Letter of complaint to the chair of The Big Issue Foundation Charity

The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless people throughout the UK on registered street pitches. This afternoon The Big Issue Head Office advised Declan that as soon as it has been confirmed by Office staff that we did not purchase a minimum of 40 magazines each week for the four weeks commenced 6 October, we will no longer be able to have a registered pitch - we will be allowed to carry on selling but not have priority on any pitch. This of course means that our pitches will most probably be terminated within the next few days, after two years of us having survived on the streets of London by selling the magazine from the same registered pitches and despite Declan's letter of complaint yesterday to the Chair of The Big Issue Foundation Steven Round (see below).

Issue Foundation is the registered charity arm of The Big Issue organisation. According to the Foundation website, The Big Issue Company Ltd publishes the weekly magazine and sells it to Big Issue vendors (wholesale) “for the purpose of giving them the opportunity to earn a legitimate income, rather than having to resort to criminal activity such as begging and theft”. This is an extremely serious situation for me in particular, in that I am facing possible prosecution for begging. So this letter of complaint to Round was emailed yesterday very much with my defense in mind, and even on appeal, if necessay:

Subject: The Big Issue

Dear Mr Round

I am writing further to the email l received from you on 4 November in your capacity as chair of The Big Issue Foundation regarding my complaint that if my wife and I have not purchased a minimum of 40 magazines each week for the four weeks commenced 6 October, from 10 November we will no longer be able to have a registered pitch - we “will be allowed to carry on selling but not have priority on any pitch”.

I re-present below a copy of my email letter of 7 October to the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue, Mr John Bird MBE, to which I did not receive a reply.

In your email of 4 November you stated that you copied the aforementioned complaint to the chief executive of the Foundation and that you would make sure that I get a response. I can confirm that I have not received a response and that this morning at Head Office I was advised by outreach worker Sanjiv Ahuja that our pitch authorisation slips were validated until the end of Tuesday of next week because no one knew the situation with respect to our pitches.

I reconfirm that on 13, 14, 15 and 16 October I emailed The Big Issue regarding my wife's new badge (1170), which, being unavailable for collection at Head Office on Monday, 13 October, did not become available for her to pick up until 1.00pm on Thursday, 16 October. The same Monday at Head Office - following my own rebadging to the end of February 2009 and the validation of our pitch authorisation slips until the end of Tuesday of the following week - I was advised by Office staff that my wife could not purchase or sell The Big Issue without her new badge.

I also reconfirm that the first two working weeks of October culminated in the so-called "Black Friday" financial crash; for two weeks thereafter shares around the world continued their downward trend, especially in London; and our pitches are located in the heart of London's financial district. As you were aware, the week before last temperatures plummeted – the first time London has seen snow in October for 70 years.

Last week the Met Office issued several severe weather warnings for London. This morning we were only able to afford to buy two Big Issues for resale.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

cc Mr Stephen Robertson, Chief Executive of The Big Issue Foundation

---------------------------

Subject: The Big Issue

Dear Mr Bird

As the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue, please find enclosed copy of an email I received yesterday, 6 October, from your Outreach Manager for London, Mr Paul Joseph. On 10 September 2007 you wrote to me, stating:

I have employed many people over the years to do jobs related to the running of The Big Issue. I have never employed them to do my job; likewise I do not do their job. Please bear this in mind when you are composing your letters. You do not need to address your letters to me, as it is not my job. I would only get involved if you were utterly and totally let down by those whose job it is in The Big Issue. I hope this assists in your deliberations in pursuit of your claims.

I wish to complain that if my wife and I do not purchase a minimum of 40 magazines each week for the next four weeks, from 10 November we will no longer be able to have a registered pitch - we "will be allowed to carry on selling but not have priority on any pitch".

Yesterday we were only able to afford to buy two Big Issues for resale, and today will only be able to afford to buy another two magazines. Moreover, I wrote to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights on 21 August further to my second application for priority under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court, as follows:

