The Big Issue

As Israel intensified its military activity in Lebanon, tens of thousands of people have been fleeing for safety. This Turkish navy ship arrived in Beirut with 300 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including tents, blankets, food parcels, cooking equipment

By Lottie Elton Big Issue reporter On 30 October, chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will deliver the first Labour budget in almost a decade and a half. The autumn statement will contain “difficult decisions” on tax, spending and welfare, the

As we sat at a well-worn wooden kitchen table in the leafy Moseley suburb of Birmingham, Judith Yates pointed at a spreadsheet on her MacBook. Each row told a clear story, painstakingly collected by the retired GP, of a person in Birmingham whose dea

Munya Chawawa grew up in Zimbabwe. Political and economic crises in the country, led at the time by Robert Mugabe, forced his family to move to the UK when he was 11. Since then, ‘great’ dictators have fascinated Chawawa, who is one of the biggest na

I’d just left school when I turned 16. I wasn’t happy there so a lot of the time I just didn’t go in. I would go to a place called Camp Hill – a nice field on the way to the airport in Liverpool – and get stoned and read books. Whenever I left the ho

As a child, regular Street Art contributor Chowdhury was enchanted by the aesthetics of the natural world around her in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she grew up. It was this passion for the wonders of the landscape, and the inspiration of her mother, tha

Interstellar space lies beyond the solar system. Traditionally, we used telescopes to observe remotely what lies in our neighbour’s yard. But remote observing is limited to extremely bright or large objects. If we ever discover an interstellar car, s

A new Pedro Almodóvar movie is always something to relish. The shock-haired Spanish sensualist embraces emotionally charged drama, bold colours, sex, history, politics, classic cinema… all the good stuff. Almodóvar also loves to centre women in many

In the depths of grief, I discovered a profound truth: art possesses an extraordinary power to transform our world, both within and without. When my father passed away during the pandemic, I found solace in an unexpected place – the rhythmic beeping

The skaters gather in Leeds’s Millennium Square. They take turns to mount the jumps that jut from the smooth paving. A skateboard makes contact with the wood; the skater pushes forward, leaning into a clean finish. His friend is not so lucky; midway

1. Sweet fruit, patrol leader takes it (6,5)7. Period in America at end of journey (8)8. Many a nocturnal bird found on top of the chimney (4)9. Six deliveries completed (4)11. Making no exceptions when cleaning the floor (8)13. Place a ghost might f

I’ve been selling Big Issue for three months. I’m really loving it. I’ve got my proper pitch now. I used to beg here before, then someone from Big Issue came down and asked: “Do you want to sell the magazine? You’ll be working, you’ll make money, you

When the world began to unlock after the pandemic, people were itching to travel again. They wanted to ride on the gondolas in Venice, sunbathe on the beaches of Bali, or explore the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu. The surge in tourism had an impact,

In April, tens of thousands of people across the Spanish Canary Islands protested, calling for a tourism strategy and a freeze on visitor numbers. In 2023, 13.9 million people visited the islands, which have a total population of only 2.2 million. Al

As I sit atop the mountainous hill of Alexandra Park with the ancient city of Bath sprawling out for miles all around me (below right), I’m enraptured and humbled by the abundance of weathered stone, the sporadic smudges of ancient oaks, and the myst

Britain is very fortunate to have countless opportunities to explore the great outdoors. Yet many people are apprehensive about seizing them. One of the reasons for this is not having access to a car, even though lots of those areas renowned for thei

Tim Marshall’s hugely popular trilogy of books, Prisoners of Geography , The Power of Geography and The Future of Geography , have shown how it’s places and their people who shape global affairs despite predictions that technology and big business wo