THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2020 TO MONDAY 28 DECEMBER 2020 WORLD BUSINESS NEWSPAPER EUROPE

Special Seasonal quiz, short

story, food & drink
Plus 12 days of
festive edition investment advice
LIFE & ARTS

Unstable times Briefing

Israel set for i Private equity deals hit 13-year high
The value of buyout deals in 2020 hit its highest since
fourth election 2007, roaring back from a spring slowdown as the
industry snapped up companies in record numbers
despite a virus-led global recession.— PAGE 5
As people pose for selfies in Manger
Square, Bethlehem, in the Israeli- i European tech accuses US of China bias
occupied West Bank yesterday, Ben- European tech heads and diplomats are accusing the
jamin Netanyahu’s firm stance on a new US of using its sanctions regime to shut them out of
budget saw the collapse of his seven- the Chinese market while offering exemptions for
month-old “corona coalition”, plunging American companies.— PAGE 2
the country into a fourth election in less
than two years. i Musk approached Apple in ‘hell’ period
The vote will take place on March 23 Elon Musk said he approached
after parliament failed to approve a Tim Cook to suggest acquiring
national budget for the second year in a then-ailing Tesla, probably in
row. mid-2017 — a time that Mr Musk
“I didn’t want elections,” Mr Netan- has said was “manufacturing
yahu said, shortly before parliament hell”.— PAGE 5; LEX, PAGE 16
disbanded. “But if elections are forced
upon us, I promise you we will win.” i Americans spend less after incomes fall
Report page 2 US household spending fell for the first time since
Mussa Qawasma/Reuters
the spring as incomes fell and unemployment figures
remained high.— PAGE 4; EDITORIAL COMMENT, PAGE 14

i Assset managers agree to Spac tie-up

UK and EU on cusp of trade deal

Dyal and Owl Rock have agreed to link in a complex
deal to take them public via a blank-cheque, special
purpose acquisition company.— PAGE 6

i Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

3 Rare mood of optimism on both sides 3 Fishing rights hurdle overcome 3 Sterling jumps
George Parker — London
Jim Brunsden — Brussels
Boris Johnson was last night poised to
announce a Brexit trade deal after a day
of diplomatic drama in Brussels left
both sides confident that an agreement
was imminent.
British officials said a deal as early as
last night was “possible”, with allies of
the UK prime minister saying it could be
“wrapped up within hours”. An EU offi-
cial said: “We are in the end phase now.”
A rare mood of optimism emerged
from the talks, as exhausted negotiators
sought to offer the public some rare
good news before Christmas after a
gruelling 2020. “We’re hopeful,” said
one ally of Mr Johnson.
Mr Johnson and European Commis-
We wish all our readers a merry Christmas and a
healthy and happy 2021. The next edition of the
paper will be published on Tuesday December 29.
FOR THE LATEST NEWS GO TO FT.COM
sion president Ursula von der Leyen said one. One person briefed on the been raised once again that progress has
have taken personal control of the talks, talks said the deal was essentially done been made and that an announcement
which began in March. Negotiators from “but not 100 per cent confirmed yet”, could come as soon as tonight.” Datawatch
both sides were at work last night in the adding that “it ain’t done until all done”. An EU-UK future-relationship deal
commission’s headquarters in Brussels, Although the fishing issue is totemic would guarantee tariff-free and quota-
and Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen in Britain and other coastal states free trade in goods and create the frame- True Love’s high costs The gifts in the
were in “constant” contact, according to including France, the haggling in the work for a partnership in security and Christmas Price Index ‘Twelve Days of
One ally of Boris rebased 2000=100
one person briefed on the talks. final stages of the talks relates to catches other areas. Christmas’ cost
Johnson said: Cost of “Twelve Days $16,168, down 58
Officials close to the negotiations said worth only tens of millions of euros, a ‘We’re hopeful.’ It would mean that both sides would of Christmas” gifts, per cent on 2019
big strides had been made towards set- tiny fraction of the value of a trade deal. conclude the Brexit divorce on reasona- excluding live
because of the
tling the outstanding issue of fisheries, Sterling jumped against the dollar and bly amicable terms, offering the pros- performances Covid-adjusted
200 Christmas prices lack of performing
with the two sides making progress on the euro as traders placed bets on the pect of working together to manage Consumer artists in the virus
how future negotiations on fishing rights UK striking a deal with the EU before trade frictions. 150 Price Index crisis. PNC’s
will be linked to market access for goods Christmas. The currency, which had hit Britain will leave the customs union Christmas Price Christmas Price
— a crucial issue to unlocking a deal. a two-year high above $1.36 last week, and single market in any event on Janu- 100 Index Index was buoyed
European diplomats agreed that a advanced 1.2 per cent yesterday to ary 1, creating paperwork and a multi- 50 by the higher cost
deal was close to being struck last night, $1.3515 against the dollar. tude of checks, with many anticipating 2000 05 10 15 20 of exotic birds and
with talks advancing rapidly towards Derek Halpenny, currencies strategist chaos at the border. Sources: PNC Financial, US BLS gold.
the finishing line. “Fingers crossed,” at MUFG in London, said: “Hopes have Fraught fortnight page 3

