Top Gere: An interview with a gentleman

In this weeks issue…Richard Gere has made a film about homelessness. Is this just another Hollywood star who fancied getting his hands dirty and angling for some awards? Not this time. It’s a good movie and is trying to say something meaningful about what is happening on the streets.

Gere talks to us about what drove him to make it, and also looks back at a career that includes some of the biggest moments in late 20^thcentury American cinema.

Robin Hood Gardens in east London was part of the bright new 1960s dawn in homebuilding. Now, it’s set to be demolished and the area redeveloped as luxury flats. We look at what happened to the idea of good housing for all – and where do people go when it’s decided they’re no longer wanted in their homes.

Keeping the brutalist and modernist architectural theme, we speak to director Ben Wheatley about his new film High-Rise.

Our Letter To My Younger Self is with comedian Paul Merton. Very open about a difficult relationship with his father and the death of his wife, he believes in the healing power of laughter.

John Bird looks at the doctors’ strike. It’s time we listened to the medics, he says, they are motivated by patient safety, not personal agendas.

We’d rather talk about how much sex we’re having than what we earn, says a spiky Damian Barr. It’s time we really got to grips with wage inequality.

This week’s featured vendor is Iulian Keller, who sells in Redditch. Parks and the church have helped him find peace and get his life back together.

We also have a fascinating insight from Hollywood boss Jeffrey Katzenberg on the changing focus for movies. He is behind the Kung Fu Panda franchise, which now makes more money in China than America.

And read the great piece about the life of trailblazing aviator Jean Batten. Faster in her day than Amy Johnson, she is now largely overlooked. Time to look again.