"Lord of the Flies looks populism in the eye." 100 years to the minute after John Logie Baird demonstrated the first working television set at Bar Italia in Soho, I sat down with Jack Thorne to talk about his astonishing new Lord of The Flies adaptation. www.bigissue.com/culture/tv/j...

Adolescence writer Jack Thorne: 'Lord of the Flies looks populism in the eye'

Lord of The Flies is Jack Thorne’s first big show since Adolescence – and his adaptation of William Golding's novel couldn't be more timely.

bigissue.com

This is a really good piece by @adey70.bsky.social for The Big Issue. An accurate assessment of what to expect of Channel 5's new Play for Today, which mentions some of the less often trumpeted greats from the original strand, like Destiny (1978), Sorry (1981) &, actually, The Spongers (1978).

Big Issue@bigissue.com · 11mo ago

Play for Today helped launch the careers of Ken Loach, Ray Winstone, June Brown and Kenneth Branagh. Now Channel 5 is bringing it back…

Power cut in the middle of screening of The Hack (new phone hacking and much more drama coming soon to ITV). Clearly some powerful people don’t want us to watch…

This whole thread. Scary times for the arts. We take our brilliant, innovative, skilled (and lucrative) arts sector for granted at our peril. "These planned cuts mean that by 2029, the government is projected to be spending well over a third less per citizen on Culture, Media & Sport in real terms…"

Campaign for the Arts@campaignforthearts.org · last yr.

Today in the House of Lords, the Government was asked "what assessment they have made of the value of the subsidised arts sector". Baroness Twycross said the Government "strongly believes in the benefits of publicly funded arts". 🧵 (1/6)

Was great to talk with Prof Les Back about his new BBC Radio 4 documentary exploring the idea of football chants as folk music. Read all about it in @bigissue.com - on sale now. And listen tonight on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds…

Les Back@academicdiary.bsky.social · last yr.

Please go and buy the current edition of The Big Issue, it features Adey Lobb’s brilliant article on our programme about the art of the football chant. @adey70.bsky.social is a wonderful and intelligent writer. I enjoyed visiting him in his ‘writing shed’!

Norm! www.bigissue.com/culture/tv/g...

A tribute to George Wendt: Norm, Cheers and the human need to connect

In an era of individual aspiration, the late, great actor George Wendt as Norm in classic sitcom Cheers showed an alternative, richer path.

bigissue.com

Fantastic ending to Baroness Kidron's speech in the House of Lords yesterday, which led to the government's defeat on AI & copyright. Speaking the UK's creators: "Their property, their labour, is worthy of your protection - because apart from anything else, it is not ours to give away."

"War is an absolute waste of everything – time, money, lives. It doesn’t improve anything. It just proves you’ve got some egotistical man trying to improve his status. Because men start wars, women don’t." This week's @bigissue.com cover star Dorothea Barron (100)… www.bigissue.com/life/ve-day-...

100-year-old WW2 heroine Dorothea: 'War is an absolute waste of everything'

It's 80 years since VE Day. To mark it, our special Letter to my Younger Self, features 100-year-old former Wren, Dorothea Barron.

bigissue.com

We’re proudly working with the V&A on an exciting new project that champions grassroots music venues and their cultural legacy - and you can be a part of it. Contribute your artefacts from between 1988-2025 by contacting musicvenues@vam.ac.uk before May 31.

The same Tony Blair has been paid to advise oil rich autocratic states including Azerbaijan, UAE and Kazakhstan This should be included in *every* story about his net zero comments www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Tony Blair calls for radical reset of climate change policies in major intervention

Former PM warns climate policy has become disconnected from ‘political, public, and economic reality’ and claims COP is struggling to ‘deliver change at the speed required’

independent.co.uk

Bless my cotton socks, I'm in the news (pages of the Big Issue magazine)… 2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/adrian-lobb

I don't DJ very often. I'm rubbish at it. Way too indecisive. But when I do, I always play Non-Alignment Pact by Pere Ubu, whether anyone wants me to or not. RIP David Thomas… www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leax...

Pere Ubu - Nonalignment Pact

YouTube video by cookingvinylarchive

youtube.com

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE etc

Big Issue@bigissue.com · last yr.

Our very own senior arts correspondent, Adrian Lobb, is swapping interviews for running shoes on Sunday, 27 April, taking on the biggest London Marathon to date, to raise money for the Big Issue. We're cheering him on, and you can too! Sponsor @adey70.bsky.social below. ⬇️ buff.ly/ygygZ6d

“Every sentence flows and dazzles like liquid gold, every paragraph has its own rhythm.” 📘 Big Issue books editor Jane Graham celebrates the centenary of F Scott Fitzgerald’s Great American Novel, first published in April 1925. ⬇️ buff.ly/izT9mWh

Signed...

Bob Stanley@rockingbob.bsky.social · 2y ago

Fun fact. All of my books are being used by Meta to feed its AI model. No one asked me for permission, or has offered any compensation. I'm certain I'm not alone here. If you think copyright is important, please sign this. www.change.org/p/protect-au...

