Inside the Big Issue

Big Issue

Published Oct 9, 2024

Welcome back to Inside the Big Issue. I’m senior reporter Greg Barradale .

“Hi, it's Kim”. Rule one as a journalist is always pick up the phone to an unknown number (other rule ones do exist). Sometimes they’re asking you if you've been in a made-up car accident. Other times it's the mayor of the North East.

From Sunderland to Gateshead, Durham to Hexham, the North East has just banded together under the leadership of a new mayor: Kim McGuinness the unknown number on my screen.

The words “combined authority” are deeply boring. We can all admit that. But in one corner of the country, right now, they represent something almost elemental: the opportunity to grab power and transform a corner of the country.

So as the Big Issue put on our first community roadshow in Newcastle this week, it felt like a meeting at a pivotal moment. There was a womble (don’t ask), a few sausage rolls, but most importantly a Big Debate.

In The Common Room, right in the centre of the city, the public filed in to hear a panel tackle the deep challenges the region faces: high child poverty, employment struggles, and as one questioner put it, the “flatness” of ambition these can bring.

Nick Hartley, a Green councillor for Byker, framed it really well: If McGuinness is to turn these into opportunities, she will need to challenge Keir Starmer’s decisions in Westminster, to win real power for the region.

So who is the new mayor? That's something I've been exploring for a few weeks now, going in-depth with sources from her life and career. And discussed with McGuinness herself as her dogs barked in the background.

What emerged was a picture of a politician who, at 39, has real power and a bright future. The “ultimate pragmatist”, her politics have been shaped by austerity as she made her rise through Newcastle’s political ranks.

She described dealing with harassment, misogyny, and high-stakes decisions during the pandemic. But also the struggles of trying to keep a normal life. Where will the future take Kim McGuinness?

Read the full piece on BigIssue.com and make your mind up.

Three must-reads on BigIssue.com

Inside this week's Big Issue

Find out what happened when Danny Dyer donned a tabard and had a go at selling Big Issue. “It was a real eye-opener,” he says

Scottish First Minister John Swinney on his mission to eradicate child poverty

The future of prestige TV?

With Inside the Big Issue, I want to bring you more than you get anywhere else. Everyone’s talking about Industry, the BBC drama about ambitious fledgling bankers. You loved the interview with creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay in last week’s Big Issue magazine. So here are some exclusive, unpublished quotes – which you won’t find anywhere else but this newsletter.

Is there too long between series of TV shows now? Down admitted he wondered if people do forget a show exists after a couple of years away. “I wish shows could go quicker, but having made shows, I realise they take a long time,” he said. But it’s a matter of scheduling, and not being able to pin actors down, he added: “That’s a function of cable TV becoming a little bit more like film, that you’re attracting big stars….sometimes you’re at the mercy of other people’s schedules”.

Since we went to press, season four has been confirmed, and the pair have signed an exclusive multi-year deal with HBO. Even if you’re not a big Industry head, they’re interesting characters themselves – writing about young guns making their way up in the world, while doing the same themselves.

Of Insutry’s young stars, Kay said: “There’s some contract stuff to be wrangled if we get a fourth season. They’ve all gone and done major movies between seasons, but the good thing about them is they’re all very intelligent, sensitive to our writing, and they’re kind of egoless but also aware of their own talent.”

Those stars include Harry Lawtey, who plays Rob. Initially, he was written as a “real alpha fuckboy with not much of a brain who liked pissing up and doing gear”. But Lawtey’s “doe-ish vulnerability” gave the pair a new avenue to explore, a different approach to Rob as the character and the actor melded. Now, they say he’s almost an “audience surrogate”.

On people’s attitude towards the content they consume, Kay said: “It’s very easy to say, ‘This is Succession mark 2, and these are wanker bankers, or I don’t have anyone to root for. Oh, I can’t support anybody’. I mean, come on. What sort of attitude is that? This isn’t sports, just watch the thing and engage with it.”

My Pitch

Tom Grennan’s blockbuster Big Issue busk at FarGo Village in Coventry wasn’t just a big hit with his adoring fans – he struck a chord with Big Issue vendors too.

Husband and wife pairing Daniel John, 34, who sells on Earlsdon High Street, and Bianca, 30, who sells at Warwick University, made the trip from their pitches to sell magazines at the event, as well as enjoy a few of Grennan’s tunes.

“The event was so good, there were so many people. I don’t know how many magazines we sold but it was around 100,” said Daniel.

“Tom Grennan has a heart of diamond. I’m not going to forget what he did for us. He helped us a lot. I’m so happy because he helped me to support my family and children.”

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