As explained in previous applications, my wife and I survive on the streets of London by selling The Big Issue, a magazine sold by homeless people on registered street pitches, and I have lodged numerous written complaints with The Big Issue Head Office in respect of my wife and myself being walked off our respective pitch by other street traders, including, inter alia, Big Issue vendors. You will note from my email and attachments to the Court of 16 August that not only may my wife be forced into begging (a criminal offence in England), but faces debadging by The Big Issue for so doing.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

cc Mr Steven Round, Chair of The Big Issue Foundation

The University of Michigan Welcomes Passage of Proposal 2

Early yesterday morning, as Declan began selling The Big Issue - a magazine sold by homeless people on registered street pitches - a homeless begged alongside him; provocatively, I might add, like he wanted Declan to say something to him. After Declan left him to the pitch, we were not sure if the incident would prove the highlight of the day: Declan walks a round trip of two hours to the Catholic Manna Centre every weekday to be guaranteed a bite to eat for lunch, where he was assaulted on 19 June (see blog of 19 June “Declan assaulted in the Manna Centre”); and only the day before yesterday at 5.00am, as were about to leave the place we sleep in at night, a cleaner hosed where we bed down (see previous blog).

The vast majority of emails I send to scientists and academics inviting them to sign Declan’s petition to the UN on research cloning of embryos and stem cells end up in spam boxes (or in cyberspace, see blog of 4 September “Obama: Yes to stem cells, funding”), so it doesn’t really count as a highlight. Still, the number of out-of-office autoreplies I received yesterday afternoon was amongst the lowest I have received in months: four from a total of 264 emails. For example, 86 emails to University College London Neuroscience yielded one autoreply; 60 to the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, one - the first email; and 78 to the School of Medicine of University of Southern California, two. (On Monday, it was eight autoreplies from 109 emails to University College London Neuroscience and 118 emails to the School of Medicine of University of Southern California; and two signatures.)

University of Michigan executive officers and faculty issued statements this morning regarding the passage of Proposal 2, the amendment to the Michigan Constitution that allows new embryonic stem cell lines to be derived from embryos that have been created for fertility treatment purposes. The embryos affected by the amendment would otherwise be discarded, unless donated with informed consent.

Proposal 2, approved by voters in yesterday’s general election, overturns a 1978 Michigan law that prohibited creation of new stem cell lines from discarded embryos – the vote was 2,143,101 in favor to 1,945,035 against. Prior to passage of Proposal 2, Michigan has been one of the most restrictive states in the country with respect to embryonic stem cell research.

The proposal pitted the state’s powerful public and private biological research centers against large, conservative Catholic and evangelical populations who equated destroying fertilised eggs with murder (see previous blog). “This is a great night for the state of Michigan,” said Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology and a vocal supporter of the proposal. “Clearly the voters saw through the misinformation and fear that the opposition were spreading.

“I can tell you this: We’ll be meeting within the next week ... to expand our embryonic research program. We expect in the short-term millions of new dollars of grants to come from the federal government and private foundations to support the expanded research.”

Proposal 2’s strongest support came from college graduates and people who have done postgraduate work. High school graduates and dropouts were inclined to oppose it, said The Associated Press.

Elsewhere, voters in Colorado rejected a measure defining a person to “include any human being from the moment of fertilization”, which would have applied to sections of the Colorado Constitution that protect “natural and essential rights of persons”, said CNN.

Although, like most people, we expected Democratic candidate Barack Obama to win the general election, we were nonetheless quite pessimistic about Proposal 2 – according to pre-election polls, Michigan voters were split down the middle. All in all, it was a great night for Declan’s petition to the UN and our campaign in support of embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

For the record, below is Declan’s email letter yesterday afternoon to the chair of The Big Issue Foundation, Steven Round. The Big Issue has informed us that from this coming Monday we will no longer be able to have a registered pitch, after almost two years surviving on the streets of London by selling the magazine from the same registered pitches; an extremely serious situation for me in particular, in that I am facing possible prosecution for begging, an illegal activity in England. In a reply email yesterday evening, Round informed Declan that he would make sure we receive a response.

Subject: The Big Issue

Dear Mr Round

I am writing to you in your capacity as chair of The Big Issue Foundation. Please find below a copy of my email letter of 7 October to the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue, Mr John Bird MBE, to which I have not received a reply. As a seller of The Big Issue magazine, I wish to complain that if my wife and I have not purchased a minimum of 40 magazines each week for four weeks commenced 6 October, from 10 November we will no longer be able to have a registered pitch - we “will be allowed to carry on selling but not have priority on any pitch”.

I can confirm that on 13, 14, 15 and 16 October I emailed The Big Issue with respect to my wife's new badge (1170), which, being unavailable for collection at Head Office on Monday, 13 October, did not become available for her to pick up until 1.00pm on Thursday, 16 October. The same Monday at Head Office - following my own rebadging to the end of February 2009 and the validation of our pitch authorisation slips until the end of Tuesday of the following week - I was advised by Office staff that my wife could not purchase or sell The Big Issue without her new badge.

