Tag: The Big Issue

The Big Issue Shop Christmas Gifts

The Big Issue Shop has your Christmas shopping sorted with a plethora of eco-friendly and socially conscious gifts

The Big Issue Shop has released a whole host of uplifting and unique gifts ideas that make a social impact and are also ethical to boot. With prices ranging from £4 to £65 they suit any budget.

These are Christmas gifts that will make you feel even better about giving to your friends, family and loved ones this holiday season.

You can grab yourself a unique collection of wrapping papers, each design is a highly collectable, limited edition, so do get yours whilst you still can. Artists and designs range from Pure Evil with his highly collectable “Ideas Wheel for Lazy Designers” design and Charming Baker’s arresting “Christmasaurus Rex” design, to the notorious artistic duo, Jake and Dinos Chapman with their bold and bright design “D’You Wanna Be In My Gang”. Plus, many more!

Your creative friends might also like a Bowie and the Big Issue No.1, street art print for £20. And you would also be supporting South London-based artist, ANXTI.

Or maybe you are looking for some Christmassy essentials for yourself. These gorgeous Big Issue Christmas Baubles for just £8 are just the thing to get your house ready for the season. The Big Issue Christmas cards cost just £5 and feature six previous kids cover competition winners – and a 100 per cent of the proceeds go to support The Big Issue’s mission to dismantle poverty.

Friends that are animal mad? How about these adorable save the penguins bamboo socks for £8.99, and to top it off, 10 per cent of all profits will go to the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. Or how about Isobel’s dog design bowl for £25 from ARTHOUSE Unlimited: a collective of artists living with complex epilepsy and learning disabilities.

More of a cat person? Perhaps they would like The Big Issue’s special edition magazine paying tribute to the much-loved Big Issue Cat, Bob, for just £4.

Looking for some socially conscious stocking fillers? How about these Jollie Socks for £15, for every pair sold the company also donate a pair to a homeless person. Or this eco-friendly coffee husk travel cup for £10.99 a truly sustainable travel cup made with real coffee husks.

You can also get this William Morris-style cosmetic bag for £10. Not only is it beautiful but it comes from Studio 306 collective, based in Haringey, North London, which is a creative project set up to aid recovery from mental health issues.

Need a present for new parents? They will love this penguin t-shirt for £15.90 or this Love organic muslin baby shawl for £14.90, Both made by Babies With Love, who give all proceeds to support abandoned children around the world. Parents need a treat for themselves? The company also do this Love luxury scented candles for £24.90, which comes in an array of different scents.

If you want something a little more expensive look no further than these beautiful bags. Samantha Renke’s inclusive handbag for £40 comes from disability campaigner Samantha Renke and is designed with the needs of disabled people in mind. It is functional and stylish for everyone.

Or how about this Compact messenger bag for £65. It comes from Dece, a social enterprise with two small production hubs in Northwest Romania where they work to educate, employ and empower families living in real poverty. 

You can also get your hands on this limited edition bespoke gift hamper for £65, created by The Big Issue in collaboration with Social Stories Club. It is packed full of treats made by social ventures, this hamper would make the perfect gift for the festive season.

As a non-profit, every penny we make goes back into the organisation. With a gift subscription, not only will your friend receive an award-winning magazine each week, but you’re also contributing to The Big Issue’s fight to dismantle poverty – from employing our frontline staff, who provide vendors with vital support, to enabling us to campaign for policy change on a national level … each subscription really does make a difference. Buy a gift subscription here –  https://bigissue.com/gift/

To support The Big Issue’s Christmas appeal “The Big Wish”, you can buy a copy of the magazine or a subscription from your local vendor so they receive 50% of the profits. 

Alternatively, you can make a donation to The Big Issue Foundation. Visit bigissue.com/bigwish.

The Big Issue sellers join LinkedIn to connect with customers

The Big Issue (TBI) and LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, have partnered on a pilot scheme to support 10 of the magazine’s vendors who have lost their livelihoods and their sense of community as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Big Issue vendors taking part in the pilot, who are based all around the UK, have joined LinkedIn to find a new lifeline for their work, as they remain unable to sell the magazine during the latest national lockdown as high street footfall is much lower.

The 10 vendors have received specialist and bespoke training from LinkedIn to help them build their digital skills to reach an online customer base, find new opportunities, and engage with LinkedIn’s community of 30 million UK members.

They have also received tablets donated from Dixons Carphone, the business behind Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse, to help them access their LinkedIn profiles and online training. 

The vendors will be able to reach out to new and existing customers on LinkedIn to let them know that they can purchase a copy of The Big Issue digitally. Their profiles are all searchable on the platform through The Big Issue’s LinkedIn page.

Big Issue vendors run their own micro-businesses, buying copies of the magazine for £1.50 and selling to the public for £3, keeping the difference. In this way the magazine provides them with the means to earn a legitimate income.

The partnership with LinkedIn aims to connect the vendors with the 30 million-strong network of UK professionals, giving them access to a platform which reinforces that they are working for a living, and allows them to increase their sales in the face of the ongoing challenges in the Covid-19 pandemic.

