“Some were quite sexist, in the assumptions they made about housewives, for example. We could point this out to them.”But the panel’s reign is at an end The group held its final meeting last week. BMP has decided that as its client base has changed, it needs fresh blood. It says it will be recruiting a younger group of people “who are more technologically aware”.. One of my greatest mistakes was failing to train homeless writers, but instead ending up with career journalists working for The Big Issue. I started The Big Issue with the intention of training up homeless writers, and I’ve never been able to train up more than one or two I am trying to change that now.
I am trying to change that now.
I made a life-changing mistake when I was 15 years old. I met a school friend who gave me his grandmother’s savings book, and asked me to cash it He had stolen it. I got caught and was sent to a boys’ reformatory school in the countryside for a few years. I wish I hadn’t done it, but with hindsight the school helped me with my education.
I started to read and write there.But throwing my mother’s letters away is my biggest regret. The only time she ever wrote to me was when I was sent to thereformatory school. She wrote about four times a week – there must have been 250 letters – all about the family, what I ought to be doing with my life, giving me advice. When I left the school and moved into a flat, I was clearing out stuff one day and threw all the letters away I put them in a bag and that was it Gone.