Democrats urge Republicans to back

Trump’s call for larger stimulus package
Demetri Sevastopulo — Washington Trump’s demand for more generous In a video address on Tuesday
Mamta Badkar — New York
stimulus cheques, which would boost evening, Mr Trump said the extra stimu-
Democratic lawmakers yesterday the overall size of the package substan- lus money could be found by eliminating
rallied behind a call from Donald tially, arguing that they had always “wasteful” spending in the bill. But he
Trump to increase the size of a $900bn wanted larger direct payments. was conflating some of the items in the
Shanghai ‘king’ keeps low stimulus package to boost the pandem- Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts omnibus spending bill — unrelated to
profile as empire expands ic-hit US economy, setting up another Democratic senator, said that she was the Covid-19 package — including some
end-of-year battle with Republicans “100 per cent on board” with $2,000 that the White House had requested.
Analysis i PAGE 7 over the scale of the relief bill. cheques. She said that Democrats were Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House
“united” and urged Mitch McConnell, speaker, said she would try to pass a bill
In a surprise move that stunned his own the Republican Senate majority leader, with $2,000 cheques via “unanimous
Austria €3.90 Malta €3.70 party and advisers, Mr Trump rejected to back higher payments. “What do you consent”, but just one lawmaker could
Bahrain
Belgium
Din1.8
€3.90
Morocco
Netherlands
Dh45
€3.90 the stimulus bill as a “disgrace” and say . . . Does your caucus have the heart block that effort. Neither Mr McConnell
Bulgaria
Croatia
Lev7.50
Kn29
Norway
Oman
NKr40
OR1.60
urged politicians to provide Americans to give the American people the relief nor Senate Republicans have indicated
Cyprus €3.70 Pakistan Rupee350 with cheques of $2,000 each — more they’ve needed for months?” Ms Warren whether they intend to respond to the
Czech Rep
Denmark
Kc105
DKr38
Poland
Portugal
Zl 20
€3.70 than triple the agreed payment of $600. asked Mr McConnell on Twitter. pressure from Mr Trump.
Egypt
Finland
E£45
€4.70
Qatar
Romania
QR15
Ron17
The stimulus package passed with big The Covid-19 stimulus bill was bun- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an influen-
France €3.90 Russia €5.00 majorities in both houses of Congress dled with a $1.4tn omnibus spending bill tial progressive politician, joined the
Germany
Gibraltar
€3.90
£2.90
Serbia
Slovak Rep
NewD420
€3.70
this week following months of negotia- to fund the government. Congress chorus of Democrats backing the push
Greece €3.70 Slovenia €3.70 tions, but Mr Trump’s intervention passed a temporary spending bill to by Mr Trump. “Let’s do it . . . Glad to see
Hungary Ft1200 Spain €3.70
India Rup220 Sweden SKr39 threatens to torpedo the compromise. fund the government that expires at the president is willing to support our
Italy
Lithuania
€3.70
€4.30
Switzerland
Tunisia
SFr6.20
Din7.50
Democrats were quick to back Mr midnight on December 28. legislation,” she wrote on Twitter.
Luxembourg €3.90 Turkey TL19
North Macedonia Den220 UAE Dh20.00

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2 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

INTERNATIONAL

Sanctions Chamber of commerce

European tech accuses US of China block Lobby group

urges EU to
Executives bemoan bar “America first” trade policy, involving
exemptions for US companies while
The impact on EU companies has
been significant. This month one of
China.” Dutch company ASML, the
world’s biggest chipmaking equipment
Resilience Facility funds will go to “dig-
ital transition” projects over the next
sign pact with
from market as American
businesses given licences
groups from other countries were cut
out of the Chinese market. “So far, US
Europe’s biggest semiconductor compa-
nies, Switzerland-based STMicroelec-
group, has been blocked from selling its
newest-generation machines to SMIC,
two to three years, and advocated
investment on semiconductor research.
Beijing on
Yuan Yang — Beijing
companies have been given licences to
supply Huawei, while European suppli-
ers cannot,” said the executive, who
tronics, postponed its annual revenue
target for a year, citing US sanctions on
an “important customer”, Huawei. ST’s
China’s biggest chipmaker. The com-
pany expects China to make up a quar-
ter of its sales this year.
“This declaration shows that Euro-
pean governments want to be less
dependent on US technology, although
investment
European tech executives and diplo- asked not to be named. shares fell almost 12 per cent the same The list of companies granted licences that will take a long time,” said a Euro-
mats are accusing the US of using its Many European businesses that pro- day. Chief executive Jean-Marc Chery to sell to blacklisted Chinese corpora- pean diplomat based in China. Tom Mitchell — Singapore
sanctions regime to shut them out of the duce chips and chipmaking equipment told investors its market “did not grow tions is not public. The FT has reported “This process was accelerated by the
EU leaders should sign a business
Chinese market while offering exemp- are affected by American sanctions as substantially during the past two years,” that several US companies, as well as US sanctions. For European companies,
investment agreement with China
tions for American companies. they rely on US intellectual property. citing the US-China trade war as one South Korea’s Samsung and Japan’s China is such a big market that they
despite opposition to the pact from
Over the past two years the US has A second European tech executive reason. Sony, have won approval to supply some need to find ways of serving it.”
European MPs and members of the
imposed aggressive sanctions on Chi- said their company had once been In September, the head of German parts to Huawei. Joerg Wuttke, chair of the EU Cham-
incoming Biden administration,
nese companies such as Huawei and, as stopped from supplying components to chipmaker Infineon told CNBC that US- At the start of December, 17 EU mem- ber of Commerce in China, said:
according to the head of the European
of Friday, the chipmaker SMIC, which Chinese buyers because of suspicions China tensions were “a big concern”. ber states announced a “European initi- “Europe doesn’t want to get sucked
Chamber of Commerce in China.
have prevented them from buying most they could be used militarily. But the Infineon told the Financial Times: ative on processors and semiconductor into a bilateral confrontation and have
US-made technologies. market for the components was quickly “Europe must be careful not to be technologies” via the European Com- to choose between [the] Chinese and On Tuesday, Jake Sullivan, selected by
But one senior European executive filled by US vendors selling through crushed in the competition for techno- mission. The group noted that a fifth, or the US.” President-elect Joe Biden as his national
said the sanctions had created an middlemen, the executive claimed. logical leadership between the USA and €145bn, of the European Recovery and Additional reporting by Qianer Liu security adviser, said the new adminis-
tration would welcome discussions with
the EU on “our common concerns about
China’s economic practices”.
Critics of the China-EU Comprehen-
Pandemic. Idled factories sive Agreement on Investment, which is
nearing completion after seven years of

