business
How The Wine Society puts ‘passion before profit’
British wine lovers are so lucky. We may pay through the nose for our pleasures via the increasingly complicated taxation of our favourite liquid, and wine prices are likely to rise even further towards October when the government will start collecting EPR payments from retailers. (EPR no longer stands for my FT predecessor Edmund Penning-Rowsell, … Read more
The midlife non-crisis
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. You have to wonder how much cash Ridley Scott would have saved on special effects had he filmed Blade Runner in Kuala Lumpur. That noirish thing he was going for — the rain, the … Read more
Should I do Botox? It’s probably too late
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. I’ve never been one to follow faddy beauty fashions — I’m deeply sceptical about treatments that promise to embalm one in the veneer of eternal youth. But time’s a bitch, I’m six years older … Read more
Banks and UK property learn to cautiously cohabit
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. British banks do not like talking about commercial property. Offices, retail and industrial buildings left them with big losses during the financial crisis. Actions speak louder than words, however, and lenders have been quietly flocking … Read more
The mounting cost of the final send-off
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. “We can leave the flowers outside for the rabbits, or you can give them to someone who can’t afford flowers for their funeral.” It was at this point in the conversation with the undertaker that … Read more
Radiohead, Grand Theft Auto and an American barbecue — Hamlet enters its weirdest phase yet
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. This month a rather unusual theatre show will open in Manchester. Hamlet Hail to the Thief is a collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company, Factory International and the art-rock musician Thom Yorke, which fuses Shakespeare’s … Read more
The dollar system has always been vulnerable to presidential whim
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 In August 2019, central bankers and academics gathered at Jackson Hole in Wyoming to talk, among other things, about the dollar. The guest of honour was Mark Carney, … Read more
If Trump is trying to suppress China, he’s going about it all wrong
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is a global economist and author of ‘The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism’ Technological leaps are rarely born in comfort. They are forged in conflict, competition and necessity. From nuclear energy … Read more
a handbook of great British gardens to visit
Five years ago, garden visiting was a wistful memory. We were locked down. All I could do was drive to local patches of anemones, primroses and fritillaries and take the permitted daily walk where I could admire nature’s efforts. Not so this year: the indispensable Yellow Book, the Garden Visitor’s Handbook 2025 of the National … Read more