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 DISPATCH

OPINION

The Big Issue

YOUR LETTERS

Weighing up the future

We need to be more Marmot

MARMOT PLACES • When he was a fresh, dynamic leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer frequently referenced and praised Marmot principles on poverty, health and joined-up thinking to regenerate Britain. As inequalities grow, and government spending faces massive pressures, should he turn again?In our deep dive into what Marmot means, the creator Sir Michael Marmot lays out his vision, and we look at the places where this has changed lives

MARMOT WORKS. HERE’S HOW • Projects driven by the Eight Marmot Principles are transforming Britain. Jamie Atkins spoke to the people who are making it happen, using Marmot thinking to improve countless lives

‘Local authority investment in leisure has disappeared over the past 10 years’ • Deprivation leads to poorer health outcomes, but funding cuts to leisure facilities across the country have hit hardest in the very areas that need them most. BeActive Urmston is coaching its local community back to health, with help from Big Issue Invest

‘THERE’S THIS MASSIVE, SYSTEMIC IMBALANCE WHERE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE CAN’T AFFORD A HOUSE’ Cillian Murphy gets real

Charlotte Church • The teenage ‘voice of an angel’ grew into a committed activist, while life taught her how to be a fabulous, slippery fish

CULTURE

Changing suspicious minds

Doctor’s orders

Raising the woof

Paul Weller Always the changingman

SAM DELANEY IS AT HOME

War of nerves

Puzzles

MY PITCH DAVID REEVES, 36

The challenge of counting Britain’s hidden homeless

‘I felt like a burden’ • Tom, 22, lost his home and his job just days before Christmas. His sofa surfing spell saw him turn his life around

The youth employment charity using McDonald’s to fight hidden homelessness • Prince William visited Spiral Skills to see how the Lambeth project can help his Homewards programme tackle homelessness. The people behind the charity told Big Issue how they reach those at risk

The hidden cost of going unseen and unheard • Untreated vision and hearing problems trap people experiencing homelessness in cycles of poverty. This is what’s being done to break them

The crisis grows through the scourge of domestic abuse

EYES ON HIDDEN HOMELESSNESS