John Bird on The Necessity of Poverty

Founder of The Big Issue, John Bird talks about his newest pamphlet, The Necessity of Poverty and whether reading is a luxury.

Hi John, how are you and where do we find you today?

Today I am well. I was well yesterday and have been since a few weeks back when I was unwell for the preceding two weeks with a cold. The cold lifted and since then I have been well. I hope to be well from now on. With regard to the state of my mind, I am in a good place. In my house in the Cambridge country working away trying to finish my next book, which is about drawing.

Tell us about your new book, The Necessity of Poverty and what drove you to write it?

The Necessity of Poverty explains why poverty is central to the life of the economy and is not some irksome aberration. Using myself as an example and that of my family I show how impoverished I would be if it were not for the fact that someone was working away for next to nothing. I also explain that it is people like me (and maybe you) who grow the gap between rich and poor because we buy the stuff of a small group of people who take our money to increase their billions. We make the billionaires. The work is really an attempt at getting us to think how central we are in the world to creating it's problems, and also finding it's solutions.

There has been a resurgence in the political pamphlet of late. What made you think this was the best format for your new book?

If there has been a resurgence it has passed me by. I wrote this because I thought it was possible to explain what I believe, however big, in a small, readable fashion.

What have been your favourite pamphlets so far?

I have particularly enjoyed and seen meaning in the work of Jonathan Swift. He seems to me to capture in small works the big questions of the times. And he does it with humour and with precision. The greatest must be the Conduct of the Allies, which really blew Marlborough and all his warring to smithereens.

With so many people unable to afford basic amenities like food water and shelter, do you think reading books is a luxury?  

Reading can be a luxury in dreadful and life threatening circumstances. But in order to reduce the need of water and food you need to get people out of poverty. And one of the tools to do that is education. It is oft noted that the educated and the well read tend not to need food and water as much as those who are marooned without education. 

What are your hopes for 2013?

My hope is that we will have a growth in the awareness of the need to unite against a faltering unjust economy. That we will stop having the political squabbling that seems to be dominant, with people defining themselves by the failures of others. I just hope that people read my book and get involved I in the solutions I advocate.

The Necessity of Poverty is out now on Quartet Books.

John Bird MBE was brought up in an orphanage and served time in a young offenders' institute in his teens. Having slept rough with London's homeless, he decided to take action. He found factory work and soon became a skilled printer. Twenty-one years ago, John harnessed his knowledge of the print industry with his social vision and founded The Big Issue - sold by the homeless, for the homeless. John is now a globally-admired social entrepreneur.