The cold snap of autumn is already here. As Chief Executive of the homelessness charity St Mungo’s, this always reminds me of the first outreach shift I ever did.
It was 2024 and a freezing December night in the capital. I was out with the team at 11pm, and we walked the streets until 2am. Seeing people lying on frost-bitten pavements, trying to sleep with nothing but a polyester sleeping bag for protection, felt like the stuff of nightmares. All I could think was: how can this be happening in 21st-century Britain?
