Liam Geraghty

Meet the head of a Manchester group patrolling schools looking for 'outsiders' The Heywood Community Guards, which patrols schools looking for 'outsiders', is raising difficult questions around vigilante justice.

I grew up only a few miles from Heywood.

I visited recently to try and understand why people are taking it upon themselves to "police their own streets".

Here's what I found

www.bigissue.com/news/activis...

Hundreds of veterans face homelessness as future of support scheme uncertain Keir Starmer promised millions towards supporting veterans under threat of homelessness. Big Issue looks at how those promises worked out.

🚨EXC: Starmer promised to house all veterans in need. But scheme which has got 1k vets off street is in doubt
👉Veterans orgs tell me future cash is uncertain
👉Orgs warn they'd have to shut housing without funding
👉 One org listed by gov as taking referrals never got cash

Haunted houses are a classic horror trope – but are they scarier than landlords? Haunted houses have appeared in Gothic literature and horror films for centuries. We look into how the trope has changed in the modern day.

Liquid drips through the walls. Black mould creeps around the windows towards my bed. I hear screaming from downstairs. Rodents sneak out of the floorboards. A strange man lets himself into my home unasked.

Is this a haunted house or my first London flat? Find out:

www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Awaab's Law will change how damp and mould is treated. Big Issue joined @kwajo.bsky.social to visit a family who've faced the issue for 10 years.

Read more: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Labour's landmark rental reforms receive royal assent and finally become law The Renters' Rights Bill has become the Renters' Rights Act as the king gives it royal assent to finally scrap no-fault evictions.

My favourite stat about rent reforms is that Theresa May promised to ban no-fault evictions on the same day Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire.

The cathedral has been rebuilt and reopened for almost a year

www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Awaab's Law is about more than damp and mould As Awaab's Law comes into force, Awaab Ishak's family barrister Christian Weaver reflects on the journey to fix damp and mould across the UK.

Awaab's family's barrister Christian Weaver also wrote for Big Issue about the 'tragedy and hope' in the long journey to create Awaab's Law

www.bigissue.com/opinion/awaa...

Dad of boy who died due to mould in flat says he's 'proud' of his son Awaab Ishak's father has spoken of his pride at the legacy Awaab's Law will bring as it promises to fix damp and mould in social housing.

It was a privilege to interview Awaab Ishak's father Faisal Abdullah last week ahead of Awaab's Law coming into force today.

Faisal and his family were horribly failed but their tireless campaigning will hopefully save many lives

www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

The cover of Big Issue magazine no.1689. The magazine focuses on Finland and features a reindeer on the cover.

I recently had the privilege of visiting Finland to find out just why the Finns are so happy.

We distilled everything I learned down into this special edition Big Issue magazine.

From homelessness and Housing First; security to sauna, there's plenty to learn.

www.bigissueshop.com/product/issu...

How ex-council tenants make over £200k selling homes back to councils Big Issue investigates the Right To Buy properties sold back to councils for massive profits, just years after being bought at a discount.

In 2014, Hackney Council sold a property under Right to Buy for £95,050

In 2021, they bought it back off the ex-tenant for £365k

In ~6 yrs, the council lost £269,950 on a single property

It's not an isolated example. @bigissue.com has uncovered 100+ 'Yo-yo Homes'

www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Once a century...

With this week marking what would have been Thatcher's 100th, I asked the local council in Grantham why they were holding ThatcherFest in her memory.

Fair play, the answer made me laugh:

www.bigissue.com/culture/marg...

Revealed: Asylum hotel protests dwarfed by runners going to Parkrun Protesters outside asylum hotels over the bank holiday weekend were vastly outnumbered by Parkrun runners, Big Issue analysis found.

Asylum protests vs the local park run. @lgeraghty23.bsky.social runs the numbers for the Big Issue
www.bigissue.com/news/social-...

