British culture is underscored by “our Christian way of life”, declared Tory MP Nick Fletcher in a pre-Easter parliamentary debate about the place of Christianity in the UK that he organised this month. Hosting debates about Christian faith ahead of Easter and Christmas has become a tradition for Fletcher, one of a clutch of vocal
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Mohammed Marikar’s typical commute to his office in the City of London takes three and a half hours. On a bad day, it is more than four. The senior director at RBC Wealth Management is
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. French President Emmanuel Macron was right to keep Russia guessing about the limits of western support for Kyiv when he floated the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, Finland’s foreign minister has said. Elina Valtonen
Hisham was enjoying the mild winter weather on a recent walk through Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter when he was suddenly stopped by the police. “Why are you wearing this?” they asked, pointing to his T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Palestine” in six different fonts. “This is a political gesture . . . We’re pro-Palestine, but you don’t do this,”
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Social affairs myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. I recently spent a day at the “World Happiness Summit” in London. As you might expect from “the happiness event of the year”, much of the content was rather uplifting and enjoyable. And, as you
For Aminah Rehman and her friends at university, going out to a nightclub in London has become a tough sell. “It’s dark. You have to pay. You can’t see each other. You can’t talk — it’s just not that enjoyable,” said the 22-year-old, whose cohort prefers pubs or house parties. “I wouldn’t want to pay
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Online fast-fashion giant Shein has more than doubled its profits as it awaits regulatory approval from Beijing to go ahead with its blockbuster listing in New York or London. Shein hit a record of more
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s stunning downfall after being charged with “historical” sex offences has pitched Northern Ireland’s biggest pro-UK party into turmoil ahead of a general election. Donaldson, who stepped down as DUP leader on Friday,
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. AstraZeneca’s plan to pay chief executive Pascal Soriot up to £18.7mn has been branded “excessive” by two influential shareholder advisers, saying his remuneration was already competitive versus international peers. The drugmaker last month set out
Ya’akov Cohen shrugs off the prospect of a new law that will force young ultra-Orthodox men like him to abandon full-time study of Jewish scriptures and serve in the Israeli army. “I can promise you that none of us students will leave the seminary,” he said. “We’ll continue to do what our people have done
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the European banks myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. European bank shares have hit a six-year high after lenders promised record shareholder returns and profits surged thanks to rising interest rates. The Stoxx Europe 600 Banks index reached its highest level for six years
David Pavon is a well-known figure on Bristol’s Gloucester Road, by repute the longest street of independent shops in the UK. He has run his deli — listed by the Financial Times as one of the world’s 50 greatest food stores a few years ago — for a decade and he has become part of
Only one man in Turkey has rivalled Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for laudatory press coverage in recent months: the president’s candidate to reclaim Istanbul from its opposition mayor. Once a relatively low-key urbanisation minister, Murat Kurum has become a star fixture of government-friendly media in the run-up to local elections this Sunday. From parading with pop
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. It isn’t quite true that the Premier League has conquered the world. Some atolls in the Bering Sea are holding out. Rumours persist of villages throughout the Eurasian Steppe where children are still allowed
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is an FT contributing editor and writes the Chartbook newsletter In a world of polycrisis, in which intersecting problems compound each other and there are few easy wins, it is all the more
When I was a green young journalist making my way on a London society column, I remember hanging around the doors of the Groucho Club in Soho trying to talk my way in. Someone tapped my shoulder. It was the artist Peter Blake. He and his wife Chrissy, regulars at my father’s café, had known
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Prime minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to introduce a highly complex tax regime for UK wine importers is going to drive up prices, reduce consumer choice and tie up small businesses in red tape, the industry
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Ministers have accepted that Thames Water bills will have to rise, as they seek to persuade investors to put more money into the troubled company and stop it sliding towards a politically disastrous nationalisation. Steve
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The runaway train that is the US stock market has now been rattling along so far and so fast that some investors are wondering whether they can hop off without breaking a limb. It is
In early November, a group of around 20 top managers from luxury group Kering and British online retailer Farfetch gathered in the Paris-based group’s elegant board room. Ostensibly the meeting was an opportunity for Farfetch founder José Neves to present his strategy as a retail partner to the new top executive team at the owner
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Donald Trump endorsed the Bible this week. You might have thought that God’s presence was enough for believers at Easter, but the former US president has licensed his name, likeness and image to the “God