Happy Birthday Big Issue!
Issue 1071
It’s our birthday edition! The Big Issue was launched 22 years ago by John Bird and Gordon Roddick to provide the homeless, the vulnerably housed and those right at the margins of society with a means of earning a legitimate income. We remain unique in this. And the magazine has grown to become part of the fabric of Britain.
To celebrate this year, we have turned to our vendors. We have asked them to take us on a tour of Britain, a nation as they see it because they see what the rest of us sometimes miss. So, in this alternative guide, they bring us to the places that mean most to them. We have a collection of locations that rest in memory from childhood, some places near where they work, some that are views they love and some of the places on the street where the times weren’t so good.
It’s a fascinating tour, with wonderful photography to boot. Will Self – the great walker and writer – provides an introduction explaining what everybody can learn from the vendors and why this piece is of proper order.
And more…
- Letter To My Younger Self is with FA boss Greg Dyke and it’s a cracker. He has held two of the most important positions in British cultural life – as boss of the BBC and of the FA – and proves a brilliant subject for the piece. He is bruising on the current BBC hierarchy, has some great insights on the nature of leadership and explains why he made his son miss his finals. He also reveals the huge British movie hit he passed by investing in.
- John Bird looks back at what he has built and considers how things have developed over 22 years. And what is yet to come.
- Rachel Johnson goes on an episodic, contemporary pilgrim’s progress starting with a collapsed roof, a forgotten purse and ending with a dawning realisation. Good piece.
- There is more, of course. MacKenzie meets a very polite DJ Jazzy Jeff; we encourage readers to download posters as part of a localised push to support your local vendor; you’ll want to read My Week with self-confessed weird lady Sue Kreitzman. We also take a brief run through 22 years of Big Issue history.
The Build Your Vendor A Shop competition continues to grow. Keep spreading the word.