The Big Issue

After a somewhat frustrating union meeting with "high-ups" in BBC Radio this morning, I went out for twenty minutes during my break, and sat on the steps of All Souls Church overlooking the World Piazza outside Broadcasting House. We had asked for more information about the plans for staff and programme cuts which have to be made. but came away from the meeting room (once the Director General's old wood-panelled office) not much wiser than when we went in.

The Big Issue vendor, who has a regular pitch on the edge of the Piazza, spent nearly all of the twenty minutes that I was watching chatting animatedly with the girl in the picture. They clearly enjoyed their discussion much more than I had enjoyed the one that took place half an hour earlier, three floors up, in that wood-panelled meeting room.

Life has a way of putting things into perspective just when you need it to.