I can also confirm that the first two working weeks of October culminated in the so-called "Black Friday" financial crash; shares around the world have continued their downward trend, particularly in London; and our pitches are located in the heart of London's financial district. Further, last week temperatures plummeted – the first time London has seen snow in October for 70 years.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

---------------------------

Subject: The Big Issue

Dear Mr Bird

As the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue, please find enclosed copy of an email I received yesterday, 6 October, from your Outreach Manager for London, Mr Paul Joseph. On 10 September 2007 you wrote to me, stating:

I have employed many people over the years to do jobs related to the running of The Big Issue. I have never employed them to do my job; likewise I do not do their job. Please bear this in mind when you are composing your letters. You do not need to address your letters to me, as it is not my job. I would only get involved if you were utterly and totally let down by those whose job it is in The Big Issue. I hope this assists in your deliberations in pursuit of your claims.

I wish to complain that if my wife and I do not purchase a minimum of 40 magazines each week for the next four weeks, from 10 November we will no longer be able to have a registered pitch - we "will be allowed to carry on selling but not have priority on any pitch".

Yesterday we were only able to afford to buy two Big Issues for resale, and today will only be able to afford to buy another two magazines. Moreover, I wrote to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights on 21 August further to my second application for priority under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court, stating:

As explained in previous applications, my wife and I survive on the streets of London by selling The Big Issue, a magazine sold by homeless people on registered street pitches, and I have lodged numerous written complaints with The Big Issue Head Office in respect of my wife and myself being walked off our respective pitch by other street traders, including, inter alia, Big Issue vendors. You will note from my email and attachments to Court of 16 August that not only may my wife be forced into begging (a criminal offence in England), but she has been threatened by The Big Issue with debadging for so doing.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

cc Mr Steven Round, Chair of The Big Issue Foundation

Letter to the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue

The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless people throughout the UK on registered street pitches. Yesterday the Big Issue outreach manager for London emailed Declan to advise that if over the next four weeks we haven't purchased a minimum of 40 magazines per week, from 10 November we will no longer be able to have a registered pitch - we “will be allowed to carry on selling but not have priority on any pitch”. The last time we had such money was before we were robbed of all our money and documents in the Catholic Dellow Centre (see blog of 18 June “Declan robbed in the Sisters of Mercy Dellow Centre”). We have had so many problems of late attempting to sell The Big Issue, particularly with other Big Issue vendors (see, for example, blog of 22 August “Scientists grow blood from embryonic stem cells”) that this speaks ominously of the weeks to come.

Yesterday Declan's petition to the UN on research cloning of embryos and stem cells was signed by four scientists. However, I received such a low number of out-of-office autoreplies that I still believe the vast majority of emails are being dumped to spam boxes (see previous blog). Out of a total of 251 emails I got nine autoreplies: the first 73 emails yielded no autoreplies at all, then three came in quick succession: 74th, 76th, and 79th emails – one of the signatories came from the email I sent immediately following the second of these autoreplies. And 43 emails to the Institute for Regeneration Medicine of the University of California, San Francisco? Zero autoreplies – and zero signatories. Today I sent a total of 153 emails and got, well, two autoreplies: from the 65th and 70th emails. Nobody that I emailed today has so far signed.

Anyway, this is Declan’s letter of complaint this morning to the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Big Issue, John Bird; a copy of which he will also send to Chair of The Big Issue Foundation, Steve Round:

Subject: The Big Issue

Dear Mr Bird

As the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue, please find enclosed copy of an email I received yesterday, 6 October, from your Outreach Manager for London, Mr Paul Joseph. On 10 September 2007 you wrote to me, stating:

I have employed many people over the years to do jobs related to the running of The Big Issue. I have never employed them to do my job; likewise I do not do their job. Please bear this in mind when you are composing your letters. You do not need to address your letters to me, as it is not my job. I would only get involved if you were utterly and totally let down by those whose job it is in The Big Issue. I hope this assists in your deliberations in pursuit of your claims.

I wish to complain that if my wife and I do not purchase a minimum of 40 magazines each week for the next four weeks, from 10 November we will no longer be able to have a registered pitch - we "will be allowed to carry on selling but not have priority on any pitch".

