6/10/2024

The Big Issue

The Big Issue - A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out

The Big Issue1 min read
Democracy Keeps Populism In Check
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is facing a tougher than expected third term after his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to secure a parliamentary majority in the country’s general election. Modi’s BJP won 240 seats in the staggered, six-week long el
The Big Issue9 min read
The Dispatch
As Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK compete to see who can shout “stop the boats” the loudest, new research suggests voters don’t actually want to hear it. Nigel Farage’s shock announcement at the beginning of the month that he will stand for
The Big Issue1 min read
The Big Issue
FOUNDERS John Bird and Gordon Roddick GROUP CHAIR Nigel Kershaw GROUP CEO Paul Cheal MANAGING DIRECTOR Russell Blackman EDITORIAL & PRODUCTIONEditor Paul McNameeArt director Mark NeilDeputy editor Steven MacKenzieDigital editor Ryan ButcherDep
The Big Issue3 min read
Editor’s Letter
In Northern Ireland, they’re arguing over crisps. Stay with me, this is going somewhere. While it may be a massive leap forward from armoured cars and tanks and guns, an argument over crisps, on the face of it, is a curious one. And it’s not even abo
The Big Issue4 min read
Ending Poverty’s Relentless Grip Must Be A Priority For The Next Government. Here’s How.
We’re already more than two weeks into this election campaign, yet the silence around poverty has so far been deafening. At the time of writing, no party has even mentioned the issue, let alone put forward policies to support the ever-increasing numb
The Big Issue4 min read
Bird’s Words
How impolite do things have to get before we can get to the so-called truth? I watched the Starmer/ Sunak debate last week and realised that it was fraught from the start. You can’t ask two professional politicians who are seriously ambitious about t
The Big Issue3 min read
Letters
The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue Lord Bird is right about dismantling ‘Westminsterism’ [Issue 1617, 27 May-02 June]. His toponymic description captu
The Big Issue12 min read
Emilia Clarke Asked Doctors To Let Her Die When She Had Her First Brain Injury.
“I didn’t see any point in carrying on,” the actor admits. It was the beginning of 2011 and Clarke had just finished filming the first season of Game of Thrones, the epic fantasy series which catapulted her to fame in her 20s for her starring role as
The Big Issue4 min read
‘Storytelling Is The Soul Of Activism’
Bread & Roses, executive produced by Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai, is a film of resilience and resistance. It was shot by women in Afghanistan living under extreme oppression following the Taliban takeover in 2021, and shows th
The Big Issue3 min read
Women’s Work
JUSTINE CIARROCCHI: When Kabul fell to the Taliban again in August 2021, Jen [Lawrence] had a pretty immediate reaction. She asked us to find an Afghan filmmaker and offer resources for them to capture what was happening in real time. We stumbled upo
The Big Issue6 min read
John Cale
I think 16 was my teddy boy era. I only dabbled in it. But it was about getting the right haircut and figuring how to keep your hair upright for hours. But it was really a quest for young ladies and charming them. I chased them a bit – I was fascinat
The Big Issue1 min read
Free Running In Gaza
Founded in 1985, Freedom from Torture is a human rights charity dedicated to the rehabilitation of refugees and asylum seekers who have survived torture. Their annual open photography competition is a fundraiser which invites photographers of all age
The Big Issue2 min read
Books
Book festivals have a flattering reputation for camaraderie and intellectual exchange. Those of us who annually attend major festivals like Edinburgh or Hay look forward to losing ourselves in the heady buzz created by hundreds of book lovers hoping
The Big Issue4 min read
The Essential Guide To Book Festivals 2024
Rather than hosting at just one venue, the festival hosts more than 100 events spreading over 40 venues all over Essex, from libraries to lightships. Set to headline the month-long event is Dr Sarah Perry, Essex University chancellor, with her highly
The Big Issue3 min read
How Fiction Can Help Children Understand Poverty
The Wrong Shoes is my first full-length novel for children (ages 8+) and explores the crushing challenges facing children living in poverty today. The story is narrated by the main character, 12-year-old Will, whose father has been injured in an acci
The Big Issue1 min read
Five Great New Summer Reads For Young Enquiring Minds
by Catherine Bruton (Nosy Crow. £7.99) Age 9-12 A harrowing but hopeful tale about the healing bond between a troubled boy and the bird he saved. by Alexandra Sheppard, illustrated by Bex Glendining (Faber & Faber £7.99) Age 9-12 A fantastical tale i
The Big Issue3 min read
Letters to Molly
Every 16 June, literary lovers flock to Dublin for Bloomsday – a celebration of Irish writer James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses. The novel follows a day in the life of salesman Leopold Bloom as he runs errands, eats and drinks around the city, his pat
The Big Issue3 min read
When Prison Libraries Break Down Walls
To many, AG Smith is the Librarian – the creative force behind ghostly storytelling project Weeping Bank. But the author, who in 2020 and 2022 spoke to Big Issue about Paperchains, a creative project through which prisoners shared their experiences o
The Big Issue3 min read
Film
Check your pagan calendar because there must be some sort of solstice looming for movies about the great outdoors. Whether by accident or design, this week we are getting a cluster of independent films exploring the majesty and potential lethality of
The Big Issue3 min read
Robin Ince Is On The Road
I am a hypocrite. I try my best. My best is not good enough. All the above are true statements. We have 24-hour-a-day access to stories of the worst of humanity. Even then, there are many atrocities that will go unreported because they are not politi
The Big Issue4 min read
Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson ‘WE LOVE PUTTING THE WHOLE WORLD ON STAGE’
Since Good Chance built its Dome Theatre in ‘the Jungle’ refugee and migrant camp in Calais in September 2015, we have been privileged to work all over the world creating art of all shapes and sizes, with truly incredible artists and collaborators. T
The Big Issue2 min read
Puzzles
1. Four trouser supports (4,2,6)9. Suitable device to serve one’s purpose (9)10. Tailless animal in India (3)11. Sounds like quadruped incurred penalty in the game (7)12. Some risked getting stuck with a small anchor (5)13. Hold the admiral (6)15. Me
The Big Issue3 min read
Music
To my left, the oboe sang the theme; it was taken up by the violins behind me. To the right, cellos danced atop the offbeat bassline. I couldn’t see the flutes, but I could clearly hear when it was their turn for the melody. It soared across the inst
The Big Issue3 min read
My Pitch
RICHARD LEWIS, 49 I’ve been rough sleeping off and on for 35 years. I’m one of the original vendors from London back when Big Issue first started. We were battling against homeless beggars back then – that was the reason John Bird set it up initiall

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