Credo: John Bird
Social campaigner and founder of The Big Issue, 6
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Your support makes all the difference.I believe...
Homelessness hits you when it becomes associated with break-ups. My family was made homeless when I was a child and I ended up in an orphanage, separated from my brothers and my parents. It made me a nutter. I became aggressive, an arsonist, always nicking stuff.
Revolutionary politics changed my life. At 21, after prison, I didn't like blacks, Jews or Indians because that's who I had been told were the problem in the world. Marxism got rid of all that, and freed me from the manacles of poverty.
My childhood has made me obsessive about what people do to children. I am astonished at the way parents don't take responsibility. If you don't want to make the investment in terms of time, maybe you shouldn't have children.
I am a devout ex-Catholic. Every Sunday, come rain or shine, I remember not to go to church.
I have always had a belief in myself that has got me through. It is almost delusional – as though I had been sent here to save the world. I thought everyone else was inferior.
The one thing the middle class don't want to give the working class is the opportunity to become equal to them.
You have to do your homework, your apprenticeship, if you want to be successful . There is no way that you can achieve your aims without burning the candle at both ends. I meet so many people who say, "I've got a full-time job and I want to be a novelist and I haven't got time." Bollocks. Get up earlier in the morning, devote the whole of your weekends. You can do it, but you have to really want to do it.
Happiness it is about making things happen. Whether it's decorating your house or bringing up your children, laying foundation stones brings the greatest joy.
How to Change Your Life in 7 Steps by John Bird (Vermillion, £1.99) is out now
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