Superman has always been an immigrant The new Superman film has caused controversy after James Gunn called it the story of ‘an immigrant’. The character has always been this way.

Of all the things related to immigration I have been asked to comment on, this by @lgeraghty23.bsky.social for the @bigissue.com was a strange, but fun, one.

How is this even a debate? Of course Superman is an immigrant. He is the very definition of one.

www.bigissue.com/culture/film...

Big Issue is coming to Cardiff – and we want to hear from YOU!
🗓 12–14 May
📍 PWSH Centre, Queen St
🕙 10am–5pm

Our journalists are in town to listen, report & connect. Got a story? Drop in and chat to us; no appointments necessary.

Let’s shape the news together. Cardiff, we’re all ears. 👂

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Thanks to @mattdownie.bsky.social, @depaul-uk.bsky.social and @housing-justice.bsky.social for speaking to me and reflecting on a rollercoaster five years.

How did we get from reducing rough sleeping to virtually zero at the start of the Covid lockdown to the record-breaking numbers on the streets today?

I analysed the Everyone In scheme's mixed legacy, five years on buff.ly/GtgJI3J

Thanks for your insights, Matt!

Headline and lede from Big Issue article by Liam Geraghty on 4 March 2025, with a photo of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer UN calls on Labour to increase benefits and scrap two-child limit in UK poverty crisis warning The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also called for the UK to set to measurable targets to eradicate poverty in line with the Big Issue’s Poverty Zero campaign

Excellent piece in the @bigissue.com by @lgeraghty23.bsky.social on the conclusions of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the UK. The article begins with social security, and goes on to cover a range of recommendations on housing, wages, work, poverty reduction & measurement

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🚨 LATEST FIGURES: 📊 The number of people rough sleeping in England has skyrocketed by 20% in just a year.

An estimated 4,667 people were homeless on the streets on a single night in autumn 2024. 📈 The rise is the third consecutive year in which rough sleeping has increased.
bit.ly/4kkuz0y

Inside Ukraine's fight against homelessness after three years of bloody war Depaul Ukraine is fighting homelessness in the war-torn country. CEO Anka Skoryk shares how the charity is looking beyond the end of the war.

Inside Ukraine's fight against homelessness after three years of bloody war: 'Peace is hard to imagine'

Exquisite taste

Surge in renters losing their homes due to no-fault evictions ahead of ban More than 11,000 households lost their home to a section 21 'no-fault' eviction in 2024, government statistics show.

Surge in renters losing their homes due to no-fault evictions ahead of ban: 'This is frightening'

Academics and campaigners have claimed a new basic income pilot in Greater Manchester could “end absolute poverty” in the city region, starting with people experiencing homelessness – if it gets the green light from mayor Andy Burnham. 🚦 Find out more. ⬇️
https://bit.ly/3EwrI4q

Finland has been held up as an international example to follow in tackling homelessness but the Scandinavian country has just reported its first rising numbers in 11 years. 📈

@lgeraghty23.bsky.social reports. ⬇️
www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Rough sleeping in London 'as bad as it’s been’ but Sadiq Khan warns things won't improve until 2026 A total of 4,612 were rough sleeping in London at the end of 2024 as Sadiq Khan warns of wait until 2026 to see falling numbers

🚨 Breaking: Rough sleeping in London 'as bad as it’s been’ but Sadiq Khan warns things won't improve until 2026
www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

This week's issue is out now! 📰 Inside:

💯 We introduce our Top 100 Changemakers for 2025, celebrating people and organisations who have focused not on themselves but on the rest of society, as voted for by YOU

Find out more ▶️ https://bit.ly/4h8iYzI

agdq’s crazy taxi run has a mosh pit

Inside the UK's first safer drugs consumption room – and how it can save lives The Thistle, Glasgow's safer drug consumption room, launches this month. It's a radical step in tackling Scotland's drug deaths crisis.

I visited Glasgow's new safer drugs consumption facility, The Thistle, ahead of its long awaited opening: