What trees know. Their roots, our history
Issue 1073
In this week’s Big Issue…
There are some incredible old trees across Britain, places where Covenanters met, where Wilberforce sat working towards abolition, where kings plotted battles and Robin Hood hid. Archie Miles knows a lot about them and he has constructed a map of Britain through the oaks that we need to know most about. It’s a brilliantly odd idea for a book and he details some of the fascinating elements for us.
The movies, says Willem Defoe, are screwed. Which is ironic, given his next film role. Here, he talks about why making computer games is where the game is now for young creatives. And finely-lined old dogs like him.
And more…
Letter To My Younger Self is with Karl Pilkington. Having moved from under the shadow of Ricky Gervais, he has established a role as reluctant travel show guide. This is a great interview in which he replaces existential angst with a curious fatalism and a yearning for peace brought only through a paper round.
John Bird goes driving this week. He is much in favour of the policy allowing potential points on your licence to be replaced by an afternoon learning to be a better driver. Those of us living in Scotland are jealous of such a measure.
Kate Nash is our guest columnist this week. A Brit Award-winning singer-songwriter, she has suffered through the vagaries of the music industry. She is well placed to move on the debate of sexualisation in and of music. She comes to an interesting conclusion.
Bob Stanley has written a book called Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story Of Modern Pop. It’s a mammoth undertaking that took over his life. He writes for us about the mania that grips when in the belly of such a task. And complies his Top 10 Ultimate 45s list. It’s a talker!
Elsewhere, we have vendor John White from Edinburgh, a man who has sold to Prince Charles; our My Week is Masterchap champ Adrian Edmondson, and there is a lot of sex around the TV review. Again, there are details of the competition for kids to create the cover for The Big Issue Christmas edition. We’re working with great kids newspaper FirstNews on this.
The Build Your Vendor A Shop competition continues to grow. Keep spreading the word.