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The writer is creative founder of Portas Agency and co-chair of the Better Business Act My career in business has been all about spotting trends, predicting the next big thing and helping brands to make some cash out of that. But my certainties, like everyone else’s, have been challenged lately. The pandemic brought tension and confusion,

When news broke this week that Roelof Botha was slipping into the top job at Sequoia Capital, it came with the low-key inevitability that has become a hallmark of what is considered by many to be Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firm. That the 48-year-old South African, who was already head of Sequoia’s US and

NatWest shareholders have been urged to vote against the group’s executive pay plan at this month’s annual general meeting by an influential proxy adviser, just days after the UK government reduced its stake in the bank to below 50 per cent. Glass Lewis, the consultant whose recommendations are widely followed by institutional investors and passive

Did you imagine lockdowns in Shanghai and Shenzhen would drive up the cost of transporting goods from China to Europe? If you did, then you’d be wrong. Here’s what’s happened to the price of taking a 40ft container’s-worth of goods from the Far East to Northern Europe on short notice: The data comes courtesy of

Who doesn’t like a door wreath? At Christmas, it is the announcement to one and all that we are mince-pie ready and embracing festive fun. Come Easter, we are hopeful for a happy and sunshine-filled spring. Floral displays deliver on all this optimism, so why not garnish your front door with a spring wreath too?

Hello from New York. Reports are starting to show it was a punishing start to the year for the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment sector. Cash into ESG funds fell to $75bn, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2020, according to a report published by the Institute of International Finance on Thursday.

Japan will ban Russian coal imports, joining EU and G7 allies to target the country’s energy sector for the first time following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I am banning imports of Russian coal. By gradually reducing the imports we will lower our energy dependence on Russia,” prime minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday, adding that

Adelphi Capital, one of London’s oldest hedge funds, is to convert into a family office following a recent run of poor performance, in the latest sign that equity managers are struggling to navigate a sharp sell-off in markets. Adelphi, which was set up in 1997 and had been managing more than $4.5bn in assets as

Dear reader, The sanctions offensive against Russia ran out of steam this week. One unscientific proof was that Chanel instructed its shop assistants to withhold fancy handbags from would-be purchasers who planned to use them in Russia. Had it occurred to the French fashion house that Russian customers might simply fib to counter staff in

Fifty years ago the incoming head of the Metropolitan police, Robert Mark, defined a good police force as “one that catches more crooks than it employs”. The test is simple enough, but many Londoners are again wondering if the Met passes it. A serving officer killed Sarah Everard last year. Other policemen shared photos of

Ashmore and other emerging market fund managers face further hits to earnings and worsening outflows, as investors retreat over concerns about higher interest rates, the war in Ukraine and exposure to China. This year will be tougher for most investment managers across Europe as markets become more uncertain, say analysts at Bank of America. The

Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company (IHC), a conglomerate spanning fisheries to healthcare, is investing $2bn in companies belonging to Gautam Adani’s infrastructure empire, as India pursues ambitious green energy targets. IHC’s investment comes less than eight weeks after India and the UAE signed a trade deal and as Adani seeks to fund his sprawling ports-to-power

The FT this week ran a brace of big reads on the sanctions slapped on Russia, how they happened and what the longer-term impact will be. It’s an important subject, and both pieces are worth reading at leisure. (Editor: that means after you’ve finished with this one.) However, FT Alphaville had some follow-up thoughts on

Julie Otsuka’s third novel The Swimmers is a slender but poignant portrait of a mind losing its grip. In an unnamed American city, a “little old lady” is drifting away from her family through the slow tragedy of cognitive decline — a passing into chaos foreshadowed by trivial domestic errors: “The jar of Pond’s Cold

With her latest role in this HBO-produced series, the English actress Sarah Lancashire is faced with the doubly daunting task of having to play one American national treasure, Julia Child, and follow in the footsteps of another, Meryl Streep, who played the original celebrity chef in 2009’s Julie & Julia. Despite this pressure, she rises

When we started renting our converted 16th-century dovecote in 2019, I knew little of the ancient practice of dove rearing and how it has shaped pockets of the UK landscape over the past millennium. Although a small house, our cottage would have been a substantial dovecote. It is a perfect cube, with metre-thick walls made

Two years ago, Sue and Phil Purver, both 63, realised they needed a new kind of rural living. The UK’s first lockdown had just started. Immediately, their quiet local woodland footpath became a thoroughfare for surrounding townies seeking the countryside for their hour of permitted daily exercise. The path was strewn with rubbish and the

Volvo Trucks, the Swedish truck and bus manufacturer, is putting aside SKr4bn ($423mn) in provisions for the first quarter after suspending all operations in Russia. The move, announced on Friday, marked the latest sign of the corporate impact of the heavy international sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The

Bailey’s Parade: Photographs by David Bailey A compilation of three key bodies of work, Bailey’s Parade covers the illustrious photographer’s 60-year career in 30 pieces. It will include some of his most acclaimed images from the 1960s, including “pin-up” portraits of Mick Jagger, Jean Shrimpton and Andy Warhol, as well as a series of colour

TalkTalk has asked investment bank Lazard to review its options after several groups, including Vodafone, approached the UK broadband company about potential deals, according to people briefed on the matter. British telecoms executives have long called for greater consolidation in the domestic broadband market, claiming that the array of companies supplying mobile and internet contracts