work through Big Issue Recruit (BIR).

That work has resulted in the delivery of £5.3m of social value to the UK economy – including £4m generated through sales of The Big Issue magazine and £1.3m through BIR’s work to help marginalised individuals move into the full-time workplace.

Big Issue Recruit job coach Shak Dean paid tribute to the marginalised people who he helps into the workplace.

“Everyone has potential. We are not the sum of the worst parts of our lives,” he said.

National Vendor Week 2024 is the second annual celebration of Big Issue vendors. It was launched alongside a report from the Big Issue Group about a significant 8% year-on-year increase in the number of people that the Big Issue has helped.

Big Issue CEO Paul Cheal celebrated the hard work of these vendors.

“As varied as the Big Issue’s work now is, it all starts with our vendors, and that original principal established 33 years ago to provide impoverished people with the opportunity to generate an income for themselves.”