Hive hopes

Issue 1723

Hive hopes

We were buzzing to meet the people behind Dorset’s Bee Mission, a Community Interest Company that’s offering beekeeping courses to people affected by homelessness and exclusion. Bournemouth has one of the country’s highest rates of rough sleeping outside London, and Bee Mission is responding to the problem by installing hives around the county. They use the profits from honey sales to feed local people sleeping rough, and the long-term aim is to offer training and qualifications to help people get back into paid employment in the bee industry. We also look at the decline of bee populations worldwide and what that means for the planet.

Also inside

  • Ten years after Brexit we go to Boston in Lincolnshire – which had the highest number of Brexit voters in the country – to find out what leaving the EU has done for them
  • In Glastonbury’s fallow year, Everywhere At Once Festival is filling the void by bringing big-name acts to grassroots venues all around the country. We hear from Becky Hill, Miki Berenyi and more
  • Soprano Danielle de Niese recalls a stellar opera career that started on a TV talent show when she was just nine years old
  • Mick Herron, author of the Slow Horses series, takes us inside the head of his most repellent character, Jackson Lamb
  • Mads Mikkelsen stars in the strangest Beatles reunion movie you’ll ever see
  • Comedian Sapphire McIntosh was homeless at 16. Now she’s starring in Ted Lasso, and has her own show at the Edinburgh Fringe
  • And we catch up with the manager of Millwall Romans, who wants football to become a game where gay players everywhere can come out without fear

And much more


Buy from your local Big Issue vendor each week. If you don’t have a local vendor you can subscribe online, or make a contribution to support our work with vendors every day – and help people work their way out of poverty with dignity.