The Big IssueOpinion

Hygiene poverty is the hidden cost-of-living trap. Why we must remove VAT on essentials to address it

Hygiene poverty can be fixed by removing VAT on essentials and axing shelf life regulations. It could help millions with the ...
The Big Issue

Keane's Tom Chaplin: 'There's a natural sense of perspective that comes with getting older'

When we Zoom with a still ridiculously boyish-looking Tom Chaplin, he’s in Lima, finishing up a three-and-a-half week tour. “We’re nearly at the end of the Latin American bit, which has been great.
The Big Issue

KSI: 'I just had a dream, self-belief and a huge work ethic'

KSI is easy to define but impossible to categorise. Knowledge. Strength. Integrity. Olajide Olatunji – or JJ – was 15 when he registered an account on YouTube and started uploading videos of himself ...
The Big Issue

Protesters block roads and occupy offices over the cost of living: 'Bills are rising but so are we'

A community union has launched a day of co-ordinated action against organisations it blames for the cost of living crisis. Acorn members took aim at landlords, energy and water companies and bailiffs ...
The Big Issue

The 2012 Olympics promised to regenerate East London. What went wrong?

On 6 July 2005, London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Alongside sporting glory, the Olympics were seen as a catalyst for the regeneration of East London, creating lasting ...
The Big Issue

Disabled people warn of brutal 'secret' cuts to DWP Access to Work support: 'It's been horrific'

Disabled people are seeing their Access to Work (AtW) support quietly slashed – despite no formal change in government guidance. AtW is meant to level the playing field: it helps companies to cover ...
The Big Issue

'It's an invasion of privacy': Single mum left 'mortified' after DWP scrutinises her bank account

Leonie Berman recalls feeling “mortified” when an officer for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) scrutinised her bank account statements. She says every payment she had made over the course of ...
The Big Issue

Poet laureate Simon Armitage on his years as a probation officer – and the redemptive power of poetry

When now-poet laureate Simon Armitage retired from the Probation Service, his dad was “a bit miffed”. “I went into probation because my dad was a probation officer,” Armitage tells Big Issue. “He was ...
The Big Issue

When speaking out about racism costs you everything

When I read about Luther Burrell, the former England rugby player who bravely spoke out about the racism he experienced only to see his career crumble, it hit something deep inside me. Because I know ...
The Big Issue

Lenny Rush: 'I cannot be farting in front of Gary Oldman. That can't be happening'

The Reluctant Vampire's Lenny Rush on finding his way with comedy, his Harry Potter role and pretending to fart in front of ...
The Big Issue

What counting women sleeping rough in London taught me about Andy Burnham's homelessness promise

Big Issue spent a morning shadowing the women's rough sleeping census, a groundbreaking project which proves that thousands ...
The Big Issue

Willem Dafoe: ‘I want to have an experience that transforms or changes me’

I’ve had a swim, I’ve had my breakfast, I’m ready to go.” Willem Dafoe is a proper movie star. He can do it all. The massive ...