Patrick Stewart: An interview with the intrepid actor, still boldly going…

In this week’s Big Issue…

Patrick Stewart: Still boldly going…

We have an interview with Sir Patrick Stewart – aka Captain Jean Luc Picard, Charles Xavier from X-Men and one of Britain’s most esteemed actors – in which he points out the anxieties of living in America as a ‘resident alien’ and he and his American wife’s fears for the future under the current president, where the dystopian horrors of new X-Men movie Logan have become reality.  “But I give Trump two months…” and he’ll be out, he tells us.

People hate us, don’t they?

Sleaford Mods are the ranty ‘punk-hop’ poet laureates of broken, Brexit Britain. But they also have a surprisingly under-appreciated sense of humour. They channel Kenny Everett, dream of stilts and barbecues on stage and – of course – get political, as should the rest of the pop world, they insist.

How to save your library – A Big Issue toolkit

This week we step up our literacy campaign in the face of a new raft of local government cuts being announced, and equip our readers with an essential toolkit to help them save their local libraries if they are under threat. There is really useful advice from people who have already fought and won, revealing how they did it, plus a letter people can use to lobby their councils, highlighting the legislation that concerns library provision and demanding their council fulfil their obligations.

We also look at how better literacy transforms children’s life chances, how World Book Day (Thursday, March 2) helps, and how kids in London plan to use it to fight to save their local library from cuts.

Also in this week’s magazine…

• Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chada recalls her activist youth, and how the first Rock Against Racism gig with The Clash headlining was a defining moment in her life, in a very revealing Letter to my Younger Self.
• John Bird explains why the Homelessness Reduction Bill is essential – and why prevention must be a priority, rather than waiting for the problems around homelessness and poverty to happen then scrabbling around for a solution after the event.
• Selling Britain: as new exhibition of adverts that shaped Britain’s history, from Lord Kitchener to the Green Cross Code, opens our own TV critic Sam Delaney takes us through these iconic images.
• My Pitch is Steve Taylor in Hackney – and is lovely white Staffie dog, Skye – who recalls the joys of fishing and says his kids and grandkids bring him great joy these days.
• Sonya Hale was a drug addict who ended up repeatedly in prison, until a writing project turned her life around. Now her first play is being staged, and she pens this week’s guest Column on how creativity can stop reoffending.