After 19 years I’m stepping down as editor of Big Issue. Doing this job has felt like home

Nothing lasts forever. I’ve edited over 960 editions of Big Issue. The actual total figure is not of massive consequence. The reason it was discussed of late is because this is my last edition of Big Issue. I step away after more than 19 years with the organisation, first as deputy editor for the Scottish edition, then editor of Scotland, editor of a pan-Celtic alliance (!) with the Welsh magazine and then editor and finally Editorial Director of the Big Issue Group content. I have loved it all. 

Big Issue is heading into 35th anniversary celebrations, with plans for new development and growth. It felt the time to give somebody else the privilege of the big chair. My long-time deputy Steven MacKenzie will take over; he’ll see you right.

I know it’s indulgent writing about the departure here. But an editor can’t do anything without good people around them. This, then, is my opportunity to offer thanks. 

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I thank all the many journalists, young and old, columnists, productions editors, subs, designers, art directors, cartoonists, photographers, freelancers, social media experts and assorted others. Each brought something unique, allowing a questing, independent spirit to course through, to deliver all with wit and mischief. Naturally, we didn’t always hit the mark. We set a high bar. But when we did, there weren’t many titles that could rival Big Issue.

Over my time, we won more than 35 major journalism awards, for individuals and the magazine. These are both a snapshot of a moment and a validation of work done, of how Big Issue became such a key part of the national conversation, something to be valued, cherished and trusted, to speak for and become a platform for those whom society tends to ignore.

Recently, the Society of Editors presented Big Issue with their Outstanding Contribution to Journalism award. They sang of Big Issue’s unique buccaneering swagger. That, I can tell you, pleased me as much as any moment. 

I thank all the guest editors who’ve come through and delivered for Big Issue over the years, for people like Joan Bakewell, the artists Charming Baker and Connor Brothers, and the wild graffiti writer 10Foot, who helped rewire my ways of seeing, to stop accepting what was presented and to challenge and challenge again. There have been moments of rare privilege and personal joy.

Because of Big Issue I worked with Armando Iannucci, discussed interview techniques with Paul Muldoon before he went to speak to Paul Simon, hung out for a time with Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker!) and met and interviewed Eric Cantona – twice! We created match day programmes for a Premier League match, event programmes for an entire Arctic Monkeys tour. We published several books that grew out of our treasured Letter to My Younger Self interviews, conceived and built by Jane Graham. We created our own identity.

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Thanks to Paul Cheal, who arrived just in time to save Big Issue as Covid gripped and new direction and fortitude was needed. He remains a leader to be listened to. Thanks to my old compadre Russell Blackman, a great man, the Big Issue MD, who stood by my decisions when frequently he must have wanted to tear his very fine hair out.

And to John Bird, of course. The Big Issue founder is Big Issue’s beating heart. He supported me as I made mistakes and pushed me when I coasted; he can always see the next battle coming over the hill. We share an interest in ecclesiastical architecture. Over the years, we’d meet in cities around Britain to spend time in great cathedrals and plot future plans. Everybody should be so lucky in their work. Thanks to John and Parveen.

We’re here for our vendor colleagues, of course. At our core, what we do is to create opportunity for those on the margins of society to earn and lift themselves up. The anger that we’re still needed is tempered by the knowledge that tens of thousands of lives have been positively impacted, that millions of pounds have been earned. Big Issue will remain steadfast in its work to help.

Thanks to each of you reading this, all who have ever bought an edition, or spoken to a vendor and lifted spirits in a key moment; for your letters, your tweets, your support and correction of mistakes. Big Issue works because of you.

I’m not sure I can pick just one edition I rank highest from the many. There were a few good ones. Really, the best edition has to be the next one. Always a little better, always a little higher.

The world has changed much over my time here. That’s hardly news. Technology has allowed an accumulation of wealth and influence by a few who, with greed and malign intent, close in and build their remote, protected castles ever higher. The need for smart, independent journalism, on the side of all, and particularly those with least, is increasingly vital. Big Issue, I have no doubt, will strive to deliver. 

Doing my job in the glorious, ever-spinning, ever-evolving messy, positive chaos of Big Issue, in which every day delivers a bright new technicolour challenge and joy, has felt like home. It has been the measure of my dreams. 

Go raibh maith agat. No pasarán!

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