Table of contents for 7/21/2025 in The Big Issue

We’ve been seeing a bit more of the sun lately. It was the warmest June on record in England, the driest and sunniest spring for 132 years. In Scotland, it was hot, sunny – and not entirely without lashings of rain. At least that has kept the hosepipe bans at bay in some parts for now. The Met Office has warned that extreme weather – both sun and rain – are the new normal. So now’s a good time to take a closer look at the light at the centre of our solar system. This is what Turkish/German astrophotographer Mehmet Ergün has done. He says: “The night sky and the infinite expanse of the universe have always fascinated me, and one day I realised that we have one of the…

“My name is John, and I am a skater.” That’s how one of our participants introduced himself at the end of our pilot session. Not “asylum seeker”. Not “refugee”. A skater. Part of something. Part of us. This is Skates4Mates, a grassroots project that offers people seeking sanctuary in the UK something radical: joy, community and wheels. How it started When the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016, something shifted. If you were an immigrant (like me), you felt it – in the air, in the headlines, in the muttered comments on the bus. And if you were a person seeking asylum, already navigating trauma, fear and a mountain of paperwork, that shift had serious weight. The so-called “hostile environment”, cooked up by Theresa May and half-heartedly danced…

Crossword CRYPTIC CLUES Across A cat had a tiny particle (4) Improperly alarm one with a fever (7) Icy ale, it isn’t drunk for stiffness (12) Corresponding game in German capital (8) Rush miles, chasing animals (4) Three quarters of slovenly new stories (6) A French water source makes one ill (6) You record sharp cry (4) Hurry along road when it becomes a racetrack (8) Sometime in the future treat a lad somehow to tea party (2,1,5,4) Smart limited edition included is Scandinavian (7) Reduced fare (4) Down Expedition leader in camp shows principle (5) Heap to make a mountain of? (8) Thinking about us taking pottery out (6) Left nothing to one’s girl (4) Greeting leading zoologist in the capital rootstock (7) By May, all’s performed very badly (9)…

There’s a welcoming atmosphere at St Clare’s church hall in north Guildford. Biscuits are piled on plates, there are vases of flowers, and on the bright, polka-dot tablecloths are leaflets to point anyone attending the food bank here towards more support for a range of issues, from money worries to health. It is about much more than helping to put food on people’s tables. North Guildford Food Bank is a community. Paula, a mother of six, says this place has been a lifeline. She explains: “Something happened in my life and it limited everything I could do with my children – feeding was one of them. And with the cost of living going up, I was struggling [with] my council tax and bills. That’s where the food bank stepped in.…

RENTING Generation rent ‘won’t be able to retire’ and it could cost the economy £2 billion By Liam GeraghtyBig Issue Deputy Digital Editor Members of Britain’s generation rent risk not being able to afford to retire when they reach old age – and it poses a threat to the UK economy too. That’s the assessment of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as it warned the UK economy is in a “particularly vulnerable” state after a series of major global economic shocks in recent years, ranging from the impact of Covid to the cost of living crisis. The independent finance body also said private renters are more likely than average to have inadequate retirement incomes and it predicts there will be a surge in pensioners renting privately, an increase of…

For better or worse, Superman skips over his origin story faster than a speeding bullet. The opening scene features snappy captions designed to contextualise this incarnation of the enduring character, the intended cornerstone of a whole new DC cinematic universe overseen by writer/director James Gunn. We learn that “metahumans” – superheroes, basically – first appeared 300 years ago. That baby Kal-El from the doomed planet Krypton crash-landed on Earth 30 years ago. That he first pulled on the boots and cape to become Superman three years ago. Then, the punchline: three minutes ago he got his butt kicked by a supervillain for the first time. It’s a smart move to introduce Superman (played with gee-whizz charm by newcomer David Corenswet) dazed, bloodied and on the back foot. He may have…

Gheorghe Ardeleanu, 36, has been selling Big Issue since 2012. He recently moved from Liverpool to London, building up a loyal customer base who stop for a chat as much as they do to buy the magazine. For Big Issue vendors like Gheorghe, clear communication with customers is essential. “I like talking to people,” he says. “My customers are very friendly, they stop and chat. Sometimes they ask how I am. That makes a big difference.” But for the past six years, those conversations have been harder due to hearing loss. It started during a swimming trip in his home country of Romania in 2019. “When I came out of the water, something didn’t feel right,” Gheorghe explains. “My left ear felt strange, like pressure. Sometimes it makes noises, or…

Writer and actor AG Smith of theatre company Weeping Bank Library has long been bringing writers into prisons to talk to and tutor incarcerated people. But now, through an innovative co-creation project led by award-winning pianist Clare Hammond and composer Michael Betteridge across four workshops in May, the tables have turned: rather than bringing art into prisons from the outside, prisoners at HMP Featherstone and HMP Oakwood have composed solo piano pieces evoking their experiences of incarceration for performance across the UK. “For the past seven years or so, I’ve been giving piano recitals in prisons across the South West and in the Midlands, and one of the things I enjoyed most about the concerts that I gave was these Q&A sessions at the end,” says Hammond. “When I had…