Spain’s car industry seeks route out of crisis negotiations, said it would hand Presi-
dent Xi Jinping a strategic victory on the
eve of Mr Biden’s inauguration.
They said the deal did not address
concerns about the use of forced labour
in the world’s second-largest economy,
Manufacturing mainstay has especially in Xinjiang.
The pact’s supporters argue that it
suffered and wants EU funds offers important concessions to EU
to finance cleaner technologies companies less than a year after Presi-
dent Donald Trump signed a “phase 1”
trade agreement with China that con-
Daniel Dombey — Madrid tained many market access provisions
For María Helena Antolín, a leading fig- for US firms. Last month Australia, New
ure in Spain’s formidable auto parts Zealand, Japan and South Korea joined
industry, no sight is as sad as an idled the Regional Comprehensive Economic
factory. Partnership trade pact with China and
The sector is still feeling the impact of members of the Association of South-
stoppages in March and April and other east Asian Nations.
consequences of the pandemic. Apart “There’s real beef in it and it does not
from bars and restaurants, few other make sense to wait for Biden,” said Joerg
industries in the EU’s most badly hit big Wuttke, head of the European Chamber
economy have suffered more. of Commerce in China. “The US didn’t
“It is hard to imagine anything worse wait for us for their phase 1 trade deal.
than a factory where the work has “Beijing wants this deal now. They
stopped . . . Covid paralysed all our want to show the Biden administration
plants in Spain,” said Ms Antolín, who they can conclude trade deals with their
heads the country’s association of car other major trading partners.”
parts providers and whose family com- The Mercator Institute for China
pany, Grupo Antolín, logged worldwide Studies (Merics), a German think-tank,
sales of €5bn last year. “In those two noted that the CAI would provide more
months [March and April] total produc- business opportunities for EU compa-
tion fell by 85 per cent.” nies in financial services, telecoms, new
Yet the auto industry is one of the energy vehicles and other sectors.
mainstays of Spanish manufacturing, “EU negotiators have delivered for
accounting for some 17 per cent of European business as the agreement
exports and second only to Germany in potentially improves on a difficult sta-
terms of EU car production. Its travails Final checks: anteeing workers’ health on assembly economy with the exception of Ger- “When a production line stops, we stop; tus quo,” said Mikko Huotari, Merics
highlight the damage the crisis has the production lines in the early weeks of the pandemic, many — in terms of the proportion it if it starts again, so do we,” said Ms director. “For Beijing, the agreement
inflicted even on some of the most com- line at a Seat and a collapse in demand lay behind the represents of value added, exports and Antolín. “We are practically at 100 per would provide it with a highly symbolic
petitive parts of the country’s economy. factory near long hiatus, she said. employment,” said Oscar Arce, cent levels of production now, but we political win . . . [and] complicate
In the past decade the sector played a Barcelona. Car registrations have fallen more director-general of economics, statistics clearly can’t make up this year what we transatlantic rapprochement on China
crucial role in helping the country Spain’s auto rapidly in Spain than in any other lead- and research at the Bank of Spain. “It is a lost in March and April.” policy.”
recover from the 2008 financial crisis, parts makers ing EU economy, in line with a contrac- pillar of the industrial sector, with a Her association has urged the govern- Over the past four years, the EU and
carving out new markets as Spain have suffered a tion in gross domestic product this year skilled workforce, that played a signifi- ment to use some of the €72bn in grants other US allies have been frustrated by
exported its way back to growth. But full-year drop in that the government forecasts will be cant role in the exit from the last crisis.” it expects from the EU’s €750bn corona- the Trump administration’s determina-
this crisis is different. sales of 20-30 more than 11 per cent. Ms Navas’s asso- The sector was facing a “perfect virus recovery fund over the next three tion to pursue trade wars against them
Spain’s 1,000 or so auto parts manu- per cent on 2019 ciation expects domestic sales of storm”, with the pandemic coming on years to help fund €5bn of projects to rather than forge a united front to
facturers have suffered a full-year drop Angel Garcia/Bloomberg Spanish-made vehicles this year to top of changing environmental regula- develop battery technology, hydrogen respond to China’s growing economic
in sales of 20-30 per cent, compared reach 800,000 to 850,000 — a drop of tions, falling domestic sales and reduced power and so-called smart factories. and geopolitical clout. “Thirty per cent
with a tally of €36bn in 2019, Ms Antolín about 35 per cent compared with 2019. purchasing power among young people, Josep Maria Recasens, director of of global growth over the next 10 years
said. Some 6-8 per cent of the sector’s According to a recent Bank of Spain he said. strategy at Seat, Volkswagen’s wholly will come from China,” Mr Wuttke said.
365,000 jobs have gone. The lost ground study, the crisis has hit the country’s Some industry insiders acknowledge owned Spanish subsidiary, pointed out “Do we want to be part of this or not?”
might not be recovered until 2023, with auto industry harder than any other that Spain’s 17 car plants — all foreign that electric cars represented 2 per cent He said critics of the CAI on labour
growth of only about 10 per cent sector except hospitality. The research owned, including by Ford, Opel, Daim- of the country’s vehicle fleet, compared and human rights grounds overesti-
expected next year, she said. found that most companies in the ler and Renault — could also be at a dis- with 50 per cent in Norway. He called for mated the EU’s ability to get concessions
Noemi Navas, a spokeswoman for industry, including parts suppliers, advantage compared with factories in ‘We clearly government action to help develop an from Beijing at the negotiating table.
Spain’s carmaker association, said the were making negative returns on their the companies’ home markets if pro- can’t make “ecosystem” to allow the technology to “Australia, Japan and Korea signed
shutdown had affected the industry assets, with a quarter registering returns duction is cut. Nissan announced this develop, including electricity charging RCEP without [labour provisions] so
more than any other manufacturing of about minus 30 per cent. More than year it was closing its Barcelona plant. up this year points. Spain has fewer than 100 public how come we are trying to force China to
sector. “Factories in other industries 60 per cent of businesses in the sector Exports remain the sector’s lifeblood, what we points per 1m inhabitants, compared accept our way of living and jeopardise
just closed for the two weeks when it was were struggling to pay interest on their with 58 per cent of auto parts and 80 per with a European average of almost 500. jobs at home for it?” he asked. “Do we
obligatory; we were closed for almost debts and 20 to 30 per cent risked insol- cent of finished vehicles sold to foreign lost in “We have to learn from the lessons of want to feel better or do we want to
two-and-a-half months,” she said. vency, according to the study. markets. However, the industry oper- March the 2008 crisis, when Spain was one of trade better? We have to get real about
Disruption to the complex supply “The auto industry is more important ates a just-in-time supply model, with the countries that recovered most how much can we shape China.”
chain for car parts, the difficulty of guar- for Spain than for any other big EU little stockpiling or spare capacity. and April’ slowly,” he said. Inside Business see Companies

Netanyahu gamble
MAKE A SMART INVESTMENT
Subscribe to the FT today at FT.com/subscription Israel faces fourth election in two years after coalition collapses
FRIDAY 31 MARCH 2017 WORLD BUSINESS NEWSPAPER UK £2.70 Channel Islands £3.00; Republic of Ireland €3.00
Mehul Srivastava — Tel Aviv seven-month-old government. Elec- ter, and possibly a few weeks during any vaccination programmes, aiming to
Trump vs the Valley A Five Star plan? Dear Don...
tions will now be held in early March. post-election coalition-building proc- have half the country’s adult population
Tech titans need to minimise
political risk — GILLIAN TETT, PAGE 13
Italy’s populists are trying to woo
the poor — BIG READ, PAGE 11
May’s first stab at the break-up
letter — ROBERT SHRIMSLEY, PAGE 12
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
HMRC warns Lloyd’s of Brussels Insurance market Three back-to-back polls in 2019 pro- ess, further extending his run as Israel’s inoculated by the time elections are
shortlived “corona coalition” has col-
UK £3.80; Channel Islands £3.80; Republic of Ireland €3.80 SATURDAY 1 APRIL / SUNDAY 2 APRIL 2017
Briefing
to tap new talent pool with EU base
customs risks THE END
i US bargain-hunters fuel Europe M&A
Europe has become the big target for cross-border

duced a stalemate between Mr Netan- longest serving premier. held.

