10 years of the Big Issue

Q. When did you last buy a copy of The Big Issue

A. If you live in a British town of any size you'll most likely have come across a Big Issue vendor at some point. You may even have bought a copy. If so, you're one of the 253,000 people who buy the magazine every week in the UK.

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Q. How does it rate as a magazine

A. Highly enough to have been awarded the accolade of Best Consumer Magazine 2000 in the Campaign for Racial Equality's 'Race in the Media Award'. Even the Conservative Party sent in a 10th-birthday greeting in the issue dated 10-16 September 2001, so it must have something going for it. Curiously, the Labour Party seems to have missed getting theirs in the post in time.

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Q. It's not just a polemic against the injustices of an unfair society, though, is it

A. Not at all. With features on current affairs, celebrities, reviews of the arts and plenty of quality writing about social issues - largely from a positive, or at least not a negative, perspective - The Big Issue is a magazine which more than stands up to close scrutiny. It is entertaining and opinionated, but at its core, it is inclusive, giving a forum for new writers and photographers as well as its more celebrated role as a vehicle for changing peoples' lives. One unique feature of the magazine is the 'Street Lights' section, the only public forum for homeless people's writing in the British media.

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Q. How does it describe itself

A. 'A combination of hard-hitting current affairs journalism and critical, incisive writing about the world of arts and entertainment.'

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Q. When, how and why

A. To quote from the magazine itself, it was 'set up in 1991 to give homeless people a chance to make an income. It campaigns on behalf of homeless people and highlights the major social issues of the day. It allows homeless people to voice and express their opinions.'

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The inspiration for The Big Issue came from Street News, a newspaper sold by homeless people in New York. Gordon Roddick of The Body Shop came across this on a visit to the USA. With the assistance of The Body Shop International, Roddick along with printer and publisher A. John Bird launched The Big Issue in September 1991 in London, initially as a monthly publication.

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Roddick never wanted the paper to be seen as bleeding-heart publication by a worthy, if very wealthy, liberal, who might be seen as using it as a propaganda charity journal for his own company, so The Big Issue and The Body Shop were kept well apart. The founders also wanted to steer clear of the traditional charity route, but by 1995, as the success of the magazine grew and it became profitable, they realised that certain tax advantages and the possibility of soliciting donations suggested that a move to charity status would be sensible. Thus the Big Issue Foundation, a charity to help the vendors, was formed.

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Despite the fact that no-one on the team ever dared hope that it would last more than a couple of months, its surprise success in London and the South-East meant that it seemed logical for regional editions to be launched, thus assuring its expansion.

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Q. Where

A. The London edition is distributed from London, Brighton, Cambridge, Colchester, Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Norwich and Southampton. There are separate editions published in the Midlands, Wales, South-West England, Northern England and Scotland.

Q. And internationally

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The format has been exported to Sydney, Cape Town and Los Angeles. The Big Issue is part of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), which links up 35 similar magazines from all over the world. Launched in 1994 by The Big Issue, INSP now has a combined monthly sales figure of 2 million.

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Q. What do the vendors get out of it

A. Vendors buy copies of the magazine for 40p and sell it for �1, thus keeping 60p for themselves. They all receive training and sign a code of conduct. In order to become a vendor, someone must be 'homeless or vulnerably accommodated'.

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By Simon Smith