Oasis’s record-breaking reunion tour kicked off in Cardiff and our vendor Donna Llewelyn was there, ready to give Liam and Noel a run for their money. Whichever Gallagher brother you had on the cover of your Big Issue magazine ahead of the Cardiff gigs on 4 and 5 July, Donna featured on the My Pitch page telling her story of how she became the self-styled Queen of Cardiff. She certainly lived up to the billing. Big Issue followed her for an Instagram video in which she sold magazines to gig-goers and punters in the Welsh capital. Donna hit the streets in the sunshine, asking people whether they are Team Liam, Team Noel or Team Donna. The video and a follow-up poll on Big Issue’s Instagram showed one clear winner: Team…

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to visit baby banks in three very different parts of the country – Leeds, Bicester and Bedford. Each had its own unique set of challenges, shaped by the needs of its community. But they all had one thing in common: an extraordinary level of dedication from the people who keep them running. People like Jennie, who runs Faces Baby Bank in Bedford. She gets a call from a maternity ward, alerting her that a new mum has given birth with nothing, and within hours she is there with a bundle full of essentials – nappies, babygros, wipes, a moses basket. No one should have to start the journey of motherhood that way, yet it’s happening across the UK every single day. When I…

Debt Admitting debt is a problem and seeking help can be scary, but it’s the first step to ending your money worries. But only use trusted official sources like these. National Debtline: Tailored support to get you back on track. nationaldebtline.org 0808 808 4000 Breathing Space: Government scheme to put a pause on your debts while you get sorted. gov.uk/options-for-dealing-with-your-debts/breathing-space MoneyHelper Debt Advice Locator Tool: Find a local, free, official, trusted debt adviser. moneyhelper.org.uk/en/money-troubles/dealing-with-debt/debt-advice-locator StepChange: One of the biggest with advice on all types of debt, including Breathing Space to put debt on pause. stepchange.org Citizens Advice: Help to work out your first steps. citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money PayPlan: Tailored advice to tackle debt. payplan.com Debt Advice Foundation: Free, confidential, impartial advice. debtadvicefoundation.org Business Debtline: Partner to National Debtline for the self-employed. businessdebtline.org…

This week, the Fantastic Four return to the big screen in The Fantastic Four: First Steps and – like so many recent movies of this genre – into the centre of America’s ongoing culture war over who gets to be a hero. If the framing of Superman as an immigrant sparked backlash, in the case of First Steps, it’s gender politics driving the outrage – specifically, the decision to place Sue Storm, Marvel’s first female superhero, in charge. For the first time in the team’s film history, Sue isn’t just a member of Marvel’s first family. She’s the competent leader. The film, directed by Matt Shakman, places Sue at the head of the Future Foundation – a fictional think tank responsible for global peace initiatives and scientific progress. In the…

As a child, regular Street Art contributor Chowdhury was enchanted by the aesthetics of the natural world around her in Dhaka, Bangladesh where she grew up. It was this passion for the wonders of the landscape, and the inspiration of her mother, that led her to pick up pencils and brushes, playing with colour and shapes to capture moods and express feelings. Her latest artwork is submitted via the 240Project, an activity centre that is empowering West London’s vulnerable community. “Art gives me a way to express emotions and thoughts that I can’t always put into words,” says Chowdhury. “It’s a language of its own. It helps me release stress, process what I’m feeling, and just be myself without judgement. I get fully absorbed and it feels like everything else…

When it comes to a brand-new ‘thing’, I never know what audiences want, nobody truly does, so all you can focus on as an act is writing what you personally wish you could see more of. I love important shows, I love society-altering shows. But I really, really love unimportant shows. And that’s what I aim to write. Now, unimportant does not automatically mean unfulfilling. I think hearing a brand-new type of joke or an utterly unique construction of a routine or the addressing of a vanishingly inconsequential subject that’s never been considered onstage before is beyond thrilling for me. Certain jokes can have the catchiness of a great song hook and give me goosebumps over the thinking (or lack of ) that went into it. I love an audience…

Where’s your money going? Before anything else says Mr MoneyJar, start with your basics. “There’s stuff that we can all do, like track what we’re spending. For me, that’s having a monthly review or, if you can, weekly. It’s important to look back and ask: ‘How much did I spend on all of these different areas?’ “There are free budgeting apps you can download that link to your bank accounts and actually show where your money is going. I’ll often ask people, ‘Do you know how much you earned last month?’ All their hands will go up. Then I’ll ask: ‘Do you know how much you spent last month?’ And most people have no idea.” Keep an eye out for price rises Mr MoneyJar keeps a spreadsheet of key dates…

The two groups most likely to be in poverty in the UK today are children and disabled people. But for families with a disabled child, life costs so much more. Family Fund is the UK’s largest charity making grants to families with disabled and seriously ill children. Our new research shows the reality of life for families raising disabled children. Our Cost of Caring 2025 research spoke to more than 2000 families across the UK, and 44% of parents or carers reported their income was not enough to cover basic needs like food and accommodation. Around 80% were unable to replace items like fridges or beds if they broke and would have to manage without essentials or plunge into debt to replace them. An unacceptable 51% of parents are forced…

What are your values – those fundamental principles that matter most to you? Reducing environmental impacts? Equality, social justice? Fairness, kindness – or good value for money? In our consumer-driven world it may seem daunting trying to align how we shop, where we spend our money or how we save and invest with the values that drive us every day. But it might be easier than you think. Alex Crumbie, writer and researcher at Ethical Consumer, which helps buyers to shop ethically and has a function to search the ethical rating of brands and products, admits that getting started can be the hardest part of becoming a more conscious consumer. “It can feel a bit daunting at first,” Crumbie explains, “because there is a lot to know and there is…