dealmaking, as US companies ride a Trump-fuelled
equity market rally to hunt for bargains across the
HOW DRIVERLESS
OF THE TECHNOLOGY IS
Atlantic.— PAGE 15; CHINA CURBS HIT DEALS, PAGE 17

being swamped
lapsed, plunging Israel into a fourth
i Report outlines longer NHS waiting times
A report on how the health service can survive CHANGING AN
ROAD
more austerity has said patients will wait longer for
non-urgent operations and for A&E treatment while AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE Censors and sensitivity
by Brexit surge
some surgical procedures will be scrapped.— PAGE 4

yahu’s Likud-led rightwing bloc and a “I didn’t want elections,” he said in a The longtime political survivor enters
i Emerging nations in record debt sales Warning: this article may be
FT WEEKEND MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 4 2017

Developing countries have sold record levels of

government debt in the first quarter of this year,
upsetting — LIFE & ARTS

election in less than two years.

taking advantage of a surge in optimism toward
emerging markets as trade booms.— PAGE 15

3 Confidence in IT plans ‘has collapsed’

3 Fivefold rise in declarations expected
JAMES BLITZ — WHITEHALL EDITOR
A computer system acquired to collect
duties and clear imports into the UK
may not be able to handle the huge
surge in workload expected once Britain
Credit Suisse Art of persuasion Mystery deepens
i London tower plans break records
How To Spend It
new, untested alliance between Mr televised address. “Likud didn’t want the elections with a clear advantage —
A survey has revealed that a
adjust its negotiation position with the
record 455 tall buildings are
planned or under construction
in London. Work began on
over disputed painting of Jane Austen
engulfed in
EU, a Whitehall official said. “If running almost one tower a week
our own customs system is proving during 2016.— PAGE 4
much harder than we anticipated, that
ought to have an impact on how we i Tillerson fails to ease Turkey tensions
press for certain options in Brussels.” The US secretary of state has failed to reconcile

fresh tax probe

leaves the EU, customs authorities have
admitted to MPs.
HM Revenue & Customs told a parlia-
mentary inquiry that the new system
needed urgent action to be ready by
March 2019, when Brexit is due to be
completed, and the chair of the probe
said confidence it would be operational
in time “has collapsed”.
Mr Netanyahu forced the government’s Gantz, a retired military chief, and a elections. We voted again and again Mr Gantz seems a spent force, the left
In a letter to Andrew Tyrie, chairman tensions after talks in Ankara with President Recep
of the Commons treasury select com-
mittee, HMRC said the timetable for
Tayyip Erdogan on issues including Syria and the
extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen.— PAGE 9
Chic new lodgings
delivering CDS was “challenging but
achievable”. But, it added, CDS was “a i Toshiba investors doubt revival plan
in Scotland
complex programme” that needed to be In a stormy three-hour meeting, investors accused MAGAZINE
linked to dozens of other computer sys- managers ofhaving an entrenched secrecy culture
tems to work properly. In November, 3 UK, France and Netherlands swoop
and cast doubt on a revival plan after Westinghouse
HMRC assigned a “green traffic light” to filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.— PAGE 16
3 Blow for bid to clean up Swiss image

Setting up a digital customs system
has been at the heart of Whitehall’s
Brexit planning because of the fivefold
increase in declarations expected at
British ports when the UK leaves the EU.
collapse, refusing to buckle to his part- group of centre-left parties. against elections.” has entirely collapsed and a Joint List of
CDS, indicating it would be delivered on
time. But last month, it wrote to the i HSBC woos transgender customers
committee saying the programme had The bank has unveiled a range of gender-neutral
RALPH ATKINS — ZURICH it followed “a strategy offull client tax
been relegated to “amber/red,” which DUNCAN
titles such asROBINSON — BRUSSELS
“Mx”, in addition to Mr, Mrs, Misscompliance”
or but was still trying to
means there are “major risks or issues Ms, in a move to embrace diversity and cater togather the information about the probes.

FINANCIAL TIMES
About 53 per cent of British imports
come from the EU, and do not require
checks because they arrive through the
single market and customs union. But
apparent in a number ofkey areas”. Credit
needs Suisse hascustomers.
of transgender been targeted by
— PAGE 20 HM Revenue & Customs said it had
HMRC said last night: “[CDS] is on sweeping tax investigations in the UK, launched a criminal investigation into
track to be delivered by January 2019, France and the Netherlands, setting suspected tax evasion and money laun-
and it will be able to support frictionless back Switzerland’s attempts to clean up dering by “a global financial institution
Datawatch

28821, Coslada, Madrid. Legal Deposit Number

Theresa May announced in January that
Brexit would include departure from
both trading blocs. HMRC handles 60m
declarations a year but, once outside the
customs union, the number is expected
to hit 300m.
ners’ demands that a binding budget be That alliance, the Blue and White Israel has operated without a budget Arab Parties, which commands 15 seats,
international trade once the UK leaves its image as a tax haven. and certain ofits employees”. The UK
the EU . . . Internal ratings are designed The Swiss bank said yesterday it was tax authority added: “The international
to make sure that each project gets the
focus and resource it requires for suc-
Terror attacks inwith
co-operating western Europe after
authorities
offices in London, Paris and Amsterdam
Recent reach
itsattacks
notably the message
2011
— of this investigation sends a clear
that there is no hiding place for
The lure of the exotic
cessful delivery.” were contacted
Highlighted attack byOthers massacre bythose seeking to evade tax.”
local officials Robin Lane Fox on the flair
“concerning client tax matters”. Anders BreivikDutch in prosecutors, who initiated the
HMRC’s letters to the select commit- of foreign flora — HOUSE & HOME

Bracken House, 1 Friday Street, London EC4M 9BT.

