Opinion

An unemployed man with severe learning difficulties who relies on foodbanks and spends days without electricity because of cuts to his benefits has been revealed as the real-life Daniel Blake following the film's release at cinemas. Sean Green, 49, says he has to rely on hot meals cooked by his neighbour in order to survive after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) cut his Jobseeker's Allowance. Friends have said he is being treated unfairly by the DWP because his learning difficulties...

The craft beer industry is full of gimmicks - said the trans-gender beer to the portable brewpub - but this one ain’t fooling anyone. Months after being bought by SABMiller and then passed from AB InBev to Asahi, Meantime Brewery has opened Britain’s smallest craft beer bar in Greenwich to give the impression that they're still craft at heart, paying homage to their locality and creating the illusion that they're a personal brand. A funny stance from a brand that produces...

The truism ‘prevention is better than cure’ has become a lost relic in austerity-hit Britain. The cost of applying a plaster to crisis situations is more appealing in its simplicity than precluding societal ills, and thus we waste billions of pounds funding late institutional responses such as hospitals, prisons and care homes. As a social business set up as a deterrence to homelessness The Big Issue has been in a prime position to observe the shift in mentality from prevention...

By Marcus Hendriks The referendum on 23rd June was only the third in the history of the United Kingdom. In other words, it was only the third time that true, direct democracy was witnessed. With precedent set by a nation-wide vote on membership of the European Economic Community in 1975, it was correct that the decision 41 years later should also be made by the people, rather than just the 1,400 members of the Houses of Commons and Lords. But the...

Tired of spending time with family and friends? Fed up of switching off and relaxing after work? Then we’ve got the career for you! A former teacher from my own primary school was reminiscing about that era. “Oh, you’d have loved it. You just got to teach. It was wonderful.” Those days, dear reader, are dead with no prospect of resurrection. One scamp from the Education Policy Institute recently claimed the average working hours for a teacher were 48.2 hours...

By Chris Mates  As you may or may not be aware this week is Baby Loss Awareness Week. Involving twenty-one pregnancy and baby loss charities in the UK it's a special opportunity to mark the brief lives of babies lost in pregnancy or soon after birth. If I'm truly honest I wouldn't have been aware of this event and the significance of the month ahead had it not been for my own personal experience. Two years ago my wife and...

Today is National Badger Day, but badgers have been far from celebrated recently. In an attempt to reduce bovine TB in dairy cows, a few weeks ago the government expanded its controversial badger cull to include several new areas. However, experts say that badgers are just acting as stripy scapegoats – although they may use more technical language. Evidence shows that the cull is ineffective, expensive and inhumane – so why do we continue with it? The answer is to...

Emily Loud, from the Wonder Foundation, discusses integration in modern Britain  Immigration and the challenges of community integration scarcely leave the news these days, and everyone seems to have an opinion on how or why it should be achieved. Most recently it was Labour’s Chuka Umunna's turn to weigh in. Across the grandstanding from various ends of the political spectrum, one thing is consistent – the burden of action is almost always placed exclusively on the group of immigrants in...

By Marcus Hendriks Dubai’s sky-line is a mixture of architecturally pioneering skyscrapers and cranes. This juxtaposition of present achievements and unfulfilled ambition does more than just evoke admiration; it is a tangible demonstration of the Emir’s vision for the emirate. Having now had 15 years of implementation, challenges posed by the current oil slump provide an opportune moment to assess whether Sheikh Mohammed’s vision of a diversified, flourishing economy, is being realised. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s determination to catch...