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Jessica Chastain: ‘It was a very difficult upbringing’

The star of ‘The Help’ and now ‘Miss Sloane’ is taking on inequality in Hollywood and beyond

John Gerrard on sculpting smoke, false flags and how it all comes down to petroleum

The Irish artist's latest, extraordinary work, about the legacy of oil, has been timed to coincide with Earth Day and will be seen by millions

Malala Yousafzai in key UN role promoting girls’ education

UN Messenger of Peace post comes four years after Taliban gunman shot schoolgirl in head

The best places to experience Irish culture overseas

From Joyce manuscripts in Buffalo to Bacon paintings in Bilbao, a globetrotter’s guide

The Geopolitics of Deep Oceans review: fathoming the new frontier

John Hannigan’s highly readable survey of mankind and the oceans tackles deep-sea mining, superpower rivalries, global warming and popular culture

Junior cycle reform changes more than just ‘a memory test’

New testing regime represented as big leap forward for conservative education system

Davos: elites descend on Swiss Alps amid rising inequality

Big challenges facing elites as wealth gap widens and trust disintegrates

Oxfam says 1% of population own half of world’s wealth

International report reveals that 62 richest own same as poorest 50% of population

Two of Ireland’s younger sopranos would be a casting director’s dream

If only Ireland had such a thing as a national opera company to utilise the abilities of Anna Devin and Jennifer Davis

That blinding, deafening, sinking Titanic feeling

The Titanic Experience in Belfast is one of the most visited tourist sites on the island, and surely one of the loudest

Wolf of Wall Street preys on Irish sheep

From the big screen to console games

Gaming companies are not only using big-name actors for their voices, their faces are appearing on screen too

Sigh of relief as Sylvia Plath returns in triumph for higher level English paper 2

The much-anticipated Plath question was described as a “gem”

The Great Gatsby: don’t forget the book

F Scott FitzGerald’s funeral had a meagre attandance, but his novel grew a reputation that can’t be overshadowed by Baz Luhrmann’s new film