The revelations about the system,
called Customs Declaration Service, are
likely to throw a sharper spotlight on
tee, which will be published today, pro-
vide no explanation for the rating
change, but some MPs believe it was
Lloyd’s of London chose Brus-
sels over “five or six” other
insurers to follow. Most of the
business written in Brussels
EU, with Dublin and Luxem-
bourg thought to be more likely
AFP
parts in Germany wereBrussels
while Australia’s revenue department
Norway
said it was investigating a Swiss
(Deposito Legal) M-32596-1995;
Norway, the
Dutch authorities said their counter- action, said they seized jewellery, paint-
attacks in Paris
also involved,
and Nice, and
ings and gold ingots as part of their
Brussels suicide
Nice bank.
the while French officials said their
probe;
investigation had revealed “several

whether Whitehall can implement a
host of regulatory regimes — in areas
ranging from customs and immigration
to agriculture and fisheries — by the
time Britain leaves the EU.
Problems with CDS and other projects
essential to Brexit could force London to
caused by Mrs May’s unexpected deci-
sion to leave the EU customs union.
Timetable & Great Repeal Bill page 2
Scheme to import EU laws page 3
Editorial Comment & Notebook page 12
Philip Stephens & Chris Giles page 13
JPMorgan eye options page 18
cities in its decision to set up an
EU base to help deal with the
expected loss of passporting
rights after Brexit.
John Nelson, chairman of the
centuries-old insurance mar-
ket, said he expected other
will be reinsured back to the
syndicates at its City of London
headquarters, pictured above.
The Belgian capital had not
been seen as the first choice for
London’s specialist insurance
groups after the UK leaves the
passed, choosing instead to face party, has fallen apart, giving Mr Netan- for two years, forcing the resignations of is consumed by infighting.
homes for the industry. But Paris bombings — have
Mr Nelson said the city won on The inquiries threaten to undermine thousand” bank accounts opened in
bucked the trend
efforts by the country’s banking sector Switzerland and not declared to French
its transport links, talent pool
and “extremely good regula-
tory reputation”.
Lex page 14
Insurers set to follow page 18
to overhaul business models and ensure
customers meet international tax
requirements following a US-led clamp- Publishing Director, Roula Khalaf;
of generally low

western Europe
tax authorities.
fatalities from
The Swiss attorney-general’s office
Sources: Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre terror incidents in
said it was “astonished at the way this
down on evaders, which resulted in operation has been organised with the
billions of dollars in fines. deliberate exclusion of Switzerland”. It

Publishing Company, The Financial Times Limited,

The probes risk sparking an interna- demanded a written explanation from

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City watchdog sends a clear message as

unhappy voters just as his trial for cor- yahu the opportunity to win back cru- several senior finance ministry officials His challengers instead come from
general’s office expressed “astonish- In 2014, Credit Suisse pleaded guilty
ment” that it had been left out of the in the US to an “extensive and wide-
actions co-ordinated by Eurojust, the ranging conspiracy” to help clients THE RISE
Escape OF
the taper ECO-GLAM
trap
EU’s judicial liaison body. evade tax. It agreed to fines of $2.6bn.

banker loses job over WhatsApp boast How high earners can evade

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Credit Suisse, whose shares fell 1.2 per

subject ofinvestigations in the Nether-

lands, France and the UK. The bank said in Paris registered office as above. Local Representative office;
Additional reporting by Laura Noonan in
cent yesterday, identified itself as the Dublin, Caroline Binham and Vanessa
Houlder in London, and Michael Stothard
Austen’s descendants insist the Rice portrait depicts her as a girl — see magazine Bridgeman Art Library
a pension headache — FT MONEY

ruption commences in February. cial voters. But he also faces two chal- and giving Mr Netanyahu a free hand in the right, with contenders to his throne
LAURA NOONAN — DUBLIN Berrys after discussions with regulators. media at work, but banks are unable to
JENNIFER THOMPSON — LONDON

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Shutdown risk as border
A boastful WhatsApp message has cost
a London investment banker his job
and a £37,000 fine in the first case of
Christopher Niehaus, a former Jeffer-
ies banker, passed confidential client
information to a “personal acquaint-
ance and a friend” using WhatsApp,
according to the FCA. The regulator said
ban people from installing apps on their
private phones.
Andrew Bodnar, a barrister at Matrix
Chambers, said the case set “a precedent
in that it shows the FCA sees these mes-
C/ Infanta
Brussels Maria
takes tough Teresa 4, bajo 2, 28016, Madrid. ISSN
stance on Brexit
with Spain handed veto over Gibraltar
regulators cracking down on commu- 390_Cover_PRESS.indd 1 19/01/2017 13:57

wall bid goes over the top nications over Facebook’s popular Mr Niehaus had turned over his device saging apps as the same as everything

Manage your personal account: mma.ft.com

Congressional Republicans seeking to
avert a US government shutdown after
April 28 have resisted Donald Trump’s
attempt to tack funds to pay for a wall
on the US-Mexico border on to
chat app.
The fine by the Financial Conduct
Authority highlights the increasing
problem new media pose for companies
that need to monitor and archive their
to his employer voluntarily.
The FCA said Mr Niehaus had shared
confidential information on the messag-
ing system “on a number of occasions”
last year to “impress” people.
Several banks have banned the use of
else”.
Information shared by Mr Niehaus
1135-8262.
The high-stakes gamble will make lengers from the right itself — both coronavirus-related government aid. drawing away votes from Likud by
included the identity and details of a
client and information about a rival of ALEX BARKER — BRUSSELS ambitious trade and airline access deals. mise. If Britain wants to prolong its
Jefferies. In one instance the banker GEORGE PARKER — LONDON Gibraltar yesterday hit back at the status within the single market after
boasted how he might be able to pay off STEFAN WAGSTYL — BERLIN clause, saying the territory had “shame- Brexit, the guidelines state it would

Advertising
stopgap spending plans. They fear
that his planned $33bn increase in
defence and border spending could
force a federal shutdown for the first
time since 2013, as Democrats refuse
staff’s communication.
Several large investment banks have
banned employees from sending client
information over messaging services
including WhatsApp, which uses an
new media from work-issued devices,
but the situation has become trickier as
banks move towards a “bring your own
device” policy. Goldman Sachs has
clamped down on its staff’s phone bills
his mortgage if a deal was successful.
Mr Niehaus was suspended from Jef-
feries and resigned before the comple-
tion of a disciplinary process.
Jefferies declined to comment while
Living wage rise to pile
pressure on care services
UAE: Masar Printing & Publishing, P.O. Box 485100,
The EU yesterday took a tough opening
stance in Brexit negotiations, rejecting
Britain’s plea for early trade talks and
explicitly giving Spain a veto over any
arrangements that apply to Gibraltar.
fully been singled out for unfavourable
treatment by the council at the behest of
Spain”. Madrid defended the draft
clause, pointing out that it only reflected
“the traditional Spanish position”.
require “existing regulatory, budgetary,
supervisory and enforcement instru-
ments and structures to apply”.
Mr Tusk wants talks on future trade
to begin only once “sufficient progress”

