‘I feel a thrill of hope about Andy Burnham’s government. I’m not embarrassed to say I cried’

Big Issue readers respond to Andy Burnham’s conference speech, Lucy Sweet’s column about The Sopranos and one of our vendors’ fights for an accessible.

Take note, Andy Burnham

The last speech I heard before Andy Burnham’s at Labour Conference was an off-the-cuff one from Nathan, a Big Issue vendor, at a Homelessness Rally. His question was why people like him are being “swept under the carpet”
with short-term fixes like emergency accommodation and dormitory beds instead of being provided with the long-term support that can actually resolve homelessness permanently. 

So when the prime minister announced ‘Everybody In’ would be a permanent policy, my mind went back to Nathan’s distinction. We have to make sure this policy isn’t another case of sweeping under the carpet but instead is an investment in the support services with a strong track record of preventing and ending homelessness. 

Homeless Link and our members will be pushing hard to make that case. 

Stefan Francis Donnelly, LinkedIn 

RESPONSE TO:  Survival Guide newsletter on Andy Burnham’s speech

I read your words and honestly, I feel a thrill of hope. I am a participant on the Changing Realities project and was at the conference with CPAG’s Sara Ogilvie and Nyla Chowdhury, Baroness Sherlock and Mayor Kim McGuinness, on panel to speak about the child poverty strategy we worked on with government at the time. 

I am also living in relative poverty and sliding inexorably towards abject poverty, a place I and my son know only too well. This time, I don’t know if I care any more about the harm, because it has already been done. We are a while away from losing our home, but the feeling of fear is now a daily gut punch, and I just haven’t the energy for it any longer. 

Everything in the prime minister’s speech was encouraging and I am not embarrassed to say I did cry, relieved maybe, that there wasn’t the chilling emphasis I felt in the previous prime minister’s speech. 

I was there with CPAG and Changing Realities when Keir Starmer made his first conference address, and I had never felt less seen and respected as he laboured those two words: Working People. The feeling of exclusion was devastating for me at the time and I didn’t truly trust the government even though we were working with them. 

I genuinely feel a sense of change for the better, of hope that we may just turn a corner in the UK with someone in charge who values us all. Andy Burnham’s conference address was everything I wanted to hear. 

Joanne Barker-Marsh 

Read more:

• Andy Burnham: ‘Housing is a human right’
• What has new prime minister Andy Burnham said about mental health?
• Every rough sleeper to be offered a route off the street by Christmas, says Andy Burnham

My hand up

At a difficult time in my life, I was working as a glorified gofer for my line manager Peter Smith. He saw my potential and took me along with him to meetings across the university, encouraging me to actively contribute to them. He sent me on every training course possible, and I learnt so much about health and safety in that time. 

After he retired, I was able to blag my university to pay for a certificate course, which later enabled me to apply for (and get) a full-time health and safety role at another university. I owe the success of this later part of my career to Peter.  

Amanda Chapman 

A slice of gabagool

I always really enjoy Lucy Sweet’s column and was thrilled to read her review of The Sopranos, which is being shown again and which she has discovered for the first time. 

We watched the original showing avidly in the ’90s and, although I am not a fan of violence in drama, I was totally hooked by the characters’ humanity, complexity and relationships with each other. We have rewatched it on several occasions since, enjoying it more each time as the subtle nuances are more evident. It really is a work of art. 

Bobby Child 

Responses to: London vendor Jason Sallis’s fight for an accessible home

It’s just so outrageous this is the society we live in. People just trying to live their lives and up against so many barriers put there by people who would never accept the same treatment. I hope this helps him find a properly accessible home soon.

victoriaannofficial, Instagram

In the same position. Unfortunately no landlord would take on a disabled freelancer and trying to get another job is impossible.

josiej8, Instagram

It really does take too long.

katwithwheels, Instagram

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

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