Marcus Rashford may be back to the day job of playing upfront for Manchester United this week but his remarkable work on food poverty has seen him play a key role and pop up on our cover too.
Last week Rashford sparked a Government u-turn over their decision to stop funding free school meal vouchers during the summer months. His passionate and fact-based campaign captured the heart of the nation and put holiday hunger high up the news agenda.
In this week’s magazine, we delve into Rashford’s off-the-field work to ensure that the reality he faced as a child is not one that kids will face today, or in the future, in Covid-19-battered Britain.
But the England footballer’s result last week solves just one small part of a wider problem – which is why he has vowed to continue campaigning.
We speak to experts on what else needs to be done to give take away the worry of where the next meal is coming from for every family. It’s an area where The Big Issue has been vocal for some time, last year we spent months investigating holiday hunger. Big Issue Changemaker Professor Greta Defeyter, Human Rights Watch’s Kartik Raj and Independent Food Aid Network’s Sabine Goodwin tell us that food poverty needs more than “a sticking plaster on a gaping wound” to end.
And what about the children who grow up in poverty? Celebrated journalist and Empire editor Terri White tells us about the scars it leaves and how we must work to help next generation avoid it and succeed.