Dubai. Editor in Chief: Roula Khalaf. this election the most important in the spurned allies running on a promise of He has also championed one of the attacking the prime minister’s personal
to accept the proposals. encryption system that cannot be as iPhone-loving staff spurn their work- Facebook did not respond to a request Senior EU diplomats noted that has been made on Britain’s exit bill and

Tel: +44 20 7873 4000 asiaads@ft.com,

US budget Q&A and
Trump attack over health bill i PAGE 8
accessed without permission from the
user. Deutsche Bank last year banned
WhatsApp from work-issued Black-
issued BlackBerrys.
Bankers at two institutions said staff
are typically trained in how to use new
for comment.
Additional reporting by Chloe Cornish
Lombard page 20
About 2.3m people will benefit from
today’s increase in the national living
wage to £7.50 per hour. But the rise
will pile pressure on English councils,
which will have to pay care workers a
European Council president Donald
Tusk’s first draft of the guidelines,
which are an important milestone on
the road to Brexit, sought to damp Brit-
ain’s expectations by setting out a
Mr Tusk’s text left room for negotiators
to work with in coming months. Prime
minister Theresa May’s allies insisted
that the EU negotiating stance was
largely “constructive”, with one saying it
citizen rights, which Whitehall officials
believe means simultaneous talks are
possible if certain conditions are met.
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary,
reassured European colleagues at a

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lot more. Some 43 per cent of care
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aged 25 and over — earn less than the
France: Publishing Director, Jonathan Slade, 46 Rue La
“phased approach” to the divorce proc-
ess that prioritises progress on with-
drawal terms.
was “within the parameters of what we
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upside”.
Nato summit in Brussels that Mrs May
had not intended to “threaten” the EU
when she linked security co-operation

five-time premier’s three-decade cleaner governance and a more cohesive world’s most ambitious coronavirus probity ahead of the trial, and by prom-
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1251.10
Fed Funds Eff
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Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 3

brexit

Trade deal closes in after fraught fortnight

Of the many weighty issues that threatened to stifle UK-EU talks, it was the fish course that proved least digestible
Jim Brunsden — Brussels Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime
George Parker — London
minister, and Ursula von der Leyen,
Exhausted negotiators were last night European Commission president,
finally unlocking the deal that would meet in Brussels on December 9
define the future of the UK and EU’s Olivier Hoslet/pool/AFP via Getty Images

