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GuardianSep 27Preview

‘I’m an everythingist’: How Es Devlin became the go-to for Beyoncé gigs, fashion runways and the Olympics

The Londoner is the set designer big names turn to for eye-popping spectacle. As a new retrospective opens, she gives the Guardian a glimpse at her studioFour years ago, the V&A East Storehouse in east London got in touch with Es Devlin. The museum’s curators wanted to invite the British artist and designer to respond to a 100-year-old theatrical backdrop by the Russian artist and designer Natalia Goncharova. For a 1926 London production of The Firebird by the Ballets Russes, Goncharova had painted a fortified Muscovite cityscape festooned with onion domes and spires, rust-red and golden against a deep-blue sky. Devlin didn’t know much about Goncharova. But alighting on the term she had favoured for describing her kaleidoscopic approach to art-making, Devlin realised she’d found a kindred spirit. “She called herself an ‘everythingist’,” Devlin says, a smile in her eyes.Works in progr

Dale Berning Sawa; photographs by Kate PetersEs DevlinStage

GuardianSep 27Preview

The best thing I ever ate? Mum’s boeuf à la mode on my 21st birthday

She prepared a miraculous feat for my celebration. The very thought of it still makes me smileThough we were nurtured by Mum’s cooking daily, my parents’ brood thought little of the effort required, though we devoured the efforts made. It wasn’t until later in life, having donned the mantle of cook as a career, did I begin to appreciate quite what was required to feed a large, boisterous family well. For the most part, we ate simple Scots fare – lentil soup, mince and tatties, suet puddings – but, on occasion, Mum would sit at the counter, trawling through her favourite books, cigarette in hand, and, indicating a find, would duly pen a shopping list.One such instance was for a birthday feast – Mum’s and mine, for I was born on Mum’s birthday – and the date was the 21st. And this particular birthday was my 21st. Birthdays for the most part were celebrated by just the family around the tab

Jeremy LeeJeremy LeeFood

GuardianSep 27Preview

I have seen with pride how British overseas aid saves children’s lives. That is why I say cuts should be reversed | David Harewood

I understand the pressure on the public purse, but I have also seen the effect of our spending on the ground. Our choices can do so much goodDavid Harewood is a Unicef UK ambassadorAs Labour party conference approaches, politicians will debate spending priorities, fiscal pressures and the UK’s place in the world. Before those discussions begin, I want ministers to picture a hospital ward I visited in Sierra Leone with Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund).Inside the special-care baby unit at Makeni regional hospital were rows of tiny premature babies, some no bigger than my hand. Around them stood dedicated nurses and anxious parents, all willing these newborns to survive.David Harewood is a Unicef UK ambassador Continue reading...

David HarewoodAidUnited Nations

GuardianSep 27Preview

My husband never stops working, but he won’t discuss it. Should I leave him?

You really need to find a way to talk about this and explore the underlying issues – for both of youSince the start of our relationship, more than 20 years ago, I was aware my husband had a strong work ethic.But I am beginning to resent the time he spends working, which often includes late nights and weekends when an emergency happens. Continue reading...

Annalisa BarbieriFamilyLife and style

BBCSep 25Preview

The treasured 'eternal snow' on this tropical island is about to disappear forever

Climate change is transforming Papua's snowy peaks, which hold scientific value and spiritual significance.

NYTSep 25Preview

Leo XIV, Trying to Be Everyone’s Pope, Tours Secular France

After visiting Africa, Pope Leo’s four-day trip to France shows how he is seeking to appeal to Roman Catholicism’s original heartlands as well as to the church’s newest strongholds.

Motoko Rich and Mark LandlerFranceLeo XIV

GuardianSep 25Preview

‘She never accepted no’: Liam Neeson on dogged heroine behind Tuam mass baby grave film

Catherine Corless’s exposure of almost 800 infant deaths at a home led by nuns prompted Neeson to bring the story to screenLiam Neeson still remembers his shock and shame when he read a New York Times article about the mother and baby institution in Tuam, County Galway.It was 2017 and the article chronicled the campaign by Catherine Corless, an amateur local historian, to expose abuse and neglect by Irish nuns that led to hundreds of children being buried in a mass, unmarked grave. Continue reading...

Rory Carroll Ireland correspondentFilmIreland