As we remain in national lockdown, and with footfall on the high streets of previously bustling cities and towns declining, The Big Issue and LinkedIn’s ambition is to onboard more vendors onto the scheme throughout the year.

Emma Ford, Big Issue vendor who usually sells the magazine in Victoria Station, London, said: “Covid-19 has affected me very badly. I haven’t had Covid-19 but it’s changed my life.

“It’s played with my mental health and has affected my confidence. I really hope the partnership with LinkedIn will help me a lot. We can’t sell the magazine now, so it’s amazing that we can sell online. We really need that income boost. No one knows what will happen, but any little help makes a big difference.”

Paul Cheal, Group CEO of The Big Issue Group, said: “Covid-19 has changed everything for everyone, but its impact has been keenly felt at The Big Issue. All earning potential was stripped from our 1,700 regular vendors who made their living selling The Big Issue on the streets of the UK.

“Now, as we find ourselves in our third national lockdown and footfall on the high street likely to be almost non-existent for the foreseeable future, we are fully focused on empowering our vendors with the digital skills they need to connect with their customers.

“The partnership with LinkedIn, which we welcome wholeheartedly, will not only help the vendors sell their magazine again, it will ease the feeling of social isolation experienced over the past year, allowing them to reconnect with their customers and community.”

Josh Graff, UK Country Manager, LinkedIn says: “The pandemic has had an enormous impact on the livelihoods of Big Issue vendors and wreaked havoc on their ability to earn an income.

“We’re delighted that this pilot programme will give vendors a new, safe, and much needed opportunity to reconnect with customers and sell their magazines. We’re really excited about the potential of this scheme and hope that LinkedIn members across the UK also welcome the opportunity to buy from Big Issue vendors once again.”

You can find out if your local vendor is on LinkedIn by visiting The Big Issue’s company page and searching for the vendors. 

Alternatively, you can support The Big Issue’s 100 Days of Action Appeal by buying a subscription from your vendor or by subscribing online at bigissue.com/support.

Tracy Beaker author meets young Scots to sound out real-life experiences

Acclaimed children’s author Jacqueline Wilson has met young people,  currently in care and recent care leavers,  in Edinburgh who have lived the real experiences of Tracy Beaker to find out what they think about her creation in an exclusive feature for The Big Issue.

In the latest instalment, My Mum Tracy Beaker, published last month, we revisit central character Tracy Beaker as a single mother in her 30s living in a council estate with her nine-year-old daughter Jess.

Wilson met with people currently in care and recent care leavers involved with charity Who Cares? Scotland to discuss whether they felt that their real, lived experience was being reflected in popular fiction.

Ashley, 28 and recently graduated from university, says: “I didn’t realise until today that I’m the same age as Tracy and, like Tracy, I’ve been moved around a lot to the point where I’ve moved 53 times now. You were the first children’s author that I was exposed to as a young child in care and there was so much that I related to.

“However, we also face a lot of societal and structural stigma and it felt like this was a chance to change the narrative a bit – but I don’t feel like Tracy got her happy ending, the ending we all want and imagine.”

“I think you’re absolutely right and I’ve been thinking about the sequel I hope to write… I think it will be more satisfying for you,” Ms Wilson says. “I think a lot of people hoped that Tracy would automatically have fantastic relationships and a brilliant career and all the things that, nowadays, we think equal success.

“I was more interested in showing that she’s a brilliant mum even though she might still have faults – which mother is ever perfect? But showing that even though her own mum let her down repeatedly, she’s never once let her own daughter down.

“I think in the sequel we might help Tracy achieve some really great things, but I think it also has to be realistic,” she contined. “For every great success there are very many other kids who haven’t been able to get to that position, and I want everybody to feel a success story. But I think I will try very hard to make sure that the next Tracy book does have a really positive and yet realistic ending too.”

A few days later The Big Issue caught up with the author as she reflects on the meeting. “I found it very interesting and liked everyone enormously. I thought they were very brave in what they were saying – it’s not easy to sit in front of someone and try to point them in a different direction. I found it touching and illuminating to listen to their stories.”

Managing Editor of The Big Issue, Vicky Carroll, explained: “When news first emerged that Tracy’s destiny was to become a single-mum who was struggling somewhat on a council estate, we noticed that a few care-experienced kids were expressing disappointment that she was fulfilling a cliché of poor outcomes for kids that have been through the care system. They’d hoped for better from this character with whom they had identified.

“We spoke with Kenny Murray, who was in care himself and now works with Who Cares? Scotland, and he put us in touch with a few young people who had a lot to say. I approached Jacqueline Wilson’s agent to see if she would like to comment or – even better – to meet the young people in person to talk to them about Tracy and her future. She said she would like to, and so we’re delighted that it was such a positive experience, with Jacqueline saying she got a lot out of it.”

The Big Issue, sold by vendors to lift themselves out of poverty, is out from 12th November across the UK for £2.50.