FLOGGING THE BIG ISSUE ... NOT ALWAYS PRETTY!!

FLOGGING THE BIG ISSUE IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE OF LONDON'S ALOOF HUMANITY, WHICH SUCKS WHEN YOU SEE EVERY DAY THOUSANDS OF COLD FOLKZ JUST WALK ON BY AND NEVER GIVE A DIME OR THOUGHT ABOUT ANYBODY BUT THEMSELVES.
THE KIND OF FOLKZ WHO RARELY GIVE ARE ODDLY VERY TALL AND VERY SHORT PEOPLE. THOSE WHO ARE EASTERN EUROPEAN OR AFRICAN OR ASIAN OR CARRIBEAN IMMIGRANTS DON'T BUY THE BIG ISSUE NOR DO THEY GIVE TO VENDORS. THE POLES TEND TO SEND WHATEVER MONEY THEY EARN IN ENGLAND AND/OR EIRE TO THEIR POLISH FAMILIES FIRST. THEY SENT LAST YEAR SOME FIVE BILLION -- YES 5 BILLION -- POUNDS TO POLAND FROM ENGLAND ALONE. NO WONDER WE HAVE A HUGE SHORTAGE OF FIFTY POUNDS NOTES THESEDAYS BECAUSE THE POLES SHIP THEM TO PLACES LIKE KROKOW AND OTHER POLISH CITIES IN BULK.
AREN'T WE ALSO SHIPPING OUR NATION'S WEALTH WITH SO MUCH MONEY TO ANOTHER FOREIGN COUNTRY? NOT TO MENTION THE POSSIBILITY OF MONEY LAUNDERING RIGHT UNDER OUR OWN NOSE! OTHERS WHO DO NOT GIVE ARE PEOPLE MUNCHING ON FOOD AS THEY WALK BY. THEY'RE TOO CONCERNED WITH FEEDING THEIR OWN BIG BELLY AND NOT THE BELLY OF SOME POOD DEVIL TRYING TO MAKE A FEW QUID BY SELLING THE LASTEST EDITION OF THE BIG ISSUE ...
SO WHO GIVES? FOR ME, I FIND YOUNG PROFESSIONAL WOMEN IN THEIR LATE 20's and mid 3o's WHO GIVE REGULARLY AND BUY
WHAT VENDORS HAVE TO SELL. OLDER WOMEN IN THEIR LATE 5o's and early 60's TEND TO BE "MOTHERING" AND SO GIVE, TOO.
LAWYERS -- OF WHICH AT LEAST 15 percent ARE MY REGULAR CUSTOMERS, I WOULD SAFELY SAY -- GIVE GENEROUSLY TO ME AND
SO DO FOLKZ FROM THE ROYAL BALLET AND DOZENS OF BUSINESSMEN AND WOMEN STOP BY NOT ONLY TO BUY MY MAGAZINES
BUT ALSO TO CHAT AT LENGTH WITH ME ONA BROAD RANGE OF TOPICS FROM HIDEOUS TONY BLAIR TO BRIGHT BIG ISSUE CO-FOUNDER JOHN BIRD, MBE!! WHEN YOU'RE A VENDOR ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THOSE WHO WANT THE LEAST GIVE THE MOST
AND THOSE WHO WANT THE MOST GIVE THE LEAST. IF YOU'RE GIVEN A 20 quid note, YOU'LL FIND THE PERSON WANTS LITTLE OR
NOTHING IN RETURN. NOT EVEN A MAGAZINE, WHICH THEY SAY KEEP AND SELL TO SOMEONE ELSE. WHILE THE OTHER TYPE
WHO GIVE YOU A MERE £I.50 FOR A COPY CAN BE FUSSY AND DEMAND YOU GIVE THEM NOT A PENNY SHORT THAT YOU
OWE THEM IN CHANGE ... ONE TITLED WOMAN CAME AND DEMANDED I CHANGE HER £50- note FOR ONE LOUSY COPY OF BIG ISSUE!
WHEN I TOLD HER I COULD NOT CHANGE IT SHE BECAME IRRATE AT ME ... SHE THEN SNOOTLYASKED ME: "AREN'T YOU IN
THE BUSINESS OF SELLING MAGAZINES? I SAID: "MOST CERTAINLY MY DEAR, HOW MANY COPIES WOULD YOU LIKE?" SHE FIRED
BACK AND SAID: "YOU'RE RATHER CHEEKY, I MUST SAY." INDEED MY DEAR, I SAID TO MYSELF ... I THINK SHE WANTED EARLY MORNING CHANGE FOR HER PARKING METER ... I WAS GLADD TO SEE THE BACK OF THE TIGHT-FISTED BITCH ...

