Should you go to the pub in the middle of the day?

Welcome back to Inside the Big Issue. This week, senior reporter Greg Barradale finally learns his lesson.

I’ve just learned a gut-wrenching professional lesson: you’ll be better at your job if you don’t go to the pub in the middle of the day.

I know, I know. For context, I was out and about on the streets of Hackney reporting this week’s Big Issue cover story, a search for the true heart of east London, 40 years on from the debut of EastEnders.

Where better, the logic went, than a pub to track the changes of the past decades and find what remains than a good old-fashioned boozer? But on the way, I diverted into the archives of the Hackney Gazette and you got a far more interesting story – pick it up and read it in this week’s magazine.

Thing about EastEnders is, it’s not just a place for middling writers to hang their state-of-the-nation clichés. It’s a way in to the extremes of the housing crisis. On Fassett Square, the real-life Hackney location where Albert Square was born, a three-bed semi can go for ￡1.6m. But the share of people in Hackney who actually own the house they live in is the lowest in the country. At the same time, it has the highest proportion of renters anywhere in England.

These statistics go hand-in-hand, but also raise an interesting question. In a bid to fix the housing crisis, Keir Starmer has promised to build 1.5 million homes. These include 12 ‘new towns’. But the crucial issue is where. One reason Hackney has gotten so expensive is because lots of people want to live there. It’s well connected and there’s plenty going on.

As I discovered on my journey into the borough’s past, that history and culture is rich, unique and probably not something a property developer can magic into existence. Just look at Stratford. One big problem this country has, beyond a shortage of homes, is building houses in the wrong places, experts told me in the wake of the latest new towns announcement. Solving the housing crisis will mean homes people can afford, yes, but also incubating places where you might one day set a soap opera.

Crickets from the government

Big Issue readers have been reacting to our story from last week on how some of the UK’s biggest companies are locking autistic jobseekers out of work with personality tests.

“I've failed multiple personality tests,” said one. “How can you fail them? When they are used as a reason to do something, or worse an excuse to justify.”

Another said: “I didn't get into the NHS graduate scheme after doing a personality test. I now work as an NHS integrated care board (and local authority) commissioner.

“Maybe it wasn't that my personality was incompatible with the scheme (like I thought), maybe it was that the personality test was neuronormative.”

Readers of last week’s Inside the Big Issue got the inside track on that story, and how it came together. Thank you to those who responded.?

We dropped the story as the government launched a big drive to get neurodivergent people back into work. Social security and disability minister Stephen Timms even cited negative experiences of interviews as a big barrier to work for neurodivergent jobseekers.

So what did the minister - and the DWP - have to say when we put the story’s findings to them?

They explicitly refused to comment. Let us know what you think of that – and what you’d like to see the government doing – by emailing me at [email protected]

Inside this week's Big Issue

How residents are fighting plans for a new Chinese Embassy on their estate in a David v Goliath battle involving national security, international relations and democracy itself

Jason Donovan has lived a dream life, but the Kylie break-up hit hard he recalls in a Letter to My Younger Self

As Cobra Kai reaches a knockout finale, we talk to Ralph Macchio about a life as The Karate Kid

The future of driving? Ask a 12-year-old! ???

We invited a group of school pupils to explore Citro?n's latest electric cars and quiz the experts. Their enthusiasm for sustainable transport was incredible and they had some amazing ideas that went from flying cars and robot drivers to solar charging.

Our research shows 52% of children believe having an electric car in the future is important. But what do they want in their dream car? The answers might surprise you! Read the full story and see what Citro?n is doing to make their visions reality. Read more here.

#Ad #DrivingChangeForGood

My Pitch

My customers are awesome, they are. I love chatting, that's a problem. That's probably why I don't sell so much. A lot of my customers are older people and we talk, and I have everything free. “Do you want a coffee Stuart?” Yeah!" says Stuart Drucker, who sells the magazine at the Roath and Riverside Farmer's Markets in Cardiff.

"I'm like Spider-Man crawling up the walls because I have so many coffees and food. The community is brilliant where I sell. They really are. They are so nice."

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