Yesterday we were only able to afford to buy two Big Issues for resale, and today will only be able to afford to buy another two magazines. Moreover, I wrote to the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights on 21 August further to my second application for priority under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court, stating:

As explained in previous applications, my wife and I survive on the streets of London by selling The Big Issue, a magazine sold by homeless people on registered street pitches, and I have lodged numerous written complaints with The Big Issue Head Office in respect of my wife and myself being walked off our respective pitch by other street traders, including, inter alia, Big Issue vendors. You will note from my email and attachments to Court of 16 August that not only may my wife be forced into begging (a criminal offence in England), but she has been threatened by The Big Issue with debadging for so doing.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

cc Mr Steven Round, Chair of The Big Issue Foundation

New Scientist: Faith in denial

Declan's difficulties while attempting to sell The Big Issue (a magazine sold by homeless people on registered street pitches) have continued – on Thursday afternoon he had to write to the founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue, John Bird, see previous blog. On Thursday and Friday evening Declan's pitch was unceremoniously taken over by a distributor of the free daily London Lite and he had no choice but to walk off. So since he had some magazines left, on Saturday we decided to take a bus to Covent Garden, where we have a weekend pitch for the two of us. We shouldn't have bothered spending money we don't have on the transport: almost as soon as Declan was on the pitch, four homeless with cans of beer came along, sat beside him and, well, more or less scared away any potential Big Issue buyer. (Noam Chomsky – described by The New York Times as "arguably the most important intellectual alive", and an early signatory of Declan's petition to the UN on therapeutic cloning – identifies economic strangulation as a primary method of domination and control – see blog of 12 June “The threat of a good example”).

        Delacroix's 1830 masterpiece Liberty Leading the People

The latest issue of the New Scientist carries a piece by British philosopher AC Grayling "How humans dared to know", with the subheadline: "Our passion for 'Enlightenment values' owes a lot to the 18th century. But where do those values come from and what do they mean today?" Grayling, one of Britain's foremost public intellectuals, says that if one compares the lives of ordinary people 300 years ago with those we can enjoy now, the impact of the Enlightenment on the structure and practice of society can be fully appreciated - and admired. "As a historical phenomenon," writes Grayling, "the Enlightenment movement emphasised reliance on reason, sought to take a scientific approach to social and political questions, championed science, and opposed the clergy, the church and all forms of superstition as obstacles to progress." He also writes: "Enlightenment values today are commitments to individual autonomy, democracy, the rule of law, science, rationality, secularism, pluralism, a humanist ethics, the importance of education, the promotion of human rights."

Science is also central to an article by Michael Brooks, former senior features editor at the magazine, titled "Faith in denial", with the subheadline: "The Catholic church's insistence on demonising IVF is making it look irrelevant and out of touch". Brooks comments that it is time for the Vatican to accept IVF: Louise Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby, turned 30 last week; and, with more than 3 million people having now been conceived through IVF, she is no longer the miracle she once seemed.

At the time of Brown’s birth the church was undecided about the morals and ethics of IVF, but it has since banned its members from using the technology, declaring it "morally unacceptable". That, Brooks explains, is primarily because it views the destruction of embryos, a common aspect of the IVF process, as equivalent to murder. The church also takes the view that IVF allows us to play God. “The Catholic church’s position is looking ever more absurd, especially when you consider that it stands virtually alone on this matter,” Brooks writes. “The vast majority of Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu groups see IVF as a useful means to an essential end: overcoming infertility. Muslim scholars issued their first proclamation, or fatwa, on IVF within two years of Brown’s birth. This came from the leaders of the majority Sunni group, to which over 90 per cent of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims belong. The fatwa decreed that a married couple was free to use IVF as long as there was no donation of gametes from third parties. The minority Shiite group is even more tolerant: it has allowed its members to use donated eggs or sperm since the mid-1990s, so long as all parties adhere to Islamic codes regarding parenting.”

Brooks points out that most Catholics “are similarly progressive, but this means they have to flout the dictates of their church”. He adds: “After a 1987 Vatican pronouncement on the immoral nature of IVF, Margaret Brooks, an Australian Catholic and the first woman to have a child born from a frozen embryo, boldly told The New York Times that no one paid any attention to such decrees. At the same time, several European Catholic hospitals announced that they would defy the church and continue to provide IVF treatment. It was, one hospital said, ‘an infinitely precious human service’.”