"I never had a problem with anything other than handling my own obsessions." Really interesting to talk with David James, who I first saw playing for Watford v Derby County in 1992. 3-1 to Derby. He remembered. He remembers every game, every scoreline. www.bigissue.com/culture/engl...

Football legend David James: 'I know I could have done things better'

David James didn't expect trophies at Portsmouth, but when they won the FA Cup, it was the fans' reaction that floored him.

bigissue.com

“It’s a classic story - a band from the UK who might have reached seminal levels if only they had been from Chicago.” I interviewed actual Billy Mahonie - whose tour starts tonight - and their old sound engineer, Paul Epworth… www.bigissue.com/culture/musi...

'The record is a snapshot': Inside Billy Mahonie’s unlikely comeback and the evolution of post-rock

Billy Mahonie, the instrumental post-rock pioneers, return with their first album in over a decade, Field of Heads

bigissue.com

Wet Leg secret gig at the Moth Club last night was ace, playing as ‘Uma Thurman’. Loads of new songs. First new one was great. And one that might be called Pillow Talk. And the one they played after Chaise Longue. And one near the end. Thanks for reading my gig review.

Big Issue's Kids Cover Competition is back for Earth Day – judged by the legendary Chris Packham

Big Issue's Kids Cover Competition is back for Earth Day – judged by Chris Packham

It's the Big Issue's Kids Cover Competition, and we're calling on all young artists to create our Earth Day cover for 2025. The theme? GO WILD!

buff.ly

EXC: How UK's biggest companies lock autistic people out of jobs with personality tests ➡️Morrison's, John Lewis, McDonald's, Co-op +more using tests ➡️"I just don't stand a chance" say autistic jobseekers, as charities tell @bigissue.com tests may be discriminatory www.bigissue.com/news/employm...

UK's biggest companies locking autistic people out of jobs with personality tests

Just three in 10 working age autistic people are in work, and charities say the use of personality tests for roles could be discriminatory.

bigissue.com

Sense was the only disability charity that supplied evidence to a Public Accounts Committee report, which said the DWP was providing 'unacceptably poor service' to disability benefits claimants. ⛔️ Its policy and public affairs advisor writes about why change is needed. ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4jwxVgV

hello 👋 looking to hear from people working on any sweet photo or art projects in the areas of: social justice and activism; housing and homelessness; nature and climate change; immigration; health; human rights; other cool stuff is this you? hit me up on ryan dot butcher at big issue dot com

He’s reading my interview with Nicola Coughlan about the Doctor Who Christmas special…

Big Issue@bigissue.com · 2y ago

“When I was growing up, our home was my family’s security,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer writes in his exclusive Christmas message for Big Issue. “We can’t build a strong future for our country unless people have a safe home today.” Read his full message. ⬇️ www.bigissue.com/opinion/keir...

In perhaps his most personal column to date, Big Issue editor Paul McNamee writes about how this time last Christmas, his family was standing on the edge of a deep drop. They just didn’t know it yet. ✍️ Read his words on mental health, transporting trees, and hope. ⬇️ https://buff.ly/41ECwHk

It was a thrill to represent @bigissue.com in this match at Kingsmeadow (home of Chelsea FC Women). At 50, I thought I'd hung up my boots (they went to the charity shop in 2015). But I scored in a 7-3 victory over the Mayor and his Politician pals! Now we all join forces to tackle rough sleeping…

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan@london.gov.uk · 2y ago

A true game of two halves, united by a shared cause and commitment to volunteer for Crisis this winter. Last night, politicians and journalists took to the pitch for the inaugural ‘London VS Homelessness’ match to raise awareness of the urgent need to end rough sleeping by 2030.

Here's an update on our eviction battle. Thanks for all your continued support, it means the world to us ❤️

"I guarantee we will definitely not be coming back." Oh! What's occurring? Only a MASSIVE exclusive Gavin & Stacey interview with Ruth Jones and James Corden across FIVE PAGES in @bigissue.com magazine – on sale from today. Please seek out your local vendor…

Aha. Amazing. This is the picture Steve McQueen told me about when I interviewed him here – the one that unlocked the whole idea for the film Blitz… www.bigissue.com/culture/film...

Steve McQueen and Saoirse Ronan on Britishness, trauma and war drama Blitz

Blitz tells a familiar story through fresh eyes and by shattering cliches. Director Steve McQueen and Saoirse Ronan explain how they did it.

bigissue.com

Kath@kathyburke.bsky.social · 2y ago

The photo that inspired Steve McQueen to write Blitz. Now available on Apple TV. ♥️🎥

"Give it to someone special!" Just got my hands on new @bigissue.com, out today, featuring my interview with Andrew Ridgeley celebrating 40 years of Last Christmas, talking about George's marvellous melody and recalling how Wham! made it big in 1984. Please buy a copy from your local vendor…