Issue 1363

How you can help your vendor
Once again this year, coronavirus has forced our vendors off the street. But this time, reports Brontë Schiltz, the consequences could be even more severe.

Bread and poetry
She’s best known for her Road Rage but like everyone now, Cerys Matthews is taking her foot off the pedal and focusing on the next couple of months. As well as her own family, who have faced their own tragedy as a result of the pandemic, she’s thinking about the many people without a secure shelter during lockdown. Francine White speaks to the singer and broadcaster.

Shipping lines
Sex and drugs and disco – Chris Moss talks to the authors of Pure Narco, a fast-paced, character-filled true crime tale about 25 years in the international cocaine trade.

Net losses
When physical shops and services close during a pandemic, it becomes clearer than ever that internet access is vital. As a new lockdown is imposed, Lucinda Herbert asks what happens to the estimated nine million people living in digital poverty in the UK.

Truth and spies
Intrigued by juicy gossip about a friend? Then try thinking like a spy, David Omand, one of Britain’s most senior ex-intelligence officers tells Roger Ratcliffe.

Plus
News, arts and entertainment, columnist Saskia Murphy, Gregg Wallace’s letter to his younger self, crossword, Sudoku and more.