“The pope is not in the business of bowing to popular demand, but even he must sense that the church’s position is becoming ever more isolated,” Brooks writes, adding: “He could do something about it. The church has changed its views in response to scientific and technological developments before. It was the invention of the microscope and the subsequent discovery of the ovum that first persuaded Catholics to err on the side of caution and adopt their current position on the sanctity of the embryo. Why can't the Vatican take account of all we have learned in the IVF area and revise the rules again?”

Brooks goes on to argue that making "a sensible retreat" over IVF would also open the way to resolving other controversies over reproductive technologies – for example, stem cell research, which the Vatican opposes. “This in turn might enable other conservative religious groups to back down without losing face. Muslim scholars have already blazed a trail here too. In 2001 the Islamic Institute, a think tank based in Washington DC, convened a panel of medical, scientific and religious experts to work out how IVF and stem cell research fit in with Islamic teaching. They concluded that IVF is ‘a compassionate and humane scientific procedure’. On stem cells they went even further, calling it ‘a societal obligation’ to perform research on the extra embryos that are produced in IVF procedures because of the potential benefits that could accrue from it.”

Since it seems unlikely the Vatican is going to willingly embrace "Enlightenment values" in respect of IVF, as part of our international campaign on therapeutic cloning and human embryonic stem cell research we intend having a ‘take action’ section with an email to Pope Benedict XVI urging him to revise the church's rules on IVF in response to scientific and technological developments. (Our NAC website, which was suspended on 8 March due to an erroneous Spamcop report that was sent to our web host, carried three original campaigns, one of which "The Vatican and the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals" contained as a 'take action' an email to the Pope urging him to stop obstructing family planning.)

Letter to the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue

The Big Issue is a magazine sold by Declan and other homeless people on registered street pitches (bought by the vendor for 70p and sold for £1.50). So, for the record, below is the email letter Declan sent yesterday to The Big Issue outreach manager, Paul Joseph, a copy of which he then sent by registered post to the founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue, John Bird. I also sell this magazine, but for some time now I mostly sell it early in the morning so as to do as little walking as possible: I seem to be the only homeless in London that can’t get a pair of runners either in the Sisters of Mercy Dellow Centre or in the Catholic Manna Centre; and my daily food after 9.00am is two grated cheese sandwiches, one of which is Declan’s, which the nuns at the Dellow give the homeless “for later”.

Declan walks a round trip of two hours to the Manna every weekday to be guaranteed a bite to eat for lunch, although frequently he gets more than just food: for example, on 19 June he was assaulted (see blog “Declan assaulted in the Manna Centre”) – the assault came the day after he was robbed in the Dellow of all our money and documents (see blog of 18 June “Declan robbed in the Sisters of Mercy Dellow Centre”); and only a few days before a City of London Police 'No sleeping' sign went up on the back wall of the porch we have been sleeping in at night since 3 November 2006 (see blog of 25 June “Police ‘No sleeping’ sign in the porch”).

Subject: The Big Issue

Dear Paul

Please find below a copy of my email to you yesterday. In order to protect my badge from any false allegation(s) by Big Issue vendor 1739, I wish to put forward the following account of my encounters with the vendor this afternoon from 1.00pm to 1.10pm at my pitch outside McDonald’s on Liverpool Street:

Vendor 1739 commences to sell The Big Issue outside Pret a Manger on Liverpool Street at 12.40pm approx, not only to customers sitting at tables outside the establishment, but to other Pret a Manger customers coming and going, and to passers-by. I sell to many customers of this Pret a Manger as they are going to or coming from the establishment, particularly at lunch time. At 1.00pm I cross the road to inquire of vendor 1739 if this Pret a Manger has been designated a new pitch by The Big Issue. "The co-ordinator told me to sell across the road from you," he replies. I say nothing more and, having noted this vendor's number, return to the co-ordinator to buy two more Big Issues and to inquire as to the position with this particular source of my business. I am informed that the co-ordinator has gone, and return to my pitch with the two Big Issues I bought. I am no more than 30 seconds back on my pitch when vendor 1739 approaches me extremely agitated. "Are you a co-ordinator," he shouts. "If you have a problem, you need to speak with the co-ordinator around the corner," I tell him. "What's your f**king number," he shouts. I look away for customers, without replying further. He reads my number (1163) from the badge I am wearing, and shouts that he is going to put in a complaint against me. In order to avoid any further confrontation (for which my badge can be suspended or terminated), I pack up and return to the co-ordinator's point to buy another two Big Issues for my evening pitch. I leave a message for the co-ordinator that, in order to protect my badge from any false allegation(s) by Big Issue vendor 1739, I would bring this matter to the attention of John Bird.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

cc Mr John Bird, Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Big Issue (by registered post)
-----------------------------------------

