Postcard from the edge: How a street paper is healing a broken nation

In this weeks issue…”Courage and hope will get us through.” While the Greek crisis continues to rock Europe, Athens street paper Shedia sees a different side. With cash increasingly hard to come by, customers are sticking by their vendors. Two vendors and editor Chris Alefantis explain what’s really happening in the streets, and how they’re staying hopeful for a better future.

Thank you: We have a full page report on The Big Issue’s triumph at this week’s national PPA Awards, taking the massive public vote to be crowned British Cover of the Year for last November’s Remembrance issue. Sergeant Rick Clement was there to receive the award, and dedicates it to his fallen comrades. Photographer Bryan Adams who took the iconic image of him also pays tribute.

“Celebrity MasterChef and my existential feminist crisis.” Big Issue columnist Samira Ahmed lifts the lid on the steaming pressure cooker to dish up the gossip on Celebrity MasterChef. Her lack of culinary skills is less of a problem than Gregg’s awful jokes…

Meet the new Doctor Who: author AL Kennedy is a lifelong Doctor Who fan. She has also written the brand new Who adventure novel. She explains why she wants to capture the essence of the 1970s classic Who that shaped the tougher years of her own childhood, both the silliness and the lessons in life: annoy authority, free your mind, question those in power, and help others. Wise words.

From the gobby girl next door in Shameless to the lead in Hamlet, Northern lass and socialist firebrand Maxine Peake has won the hearts and minds of a generation with passionate performances on stage and screen. She reveals why the Tories’ ‘Northern Powerhouse’ makes her uneasy, why we’ll never save the planet while capitalism is king, and why you need to take on the tough roles in life.

Steve Davis: the snooker champ turned BBC presenter shares memories of his first experience on the baize and his family life growing up in Letter to My Younger Self. “My mother told me I was auburn rather than red-headed to soften the blow.” Interesting!

Also in this issue:

John Bird meets the young people spreading the Virtual School concept for kids who’ve had a hard start in life.

Konnie Huq talks nerds and ponders whether or not her marriage to Charlie Brooker is actually legal in Mackenzie Meets.

Rab C Nesbitt actor Gregor Fisher extols the virtues of drystake dyking (building stone walls, for non-Scots) in My Peccadillo.

Former Dragon’s Den star Hilary Devey rocks our TV reviewer Lucy Sweet’s world in Broadcast Views.

Discover lizards, snakes and other amphibian and reptilian monsters in your back yard, with Pause.

Hidden Britain uncovers the lost village of Charwelton – download a free map and guide to find it yourself!

Music this week looks at classical concerts in unusual locations – like inside a replica of a famous Roman monument.

The dramatic history of debt from Shakespeare (Will) to Osborne (George) is unpicked in Economics Analysis.