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.

Bogey wonderland

THE DISPATCH INTO 2026

THE BIG ISSUE

Local hero • Former Big Issue seller Earl John Charlton had a belter of a 2025, inspiring a Sam Fender anthem, changing ideas on homelessness... and Newcastle won a trophy

I spent four years in one of Britain’s worst jails for a murder I didn’t commit. Now I want justice. • Whether it be overcrowded prisons, accidental releases or huge court backlogs, the justice system is in desperate need of urgent reform in 2026

YOUR LETTERS

2026? Have an aubergine!

Where Turner wears me out, Constable restores me

Jamie Laing • The reality TV star and podcast host spent his privileged childhood obsessing about being popular, but had to overcome the insecurities bubbling under the surface

Bowie remains the artist who shows us how to move forward, even when confronting the end

Starman rises

The United States is experiencing its most acute homelessness crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. That is only going to get worse • One year in, and Trump’s policies are destroying the lives of the most in need

‘Being homeless is not a crime. We’re not drug addicts. We don’t have guns. We’re just trying to live’ • Washington DC street paper Street Sense reports from the front line

‘I’m worried that as a world we’re giving up on solving conflicts’

Hope lives on • As the war enters its fourth year, living under constant threat has become the new normal. Tom Horn joined an aid convoy from the UK and discovered a nation normalised under threat but praying for peace

MY BIG YEAR JASMINE MITCHELL • Putting meringues ahead of studying paid off as she was crowned star baker a record-equalling five times on her way to winning this year’s Great British Bake Off. Her own cookbook would be the icing on the cake

Walk by the Thames

NICK KNOWLES ‘Community spirit is sitting just below the surface’

2026 film preview: a knockout year? • Next year sees the release of Mortal Kombat II and Street Fighter, a cute matching pair of movie franchises based on cheerfully violent 1990s arcade games where larger-than-life martial artists wallop each other in one-on-one bouts. We can all agree that filmmaking should be a creative space for expression rather than competition. But what if we pitted thematically similar films from 2026’s release schedule against each other in imaginary winner-takes-all duels? Let’s get ready to rumble!

MY BIG YEAR STEVIE MARTIN • Her Taskmaster teamwork with Jason Mantzoukas made them the comedy partnership of 2025. Now Stevie Martin has apathy to kick against

Quiz ALAN’S BIG QUIZ 2026 • Our resident trivia enthusiast and Pointless winner tests your knowledge

Puzzles

MY PITCH RAHELA PECICAN, 29 • M&S, CULVERHOUSE CROSS, CARDIFF THURSDAY-SATURDAY 11AM-5PM