FEATURE JOHN BIRD
Enrich the lives of people in need, you’ll get that investment back a hundred times
High Street chain, The Body Shop.
John had known Gordon
20 years earlier when he was a young man, and Gordon now asked him a straightforward question: “Are you one of those
persons who crawls out of the woodwork when somebody makes a lot of money?” “Yes!” said Bird. “Well, I know where you’re
coming from,” replied Roddick. "The best con is to tell the
truth, isn’t it, sometimes?" Bird smiled.
The Big Issue was inspired
by a trip Roddick took to the US where he saw a similar scheme. In the UK, there were serious challenges to overcome. "I remember having a major meeting in a place called Lincoln’s Inn Field, where there were about 1,200 homeless people sleeping in this small park on the edge of the City, near Holborn. I said, 'Look, we’ll month and then you’ll have to pay for them.' They went absolutely ape shit!" Accused of exploiting the
homeless by selling them magazines, he replied, “Yeah, that’s right, you’ve always been you’re still homeless.” "We got about eight very
big Scotsmen and said, 'Look, we’ll give you £50 a day if you stop them trying to burn down our vans and beat us up.' We did what Imperialism does; it goes to a country, picks the big people, and calls them police to control everybody else." In a short time the Holborn
homeless were obeying his rules, staying in order. If they were rude to the public, he would take their badges away. Then, when the Government
started providing the homeless with Social Security, Bird was unimpressed: "Very quickly they emptied the streets of thousands of people and put them into the system... While we were trying to get them working, the government was getting them parked up – warehoused as long-term unemployed people, where most of them still are." Bird's message is complex –
far more so than the "problem" of homelessness as presented in the papers. “You don't just help
people,” he tells me. “You must the drive to help them realise themselves.” He knows "countless
stories" of brilliant people in the underclass "who should be running the country." But with no investment in their
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The Big Issue is both enterprising and entertaining
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Portrait of John Bird by Martin Gammon
education they have no opportunity.
"Enrich the lives of people in need, you’ll get that investment back a hundred times," says John. "You’ll move them from being outside of society, into being ratepayers and taxpayers." All this is the alternative he sees, to the expensive waste that is prison. John Bird's message, and
his life story are compelling arguments for his cause. It's not about helping people. It's about giving the right sort of help. Let's hope that somewhere along the way, the politicians will listen. b
JOHN BIRDATAGLANCE Grew up in poverty in Notting Hill, then in a Catholic orphanage
Began an early life of crime Joined art college Started printing The Big Issue to empower the homeless
The Big Issue is now sold in nine countries on four continents
empower the marginalised and homeless
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