To Glory! The incredible journey of Big Issue star Joel Hodgson

Joel Hodgson’s story is so good, it demanded to be told. Abandoned in an orphanage in Belize, he and his two sisters were found and adopted by a Scottish couple. He spent his formative years in Glasgow, before deciding to try his luck in London. He became homeless and turned to The Big Issue to help him pull himself back up. As he started to move on (he worked hard and got a job in The City) his old love of athletics was discovered by the Belize Athletic Association as they were putting together a team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and then, well, it’s a great story. Buy this week’s issue to find out what happens…

And more…

Our Letter To My Younger Self frequently gets to places other interviews can’t. This week there is a moment when the funny and warm hearted Gail Porter explains what she did with her hair when she lost it that’ll make you stop and catch you breath. It’s a great interview this, by turns moving and revealing, it’ll make you question how you react to people.

John Bird looks at the prison book ban story. The debate has been muddied by people getting immediately annoyed without really investigating and asking what works best, he says.

As a companion piece, we look behind the headline to see what is really going on. We also discover some curious items on the allowed list of items prisoners can buy.

Samira Ahmed gets stuck into the Malaysian government for sending a text message to relatives of Flight MH370. This is what happens, she argues, when states and organisations are more concerned with their own image management than with what they should worry about.

Tom Hollander is hungover. And funny. He talks about being Rev and Dylan Thomas. We also talk to the real Rev, based out of TV Rev’s church in central London. I hope that’s clear.

Big Issue Direct To You is our new subscription service launching this week. All details inside.

Our featured vendor telling their story in My Pitch is Florian Ciobanu, working in Glasgow. He works part time as medical translator for Romanians in and around the city as well as being a vendor. An interesting chap.

Elsewhere – discover details of the hunt for tiny model people in central London, Johnny Cash’s great ‘lost’ album is reviewed, film director Gurinder Chandha features in the coveted My Week spot, and we look back at the heat Kermit’s interview with us generated.

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