The Big Issue

The Big Issue is one of Britain’s leading news and cultural magazines. Every week’s edition is packed full of original takes on the biggest issues of the day as well as interviews with the most significant figures in politics and entertainment. The Big Issue was founded 1991 to give people experiencing homelessness the opportunity to earn their own income. We continue to support hundreds of vendors across the UK and all proceeds from sales go to help anyone wanting to lift themselves out of poverty.

The chips are down

THE DISPATCH • News, views & miscellany

The Shadwell landlords have been prosecuted for their crimes. But where is the justice for the tenants whose lives were destroyed? • On 5 March 2023, a fire broke out in a flat in Shadwell, East London. What it revealed was grimly reflective of modern Britain: at least 17 men had been living in the tiny two-bedroom flat, rooms crammed with bunk beds, mould on the walls and bedbugs biting them. Tragedy came when a charging e-bike battery caught fire. Many of those sleeping in the flat worked as delivery drivers. The fire killed one resident and plunged the rest into homelessness. Big Issue reported on the story in the aftermath, and we have closely followed the fortunes of the survivors in the intervening years. This month, almost two years to the day since the fire, the landlords of the flat were finally sentenced in court. Big Issue was there to find out what justice looks like for those who survived the fire.

The Big Issue

EDITOR’S LETTER • The problem of perception

YOUR LETTERS

Inequality is at a tipping point. I support Big Issue’s call for a Poverty Zero law

BIRD’S WORDS • There’s no defence for raiding the poverty pot

Alison Hammond • Since bursting onto our screens in the third series of Big Brother back in 2002, Alison Hammond has rarely been away from the spotlight. And that’s good news because she’s funny, whether interviewing big names and exploring big issues on the This Morning sofa or as a panellist on Rob Beckett’s Smart TV. For our brand-new regular feature, Big Questions, she covers everything from dreaming of being a singing nun to The Rock’s chunky arms.

So where did it all go wrong? • Covid effectively ended rough sleeping with the Everyone In scheme. It showed us what’s possible.

Living with long Covid • When announcing plans to slash £5 billion from disability payments last week, work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall told parliament that spending on working-age disability benefits had risen £20bn since the pandemic. This will be no surprise to the estimated two million people in the UK who suffer from long Covid. For them, the virus was no short-term infection but a life-altering condition, and thousands have been forced to give up work – with no recovery in sight.

How the 10Foot takeover gave our vendors a boost

A servant of conscience

UNTITLED ARTWORK By Chris Bird

DAVID JAMES • The unexpected football career appealed to his competitive streak, though he does regret getting in that car

Books

Power corrupts, same as it ever did

Get prepped for a singalong apocalypse

42 ways the Hitchhiker’s author elevated the world

Wistful tribute to the women of Windrush

Puzzles

MY PITCH • Pero’s Bridge, near Arnolfini Arts, Bristol 5pm-8pm, Monday-Friday