The Big Issue

The Big Issue is a UK-based street paper that supports the homeless, the vulnerably housed asnd those seeking to escape poverty. Vendors normally buy the magazine for £1.25 and sell to the public for £2.50. We are using Zinio digital editions to create additonal revenue opportunities to fund our street-based and pastoral care services for our vendors. We are a social enterprise company and all revenues go to support the vulnerable communities we serve. Our goal is to move our vendors away from dependency and towards full time employment

Battle of the giants

THE DISPATCH • News, views & miscellany

The Big Issue

EDITOR’S LETTER • The roots of NHS decay can’t be hidden by soundbite veneers

Watching the detectives

BIRD’S WORDS • No Body Shop, no Big Issue. We need its minty-fresh conscience

LETTERS

Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley swear by this film • The stars of Wicked Little Letters talk work, friendship and profanities

A fighting chance • Rising homelessness might have the country in a chokehold, but in Sheffield they are taking the unusual step of battling back with mixed martial arts

The writing on the wall • The graffiti left behind by Russian soldiers sends a sober message about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine

JERMAINE JENAS • He was left devastated by the end of his football career, but within years he’d be a familiar face on primetime telly

PATCHES, LINES AND COLOURHANDS An exhibition

Books

Taking care when unravelling family secrets

Film

David Ireland I WANT TO MOVE ON, BUT I’M HAUNTED BY THE TROUBLES • Belfast-born playwright David Ireland dreamt of Scorsese and Shakespeare, till he realised the violence and bleak humour on his doorstep gave him all the material he needed. Growing up during the Troubles will do that to you, he writes

LUCY SWEET IS ON THE VERGE

Music

Food

Puzzles

MY PITCH • M&S, Argyle Street, Glasgow Monday-Saturday 11am-3pm