Hidden talent
I appreciate Big Issue’s need to appoint high-profile ambassadors so that the big issues of the day are highlighted. Big Issue’s five new ambassadors, Chris Packham, Michelle de Swarte, Mike Soutar, Kwajo Tweneboa and Rotimi Merriman-Johnson, fit the bill.
I am sure they will campaign with great vigour and determination to end poverty and homelessness, and ensure that health and wealth equality becomes the norm in the UK.
Hiding in the background, however, you have an ambassador in the making. In the same issue, you presented an investigation into health inequalities [Better health for all]. The final article was Emily-May Stephenson’s experiences of long Covid. Literally, what a star! Here was a youngster living her dreams: acting and singing on the West End, touring the country in the hit show, Matilda the Musical.
Her world turned upside down when she contracted Covid in August 2021. While most people recovered, Emily-May was struck down by multiple conditions – long Covid, ME/CFS and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). She is just 18 now, her acting career is over, and she is living with these chronic health conditions. Did she seek solace in self-pity? Certainly not. Emily-May changed course and steered towards her passion for photography and visual storytelling; stories of others and the world around her.
With touching eloquence she highlights two important factors for those living with chronic health conditions: “The feeling of being understood and the knowledge that we do not have to face everything on our own.” She is a role model for the vulnerable. Ambassador material indeed!
Mike Hobbins, Woking
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Tech trouble
I’m a 48-year-old man who has been fortunate to stay employed throughout my career. This is down to me being computer literature and obtaining an NVQ in IT when I was in my late teens – something I achieved in prison. Without this I don’t know how my life would have panned out. Why do I say this? Because now everything needs a computer to get anywhere in life. My generation, my brother’s, my friends and many others don’t have this knowledge. So they go to the Jobcentre and they struggle. To apply for a job you need an email address, and you need a CV that’s generated using a computer. Rant over.
G, by email
Right of reply
I sent an email to my MP, Chris Murray (Labour), about the fear my partner and I are facing. We both receive disability benefits. What I got back was so long I haven’t managed to read it all yet. What I did understand was the lack of empathy and failure to address my questions.
It feels like he’s too busy writing 17-paragraph-long emails blaming the Tories and the Scottish government for everything to do any casework.
Lauren, email
Cuts deep
They are your friends. They are your family. They are your neighbours.
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Disabled people deserve to live. Austerity is a political choice. The UN calls it “grave and systematic violations” of human rights.
Disabled Lives Matter. Full stop. Welfare fraud is almost nonexistent. Austerity kills (330,000+ deaths). Disability is not rare – it’s part of every community.
You have the opportunity to protect the vulnerable. Fight for justice. Build a kinder world.
Dee Garrard, Facebook
Capital punishment
If things continue as they are, only the very poor (because their housing costs are paid by benefits) and the very rich will be able to continue living in London. Everyone else will be priced out.
Angie Tillyer, Facebook
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So many properties in London are not homes, they are just property. Young people don’t stand a chance.
@auntiefaff, Instagram
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