Shakespeare Interviews: Sir Ian McKellen

In this weeks issue…We thought it’d be a good idea to interview the great Sir Ian McKellen using questions drawn only from Shakespeare’s plays. So’d he. Our man Steven MacKenzie channels the bard. A terrific, odd and revealing read.

Our Letter to My Younger Self is with TV host Gabby Logan. She’s very honest about how the death of her brother changed her completely.

John Bird this week considers a new book by Erwin James, a former lifer and now prison reform advocate. So honest, smart and clear-sighted is James about the life he lived that the book should be required reading in schools, says John.

Our featured vendor is Ray Reed who sells in central Portsmouth. Lyrical about time spent as an itinerant worker, The Big Issue got him out of the soup when he started begging.

As we hit #VendorWeek – you’ll see some well known faces out on the street selling The Big Issue from Monday, and thanks to them all – we also carry some feel-good vendor stories. Included are details of our man Daniel, who sells in Glasgow’s west end. He bought a regular customer a coffee. And then the story went viral. It’s a good ‘un…

Amongst the other must-reads is a piece by Amy Green. Her infant son’s death led her and her husband to create a digital game that is helping other families deal with this kind of crippling grief.

We also have Chris Addison on life after Iannucci, Gregory Fitoussi on the surge in subtitle TV favourites, Bob Mould (yes that one) on his wrestling obsession and a celebration of libraries.