Bernardine Evaristo is having a moment. Or it more accurately, she’s having a year. Since she became the first black woman to win the Booker Prize for her novel Girl. Woman. Other in 2019, she’s gone on to guest edit the Sunday Times, become the first black British writer to top the UK paperback fiction charts and been shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. On this podcast, she talks to author Elizabeth Day about the power of positive manifestation, radical feminism and how she once failed to drive from England to Australia. Listen here.

This week, the Guardian has launched a new content series. Young, British and Black: The Voices behind the UK’s anti-racism protests, profiles 50 young activists as they talk about their experiences of racism growing up, their hopes for the future and why they couldn’t stay silent. Eye opening and inspiring. Read the profiles here.

Have any Be More Barnabas tips? Let us know.

Initially, we’ll be opening from Wednesday – Friday between 9am until 9pm. We’re aiming to extend those hours from September.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be giving you more information about how we’re keeping the House covid-secure (and what we need you to do to help with that), what member events are going to look like in a socially-distanced world and some exciting changes to our food and drinks menu. You’ll have everything that you need to know at your fingers tips and ready for your first visit back.

We’ll also be able to tell you more about our next Employment Preparation Programme, which we plan to run in October 2020. We want to make sure that everyone who joins our programme is given the tools for a world of work that is very different from the one we all knew at the beginning of the year. We’re making sure we’ve rebuilt a programme that people can come to in ways that feel safe and accessible, without losing the blend of challenging, fun and impactful work that happens at the House.

We can’t wait to tell you about what we’ve been working on, and we really can’t wait to welcome you back and show you.

Did you know that the CIA *might* have a song writing department? Nor us. Apparently, they just might have. Podcast “Wind Of Change” explores the history of the Scorpions’ infamous power ballad, its association with the fall of the iron curtain, and how the song might be more propaganda than pop hit. Listen for free on Spotify, here.

Zadie Smith has authored a timely reflection on life in lock down. Getting in early on what is guaranteed to be a huge theme in literature and non-fiction, she explores ideas and questions prompted by these unprecedented times, like; what does it mean to submit to a new reality, or resist it? What is the relationship between time and work? When an unfamiliar world arrives, what does it reveal about the world that came before it? Intimations is published on August 6^th, expect to see it on bestseller lists soon after. Pre-order your copy here.

This year, one of the biggest movements against racism coincided with a moment when we were told to stay at home. Black Lives Matter protests happened across the globe, but lots of people who wanted to protest, couldn’t. Partly in response to this, and partly due to mainstream social media platforms increased censorship, Chloë Cheyenne Rogers set up CommunityX – a platform to connect communities with causes. Read more about her story, and the future for CommunityX, via Fast Company here.

We probably get a bit too obsessed with things a bit too often. Turns out, we’re not the only ones. BBC podcast “Obsessed with…” is a TV companion podcast that deep dives into each episode of its favourite TV shows. This series the podcast is obsessing over Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy you, guests include Candice Carty-Williams, 2 Dope Queens and some of the shows stars. Tune in, here.

And finally, we’ve found ourselves dreaming of nature and open spaces a lot over the last few months. We’ll spare you the explanation why. This photo-essay from The Atlantic provides a glimpse of the small village of Castelluccio which sits atop a hill overlooking the Piano Grande in Central Italy. Here, the poppies and lentils are in full, technicolour bloom. Beautiful. We recommend viewing the images in full screen, here.

Before lock down began, Hels had been working at The Wolseley as part of its front of house team – a role that had been advertised by Only A Pavement Away UK. Following a successful trial shift, Hels secured the job. She became the first female door person on Piccadilly (a title she is, rightly, very proud of!) and a highly valued and respected member of the team.

When lock down started Hels was placed on furlough. Her pay was topped up to 100% via a grant from Only A Pavement Away but losing the structure and purpose of working life was really tough. During lock down, the Employment Academy team set up weekly calls, and kept in regular touch to offer emotional support and practical guidance around coronavirus. With lock down starting to ease, Hels was invited back to work. She had her first shift back on the door at The Wolseley on Saturday night, and couldn’t be happier about it. So happy, in fact, that her smile caught the eye of this Times food critic!

Without the support of our members, we wouldn’t be able to run our Employment Academy or provide the support that many of graduates have relied during the coronavirus crisis. Thank you. We are working on plans to run our next Employment Preparation Programme in a way that is both safe and effective later this year, we’ll share more about this over the coming weeks. We continue to support graduates in getting back to work as lock down eases.  We know this is a challenging time for us all, but if you can make a donation to help our work continue, you can here.

Want to find out more? We’d also recommend the “You’re Wrong About”  podcast series, which has rereleased its episode on the Stonewall Uprising. In the episode, the podcast explores how one of the turning points in the gay rights movement became an immediate controversy, a lasting inspiration and a never-ending debate. Make sure you check out the podcast’s back catalogue for episodes debunking everything from Exorcism, to whether Yoko Ono really broke up The Beatles, to the ice-skater Tonya Harding.

