Financial Times
Financial Times features visual journalism on global news, business, politics, economics, and major trends.
Fragmentation Turns Security Into a Capital Spending Cycle
Lombard Odier chief economist Samy Chaar argues in an FT Rethink interview that recent shocks are symptoms of a broader shift from global interdependence to a fragmented economy organised around security. He says governments now have to secure energy, defence, technology and infrastructure for themselves, creating a costly capital-spending cycle that can feel worse for citizens while still supporting corporate demand and profits. For Europe, Chaar’s conclusion is that the old order is not coming back and autonomy has become an economic necessity.
Nashville’s Boom Is Pricing Out the Musicians Behind Music City
Claire Jones reports that Nashville’s tourism and investment boom has made the city richer and more visible while threatening the affordability and local music economy behind its Music City brand. The FT film argues that rising housing costs, higher property-tax burdens, luxury development and subsidised corporate projects are pricing out musicians, small businesses and historic venues, even as visitor spending helps fund public services.
Household Renewables Gain Appeal as Fossil-Fuel Price Shocks Hit Budgets
The FT’s Leyla Boulton argues that the latest oil and gas price surge is making household renewables look less like a climate preference and more like financial protection. Solar panels, batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicles can reduce exposure to volatile fossil-fuel costs, but Boulton says adoption depends on solving practical barriers: upfront capital, uneven subsidies, installation quality and consumer trust.
Brexit’s Economic Costs Are Pushing Britain Back Toward Europe
FT journalists on Political Fix argue that, a decade on, Brexit’s costs are no longer mainly hypothetical: they cite estimates of a 4 to 8 per cent hit to GDP, weaker investment, sterling’s lasting fall and higher borrowing costs as evidence that leaving the EU reduced Britain’s economic capacity. George Parker, Katie Martin, Delphine Strauss and Stephen Bush also contend that the political damage has been to entrench grievance politics while making a return to full EU membership unlikely; the more plausible path, they say, is a slow, constrained move towards closer European ties.
Russia-Based Network Used Telegram Recruits to Target Starmer Properties
Financial Times reporter Miles Johnson traces the arson attacks on properties linked to Keir Starmer to a Russia-based online network that allegedly recruited a 21-year-old Ukrainian in London through Telegram. Johnson’s account argues that Roman Lavrynovych was moved from posting far-right propaganda to vandalism and then fire-setting without being told the political significance of the targets. The case is presented as an example of Russian-linked disruption that is cheap, deniable and designed to look like local extremism.
Porto Santo Tests Battery-Backed Renewables for Isolated Island Grids
Porto Santo is trying to raise its share of renewable electricity on a small, isolated grid whose demand rises sharply with tourism and whose weather can change within a day. Hitachi Energy’s Bruno Fonseca and Empresa de Eletricidade da Madeira’s Agostinho Figueira argue that the island’s challenge is not simply adding solar and wind, but using batteries and grid-support systems to keep power reliable as renewable supply and seasonal demand fluctuate. The project aims to move Porto Santo from about 10 per cent renewable electricity to roughly 70 per cent, with backers saying the lessons could apply to larger power systems.
Porto Santo Tests Battery-Backed Renewables on an Isolated Island Grid
The Financial Times reports on Porto Santo, a small Portuguese island being used as a test case for how isolated grids can absorb much more renewable power without becoming less reliable. Hitachi Energy Portugal’s Bruno Fonseca and Empresa de Eletricidade da Madeira’s Agostinho Figueira argue that new solar, wind and battery systems could move the island from about 10 per cent renewable electricity to roughly 70 per cent, while managing the seasonal demand swings created by tourism and fast-changing weather.
Public Imagination, Not Corporate Control, Should Shape AI’s Future
Financial Times AI editor Madhumita Murgia argues that artificial intelligence is already shaping daily life, but its future is still being imagined too narrowly by the private companies that control it. In a short FT Standpoint video, she offers three possible public-interest uses for AI — understanding fragile ecosystems, intervening earlier in disease, and recovering lost cultural history — while warning that each carries costs that should be debated beyond Silicon Valley.
Home Humanoid Robots Still Face Cost, Trust, and Dexterity Hurdles
Financial Times technology reporter Cristina Criddle examines whether humanoid robots are close to becoming consumer products, as companies including 1X, Tesla and Figure move from stage demonstrations to home-use pitches. The case is that rapid gains in mobility and AI have made household robots more plausible, but Criddle’s reporting also stresses the unresolved barriers: high prices, limited dexterity, uneven performance and doubts over whether a human-shaped machine is the most practical way to automate chores.
Suriname Bets $10.5 Billion Offshore Oil Project Can Fund a Greener Future
Suriname is tying its economic future to GranMorgu, a $10.5bn offshore oil project developed by TotalEnergies and APA Corporation. The Financial Times film argues that the bet is attractive because global energy markets still reward new low-cost, lower-emission barrels, but that its payoff depends on whether Suriname can turn oil revenue into durable development. That means reducing debt, strengthening institutions, diversifying the economy and protecting one of the world’s most forested countries without letting the boom overwhelm it.
UBS Says Swiss Capital Plan Would Put It 50% Above Peers
UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti told FT editor Roula Khalaf that Switzerland’s proposed capital reforms for the bank are disproportionate and misdiagnose Credit Suisse’s collapse. He argued that Credit Suisse failed because of management, business-model and supervisory failures, not because the Swiss framework was fundamentally deficient, and warned that forcing UBS to hold capital 50 per cent above peers would be neither targeted nor internationally aligned. Asked whether UBS could move its headquarters, Ermotti said the bank’s premise remains to stay in Switzerland, while acknowledging management has a duty to examine alternatives.