Open your eyes and mind (The Big Issue)

Name: freediveheaven

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Product:	The Big Issue
Date:	16/08/05 (136 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good read

Disadvantages: none

Increasingly on the high street more and more retailers are leaving to set up shop on one of the out of town shopping centre however there is always one place where you can find a reasonably priced quality read which you can then take to anyone of the 50,000 designer coffee shops that are invading our towns and cities.

The Big Issue has been in existence for almost 15 years now and it has grown to such an extent that it is not uncommon to see more than one vendor selling the product on a busy high street. Certainly in more former home town of Stratford on Avon there were two vendors selling the magazine a couple of Saturdays ago.

How It Works

The central premise behind the Big Issue is that it is better for homeless people to work for a living rather than begging. The Big Issue was set up to give homeless people the chance to earn a living and the Big Issue Foundation campaigns on behalf of the homeless.

Each vendor needs to meet certain criteria and sign up to a contract. The majority of sellers are homeless although it is recognized that getting a roof over your head is just the start of integrating someone back into society so those who are classed as being “vulnerably housed” are also able to sell the magazine. Each vendor will be wearing a badge and id card and are easy to spot.

Each vendor purchases the magazine for 60 pence and sells the magazine on the street for £1.40. Like anyone selling on the street the vendor is able to advertise their wares publicly and in a polite manner and it is a sign of the training that a Big Issue seller is always polite even if you are saying no thank you.

The Product

The Big Issue is a glossy weekly produced magazine which has come a long way in the past 15 years.

In quality it is no different to the Sunday supplements you get with the Times or Telegraph with a good variety of main features, news items, entertainment reviews, competitions and advertisements. It also serves to provide a voice for homeless people through the section entitled Street Lights which allows them to voice their own opinions about the issue facing them and the wider public, the three contributors in last weeks magazine voiced opinions on youth homelessness, the fear of rats and the noise from personal stereos all delivered in a concise entertaining way that would put the majority of Dooyoo reviewers to shame myself included.

What you do not get with the Big Issue is a long series or articles about the homeless and housing issues, this is a magazine sold on its merits alone as an entertaining read. The feature items are varied with a range of topics covered. In last weeks issue there were main features on Jamie Bell, Hiroshima, Nuclear Weapons and Ska music.

Whilst in my opinion there is a left wing bias to the magazine this does not come through in the actual article. For example the discussion on the review of Trident which is due this year was well balanced with the views of CND head Bruce Kent being countered by a respected author and an independent nuclear consultant and relative of the bombs inventor Oppenheimer. Where the bias does come through is in the setting of the agenda of what is to be discussed particularly as the review of the UK‘s nuclear deterrent was ignored at the last election.

What I do enjoy about the magazine s the variety within its pages and whilst the news section is limited there are informative and sometimes witty articles on a range of topics including the marketing of water and the problems of e-smut in the workplace.

In each issue there is a full review of new film releases and coverage of major art events on film, stage, TV, literature and music.

There is a jobs section which focuses primarily on social services vacancies and quite a few pages of advertising which bring in the revenue for the magazine.

When you get to the back there is also a stark reminder of one of the issue of homelessness and runaways with a page dedicated to trying to find missing people with pictures and a brief history of the missing person with contact details for anyone who has information.

There are different versions of the magazine published dependant upon your location.

What you get is a good quality read that is entertaining and informative. Added to this you are helping someone get back on their feet and to earn a bit of respect. So next time you are about to board a train or head off for a solitary coffee forget Hello, OK or whatever other celebrity drivel is out there and pick up a copy of the Big Issue.

Top Big Issue Sellers

If you are ever on the tourist trail in Stratford on Avon do spend a minute with the politest Big Issue seller I have ever had the pleasure to meet, he is usually outside of WH Smith.

One of the most entertaining and animated sellers can sometimes be found outside of Euston Station although he has been missing on my last two visits.

Thanks for reading my review.

Summary: Magazine sold by the homeless