People remember the human side of the ‘dazzling’ film star, who was kind and wise and lived a dignified life

• Robert Redford, giant of American cinema, dies aged 89

I met Bob in 1984 after he finished Out of Africa through a mutual friend in Malibu, and subsequently began to work for him and became friends. At that time he was establishing Sundance and distancing himself from Hollywood. He was a dolphin among sharks. He was the most kind and wise person one could ever know in this life.
Lex, Joshua Tree, CA

Some in Whitehall were aggressive, some openly racist – but more still felt this far-right gathering was the only place they could be heard

• On the ground with Tommy Robinson’s new supporters – podcast

Determined to get a good spot on Whitehall, the woman from Liverpool had woken her nieces at 3am to travel to London. Her dedication paid off. By the time the march reached her on Saturday afternoon, she was sitting on a wall outside Downing Street, the little girls in camping chairs at her feet, engrossed in their iPads.

She had unfurled two banners. One said “Keir Starmer is a wanker” and the other read: “We’re not far right, we are England’s mothers and we will not stay silent. Stop the rape of our children, mothers across Britain are taking a stand.”

Helen Pidd is a presenter of Today in Focus, the Guardian’s award-winning daily podcast

Preteens are parroting influencer speak, stealing and demanding anti-ageing products. Experts say the pressure to fit in is intense – and the beauty stores aren’t helping

Jessica, 25, was working a shift at Sephora when a little girl who looked about 10 ran up to one of her colleagues, crying. “Her skin was burning,” Jessica said, “it was tomato red. She had been running around, putting every acid you can think of on the palm of her hand, then all over her face. One of our estheticians had to tend to her skin. Her parents were nowhere to be seen.”

Former Sephora employee KM, 25, has her war stories too. Like the day a woman was caught shoplifting and told the security guard “she was trying to steal because her kid was getting bullied because she didn’t have a Dior lip gloss. [The mom] couldn’t afford it but her daughter told her she is going to get made fun of at school.”

The all-girl trio gave punk a playful spin and drew admirers in Paul Weller and Captain Sensible – but, singer Debsey Wykes recalls, faced confusion for being out of step with era’s noise and anger

At 19 years old, Debsey Wykes stood in front of a sold-out crowd at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, her knees “literally knocking with fear”, as she puts it. It was the end of 1980 and Dolly Mixture were supporting the Jam for a second time, having piqued the interest of Paul Weller. Despite the shaky start, the teen trio made it through the set to appreciative applause. “Everyone is your friend when you support the Jam,” Wykes recalls in her new memoir, Teenage Daydream: We Are the Girls Who Play in a Band.

Dolly Mixture paired girl-group harmonies and pop sensibilities with scuffed-up combat boots and charity shop dresses. Their intricate arrangements remained playfully punk, displaying a songwriting craft well beyond their years. Although beloved by the Undertones and John Peel, as well as becoming the first group to release a single on Weller’s label, Respond, the band never found the success of many of their peers. “I think people were confused,” says Wykes. “One: we were girls, and girls often didn’t play in bands. And if you’re not dressed in jeans and leather, you must be crap and cute. There was no subtlety allowed.”

I should have been devastated when I came third in a public speaking competition. But the joy that came out of nowhere has shaped the rest of my life

“I am a teenager, living in an age with war, corruption, discrimination, racism, sexism. But no one seems angry about it. People see the slight advances towards equal society as having solved our issues entirely and it just isn’t enough.”

It’s March 2015, and I’ve done it: I’ve solved inequality. Standing in the basement room of Modern Art Oxford for my regional heat of the Articulation prize public speaking competition, I truly believe that I may have just introduced this room full of parents and teachers to the concept of feminism. I’m very pleased with myself.

He marched against the Vietnam war, supported the Black Panthers, has protested over animal rights, ended up in prison after a climate sit-in – and starred in Babe, LA Confidential and Succession. He explains how he became the ultimate activist-actor

Amid the hustle of midtown Manhattan on Wednesday 11 May 2022, James Cromwell walked into Starbucks, glued his hand to a counter and complained about the surcharges on vegan milks. “When will you stop raking in huge profits while customers, animals and the environment suffer?” Cromwell boomed as fellow activists streamed the protest online.

But the insouciant patrons of Starbucks paid little heed. Perhaps they didn’t realise they were in the company of the tallest person ever nominated for an acting Oscar, deliverer of one of the best speeches in Succession, and the only actor to utter the words “star trek” in a Star Trek production. Police arrived to shut down the store.

On the first full day of his state visit to the UK, the US president will attend various events in Windsor before a state banquet

Lucy Powell has hit out at the “sexist” framing of her deputy Labour leadership campaign, with people claiming she and her rival, Bridget Phillipson, are standing as “proxies” for two men, Aletha Adu reports.

Most of Donald Trump’s policies horrify progressives and leftwingers in Britain, including Labour party members and supporters, but Keir Starmer has said almost nothing critical about the Trump administration because he has taken a view that maintaining good relations with the White House is in the national interest.

I understand the UK government’s position of being pragmatic on the international stage and wanting to maintain a good relationship with the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Faced with a revanchist Russia, Europe’s security feels less certain now than at any time since the second world war. And the threat of even higher US tariffs is ever present.

But it’s also important to ensure our special relationship includes being open and honest with each other. At times, this means being a critical friend and speaking truth to power – and being clear that we reject the politics of fear and division. Showing President Trump why he must back Ukraine, not Putin. Making the case for taking the climate emergency seriously. Urging the president to stop the tariff wars that are tearing global trade apart. And putting pressure on him to do much more to end Israel’s horrific onslaught on Gaza, as only he has the power to bring Israel’s brazen and repeated violations of international law to an end.

Annual August rate released as Bank of England considers holding interest rate at 4% to tackle rising prices

• Business live – updates

UK inflation held steady in August, official figures show, maintaining pressure on households as the Bank of England prepares to keep borrowing costs at elevated levels.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the annual rate of inflation as measured by the consumer prices index remained at 3.8% last month, the same level as July and matching the forecasts of City economists.

Oliver Steadman, 28, also charged with communication offences, say Scotland Yard and Crown Prosecution Service

The former Labour councillor Oliver Steadman has been charged in relation to the Westminster “honeytrap” scandal in which a Tory MP was coerced into sharing the numbers of other British MPs.

Steadman, 28, has been charged with one count of blackmail and a communications offence of improper use of a public communications network in relation to one victim, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Two army divisions work their way toward centre of Gaza City as further Israeli airstrikes destroy buildings

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Israeli troops have been trying to force more people out of their Gaza City homes as part of a ground offensive that is destroying large parts of Gaza’s biggest urban centre.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday they had carried out 150 air and artillery strikes before the ground operation that began early on Tuesday morning. Two army divisions are working their way slowly towards the city centre and are expected to be joined by a third in the coming days.