Author: Blake Anderson

Bath on a summer’s day is, unsurprisingly for the only city in England to achieve World Heritage status, swarming with tourists. They marvel at the postcard beauty of the honey-coloured stone and Palladian-style bridges, and take risky selfies by the River Avon. It’s a scene that harks back to the 19th-century season of balls and social activities of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey; the unhurried movement of the modern crowd suggests a similar setting of “holiday mode”.Outside one of the grand Georgian houses, Arthur Timothy radiates a sunniness aligned with his surroundings. The 68-year-old architect and artist gamely poses on the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A biodiesel plant in northern England is set to close in the latest blow for UK industry following the collapse of an oil refinery in the same area last week. Greenergy, owned by global commodities trading giant Trafigura, said on Thursday that it planned to end biodiesel production in Immingham, in north-east Lincolnshire. The product is blended into normal diesel to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transport.  The company blamed difficult market conditions due to competition from US imports and insufficiently ambitious mandates for…

A budget of $10mn plus, a host of A-listers with a Venetian backdrop all bode well for a great party.I wasn’t invited to that one, but fortunately, I’ve attended many other great parties.Some stand out. Obviously, a cool venue, preferably with a view,impeccable catering, and a band. Just as they hit the chorus of theSpandau Ballet hit, “Gold”, Tony Hadley (the lead singer) strolls in andtakes the mic. That was a great night!If you’re hosting at home, lavish entertaining requires a marquee, eventcaterers, a Britain’s Got Talent winning magician and more fizz than Epernay’s cellars, served by uniformed youths who…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe writer is president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and an adviser to Allianz and GramercyIt did not take long after last week’s UK fiscal drama for the typical political response to emerge. There was a swift pivot from a focus on what happened — the gutting of the government’s welfare reform bill and market-destabilising scenes in parliament — to looking at how it happened.Yet it would be an economic mistake to defer addressing the “what” at a time when fiscal…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Rachel Reeves has ordered a review of the Treasury’s media operation and a campaign to educate Labour MPs on the harsh fiscal reality facing Britain, as the chancellor prepares for a painful Autumn Budget.Helen Bower-Easton, the prime minister’s official spokesperson at the time of the Brexit vote in 2016, has been brought in to carry out a six-week review to sharpen the Treasury’s communications.Meanwhile Labour MPs will be invited to meet ministers and officials for briefings on “the choices and options” facing…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Sitting in his Oasis-themed bar, surrounded by merchandise and memorabilia, Paul Gallagher ponders Manchester’s relationship with one of its most famous musical exports. “There’s not actually that much to see in Manchester, Oasis-wise,” he muses, over the strains of the band’s third-album single “Stand By Me”. “You go to Liverpool and the whole city is moulded around the Beatles.”He is, on one level, correct. Liverpool has an entire tourist trail devoted to the Fab Four. In the past, Manchester tended to be less sentimental.…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.So intertwined are the gilt market and the structure of the UK pension system that it’s hard to understand one without studying the other. As Liz Truss will attest, failure to do so can lead to a chaotic defenestration be problematic.Pension funds’ almost price-insensitive demand for long-dated bonds over many years moulded the term structure of the market and the shape of the yield curve. But yesterday, the UK Office for Budget Responsibility — in its annual assessment of fiscal risks and…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Thames Water is weighing a last-ditch rescue from a former Liberal Democrat peer working with a little-known financial services firm, which claims it can unpick the teetering utility’s complex corporate structure to better serve the environment.Lord Rupert Redesdale, the former Liberal Democrat energy spokesman, has been helping prepare a potential bid for Thames Water from Muinín Holdings, a Mayfair-based investment firm, according to people familiar with the matter.Redesdale is chief executive officer of The Water Retail Company, a specialist supplier of water…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Property sector myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The number of rental properties coming on to the UK market fell sharply for the 11th straight month in June, according to a leading property survey that highlights a squeeze on the number of homes to let. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that “landlords continue to leave the sector”, with its measure of “landlord instructions” reporting a score of minus 21 points in June in an indication that more estate agents have seen a decrease in rental listings than an…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Former Conservative party chair Jake Berry has defected to Reform UK, becoming the latest Tory to switch to Nigel Farage’s insurgent rightwing populist party.Berry, who is no longer an MP, wrote in The Sun that he believed “change comes with challenging the old order. In shaking up the system when it isn’t working”.Berry briefly served as chair of the Conservative party under Liz Truss. He lost his seat as an MP for the Lancashire constituency of Rossendale and Darwen, which he had…