Feeling happy? You’ve been Pharrelled…
Issue 1088
In this week’s Big Issue…
Relationship rules, number 34: If you want a guy to love you, don’t break into his flat and try to kill him. Relationship rules, number 81: Smashing a guy’s windows won’t make him love you more. These, plus more really crackerjack gems in a brilliant Letter To My Younger Self with Boy George.
What song can beat Barry from Eastenders singing Something Inside So Strong at the world bowls championships AND lift a nation out of the January blues? Why Happy by Pharrell, of course. Eamonn Forde digs into what makes the track so essential and cross generational – and what makes earworms take hold.
And more, of course…
John Bird considers the great old days of the past. And wonders just how great they were. Time to look at the realities of then and now, he says.
Samira Ahmed, meanwhile, looks at what is news and what isn’t as the Lord Rennard allegations continue to cast their shadow.
There are over 440 pieces of EU legislation relating to animal welfare. That’s a lot. This week, an MEP called Alyn Smith set about trying to get them all into one manageable piece. We looked into what was there and discovered which ducks are sensitive creatures requiring certain love and attention, which circus animals DON’T need passports, and other bits and pieces you can use to amaze your friends.
Danny Trejo has lived a life. One of the most recognisable, but impossible to name, actors in Hollywood (he has starred in From Dusk To Dawn, officially one of the great films of all time), he tells Steven MacKenzie that when Johnny Cash played in Folsom, he was an inmate in San Quentin. When Cash was playing San Quentin, he was shifted to Folsom. Good interview and a great illustration to go alongside it, too.
Next week, a number of celebs, CEOs and assorted friends of The Big Issue will take to the streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh and London in a bid to sell the mag for a time, raising awareness and interest. Thanks to all of them for diving in. There is something of this in the edition this week. More will follow online as the days get closer.
Elsewhere, our featured vendor is John Hughes in Honiton, Devon. He helped dig the Channel Tunnel, he’s worked as a salmon processor and a street cleaner. He’s a nomad, he says, and likes selling the magazine because of the people he meets. He once went to church with the Queen.
If you’d like to subscribe to The Big Issue, or if you wish to buy a copy but can’t locate a vendor, email robert.white@bigissue.com