Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/8/2025 i The Big Issue

↓ GET IN TOUCH The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissueuk @bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK thebigissue ISSUE 1695 It’s a lovely magazine as well. Love Big Issue. @tanvimalik1130, Instagram MY WORLD AS I FIND IT Simple economics I am a regular purchaser of Big Issue. I don’t think that you would include this letter because it comes from the other side of the argument. My sister is a landlady and is trying to make a business out of providing good quality accommodation to renters. I would not wish her business on anyone. She has to tackle council ineptitude, increased building costs, the experience of renter destruction of her property and the inane targeting of renters by the government trying to score political points with new…

My preoccupations at 16 were, I think, twofold. Firstly, passing my exams to get to university. I was really, really focused on that. But secondly, it was round about that age that I started to get really interested in politics. I was still 16 when I joined the SNP. So it was, increasingly at that age, an interest for me. I was a very, very studious kid, and I took it really seriously. One of the things I think I would tell my younger self is to just lighten up a little bit. Work hard, go after the things you want, but don’t forget to be young and enjoy yourself a bit along the way. I was a really shy teenager. Believe it or not, given what I’ve done, I’m…

→ Sara Cox can’t keep still. “It’s like, you know when you get back from a club, you’re at a mate’s house and you’re still dancing in the kitchen? I’m giving that vibe.” But superstar DJ Cox, more normally in a warm studio broadcasting to 4.5 million drive-time listeners on BBC Radio 2, hasn’t just returned from a night out. She’s still recovering from her recently completed epic 135-mile Great Northern Marathon Challenge, where she ran five marathons in five days, raising a staggering £11.5 million for Children in Need. You’d think she’d want a seat, but the constant shuffling stops her legs seizing up. “I’m just trying to keep stretching this left knee at the back,” she explains. “There’s a little pocket of fluid there, apparently. I know, it’s…

→ What have been your personal standout moments of 2025? I’ve loved the variety of roles. In Karen Pirie I’m often told to rein it in a bit, while with The Ridge I was told to absolutely go for it, make it freakier. The Bombing of Pan Am 103 and Toxic Town were real stories so we had to be really respectful to the people it represents, and with my play, Most Favoured, it’s nice to exercise my funny bones. → What have been your cultural highlights of the year? Good Hang With Amy Poehler is my favourite podcast. I love Amy Poehler anyway and find her so natural as a conversationalist. She gets interesting guests and makes me laugh, which is what I want in a podcast. → What…

IT’S BEHIND YOU... That’s what most people say about the golden age of children’s television. When this supposed golden age is or was depends on who old you are, or the age of any children you may have, of course. But surely, it’s in the past? OH NO IT ISN’T! That’s what those of us currently immersed in the world of kids’ TV reply. But one thing we can all agree on: whenever the greatest ever children’s television is considered, from Blue Peter to Bagpuss to Bananaman to Bluey, it’s likely that the BBC will be at the heart of the conversation. Since 2009, a highlight of the BBC’s Christmas offering has been the CBeebies pantomime. A live extravaganza that can be enjoyed all year around on iPlayer, this year…

I was at one of those gatherings where friends of friends sprawled into groups entirely unconnected from the first, like a suburban town long freed from its planner. “It must be great to be in entertainment,” one stranger responded upon learning that I work in classical music. I had never really considered it that way and was interested in this perception of what is usually, more pompously, referred to as ‘the arts’. ‘Entertainment’ suggests amusement or enjoyment. And yes, plenty of concerts and performances fit this description. But as with theatre, dance – any of the arts – there’s often much more to the experience. I thought of this exchange recently after a night at the opera. Such evenings are still regularly portrayed as they are in Pretty Woman –…

→ As Christmas approaches, staff at the Harry Specters factory in Cambridge are making 4,000 chocolates a day. Work begins to ramp up at the end of October, and by November it is, as operations executive Zoey Nichols describes, “hectic”. There is no chocolate river, sadly, but when Nichols began working at Harry Specters almost four years ago, it was unmistakably a chocolate factory: “The thing that really hit me was the smell.” Flavours range from raspberry and elderflower, maple and pecan, and fresh mint, all the way to strawberry cheesecake, vanilla coconut and passionfruit and lemongrass. Each chocolate is handmade, with no artificial flavours. Though the six-strong team have won dozens of awards, the sweet treats made in the Harry Specters factory are not simply special because of how…

→ What have you been searching for? I don’t mean on the rocky road towards enlightenment. Though, if you’re on that trek, good for you. Write in and tell us how it’s going. All engagement is good engagement. I mean online, through your chosen device. We’re at the time of the year when our digital habits are collected and repackaged back to us. You may well be sharing your Spotify Wrapped and trying to explain why you went quite so often for John Denver’s Sunshine on My Shoulders (don’t be embarrassed; it’s a song that punches… talking to myself here, mostly). Other significant organisations are telling us what it was we wanted to know. YouTube are at it now. The biggest search on Wikipedia over the last 12 months was…

