CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: HALF PRICE Big Issue magazine subscription
SUBSCRIBE
  • 21st century Blitz spirit: Keep calm and carry on (in case of emergency text your mum)

21st century Blitz spirit: Keep calm and carry on (in case of emergency text your mum)

Issue 1164

21st century Blitz spirit: Keep calm and carry on (in case of emergency text your mum)

We speak to the people who work out what we’ve all to do in case of emergency – pandemic, flood, missile attack and more. We discover that the Four Minute Warning is a myth, and find out what happened to the WW2 air raid sirens.

‘Labour let me down’

Professor Robert Winston, outspoken medic and Labour peer, is angry about a lot of things – how his party has disintegrated after its General Election defeat, the “black hole” opening up in the NHS, and the “crazy” bid to ban legal highs. And he’s also sorry for tweeting negative comments about the SNP… sort of.

Taking the sting out of homeless spikes

A group of artists in Shoreditch are ambushing the proliferating anti-rough sleeper spikes and turning them into beds and libraries, as Adam Forrest discovers how “defensive architecture” is on the rise – and finds people inventing ingenious new ways to defeat it.

John Bird recalls his heady, hazy, rock ‘n’ roll festival-going days, and finds a relaxed new way to enjoy the festival vibe (without the noisy soundtrack).

Brendan O’Neill is in a world of wonder, as the dreams of his boyhood come true ­thanks to technology. Why doesn’t everyone else feel the same?

Pause: and discover the joy of brutalist, concrete architecture all around us – before it disappears. John Grindrod explains how.

Letter To My Younger Self: comedian and Never Mind the Buzzcocks stalwart Phill Jupitus has shared a stage with Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, the Blockheads (and the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band). He recalls how he swapped fishing for punk rock, and reveals how fatherhood made him see his own mother differently.

My Peccadillo: hide your piano! Hairy food critic Jay Rayner is a dedicated jazz man and has a compulsion to tickle the ivories.

Mackenzie Meets: Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, who discuss how mobile phones have revolutionised movie-making – and reveal that our own Ed Lawrenson is their fave film critic!

Hidden Britain: The free map for readers to download this week leads to Eyam – a village ravaged by plague (but very pretty today).

Classical: music takes a look at the wonderful choral festival in Hereford Cathedral this summer.

Film: a fascinating documentary about a 91-year-old Manhattan fashionista by celebrated film-maker Albert Maysles.

TV: Lucy Sweet says Celebrity MasterChef has gone off the boil. It’s time to bin it like a flopped souffle.

Rant: the Tories’ bid to bring back fox hunting hasn’t gone away – don’t be deluded into thinking the anti-hunt lobby has won.

My Pitch: Marius Adrian Vlasin has a remarkable tale of how he was brought back from despair, and now has a place of his own to call home – and ambitions to become a preacher.