For this week’s BetterPod, we’ve been out and about in Glasgow – the home city of performer, activist and Orwell-prize winning writer Darren McGarvey… otherwise known as the rapper Loki.

His latest book is about the economic and cultural distance between those who make decisions and the people on the receiving end of them. The Social Distance Between Us argues that remote politics has wrecked Britain.

But, as Laura Kelly and Katerina Sivitanides found on our first walking podcast edition of BetterPod, that distance isn’t always geographic. In Glasgow’s West End, we take a 15 minute walk that brings us from one of Scotland’s most deprived areas to one of the most prosperous.

Against that backdrop, Darren explains the complex causes and consequences of inequality.

BetterPod is brought to you by The Big Issue’s Future Generations team. Through the Future Generations team, we offer a platform for exciting young journalists from underrepresented backgrounds to address the biggest issues facing us today.

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When he appeared on Love Island last year, Brett Staniland was shocked at the amount of fast fashion available to contestants. A campaigner for sustainable fashion, he worried about the environmental impact and the working conditions that lay behind those cheap clothes.

Responding to these concerns, this year, the show has swapped their fast fashion sponsor for pre-loved clothes from eBay.

On today’s BetterPod, Brett explains how dressing ethically can be both fun and affordable.

BetterPod is brought to you by The Big Issue’s Future Generations team. Through the Future Generations team, we offer a platform for exciting young journalists from underrepresented backgrounds to address the biggest issues facing us today.

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In the depths of the Covid pandemic, it could be hard to find good news. But design critic Alice Rawsthorn and MOMA curator Paola Antonelli saw hope in the practical solutions coming from the design community.

They started an Instagram interview series in which they met designers tackling the biggest challenges of our times – from homelessness to climate change, and the refugee crisis to racism, misogyny, and the collapse of social justice. It was a huge hit with viewers, who were stuck at home and hungry for conversations about how the post-pandemic world could be improved for everyone. 

That series has now become a book – Design Emergency: Building a Better Future. It aims to offer inspiration by highlighting the people “at the forefront of practical and radical change”. Among those featured is Peter Barber, an architect with a progressive new vision about how to house people as they make their way out of homelessness.

Rawsthorn and Barber joined Sophie Dimitrijevic and Laura Kelly for this week’s BetterPod – The Big Issue’s weekly interview podcast that asks how we can act today for a better tomorrow.

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After losing his mum, Hussain Manawer struggled with depression. But through the support of his family and friends – and the power of poetry – he found a way through. His global fanbase now includes the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry.

He joined Laura Kelly and Naomi Forbes on BetterPod for an emotional conversation about tackling grief, and building a society that’s better for our mental wellbeing.

A warning for listeners: we discuss issues around suicide in this podcast.

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Climate change, health, inequality, poverty – they’re the seemingly intractable concerns that overshadow our society and our planet. But it often seems like politicians are too concerned about short-term issues to really get to grips with any of the worries facing future generations. 

A growing movement is calling for change – and Sophie Howe is at the forefront of that political transformation to act today for a better tomorrow. The world’s first Future Generations Commissioner, her role came into being in 2016 following Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act. She now has the legal responsibility to act as the guardian of those yet unborn. Scotland looks set to follow suit with its own commissioner, while The Big Issue’s founder Lord John Bird has been working to get similar legislation passed at Westminster. The UN has even been taking advice from Howe to work out its own international version. 

She joined Laura Kelly and Katerina Sivitanides on the first edition of BetterPod to talk about how you're never too small to make a difference.

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Join the BetterPod movement and act today for a better tomorrow!

What world do we want to build for future generations? How can we face the challenges of today to make our society better? How can everybody act now to protect the environment and address climate change?

BetterPod is the place to have these big conversations. Each week, we bring in the people who are acting to improve our shared future. We tell stories from the worlds of arts, science, politics and beyond – all the time focusing on solutions, on the constructive discussions that can help us all take action.

We want you to join our movement. You can take the first step towards a better tomorrow by subscribing now and telling your friends.

BetterPod is brought to you by The Big Issue's Future Generations team. A recent study by the NCTJ showed that some 80 per cent of journalists come from professional and upper class backgrounds. At The Big Issue we believe those aren't the only voices that matter. Through the Future Generations team, we offer a platform for exciting young journalists from underrepresented backgrounds to address the biggest issues facing us today.

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