Subject: The Big Issue

Dear Paul

I wish to confirm that this afternoon at 2.00pm I lodged a complaint with your co-ordinator at Liverpool Street (name unknown) against a Big Issue vendor who at 1.55pm attempted to sell a Big Issue to two pedestrians that were standing on my pitch outside McDonald’s on Liverpool Street, and only a few feet away from me. I informed your co-ordinator that as soon as I have this woman's badge number I will lodge a formal complaint in writing with you. This same woman has in the past verbally abused both my wife and myself on our respective pitches - in the case of myself, on more than one occasion.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

Declan’s Big Issue pitch taken over by two free papers

Just when we thought the saga of the chipping away by the London Lite and The London Paper at Declan’s pitch on Liverpool Street – where he sells The Big Issue on weekdays – could get no worse, it has plumbed new depths of farce.

Not content with encroaching on the pitch (see previous blog), both free papers last night took over the pitch: the London Lite girl regularly passing papers in front of Declan and The London Paper guy almost by his side, blocking him out.

So because we are trying to avoid begging in the street (it’s illegal and can land you in a police station), Declan sent another email yesterday evening to the Big Issue outreach manager Paul Joseph, which he has also sent by registered post this morning to the founder of the magazine, Dr John Bird. It reads:

Subject: London Lite and The London Paper

Dear Paul

I refer to the telephone message I left for you this evening, wherein I graphically describe the unprecedented takeover of my McDonalds pitch on Liverpool Street (pitch no. 1408) by the above two free papers.

Having had to walk off the pitch to abide by the rule that a vendor shall not "argue or fight over pitches with … street traders", please advise how you can help me to maximise sales on this pitch, which I have had protected by pitch authorisation slip and pitch listings since the beginning of December 2006.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

cc Dr John Bird, Editor-In-Chief, The Big Issue (by registered post)

As a final note, there must be some malfunction with my Idea Store Whitechapel library card because this afternoon I was unable to log on a computer due to there being a problem with my password or membership number. (A few days back, while working on a computer in the same library, I was logged out and when the screen appeared again my allocated hour had been given to somebody else.) Declan has emailed the manager of the library because we wouldn’t want this malfunction to happen again, especially since we frequently have to wait for over an hour for a computer.

Letter to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Big Issue Foundation

Yesterday Declan sent a registered letter to who we thought was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Big Issue Foundation (and Chief Executive of The Charity Bank), Malcolm Hayday. The Big Issue Foundation’s “Who’s Who” webpage is in need of an update: Hayday emailed Declan at 10.00am this morning stating: “I am no longer Chairman of the Foundation, having retired a couple of months ago but will ensure that your letter is brought to the attention of Ian MacArthur at the Company and my successor at the Foundation, Steve Round.“ (Ian MacArthur is the Managing Director of The Big Issue Company.)

This letter that Declan sent to Hayday (see below) was in relation to the pitch we lost in Covent Garden two Saturdays ago because an outreach worker found that neither Declan nor I had worked it for two and a half weeks, an allegation we have been refuting ever since. Anyway, today we learnt that we have our Convent Garden pitch back as before (to be worked by either of us on Tuesdays pm, Thursdays pm and weekends), but were informed that we have no security of tenure whatsoever in relation to our respective pitches at Liverpool Street Station, as they are in fact “training pitches”.

So all the work we have been putting into our Liverpool Street pitches since the beginning of December, thinking it would pay off in the coming months, may not actually pay off at all – or at least not for us. Mindful of The Big Issue’s code of conduct, and in particular the company’s responsibilities to vendors, Declan has sent another email this afternoon to the founder of the Big Issue, Dr John Bird (his fourth email to Bird to date, see titles), which I will publish in my next blog.

In the email Declan is seeking to determine whether the Liverpool Street pitches we have been developing as (self-employed) vendors are training pitches or not. We always understood that these pitches were ours, which is why we have been working them on full weekdays from 7.30am until 7.30pm (with breaks, of course). Frankly, I would like to know how many Big Issue vendors work with such dedication, and so personably.

