More than one in 20 MPs have been suspended from the House of Commons, left parliament altogether or been stripped of their party whip in the wake of misconduct allegations since the last general election. A total of 34 MPs out of 650 have quit or been disciplined by their party or by parliamentary colleagues
This article is an onsite version of our Europe Express newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every weekday and Saturday morning A “remarkable strategic own goal by us” — that’s how Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, this week described the risk of a lapse in
Something strange but awesome happened last week in Columbia Road, east London. Seven thousand people, who’d seen the street’s annual Christmas carol service on TikTok, turned up to join in. This shows the remarkable power of social media: the event was overwhelmed and had to be cancelled. But I like to think it also shows
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became involved with Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 US presidential vote, must pay a total of $148mn to two electoral workers in Georgia he
The hardest question in the world is something to do with quantum physics. The second hardest is, “How are you?” Sure, there are easy answers, but they are not good ones. Saying you are fine just puts the onus on your interlocutor to find something worth discussing. It should be a punishable offence. If instead
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US equities myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Wall Street is on track for its longest streak of weekly gains in six years as a near-15 per cent rally in US stocks since late October puts blue-chips within sight of a record high.
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Barclays is in danger of losing its prestigious position as the bank of Cambridge university after more than 200 years, as students and staff lobby for a greener lender. Cambridge has notified banks and asset
Municipals closed out the week firmer, boosted by Fed policy decisions and yearend positioning ahead of a fading new-issue calendar, while U.S. Treasuries traded in a narrow range all session and equities ended mixed. Triple-A yields fell up to five basis points Friday while USTs were mixed. Munis still underperformed taxables on the week, but
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy began this week hopeful that his two biggest allies in the face of Russia’s invasion would finally approve financial aid packages worth a total of $115bn. He ended it with little to show for it. Fraying support for Kyiv in Washington and Brussels coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin vowing to attack
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel’s military expressed “deep remorse” on Friday after announcing that it had accidentally killed three Israelis held hostages in the Gaza Strip during fighting in the enclave. The Israel Defense Forces said that the incident
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The only thing Jay Powell could have done to deliver a stronger impression of a festive giveaway to global markets this week would have been to conduct his press conference decked in an oversized red
A proposed deal for a massive mixed-used arena project in Alexandria, Virginia, would be mostly financed through $1.05 billion in project revenue bonds issued by the newly named Virginia Stadium Authority. Details and hardening local opposition are emerging regarding the development of a 12-acre site in Potomac Yard, a former rail hub that straddles Arlington
A tough year for Wall Street municipal underwriting firms culminated Thursday with Citigroup’s announcement it would exit the business, a stunning move that market participants warned would raise state and city financing costs and that Citi would come to regret as headwinds calm and business rebounds. “It’s a major disappointment,” said Matt Fabian, a partner
S&P Global Ratings revised California’s rating outlook to stable from positive Friday, citing the state’s projected $68 billion multi-year deficit, revenue uncertainties and economic conditions. The state holds ratings of AA-minus from S&P, AA from Fitch Ratings and Aa2 from Moody’s Investors Service. The state also has a stable outlook from Fitch. Moody’s revised the
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK asset manager Abrdn has slashed employee benefits as part of a fresh round of cost cuts, halving redundancy payouts and reducing the length of paid parental leave by about a third. The company has
After UK competition officials said they were preparing to investigate Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar alliance with OpenAI last week, the San Francisco-based start-up quietly made a change to its website. Having previously described the tech giant as a “minority owner” in OpenAI, the wording was changed over the weekend to describe Microsoft as only holding a “minority
Debates about UK education policy can sometimes seem about as insightful as a chat in the pub. Even Boris Johnson complained, while shadow universities minister, of political “saloon bar analysis”. But the answer to one of the latest burning education questions — can prime minister Rishi Sunak’s promise of maths classes to the age of
Every UN climate COP ends with a mix of relief, exhaustion and bafflement. The two-week COP28 conference in Dubai was no exception. It ran nearly 24 hours over schedule and headlines centred on 34 agonisingly crafted words in the final text that called on countries to shift away from fossil fuels in energy systems. Markets
Connecticut is set to price $840 million of general obligation bonds next week, the state’s last issuance of a year with landmark fiscal policy decisions. The state, which renewed fiscal responsibility measures, lowered income taxes and maintained strong economic metrics, kept its solid ratings from all four agencies for the upcoming deal. “Management in Connecticut,
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Two of the world’s biggest container shipping companies have halted journeys by their vessels approaching the entrance to the Red Sea in response to mounting security threats, moves that risks serious disruption to trade through
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US interest rates myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has tried to temper speculation about imminent interest rate cuts by the US central bank, saying such discussions were “premature”. The comments from