01: ROUGH SLEEP (22.03.2020)

It's the first day of spring. Coronavirus is spreading. The economy is tumbling because neoliberalism sucks and Tories are not fit for purpose (unless that purpose is pillory). Austerity has picked Britain's bones clean but no one knows if capitalism will survive this crisis or what will come next. Where is Brexit? Who cares? Most of us are stuck inside anyway. In our first episode, Ben reads 'Rough Sleep', an essay that should have been published this week but all the shops are closed. Except Burning House Books, which is an online shop, where you can buy a copy. 'Rough Sleep' charts the passing clouds of history as they cast shadows on the author's life: from working for low pay and being a homeless teenaged drop-out in the US in the late '90s; working for low pay while in an abusive relationship in London when the Tories first came to power in 2010; working for low pay in a cafe and volunteering at a food bank in Cornwall during the Brexit vote; to finally working for low pay at a soul-destroying call centre in Glasgow in 2019. Buy a copy of 'Rough Sleep' at www.burninghousebooks.com Subscribe to the Spaghetti For Brains newsletter: www.spaghettiforbrains.com