£660bn trading relationship after a

flurry of last-minute bargaining over
fishing rights worth a tiny fraction of
that amount.
The last miles of the marathon negoti-
ations, which began in March under the
shadow of the first wave of the Covid-19
pandemic in Europe, were largely
devoted to hammering out painful com-
promises over EU fishing quotas in UK
waters.
Against a chaotic backdrop of virus-
induced travel bans that left trucks
stranded in queues stretching for miles
and Britain cut off from the continent,
Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister,
and Ursula von der Leyen, European
Commission president, took hands-on
control of the talks.
The final hours of the negotiations
hinged on the fate of a fraction of the
EU’s existing fishing quota rights, which
are worth an estimated €650m a year.
But both sides knew, as they closed in on
a historic deal that would provide a plat-
form for rebuilding EU-UK relations
after the trauma of Brexit, that the talks
had already come back from the brink.
Less than a month ago, Michel
Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, and
David Frost, his UK counterpart, called
a break after tense talks in London, tell-
ing their political masters on December
4 that negotiations were deadlocked.
As Mr Barnier and his team trudged
into St Pancras station the next morning
to take the early Eurostar train back to
Brussels, the talks were entering a crisis
period that took the negotiations to the
edge of collapse. At the time, Mr Barnier
gloomily noted that the negotiations
were plagued by “significant diver-
gences” over fair competition condi-
tions for businesses, governance
arrangements for any deal, and fish.
The three sticking points had bedevil-
led the talks from the very start, reflect-
ing the fundamental faultline that
divided the two sides: Britain had
entered the negotiations emphasising
its determination to recapture the bene-
fits of unfettered sovereignty, while
Brussels was insistent that access to the
EU’s single market be conditional on
permanent guarantees of a “level play-
ing field” for its businesses and on stable
rights for its fishing fleet.
On the same day — December 5 — that
the EU team returned to Brussels, Mr
Johnson and Ms von der Leyen held
what would be the first of several discus-
sions that would define the course of the
final phase of negotiations.
Although Ms von der Leyen had stud-
ied in London and is an ardent Anglo-
phile, there was little chemistry
between the two leaders.
The commission president was com-
ing under intense pressure to toughen
the conditions placed on the UK to gain
access to the single market from a group
of countries including France, the Neth-
erlands and Belgium. They fretted that
Mr Barnier was already giving too much
away.
The British side blamed that pressure
— notably from Emmanuel Macron,
French president — for the failure in
London in that first week of Decem-
ber. One British official said: “There was
a sense that Macron may have looked at
his watch and realised it was Brexit time
and thought: ‘Holy shit, Michel, I didn’t
agree to that!’”
Boris Johnson is confident he can sell a
Home
front
Brexit trade deal to Eurosceptic
Conservative MPs and supporters across
the country, despite its compromises on
fishing rights, fair competition and
Johnson retaliatory mechanisms.
confident The prime minister is focused on
winning over two important
he can sell
UK-EU
constituencies to back a deal: the
European Research Group of Brexiter
accord MPs, and the voters who backed the
to party Tory party at the last election, based on
his pledge to deliver on the 2016 EU
referendum result.
Downing Street has been preparing
the ground for weeks with its
backbenchers, ensuring that senior
Brexiters were aware of how a deal was
taking shape. Oliver Lewis, Mr Johnson's
Europe adviser, has had a key role
informing the ERG’s high command of
the shifting British position and
accompanying EU concessions with
leaks kept to a minimum.
Most notably, in the the past few days
there has been little criticism of the
prime minister from the party’s hardline
Eurosceptics or shouts of “betrayal” that
became commonplace in the four years
since the referendum. The ERG
messaging, co-ordinated via its
WhatsApp group, has been to stick right
behind Mr Johnson and his chief
negotiator, David Frost.
“We have confidence in the prime
minister and we have great confidence in
Frost,” said one senior Tory Eurosceptic.
While some ERG members are
unhappy about the mooted deal on
fisheries, they have broadly accepted the
outline deal on the “level playing field”
designed to ensure fair competition
between the UK and EU, which was the
most ideologically tricky part of the
agreement.
The caucus will argue that the final
agreement is a long way from the “classic
dynamic alignment” originally sought by
the EU, that would have tied the UK to
Brussels’ rules, enforced by the
European Court of Justice.
Instead, Mr Johnson has negotiated an
arbitration mechanism, which can be
used by both sides, to judge whether
regulatory divergence is causing
economic harm. “Most trade agreements
have that kind of thing,” said one senior
ERG member.
Senior Conservatives said Mr Johnson
would sell his deal on the “level playing
field” to the Eurosceptics in his party as
“a freedom clause”, because a
mechanism would be set up to manage
future divergence in standards between
the EU and UK.
However, the ERG is reserving
ultimate judgment until after it has seen
the fine print and — in particular — until
its legal experts have pored over a text
rumoured to take up 2,000 pages.
MPs have been told to expect a
potential vote on the deal on December
30, a timetable that is deemed
acceptable by the ERG, provided the
group can have at least several days to
go through the details.
Downing Street is not expecting a
significant rebellion. With the opposition
Labour party likely to support a deal, any
pushback from Tory Eurosceptics would
have little effect. One Whitehall official
forecast “at most 20” MPs would be
unhappy with the deal and could vote
against it.
Number 10 believes it is also ready to
convince sceptical voters and see off one
vocal opponent who could cause issues
beyond Westminster: Nigel Farage. The
longtime Eurosceptic campaigner and
leader of the Brexit party is likely to shun
any deal and has consistently urged Mr
Johnson to walk out of talks.
Mr Farage is likely to threaten to stand
against Tory MPs who back the deal with
his new Reform party, targeting “red
wall” Brexit-backing former Labour
strongholds in northern England that
voted Tory in the last election.
But senior Tories are confident Mr
Farage’s claims of betrayal would
struggle to take hold, not least because
the country is exhausted from the
impact of the coronavirus. “Everyone just
wants Brexit done. No one in my patch
has the energy to start arguing about it
again,” said one newly elected Tory MP.
Sebastian Payne and George Parker in
London
After months of getting nowhere with
the UK on the “level playing field”, the
EU side had come with a proposal for a
“mechanism” that would allow either
side to sound the alarm if it felt that dif-
ferences in regulations — for example,
in environmental law — had placed its
companies at an unfair disadvantage.
Under the proposal, the disadvan-
taged side would have the right to
impose tariffs — unilateral “lightning
tariffs”, according to Downing Street
insiders — if consultations failed.
One ally of Mr Johnson said the move
would have destabilised UK-EU rela-
tions for years to come, forcing Britain
to mirror Brussels’ rules or face punitive
sanctions on the flimsiest of grounds.
When the revived talks got nowhere,
Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen
agreed to meet in Brussels for din-
ner. However, any hopes that a face-to-
face encounter over turbot and coconut
sorbet would help to melt the ice
ensnaring the trade negotiations
quickly evaporated.
In the sterile surroundings of the
European Commission’s Berlaymont
headquarters, Ms von der Leyen and Mr
Johnson failed to find a way through.
Flanked by their negotiators, the dinner
— preceded by an awkward photo call —
stayed rigidly formal.
Even the leaks afterwards suggested
two sides talking past each other: EU
officials claimed that Mr Johnson sim-
ply reiterated old proposals, while the
UK side suggested the prime minister
had come to the table with ideas that
were not even given a proper hearing.
“They just sat there — they didn’t say
anything,” said one British official.
The European Commission’s whimsi-
cal idea of serving turbot and scallops —
a nod to the impasse over post-Brexit
fishing access to UK waters — was as
light-hearted as the evening got. The
two sides agreed to give their negotia-
tors until Sunday, with Mr Johnson
warning ominously that this would be
the moment for a “firm decision”.
As Mr Johnson sped away from Brus-
sels’ European quarter, the damage had
been done. The following day the prime
minister told the nation that there was
“a strong possibility” talks would fail.
Ms von der Leyen gave a similar
message to EU leaders at a summit in
Brussels.
But amid the gloom and the sabre-
rattling — the UK threatened to deploy
its navy to deter French fishing fleets —
there were signs that both sides still
wanted a deal urgently.
In a brief phone call at lunchtime on
Sunday December 13, Ms von der Leyen
and Mr Johnson defused the crisis,
acknowledged progress and agreed to
allow their negotiators to keep talking.
Mr Barnier told EU ambassadors the
following day that the UK had now
accepted the principle of the level play-
ing field mechanism, provided that
enough safeguards were built in to pre-
vent the EU hitting UK products with
tariffs on spurious grounds.
From the British perspective, the new
mechanism had been significantly
watered down. Crucially, it would
include an arbitration system, remove
the threat of “automatic” sanctions and
The EU’s contain other safeguards against abuse.
Senior Tories only half-jokingly called it
whimsical a “freedom clause”, since it confirmed
idea of the principle of regulatory divergence.
But the EU side still secured what Mr
serving Barnier and national capitals saw as the
turbot and essential guarantee it had been seeking
— that the trade deal would link market
scallops access to fair competition.
By the Wednesday, as talks continued
was as light- in Brussels, Ms von der Leyen was able
hearted to hint to MEPs that fishing was left as
as the the most difficult remaining issue.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson’s Europe
evening got adviser Oliver Lewis was issuing regular
updates to Tory Eurosceptic MPs,
ensuring they could live with the newly
rebranded “rebalancing mechanism”
being cooked up to manage future regu-
latory divergence.
‘There will “There will always be a dozen or so
who will oppose any deal, but most of us
always be a can support it,” said one senior Conserv-
dozen or so ative MP.
Despite this, the haggle over fishing
[Tory MPs] rights remained, with Mr Macron deter-
who will mined to hold out for a better deal.
While both sides’ negotiators hunkered
oppose any down in Brussels, a battle of attrition
deal, but ensued.
It proved to be a slow process. With
most of the UK government increasingly
us can engulfed by the challenge of tackling a
new variant of coronavirus, talks
support it’ dragged on past a midnight deadline on
Sunday set by the European Parliament
for any deal to be ratified in 2020.
But with Christmas looming, on Mon-
day, Ms von der Leyen and Mr Johnson
held a secret phone call to discuss the
fisheries disagreement. It was the first of
a series of calls between the leaders as
the differences between the two sides
narrowed.
The final day of talks featured an
eclectic mix of fish and cars.
Britain made a last-minute push on
the trading conditions for parts for elec-
tric cars — a crucial issue for Nissan and
Video Toyota. With that resolved, and break-
How Brexit
disruption will throughs on fish secured, a deal came
change London’s into view.
financial centres More than four years after the Brexit
ft.com/video referendum, the EU and UK were agree-
ing the terms of a new relationship.

