From The Big Issue to you: Merry Christmas

It’s The Big Issue’s big bumper Christmas edition…

James Corden interview. Britain’s biggest export to the US in 2015 (until Adele decided to sneak out a record) talks exclusively to us about the year he’s had – duets with Stevie Wonder feature.

Archbishop of Canterbury Christmas message. Justin Welby is here to talk about one of the issues of our time – the refugee crisis and how we should act.

The ghost of socialism past. Jeremy Corbyn is held up as inheritor of Labour founder Keir Hardie’s crown. We learned Hardie was a keen spiritualist who visited mediums. So, we thought, what if Hardie was reachable beyond the curtain…We approached a medium, asked him to try and what do you know?! Keir Hardie came through! So, for Christmas, we have Keir Hardie’s assessment of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. You’re very welcome.

How do Jedi celebrate Christmas? We look at the people who identity as Jedi, pushing it as a religion on the census. How did this grow from a disparate collection of outsiders and the disenfranchised? We also highlight Den of Geek’s fantastic Geek Versus Loneliness campaign.

Amanda Abbington. It’s been a big year for the actress, star of Cuffs and, of course, Sherlock. She explains what it’s like to find yourself in the wake of Cumberbatch and her partner Martin Freeman as Sherlock ‘Beatlemania’ grips.

Our vendor success stories celebrate the achievements of The Big Issue vendors through this year – from growing small businesses to academic triumphs. We highlight the next steps some of our vendors take.

John Lloyd. The man behind so much – from Not The Nine of Clock News to Spitting Image and Blackadder – explains why he is so completely absorbed by his most recent invention, QI. He encourages all of us to embrace a quest for knowledge.

Tom Jones, 50 Cent, Jane Seymour, Wilko Johnson, Bear Grylls and more. It’s the best of our Letter To My Younger Self interviews.

John Bird. The boss explains why the Peter Mullan-starring Hector is the film you MUST see over Christmas.

Books of The Year. We reveal The Big Issue Book of The Year. And our expert panel – including Robert Macfarlane, Adam Sisman, Rachel Johnson, Al Kennedy, David Baddiel, Peter Hitchens and Simon Garfield – pick their reads of the year.

James O’Brien. The LBC host looks back at the best radio of 2015 and looks ahead to what you should be tuning into over Christmas.