For nearly 70 years, photographer Helen Levitt (1919-2009) devoted herself to capturing the unruly energy of everyday life on the streets of her native New York City. From streets teeming with children at play to subway commutes, Levitt’s photos have a warmth, humour and connection with the subject that sets her apart from other ‘street photographers’ of her time. A comprehensive new book is the first to draw from her entire archive, featuring her best-known works along with rare early images, as well as essays singling out key themes in Levitt’s work. Presumably, the boys of the NYPD choir singing Galway Bay were just out of frame in these shots… Helen Levitt is out now (Thames & Hudson, £50)…

As a dad of four, I know how tricky it can be to keep kids moving – especially over Christmas when it’s cold, dark and there’s a lot of treats around! But movement doesn’t have to be a chore, it can be part of the magic – bringing the family together and giving kids a mood boost. The key is making it fun and festive, from a quick dance to a Christmas song to inventing your own games at home, or doing a couple of episodes of Activate to get everyone jumping around. It all adds up and it’s not about being perfect, it’s about showing kids that movement is play – when it’s playful, they’ll want to do it again and again. So here are my top ideas to…

→ What has been your standout moment of 2025? Going on tour again in Europe. I can’t remember the last time we went out as a band and we had such an amazing time. It was like a busman’s holiday, we all became really close pals again. I was gutted when it was over because it ended just as we were getting going! → What do you know about yourself now that you didn’t this time last year? Well, I know one thing what ain’t changed, I’m still a top knobhead! → What do you think the world got right this year? God, I don’t know, cos I’ve not actually engaged with any type of news in nearly two years now. Honestly, I decided to turn it off. I couldn’t…

Big Issue’s always there for me. It makes me feel different about myself. I had my first-time experience of homelessness when I was 11 years old because I wouldn’t go to school. To go home from the bullying into an alcoholic background, plus I was sniffing glue, solvents and stuff like that, my first experience of homelessness was sleeping out at that age. Through that and not going to school, I was put into care. I got married at a very young age, that relationship split up and I moved about the country. Everywhere I moved about I always experienced homelessness. Blackpool, Manchester, Uttoxeter, Stoke-on-Trent. Then, when I came back, it was the hardest for me to pick up the phone to my mum and dad and say: “I’m on…

Nick Mohammed was the man in the middle of the biggest moment in Britain in 2025. Bigger than Oasis, bigger than Scotland qualifying for the World Cup (for some). With 11 million of us watching the final of The Celebrity Traitors live on BBC One, he handed victory to Traitor Alan Carr – completing one of the most compelling narratives of recent times as Carr somehow outfoxed the Faithful, despite having the guiltiest face since records began. So, Nick Mohammed, how did it feel to be at the heart of the drama? “With the benefit of hindsight, it made for great telly,” the 45-year-old actor and comedian tells Big Issue. “We filmed it back in April or May, so I was sitting on that secret, knowing exactly how it played…

→ What has been your standout moment of 2025? Launching our podcast Get a Grip! It’s been in the ether for almost a year before we kicked off so it’s like birthing – nice to see it out in the world. → What do you know about yourself now that you didn’t this time last year? That I am hideous without sleep. → What do you think the world got right this year? I’m not sure there’s a huge amount to be proud of but… it does feel like things are changing. → What do you think the world got wrong this year Pretty much everything. But sometimes the darkest day is just before the dawn. I’m hopeful. Potato stuffing would be my death row meal → Did you see…

I’m Very Busy by Oliver Jeffers (Harper Collins, £14.99) It’s another classic from the much-loved Belfast writer/illustrator Jeffers, known for Lost and Found and The Way Back Home. This one is about a little girl, Bridget, who has a birthday. She would like to spend it with friends but none of them seem to have any free time. There are jobs to be done, lists to cross off, places to go to. Will Bridget have to spend her birthday alone? I’m Very Busy is superbly illustrated with Jeffers’ trademark charm, gentle wit and poignancy. Jeffers said he wrote this to combat the popular idea that busyness means success, and to suggest that simply being present in the moment is more important. AGE 0-5 Bear’s Nap by Emily Gravett (Two Hoots,…

There’s this pair of trousers. They are dark brown and made of corduroy. Loose cut, comfy but not quite baggy. I saw a picture of a young Woody Allen wearing a similar pair and, since then, have become obsessed with finding some of my own. This raises a lot of issues. First and foremost, when did Woody Allen become my style icon? Hard to pinpoint exactly. One day in my mid-40s, I woke up wanting to wear corduroy. Life comes at you fast sometimes. Eventually, I found the exact pair I wanted online. They were a hundred quid. How could I justify that sort of expenditure this close to Christmas? I didn’t even need any new trousers. Plus, I hardly ever go anywhere that requires me to look even remotely…

1. January saw the launch of a new podcast helmed by Sir Michael Parkinson, interviewing big stars of the day. But what was unusual about the show? The interviews were conducted in Spanish Parkinson was paid £5 million per episode All the interviewees were Yorkshire cricketers Parkinson had died 18 months earlier 2. In February cryptocurrency worth $1.5 billion was stolen in what is thought to be the biggest heist in history. Who, according to the FBI, was behind the theft? The Elijah Ensemble, run by the Russian mafia The Eutychus Clan, four teenagers from Wisconsin The Lazarus Group, a band of North Korean hackers The Solomon Set, a married couple of retirees who learnt how to hack from YouTube tutorials 3. March saw the Jeff Bezos-funded Blue Origin NS-31 launch the first all-female…