The ramifications for us, should it be established that these two pitches are indeed training pitches, could not be more catastrophic, particularly as we have been additionally informed that our Convent Garden pitch may become a training pitch unavailable to permanent vendors should the volume of new vendors increase. It would mean that we could end up with either pitches that don’t work for us or pitches registered to other vendors.

Take what happened to us the last two weekends in Covent Garden (during the weekend our pitches in Liverpool Street just die): somehow we ended up losing money instead of making it: two weekends ago we had to return 41 magazines to co-ordinators (19 of which we are still waiting to be paid for), and last weekend we dumped 15 unsold magazines into a bin. The question is: could we end up dumping magazines every day of the week?

In relation to the Methodist-run Whitechapel Mission and the Sisters of Mercy-run Dellow Centre, these are the highlights: a homeless woman knocks loudly on the mirror I am using to wash myself, determined that I answer her question: do I have a spare cigarette (Tuesday at 6.15am, Whitechapel Mission); I am called a whore and a slut by some homeless guy that sat at our table after I told him that I didn’t have a light (Wednesday at 6.45am, Whitechapel Mission); the nun in charge of clothes gives me a pair of jeans that might have been fashionable 10 years ago: plenty of homeless go around the establishment wearing a fine pair of jeans, thank you very much (Wednesday at 10.30am, Dellow Centre).

Anyway, this is the letter Declan sent to Hayday yesterday:

Dear Mr Hayday

Re:  The Big Issue Company

As Chairman of The Big Issue Foundation, I enclose for your attention copy of my registered letter of 2 April to the founder of The Big Issue Company, Dr John Bird together with my email to Dr Bird of 31 March therein referred to.

In reference to the loss of our day-pitch in Covent Garden on 31 March, the finding that neither my wife nor I had worked the pitch for two and a half weeks is worrisome. As stated in my email of 31 March to Dr Bird, either my wife or I had been working this pitch for the period in question, as agreed with head office, on Tuesdays pm, Thursdays pm and weekends, bar Tuesday, 27 March (as I had informed head office) and Thursday, 29 March (it was raining).

I can confirm that I have yet to receive a reply from Dr Bird or anyone on his behalf.

Yours sincerely

Declan Heavey

Third email to the founder of The Big Issue

I am afraid that this morning Declan and I must have got out of our sleeping bags with the wrong foot because things have been going from bad to worse.

First in the women’s washroom of the Whitechapel Mission I am told to f*** off by a friend of the homeless woman that a few days back threw a ball of wet toilet paper at me in the same washroom after I wouldn’t get into conversation with her. This time her friend claimed that I had pushed her on my way into a toilet cubicle. (These verbal assaults don’t bother me much. I am in and out of these sorts of places really; it is not like I am living with them in a hostel.)

This bad luck followed us into Covent Garden (where we sell The Big Issue on weekends). We have been going for a few weeks now into this little coffee shop on a Saturday morning. So, here we are drinking our coffees peacefully, as we are talking quietly about how we will present our case against the UK to the European Court of Human Rights, when this worker decides she wants to mop the floor beneath us. She actually had us moved along chairs half the length of the coffee shop when we decided it was best to just exit by the back door. Next Saturday we are going to a bigger place, like a Pret a Manger: see how easy it will be to move us out from there.

However, the bombshell was delivered by the Big Issue's head co-ordinator at Covent Garden: she had been instructed to take our pitch at the Noël Coward Theatre (formally Albery) off us because an outreach worker had found that neither Declan nor I had been there for the past two and a half weeks.

Such a finding could not have come at a worse time for us: we are under financial pressure because for the past two days it has been raining and we were unable to sell The Big Issue (Thursday and Friday also happen to be the best two days for us to sell the magazine), coupled with the fact that on Thursday Declan spent £85.00 on the definitive book available in London on taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The finding is also very worrying. For the past two and a half weeks either Declan or I have been working this particular pitch, as agreed with head office, on Tuesdays pm, Thursdays pm and weekends, bar last Tuesday pm (as Declan had informed head office) and last Thursday pm (the rain).

This is the email that Declan sent this evening to the founder of the Big Issue, Dr John Bird, his third email to Bird to date (see titles):

Subject: Covent Garden pitch

Dear Dr Bird

I refer to the removal this afternoon of the Albery Theatre pitch from the pitch slip of my wife (badge no. 1170) and I (badge no. 1163) by your head co-ordinator at Covent Garden (Sam) and, given that this removal was based on the allegation that neither my wife nor I had worked the pitch for the past two and a half weeks, which we refute, would be grateful if we could be issued a pitch protected by both pitch slip and pitch listings to sell The Big Issue in Covent Garden before 6.00pm on Tuesdays pm, Thursdays pm and weekends.

