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Three of Britain’s largest energy suppliers on Friday lost a legal challenge against the UK government over its handling of the high-profile sale of Bulb, the power supplier that was quasi-nationalised and sold to Octopus with billions of pounds in taxpayer support. Centrica, Iberdrola SA’s Scottish Power and Eon had brought a judicial review against

Your browser does not support playing this file but you can still download the MP3 file to play locally. This weekend, we bring you a conversation with actor Michael Patrick Thornton, who is currently in a buzzy Broadway production of A Doll’s House alongsideJessica Chastain. When Michael was 24, he had a series of spinal

It is alarming that not one of the warning lights published in this week’s UK climate change committee report on adaptation progress is green. All are flashing a bright amber or red, underscoring the urgency for the UK to address its growing climate risks. No wonder Camilla Hodgson says the UK government is “strikingly unprepared”

In 1989 the world watched transfixed as the blocks came tumbling down. In Berlin it was to the sound of sledgehammers and cheers, but in Japan, the US and soon the world over, the only noise was the tap-tapping of Game Boy buttons as Tetris mania took hold. At the time no one would have

Drax’s investors got a scare on Thursday. The British power generator’s stock fell as much as 12 per cent on news that its carbon capture project failed to make a priority list published by the UK government. It later recovered on hopes that approval might simply be delayed. This roller-coaster ride highlights how vital carbon

A deal to sell Neil Woodford’s administrator Link Fund Solutions has been thrown into doubt as three senior directors have left the bidding company Waystone Group, in another setback for thousands of investors awaiting compensation from Woodford’s collapsed funds. Dublin-based Waystone entered into exclusive talks earlier this year to buy LFS, the UK arm of

The writer is an associate at Oxford university’s’s China Centre and research associate at SOAS University of London In the US and Europe, the costs of regulatory failure and financial instability have been illustrated painfully by the implosions of Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse and other smaller banks. The lessons from these episodes should not just

When First Citizens Bank agreed over the weekend to buy most of what is left of Silicon Valley Bank, there was one thing it absolutely did not want. Though SVB, whose March 10 failure shook the global banking sector, was best known for serving venture capitalists and techies, First Citizens’ purchase agreement went out of

The writer is a science commentator A clown comes knocking on your door with a fun message for your kids. They can have a toy for free — if you buy them a meal from a fast-food restaurant. Would you invite him in? Such is the power of advertising, that you don’t need to. The

I find it disturbing your editorial “The tragedy of Iraq, 20 years on” (FT View, March 24) makes no mention of the important role Britain played in this fiasco. Watching the film Official Secrets would be a good memory jogger if people have forgotten how Tony Blair stood with George W Bush in sidelining the

Europe’s top human rights body has urged British parliamentarians to prevent the passing of legislation designed to curb cross-Channel migration, describing it as “incompatible with the UK’s international obligations”. In a letter published on Monday, Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, said it was “essential” that MPs and peers reject the illegal

Division within the G7 nations over trade with China; the West’s sanctions on Russia; the challenges to the mighty dollar; the fate of globalisation itself. Trade Secrets, the FT’s weekly newsletter on world economics and trade, makes sense of the biggest stories in globalisation for business executives, policymakers, lawyers and investors. Written by Alan Beattie,

Traders are betting on further increases in the price of gold after it touched a 12-month high this week, as investors predict the US Federal Reserve’s cycle of interest rate rises is over and seek safe havens during banking sector turmoil. Spot prices for gold this week touched $2,000 per ounce for the first time

Britain’s oil and gas companies are next week expected to be offered the prospect of windfall tax relief, as prime minister Rishi Sunak looks to boost investment and improve the country’s energy security. Ministers have been discussing with the sector a promise that the 35 per cent windfall levy on profits would cease to apply

His words were unscripted, but they spoke volumes. When Xi Jinping bade farewell to Vladimir Putin after three days of talks in Moscow this week, he looked the Russian leader in the eye and hardened his expression with a taut grin. “Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years. And we’re driving this change

Copper prices will surge to a record high this year as a rebound in Chinese demand risks depleting already low stockpiles, the world’s largest private metals trader has forecast. Global inventories of the metal used in everything from power cables and electric cars to buildings have dropped rapidly in recent weeks to their lowest seasonal

This is an audio transcript of the Rachman Review podcast episode: ‘Divided Iran makes peace with its neighbours’ [MUSIC PLAYING] Gideon RachmanHello and welcome to the Rachman Review. I’m Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator, the Financial Times. This week’s podcast is about Iran. Our Middle East editor, Andrew England, recently visited the country. Iran’s

Throughout economic history, interest rate tightening cycles tend to end with a bang, not a whimper. Whether the multiple bank failures in the past two weeks were loud enough is moot. US Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell raised rates by a quarter rather than a half percentage point on Wednesday. The Bank of England increased

Billionaire hedge fund manager Chris Hohn is attempting to oust three board members at Cellnex in order to hasten the appointment of a new chief executive amid a challenging period for Europe’s largest mobile tower company. Hohn’s hedge fund TCI, which has a record of embarking on boardroom battles, said it had concerns about “governance”

What does it take to make a company uninvestable? In theory, bad news is no reason not to buy a stock, perhaps offering savvy investors a bargain. But a beaten-up company is worth buying only if its potential to earn money in the future is preserved. Bank investors worldwide will be pondering this question this