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The writer, a former education secretary and minister for women and equalities, sits in the House of Lords Perhaps the elderly male MP meant nothing by it. But as I found out later, he’d already been into the chief whip to complain about my radio interview, in which the thorny issue of MPs’ pay had

Shit is getting real. Picture of trader with head in hands real. Much ink has been spilled on the decline of speculative tech stocks since the end of last year. But disappointing results out this week from the very much profitable and absolutely massive Apple, Alphabet and Amazon suggest a wider malaise may be setting

The writer is an FT contributing editor These are not normal times. Inflation measures in the US are higher than they’ve been in four decades. When the Federal Reserve meets next week, however, it’s likely to begin what it calls “normalisation”: shedding as many assets from its $9tn balance sheet as it can. Once completed,

Landlords paying the 40 per cent income tax rate would see their annual profits on a mortgaged buy-to-let home wiped out if UK interest rates rise by another two percentage points, according to research underlining the tightness of margins maintained by property investors. For a higher-rate taxpayer with an average two-year fixed rate and a

Tackling obesity is big business, in more ways than one. Worldwide, more than one in eight adults is overweight. Working from home makes matters worse, researchers say. But new drugs could finally slow the relentless rise of obesity rates. US pharma group Eli Lilly this week hailed its new obesity treatment Tirzepatide as a potential

South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma handed control of the state power monopoly Eskom to a private business dynasty, according to an inquiry into systematic corruption under his rule. In the inquiry’s most sweeping indictment yet of the country’s former leader, a report published on Friday found that Zuma “readily opened the doors” for the

NatWest has ended UK high street banks’ quarterly reporting season on a note of cheer. The former Royal Bank of Scotland posted a year-on-year 40 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £1.2bn, easily trumping analysts’ forecasts. That is good news for investors — including the government, which holds just under half the bank’s shares

The writer is editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek Edinburgh has a new Library of Mistakes — a financial library devoted to helping us all learn from the disasters of the past. Over the past week it has been running a series of events designed to discuss those disasters. Wednesday was devoted to the mistakes of fund managers.

The writer is vice-chairman of S&P Global and the author of ‘The Prize’ and ‘The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations’ Among Vladimir Putin’s many miscalculations was his expectation, before the invasion of Ukraine, that Europe’s dependence on Russian energy was so great that its response would be muted, limited to little

“Greed is good,” said Gordon Gekko, the unforgettable villain of Oliver Stone’s classic 1987 film Wall Street. The character, Stone later said, was inspired in large part by one of that decade’s most controversial financial figures: Carl Icahn, once described as “the ultimate corporate predator”. But if Icahn’s explosive Trans World Airlines takeover in the

Vase by Van Briggle, £220 A 1920s ceramic piece with a satin matte glazed finish. vinterior.co Pietra dura tabletop, £4,000 This 20th-century tabletop is inlaid with precious stones in a floral pattern. lassco.co.uk 18th-century Delftware dish, £249 This plate can be used as a serving platter or as a piece of wall art. selency.co.uk Pair

ExxonMobil said it would triple its share buyback programme to $30bn and Chevron reported its most profitable quarter since 2012 as surging crude and natural gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine delivered a windfall for American Big Oil. Texas-based Exxon’s stepped-up share repurchase programme came as it posted first-quarter profits of $5.5bn on Friday,

About four in 10 British households are finding it difficult to pay for gas and electricity and a similar proportion are buying less food, according to the first official statistics covering the period after the 54 per cent increase in the cap on most consumers’ energy bills. The results of a survey run by the

All the answers here are linked in some way. Once you’ve spotted the link, any you didn’t know the first time around should become easier. Who was the last female prime minister of New Zealand before Jacinda Ardern? Which president’s tomb is the largest mausoleum in America? Which British film won the Oscar for Best

The aftermath of Emmanuel Macron’s re-election has turned into a fight for survival for the once-powerful political movements that gave France most of its postwar presidents. The centre-left Socialist party and the conservative Les Républicains (LR) were crushed in this month’s presidential vote. Now they risk being torn apart as politicians scrabble for alliances to

I’m hugely excited by Jacob Rees-Mogg’s efforts to shame his homeworking civil servants back to the office. Many have been critical of the passive-aggressive and rather Dickensian notes left by Rees-Mogg and his aides on officials’ desks, but I’m looking forward to testing out the theory in my own domestic setting. For those who missed

Engineering has not been one of literature’s great muses, but for Adrian Duncan — a Berlin-based Irish writer, visual artist and former structural engineer — it is central to his spare, affecting novels. Duncan’s 2019 debut, Love Notes from a German Building Site, revolves around Paul, a thirty-something-year-old engineer on an Alexanderplatz construction site, while

Sissinghurst called and Troy Scott Smith has returned. Back for a second stint as head gardener at the world-famous garden where he started his career 30 years earlier. “Sissinghurst is a part of me,” he says of the garden created by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson after they purchased Sissinghurst Castle in Kent in 1930.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz. Apple and Amazon caused a sharp intake of breath on Wall Street last night as they warned that supply chain challenges and rising costs were having an impact on their businesses. Executives at the iPhone maker said the company could sustain

I have started to grow flowers in my garden this year. I am picking my first tulips and I’m wondering how best to show them off in my house. Any ideas? What can compare to the joy of growing one’s own flowers? I’m thrilled for you: once you’ve had a go, you’ll never not bother

The sequencing of an album opening is a delicate art. The first song can’t be the best one, otherwise what follows will be a long anticlimax. But nor can it be the kind of straightforward track that most albums require at some point. The ideal curtainraiser should be neither filler nor killer. It should leave