We’ve been reading Raven Smith’s memoir, Trivial Pursuits. In it, he writes about his single-parent upbringing, his struggles as a lonely teenager and his personal experience of coming out. But also, Ikea meatballs, minibreaks and how many slices of bread are in a bagel. We definitely recommend.

But we aren’t in a hurry. We want to be certain that when we do open, we can provide complete confidence to members and guests that we are a safe place to be. We are taking our time to get this right – we are learning from best practice on how the hospitality sector is evolving, and factoring in the feedback we’ve been getting from you. As soon as we have a firm date, you will be the first to know.

Whilst times have changed, we have too. We’ve used the past months to properly look at what makes the House of St Barnabas special, what our members want from us and how we can best put our mission at the centre of all we do. Here’s a little bit about the changes we’re making:

A community-focused membership:

The first half of 2020 has shown us just how important community is – we want to make sure that ours is one that knows us, and each other, better

We’re making plans to better connect all the parts of our community. That’s you, us and our Employment Academy participants and graduates

Getting here:

We know that lots of you are nervous about using public transport and travelling to central London. We’ll be installing bike racks to give members the option to cycle and store their bikes safely, if they want to

The club:

We’re redesigning our spaces to respect social distancing rules and will ask that all members pre-book their visit using a booking system

You will be allocated a table for the duration of your visit, we’ll ask that members do not move to new tables so that we can minimise contact

We will maximise the use of technology to ensure minimal physical contact between our team members and guests

We’ll be moving away from sharing style food and drinks, and will have a new, refined menu

The Employment Academy:

We’re preparing to run our next Employment Preparation Programme later this year – in a way that’s both safe and effective for participants

We are redesigning our programmes for a post-covid world. We know that the way people are working is changing, we’ll be making sure our graduates are ready for this

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The Team is going all-out to get the House ready to welcome you back. We can’t say exactly when yet. But we can’t wait.

Music and podcasts have been doing a lot to help get us through lock down and have helped us think about a more positive future. One podcast that expertly brings this together is Dissect. Dissect is a serialised music podcast that examines a single album per season, one album per episode. You can expect lyrical analysis, a break down of the album’s production, expert opinion and social commentary. We’ve been listening to the season about The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, but with seasons on Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”, Beyonce’s “Lemonade” and Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange” amongst the back catalogue, there’s a lot to get stuck into. Listen here.

As part of Bomb Magazine’s Theory + Practice Series, American essayist and academic Saidiya Hartman has revisited W.E.B. Du Bois’ short story from 1920 “The Comet”.  In “The Comet”, Du Bois imagines a world after the pandemic of 1918, when only two people in New York have survived, a black man and a white woman. Hartman explores the themes, context and lessons from the story, here.

Earlier this week, hip-hop artist, author and educator, Akala hosted an Instagram live about police and protests. In it, he answered questions from the audience and shared insights and knowledge from his books, research and own experience. Our review? Coherent, nuanced, necessary. The full Live is now available on his Instagram page, here.

When we do reopen our doors, we know that the House we all return to won’t be quite the same as the House we left. There will be change. We are working hard to make sure that the House is covid-secure and we can reopen a club that members feel excited and safe to return to. If the timetable for the easing of government restrictions doesn’t allow us enough lead-in time to put processes and measures in place so that we can all feel safe to return, we’ll delay re-opening until we are confident that we have done all we can.

Our priority continues to be breaking the cycle of homelessness and we are working to strengthen and adapt the impact of our Employment Academy in the context of the significant changes for the hospitality sector caused by COVID-19. We are hoping to run our next Employment Preparation Programme before the year is out. We know the need for our work has never been greater. Since lock down began, we’ve worked with more than 100 graduates from all of our programmes, now our focus is helping more people navigate the easing of lock down restrictions and what this means for them and their employment.

We’ll be sharing more about our reopening plans in our member newsletters over the coming weeks. We’ll share what this means for our members our impact. Please get in touch if there is anything that you’re unsure about.

Thank you so much for continuing to support House of St Barnabas through this.

We can’t wait to welcome you back.

Like lots of us, Corey had been nervous to start using public transport. He didn’t feel sure that he’d be able to socially distance but without using public transport, he wouldn’t be able to get to work. Cycling seemed like the most practical answer, but bikes are expensive, and Corey didn’t have one.  We appealed to mentors for a secondhand bike and one mentor donated a new bike and lock. The bike has now arrived and Corey will be able to get back to work, safely. He’s loving life on two-wheels and has sent a very big thank you to the person who donated the bike.

We wouldn’t be able to provide this support without the help of our members and supporters. We know that this is a challenging time for us all, but if you are able to make a donation to help our charitable work continue, you can here.