I WILL WRITE MORE ABOUT SELLING THE BIG ISSUE, SINCE ONE OF MY YOUNG CUSTOMERS ALEX PRIOR SAYS THAT FOLKZ WOULD
PERHAPS LIKE TO READ ABOUT SUCH THINGS. I THINK ALEX MAYBE RIGHT. IF I'M WRONG, I CAN ALWAYS BLAME HIM! BY THE
WAY, I DO ALSO HAVE A FAIR NUMBER OF YOUNG FOLKZ -- RANGING IN THE 20 something age group -- WHO BUY AND GIVE. BUT SUCH IS THE EXCEPTION AND NOT THE RULE I THINK FOR YOUNG ADULTS AND CERTAIN COLLEGE STUDENTS AND THOSE TYPE WHO SEEM NOT TO HAVE BEEN REARED TODAY TO GIVE TO THE HOMELESS OR THOSE SEEN BY THEM AS STREET RIFF-RAFF. PITY!! SO FROM WHAT I SEE AS A VENDOR ON THE STREET IS HOW I JUDGE WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON THE PUBLIC STREETS OF ENGLAND'S CAPITAL CITY ...

LET ME ALSO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS SOMEDAYS ALL TOO OFTEN WHEN I EARN ABOUT A QUID OR 2 US BUCKS AN HOUR BY TRYING TO FLOG THE BIG ISSUE AT MY PITCH, WHERE I HAVE BEEN NOW FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS. SOMEDAYS ARE SO PITIFUL ONE WONDERS HOW SOME VENDORS CAN EVEN BUY A CUPPA OF TEA LET ALONE BUY A SANDWICH TO EAT DUE TO SUCH POOR STREET TRADE!! OTHER DAYS IT SEEMS MONEY IS GROWING ON TREES -- ESPECIALLY AT CHRISTMASTIDE -- WHEN I FIND MY POCKETS BURSTING WITH ALL THE 1's, 2's, 5's, and 1o's FROM SUCH CHRISTMASY PEOPLE. BUT GENERALLY, I THINK , MOST VENDORS ARE HADICAPPED IN MAKING ENDS MEET BY SOLELY SELLING THE BIG ISSUE UNLESS THEY ARE SKILLED AT SELLING
OR HAVE BUILT-UP, LIKE I HAVE, A GOOD CUSTOMER BASE OVER THE YEARS ...
AS FOR THE BIG ISSUE MOTTO: ''STREET TRADE, NOT STREET AID'' I FIND IT IS A RATHER ODD MOTTO TO ME ... BECAUSE YEARS AGO IN LONDON ''STREET TRADE'' REFERRED SPECIFICALLY TO MALE AND FEMALE PROSTITUTES PLYING THEIR SEX TRADE ON THE DIRTY STREETS!!! I THINK THE MOTTO SHOULD READ SOMETHING MORE LIKE: ''BIG COMMERCE FOR HOMELESS TRADERS.''

NOW THIS LITTLE QUIZ I AM ABOUT TO PRESENT HERE IS SIMPLY THIS: ''WHAT DOES THE COVER OF THE WEEKLY BIG ISSUE NEVER HAVE THAT ALL OTHER MAGAZINES FOR SALE ALWAYS DO HAVE?'' SEND YOUR ANSWER(S) TO MY BLOG ... OK!!
alex albion for thebiggerissue.org

2oo7 world scout jamboree ... now forget it

awhat a great day it was at the 2oo7 world scout jamboree!! it was great to talk to so many from around the world. in fact, over one hundred and sixty countries were present today. the day started out very iffy weatherwise, but by mid-morning things started to lookup. inside the jamboree there were some huge puddles of wet water from the overnight downpours. my last scouting event, by the way, was at AP Fort Hill in Virginia where I spent the day there back in 1986 at america's national jamboree. the states, of course, has the largest number of scout members in the world. the american scout presence here at hyland park was pretty big, too. security at the 2oo7 event was almost oppressive compared to the 1986 event. everything this year is completely computerised and designed to nab one and all who they suspect of any possible wrong sexual motives... we're living in a world of ever growing suspiciousness of others and at where trust is a dying commodity at every level of our big brother society.
athe scout movement has lost its innocence like so many youngsters we read about thesedays killing each other for the least little thing in london's urban jungle. go to peckham for a ride and see what i mean ... i must say that i found a huge white population of male and female scouts with hardly a black face peeping at me!! obviously gangstra and hiphop and goth kidz don't don scout uniforms very readily, do they?
aoh yes, females were admitted to the scout movement in the early 1990's. such adds a balance against the canopy of homosexuality in an all young male environment that was once the scouts. also today, as the times noted yesterday in its two page spread on marking the 100th anniversary British scouting, there is an increase of youngsters wanting to belong to the faternity of likeminded kidz. around 28 million of them belong now. although such places like cuba along with north korea, (which i recently visited at it's capital of pyongyang) don't harbour scouts per se but rather youth pioneers instead. otherwise, scouting is global in every sense. it the world's largest peace youth movement, so i read elsewhere on the internet. did i enjoy my visit to the world scout jamboree? not really!! it was too suffercating to me. it was too programmed and too controlled at every leg for such day visitors like me ... but i was gald i went. just some very quick and rushed thoughs to share with you ...

