Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Wes Streeting, UK health secretary, will on Monday launch a “national conversation” about the future of the National Health Service, which he said was in “an awful state”. Streeting has called on clinicians, experts and the general public to submit ideas for a new “10-year Health Plan” to rebuild the service to be “fit for the future”. They will be asked to give their suggestions via an online platform called change.NHS.uk, which will go live at the start of next year. The announcement comes…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The value of British music exports rose to a record £775mn last year but the rate of growth more than halved, with breakout UK stars now vying for listeners against intensifying global competition from the US, South Korea and Latin America. On Monday the BPI, the trade body for the UK’s music industry, will reveal new data showing that the UK continues to punch well above its size in the global music market. British recorded music exports — which include sales of British music…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Messages from the archive of Rutherford Hall, critical communications strategistWhatsApp to Stephen: Oh no. I’m going to be firefighting today. The transport secretary has attacked P&O ferries again over those firings, backing a boycott of it. Apparently Downing Street didn’t tell her DP World   — its parent, our client — was about to announce a big deal at Keir’s investment summit. DP are now hopping mad. From Rutherford@monkwellstrategy.comTo: SultanAhmedbinSulayem1@DPworld.comDear Sultan,You are entirely right to view this as unacceptable and discourteous. If this…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The UK will provide $3bn as part of a G7 loan to Ukraine, leaving only the US and Japan to agree their contributions to the $50bn lending package, which will be repaid with profits generated by future profits from frozen Russian state assets.Rachel Reeves, Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer, said she hoped the “other parts of the jigsaw would fall into place” when G7 finance ministers gather at the end of this week on the sidelines of the IMF and World…

Laleham Gap school in Kent lacks the clattering corridors and ringing bells found in most UK schools. Headteacher Les Milton says this is because his pupils, who have autism and communication needs, are acutely sensitive to noise, touch and light.“The building has sound-absorbing materials and wide corridors, no bells and specific lighting. Most schools are not autism-friendly in this way,” said Milton, who has seen a rapid rise in demand for places at Laleham Gap since it opened in 2016.“The school was built to meet the needs of 168 pupils. Today we have 237 pupils, so we’ve had to massively…

Sir Keir Starmer will fly into a fresh debate over slavery reparations and Britain’s shrinking aid budget this week when he arrives on the Pacific island state of Samoa for the annual Commonwealth heads of government meeting. The UK prime minister is embarking on a gruelling 36-hour flight in order to represent the government at his first CHOGM gathering — before racing back for the Budget on October 30. He faces tricky questions about compensation for historic slavery after a leading contender to be Commonwealth secretary-general told the Financial Times that “the timing is right to begin a discussion on reparatory justice”.Joshua…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.UK public sector borrowing increased in September and was higher than official forecasts, underlining the scale of the challenges facing chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares to raise taxes in next week’s Budget. Borrowing — the difference between public sector spending and income — was £16.6bn in September, £2.1bn more than in the same month last year and the third-highest September figure since monthly records began in January 1993, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.The figure was lower than the…

This article is an on-site version of our Inside Politics newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. If you’re not a subscriber, you can still receive the newsletter free for 30 daysGood morning. My thanks to Georgina, Simeon, Sam, Jen and Jim for minding the shop while I was on holiday. I had a lovely time in my own company pottering around my own city. (My advice: don’t bother with the British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition. Go to the Sir John Soane Museum instead.) The biggest event in the life of this young government…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy CommitteeAn old mentor used to consult women’s dress sales when he wanted to know what was going on with the economy, because he thought women controlled the disposable income of many households. Simplified models such as this are dangerous, but he was right that you have to understand the consumer to understand the economy. After all, consumption accounts for about two-thirds of GDP in most developed economies. It plays…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Hollywood Bowl is facing intensifying competition in Britain from bars offering activities from axe-throwing to mini-golf, its boss said on Monday, as it reported record annual revenue in spite of a slowdown in the UK. The UK’s biggest ten-pin bowling operator, which has 72 centres in the country, lifted its profit outlook for the year to the end of September on the back of strong sales across its 13 Canadian sites. It reported record revenues of £230.4mn, up 7.2 per cent year…