From Orwell’s classic Animal Farm to Trump’s impeachment

Seventy-five years after the publication of Animal Farm, Orwell’s words remain startlingly relevant. We investigate how events dismissed as ‘fake news’ in the 1930s inspired Orwell and how the story has extra relevance today as the geopolitical chess game played between Ukraine/Russia/USA that inspired Animal Farm is still being played out at the impeachment trial in Washington DC.

Also inside…

• Michael Cashman was in EastEnders before becoming a LGBT campaigner and a peer in the House of Lords. He is this week’s Letter To My Younger Self
• After BBC veteran Fergal Keane spoke out about the personal cost of war reporting, former foreign correspondent Martin Geissler says knowing when to step back is the bravest move of all
• As well as pioneering music and shaping our popular culture, David Bowie was at the forefront of an online revolution. We revisit a classic and prophetic Big Issue interview with him from 1999
• Boris Johnson claims rough sleeping figures have gone down. We challenge that in Fact/Fiction (spoiler: it’s not true)
• Handmaid’s Tale actor Ann Dowd talks about playing scary nuns
• Former Newcastle vendor Kris Dove tells us about the differences he finds selling in London