Impostor! Cracked open: The truth about what’s on your plate

In this weeks issue…Who’d make a fake egg to pass it off as a real one? What are we really eating when we thinking we’re eating something else? Nicola Temple details the growing food fraud that is shadowing everything we eat. And then she helpfully explains what we can do to beat it.

We also look at how ugly vegetables can offer a different sort of solution.

With Local Hero and Gregory’s Girl, Bill Forsyth made two of the Britain’s greatest ever films. Though they brilliantly celebrate Scotland, Forsyth thunders into the ongoing debate about Scotland’s self-determination. Scotland is, he says, a little nation with an identity problem. That’s just the start…

Our Letter To My Younger Self is with Sue Johnston, an actress who must be well on the way to national treasure status. She worked for Brian Epstein, hung out with The Beatles at the Cavern Club and remains a radical free thinker. Good piece.

John Bird considers the realities of consumerism – consider its flaws if you must, but look at how it has developed where we are, he says.

Angels Costumiers won a Bafta last week for Outstanding Contribution to cinema, marking several lifetimes of fitting out stars of the screen. Samira Ahmed gets a tour of their remarkable store and finds herself in a unique library of culture.

Big Issue vendors are amongst the most fascinating characters you’ll ever meet. This week’s featured vendor is exceptional by any standard. He’s Michael Costello, a 71-year-old who sells in Canary Wharf. A Phd in the psychology of visual movement perception, Michael is now devoted to helping injured wildlife. An incredible man.

We also have the story of how mental illness and the threat of homelessness impacted upon contributor Jenny McBain, we detail how you can win tickets to come to a Big Issue sponsored Q&A with Richard Gere following the screening of Time Of Mind, his new film about homelessness, and we talk to Michael Smiley, one of Britain’s great character actor of the moment.