Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldSir Keir Starmer claimed on Wednesday that his patient diplomacy with Donald Trump had been vindicated, after the US president slapped a 10 per cent “reciprocal” tariff on UK exports, half the EU’s 20 per cent rate.Downing Street said the prime minister’s approach had saved thousands of jobs, but Starmer will now continue to negotiate a UK-US trade deal which he hopes will ultimately cut the US tariff on British exports.Number 10 was relieved that Trump had spared Britain the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Theatres in London had a record-matching run for attendance last year, with early signs that an influx of tourists boycotting the US will add to the crowds flocking to the West End for hit shows.Nearly 5mn more people attended a West End show than a Broadway production in 2024, according to the Society of London Theatre (Solt), which represents more than 200 theatre producers, owners and managers.The gap was consistent with the previous year, following a period of disrupted theatregoing during the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Lord Ben Houchen’s Tees Valley Combined Authority is to be issued with a formal notice that it must make improvements because of concerns over its governance and value for money for taxpayers.The TVCA, which is chaired by Houchen and responsible for the Teesworks regeneration scheme, is to be handed a “best value” notice by ministers on Thursday, according to two people familiar with the matter.Such notices are used when ministers have concerns about a local body’s governance and use of public money. They…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The rule of law and “fabric” of the nation is at risk of “unravelling” because of the level of crime on Britain’s streets, the attorney-general has said. Lord Richard Hermer told parliament’s joint committee on human rights on Wednesday that the scale of everyday street offences going unpunished was among the biggest challenges facing law and order in the UK. “I think there is a real risk in this country of our fabric unravelling, and the rule of law unravelling, because of…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The chair of Marks and Spencer has criticised a forthcoming crackdown on junk food advertising in the UK, saying it would amount to “regulating to stop people talking about mince pies during the day”. Archie Norman said on Wednesday that a plan to ban junk food advertising on television before 9pm meant the retailer would probably not be able to justify the expense of a Christmas food advert.“You won’t be able to run an ad that includes Christmas pudding, your mince pies…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Climate change myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Rich people should cut down on flying to ensure poorer families can take one sunny holiday abroad a year, the chief executive of the UK’s statutory climate adviser has said.Emma Pinchbeck said on Wednesday that the Climate Change Committee’s most recent advice to government had been designed to protect the “annual family holiday to somewhere sunny like Spain”. In contrast, higher-income travellers should aim to take one fewer flight a year, “rather than taking that flight off low-income households”, she said in…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK’s official statistics are doubly disconcerting. They currently convey a subdued economy, and may also be unreliable. Britain’s policymakers have had to make do with provisional jobs data for over 18 months while the Office for National Statistics has made slow progress to boost response rates to its Labour Force Survey. A fix may not come now until 2027. Flawed employment numbers might be forgivable on their own, but a recent series of disclosures and complaints have laid bare just how…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK has circulated plans for European countries to establish a “supranational institution” that jointly purchases military equipment, stockpiles weapons and helps to finance large-scale rearmament across the continent. The informal paper, written by UK officials and seen by the Financial Times, presents the case for a multilateral fund for a “coalition of the willing” that would borrow on markets at favourable rates and support defence spending. Backed with equity and sovereign guarantees, the fund would both lend money for defence projects…

The UK’s February inflation stats were a pleasant surprise for a couple of reasons.Firstly, the year-on-year growth rate fell to 2.8 per cent, closer to target than economists had forecast. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the Office for National Statistics updated its price quote data sets with a new glossary (direct download link) and data structure.We’ve already spent a lot of time dwelling on the price quotes tables, which all the prices ONS agents observed for certain items in the inflationary ‘basket’. So why not spend some more?Until February 2020, the ONS tracked an item called “Computer game top 20…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that a “trade war is in nobody’s interests” as he vowed to take a “cool-headed” approach to President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Wednesday evening.“We will take a calm, pragmatic approach,” Starmer said during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday afternoon. “We have prepared for all eventualities and we have ruled nothing out.”Starmer also insisted that “constructive talks are progressing between the UK and the US about a potential economic deal” that he hopes…