To democracy and beyond!

Everyone’s favourite intergalactic trash can Count Binface is back making headlines, as he attempts to unseat Nigel Farage in the Clacton by-election which takes place on 13 August. Before going to the polls, the 5,900-year-old space warrior from the planet Sigma IX, aka comedy writer Jon Harvey, took time out to chat to Big Issue – his “favourite Earth magazine by a country light year” – to outline his manifesto, which includes capping 99 ice creams at 99p and building at least one affordable home. Binface is a big fan of British democracy. So even if other parties have refused to put up an opposing candidate for Clacton, he is here to make sure that Farage does not stand unopposed, to keep the audacity of hope alive. Read the full interview – and his thoughts on that £5 million bung – only in this week’s Big Issue.

Also inside

• Parents of seriously ill children are often left without even basic financial support. Campaigners are fighting for change
• The Script frontman Danny O’Donoghue thought he’d be drawing Marvel comics for a living before he found his voice
• News that Jodrell Bank’s telescope lost its funding has left UK ​scientists facing an uncertain future
• Karl Bushby has spent half his life walking around the world. Now, 28 years later, he is nearing the end of his epic trip and pondering what comes next
• Our special investigation asks how much councils are spending on homelessness prevention from their funding allocations. Spoiler: most are falling short
• A care worker describes the strange loneliness of the night time carer, in a world that doesn’t even notice
• Writer Angharad Hampshire’s new book explores the banality of evil in the form of Hermine Braunsteiner, the first Nazi to be traced in America and brought to justice
• As Live at the Apollo is cancelled by the BBC, what does the future hold for TV stand-up?
• Music producer James Ellis Ford recalls the makeshift studio he set up in hospital that helped him reconnect with music while undergoing treatment for cancer
• And we say farewell to much-loved Wimbledon vendor Jane Burns who has died, as locals pay tribute

And much more

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor each week. If you don’t have a local vendor you can subscribe online, or make a contribution to support our work with vendors every day – and help people work their way out of poverty with dignity.