I beg to point out that not only has either my wife or I been working the Albery Theatre pitch for the past two and a half weeks on Tuesdays pm, Thursdays pm and weekends bar last Tuesday pm (as I had informed head office) and last Thursday pm (it was raining), but last Tuesday morning in your head office a member of staff (Sanjiv) stamped our pitch slip for the Albery Theatre pitch for the week ending next Tuesday, 3 April and registered the pitch in pitch listings for the same period.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey

A copy of this email will also be sent to Bird to Monday by registered post.

Second email to the founder of The Big Issue

This morning Declan had another run with a Polish homeless guy – he was drunk, which made it even more dangerous – in the Whitechapel Mission at 6.10am. He was adamant that Declan salute him with his good morning and when Declan didn’t pay him any more attention, he began shouting at him in Polish. Then this Ali’s girlfriend (Ali being the guy that punched Declan in the face twice last Saturday) comes out from nowhere and hugs him (she told some homeless guy the Sunday before last that her brother was going to slit his throat from ear to ear).

This Pole almost assaulted (would have assaulted if floor staff hadn’t intervened) another homeless because he had sat at his table, which he wanted to be exclusively for Poles. Most Polish homeless go around in groups, in contrast with other homeless, and perhaps it is creating a bit of conflict. It is a lack of individualism, I think, encouraged by Catholic Church traditions. Social control is, I should imagine, the ultimate goal, the Catholic Church being so big on authority and rules. No doubt that is why they are equally big on the nuclear family.

And in countries like Spain, where I am from, the extended family – first cousins for example – are almost as important as brothers and sisters. When the Catholic Church wants to bury some scandal, the first thing they do is go at the family of the person they want to shut up – through the parish priest, if there are no clergy known to, or part of, the family. Sometimes it doesn’t work, most of the time it does … when it doesn’t work it is the State, through the police, that takes over. I know that because Declan and I have gone through the steps.

This morning also Declan emailed for the second time the founder of The Big Issue, Dr John Bird. We were given two green jackets on 8 February so we could sell the magazine in the City of Westminster after 6.00pm. A few days ago, we were given a pitch in Westminster for the both of us after 6.00pm, but it turned out that it wasn’t an official pitch. Anyway, this is the email:

Subject: Westminster pitch

Dear Dr Bird

I refer to my call in to your head office yesterday and this morning and, given the difficulties my wife (badge no. 1170) and I have experienced with pitches in Covent Garden, would be grateful if we could be issued a pitch protected by both pitch slip and pitch listings to sell The Big Issue in the City of Westminster after 6.00pm.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163

Email to the founder of The Big Issue

Declan has emailed the founder of The Big Issue, Dr John Bird MBE. Bird co-founded The Big Issue in 1991 with Gordon Roddick of The Body Shop. Bird is also running for Mayor of London. The difficulties that Declan is referring to in this email below I already elaborated about in my last blog, so I will not go into any more detail.

Other difficulties we are also running into are in the Dellow Centre. Of late more than half the queue outside the gates of the centre in the morning is of homeless living in Booth House (a close-by men’s hostel, run by the Salvation Army, that only accepts benefits). They already get a breakfast there so it is really a mystery to me what they are doing queuing outside the centre at 8.30am. Anyway, queues are now longer than before, and therefore we are waiting for longer to be let in after 9.15am.

Last Tuesday morning in the centre, with my usual cereal breakfast, I was given a coffee so black that when I added milk it was still black. When I asked the volunteer working in the kitchen to give me a less strong coffee, she put some of the content of my cup in the sink and then added another teaspoon of coffee before handing it back to me. Declan wasn’t too impressed with me complaining. He says that from now on he is going to get the same treatment.

Anyway this is the email Declan sent to John Bird this morning.

Subject: Westminster vendor jackets

Dear Dr Bird

I refer to my call in to your head office yesterday and this morning and, given the difficulties my wife (badge no. 1170) and I experienced last weekend with pitches in Covent Garden, would be grateful if we could each be issued a Westminster vendor jacket to enable us sell The Big Issue in the City of Westminster after 6.00pm.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Badge no. 1163