The Big Issue

A dubious milestone was reached at the end of January: the one thousandth fact check of a statement by Donald Trump undertaken by the website Politifact. Trump’s thousandth claim? That the Democrats had “used Covid to cheat” in the 2020 election. Mea

FOUNDERSJohn Bird and Gordon Roddick GROUP CHAIRNigel Kershaw GROUP CEOPaul Cheal MANAGING DIRECTORRussell Blackman EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION Editor Paul McNameeArt director Mark NeilDeputy editor Steven MacKenzieDigital editor Ryan ButcherDeputy digi

In curious symmetry this week Big Issue has startling figures about what the online world is doing to us, and something of a solution. Which is handy. The renowned psychologist and neuroscientist Daniel Freeman reveals an incredible statistic. When h

On 1 April, millions of households in the UK will get poorer. Councils, desperately fighting to balance the books, plan to raise council tax as high as they can. Towns and cities are bankrupt and local government – the unglamorous web of bin collecti

A few Fridays ago I took a train from London to Leamington Spa, last visited by me over 50 years ago. To go to a pub called Murphy’s Bar on a corner in central Leamington to sing It’s Now or Never by Elvis Presley. Landlord Kevin Murphy gave the nigh

The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue The report by Big Issue into private providers of fostering services [Issue 1602, 12 February] raises further quest

The first six weeks of the Suevic’s voyage from Australia to Liverpool were uneventful – but on 17 March 1907, the ship sailed into a fog and ran aground on a reef off the Cornish coast. For 16 stormy hours, 60 crew members from the Royal National Li

Speculative fiction can draw on the cutting edge of societal and technological change and extrapolate that into the future, making commentary on the state of the world right now. This week we have two books that do exactly that in very different ways

Should they get elected, the Labour Party have said they will train up “positive male influencers” to go into schools and teach young lads not to be dickheads. This, they reckon, is a necessary response to the insidious influence of internet weirdos

For about 20 years now, I’ve made a habit of going to gigs alone. Mainly out of necessity – such is the solitary, slightly strange life of the music reviewer (tiny fiddle). But increasingly, it’s something I do by choice. More and more so, it’s a rit

Designer: Gill DurhamIllustrator: Luke McConkeyPhotography: Steven JonesSub-editor: Jamie AtkinsEditor: Vicky CarrollArt Director: Mark Neil ■

What was the last thing you bought? Did you think hard before handing over your cash? Money is so important, but often we don’t get to be part of the conversation. Well, this magazine is going to change that! From how you spend and save, to all that

Without an endless supply of cash, we have to choose what we spend our money on. This is called prioritising, and the easiest way to do it is by thinking about needs and wants. Needs are things we must have to survive, like healthy food and clean wat

You will be hearing a lot just now about how the government plans to spend its money in the coming months. It’s called the Budget and it is announced by the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt. It’s a big deal, because it lets us know how much the government wil

Hopefully you’ve learned that while spending is fun, saving is important. There are different ways to save – in a piggy bank or in a real bank, for example. Most banks offer an app, so you can keep track of your money really easily. Some even let you