good for you mate. tell it how it is at big issue. i know. i was a seller.
they dont care nothing about you and me. dont get me started on sam.
she trusts nobody. i asked for a few {Big Issue} copies to tie me over. she
said NO. i told her i would pay her in 2 days. NO, NO, NO. that is what you get from big issue. no help from her. i dont do any crimes. no old women get mugged. {John} duffy wants to give sellers a bad name. he does, dont he. old seller - jj.

I want to thank my Big Issue friends and customers for their private responses to the protest of "Mugging Old Ladies." I have more to say in a few days times. But thanks again!! Monty.

Yet Another Letter "The Big Issue" Doesn't Want You To Freely Read ...
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"MUGGING OLD LADIES," DID HE SAY??!!
John Walker's article "Big Scheme For Canterbury" [BI No. 752) was all fine and dandy until I read the disturbing comments of former Big Issue seller John Duffy.Described now as a business developer for the international (Big Issue) publication, John Duffy had the mindset and gall to declare: "A number ofhomeless people turn to crime, so we're proud to offer them an alternative way of making a living." The implication of what he says is that the homelessare per se more likely to commit crime than other social entities. The homeless as a collective and societal group are, in my opinion, no more prone to crimethan those who are NOT homeless. In other words, to stereotype the homeless as turning to crime above and beyond other citizens is glib and judgemental to say the least.

Still not content with his condescending put down of the homeless, John Duffy then goes on to rant even further: "We would much rather they (the homeless)were making their money by selling The Big Issue than by mugging old ladies." "MUGGING OLD LADIES," did he say??!! No way, Mr. Duffy!! Your negative characterization of the homeless, and indirectly every Big Issue vendor of which I happen to be one, is tantamount to pseudo-criminology on your part at best. And at worst a kind of self-propelled and flippant demagogy all of your own making that makes me want to spew or vomit all over you!! I cannot and will not let you or anybody else get away with such damning comments that I strongly and unequivocally protest and condemn. Especially when such comments are attributed to a full-time representative of The Big
Issue and an ex-vendor himself. Wasn't he also homeless? You bet!!
While John Duffy may also be a Big Issue case study on the internet, or an ex-bricklayer, or a would-be trekker to the Himalayas come this autumn to raiseneeded funds for the homeless, he needs first to learn and use words and expressions that give big comfort and big dignity to those who, for whatever reason, have become homeless through circumstances not always of their own making. As far as I know, they don't go running around "mugging old ladies." Thus, to colour them by words of criminalization is the last thing folkz like him should be doing -- period!
The Big Issue is BIG on trying to uplift those who are downtrodden by the plight of homelessness and marginalization in post-modern Britain. Moreover, the bigand positive story coming from out of Anglican Canterbury is best demonstrated by such newly selected vendors as David Gallacher, who will undoubtedly represent all that is good and best among Big Issue vendors. Such then is a far cry from the contrived hysteria of "mugging old ladies" that John Duffy seems towant to ram down our throats to engender further fear and disquiet among the general public. Plus, particularly among the uneasy ranks of our civil and police authorities toward those who happen to be homeless and/or sleeping rough. We need comments and actions that boost confidence and esteem even among those who are least favoured by our materialistic and self-centered society that is all too prevalant today. Therefore, all I can say at this point to Mr. Duffy is for godsake "SHUT YOUR BIG MOUTH" And no more comments about "mugging old ladies," please ... Vendor No. 236. +St. James, 2oo7.
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With so much going on, thebiggerissue.org has been neglected for all too long. so now expect alot more in the coming months about
my activities, opinions, letters, and news items with my critical views to hopefully share with you and the rest of the world ...

:: Here what I'm upto in the next few weeks and months of 2oo7:
:: Aug 2-5th :: I attend the 5th World Homeless Cup at Copenhagen, Denmark.
:: Aug 6-12th :: I visit the Faroe Islands to relax for awhile.
:: Aug 16th :: Will be present at an audience with ex-US President William Jefferson Clinton.
:: Sept 11-18 :: Visit Iran's Tehran, Qom, Sardi, and elsewehere to
discover the abiding history of Islamic Persia.
:: Nov, 2oo8 :: Attend the 1st International Conference on Homelessness at Melbourne, Australia.

Cheers for now ... thebiggerissue.org
+The 7th Sunday after Trinity, 2oo7.
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