Future ties Agreement would fundamentally change relations between Britain and Brussels
Sam Fleming and Jim Brunsden
Brussels
The future relationship deal last night
close to being struck between the UK
and the EU would bring far-reaching
changes, as both sides are forced to
adapt to the end of Britain’s 30-year
membership of the European single
market.
The trade agreement between Lon-
don and Brussels would offer UK and EU
companies preferential access to each
other’s markets, compared with basic
World Trade Organization rules —
ensuring imported goods will be free of
tariffs and quotas.
But economic relations between the
UK and the EU from January 1, when the
deal would take effect, would be on
more restricted terms than now.
A trade agreement along the lines of
the one reached between the two sides
would leave Britain facing a 4 per cent
loss of potential gross domestic product
over 15 years compared with EU mem-
bership, according to the UK’s Office for
Budget Responsibility. Failure to secure
an agreement would have led to lost
potential GDP of almost 6 per cent, the
fiscal watchdog estimated.
Below are some of the benefits con-
ferred by the mooted UK-EU future
relationship deal, which also includes
security co-operation, and the key areas
in which Britain’s links with the bloc will
fall short of existing arrangements.
Trade in goods
The EU and UK’s starting point for the
future relationship talks was that they
should lead to a deal with no tariffs on
trade in goods between the two sides.
They also wanted no quantitative
restrictions on the volume of goods that
could be sold free of tariffs.
That was negotiated, meaning the
deal was set to go beyond what the bloc
has done with any other advanced econ-
omy outside the single market.
But the agreement outlined is still a
very different state of affairs to mem-
bership of the EU single market and cus-
toms union. Once implemented, from
January 1, a hard customs and regula-
tory border will exist between the EU
and the UK, and goods will face checks
and controls that can only be smoothed
at the margins by co-operation.
Fair business competition
The EU’s offer on tariff-free trade was
contingent on the UK agreeing to
uphold a “level playing field” on fair
business competition in areas such an
environmental standards and labour
rights.
Brussels has also been keen to ensure
the UK does not have unfettered scope
to disburse state aid to prized indus-
tries, which would give them a competi-
tive advantage.
This issue of the level playing field was
one of the most vexing strands of the
talks about the trade agreement, and
the outcome aims to ensure that the two
sides’ companies will engage in fair
competition.
But, crucially for the UK, it would not
be required to directly follow EU rules
or be subject to the jurisdiction of the
European Court of Justice. Being outside
the European single market has other
regulatory consequences for Britain.
For example, UK businesses would no
longer be able to assume that product tions between both sides. Those talks
authorisations from British watchdogs would also determine the overall quan-
will allow their goods to be sold on the tities of different species that can be
European market. caught. For the UK, the deal enshrines
the principle that Britain moves outside
Fish the EU’s common fisheries policy, and is
The mooted deal creates a transition an independent coastal state with sover-
period during which the EU fishing eignty over its waters.
boats’ quotas in UK waters will decline
compared with their current level. Financial services
EU boats currently catch about The City of London will exit the EU’s sin-
€650m a year of fish in UK waters, but gle market for financial services at the
this is set to fall. end of the Brexit transition period on
For the EU, the agreement means that December 31.
its boats would have guaranteed access Both sides have said that the new mar-
to UK waters during the transition. ket access arrangements for UK and EU
Once the period is over, access would in financial services companies should be
principle depend on annual negotia- based on bilateral decisions by Britain
and the bloc.
Deal netted: These so-called equivalence decisions
a transition involve each side evaluating whether
period is the other’s financial services regulations
expected to are as tough as its own.
come into force, Banks and traders have acknowl-
during which edged that the proposed system is more
the EU fishing piecemeal than existing arrangements,
boats’ quotas in and less stable.
UK waters will
fall compared Migration
with their Current British and EU expatriates have
current level their rights safeguarded by the UK’s
Vickie Flores/EPA-EFE
2019 withdrawal agreement with the
bloc, but big changes to arrangements
for migration will take effect from
January 1.
Britons will no longer have the benefit
of European freedom of movement: the
right to go to any EU member state and
seek to work and live there on the same
basis as the country’s own citizens.
Instead, Britons will rely on a visa-
waiver programme to travel to the EU
for short stays, and on member states’
national rules for the right to work.
Ending free movement for EU nation-
als in the UK was identified by the Brit-
ish government as one of the benefits of
leaving the EU, allowing the country to
devise a new immigration system.
Security
The EU and UK have been at pains to
emphasise the importance of continu-
ing co-operation in the fight against ter-
rorism and organised crime, although
talks in this area were complicated by
Britain’s determination to escape the
jurisdiction of the ECJ.
But prior to a future relationship deal
being struck, EU chief negotiator Michel
Barnier confirmed that the two sides
had found ways to maintain “close co-
operation” on key matters including the
work of the bloc’s crime-fighting agen-
cies, Europol and Eurojust, and sharing
of criminals’ DNA data.
4 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

INTERNATIONAL

Growth driver Cross-Channel trade

US consumers spend less as incomes drop France reopens

Restrictions to rein in The drop was accompanied by a 1.1
spread of virus dent
per cent fall in personal incomes,
reflecting a decline in Paycheck Protec-
economic activity tion Program loans to businesses and
Tuesday rejected the stimulus bill, say-
ing the landmark economic relief pack-
age was a “disgrace” while calling for
higher direct payments for Americans
border but
Meanwhile the number applying for About 20.4m continue to receive tempers fray
jobless benefits remains at historically
high levels. Weekly jobless claims fell by
unemployment benefits of some kind
nine months after the pandemic began. among drivers
89,000 to 803,000 on the previous “The dip in jobless claims looks like

Mamta Badkar — New York

US household spending declined for the
first time since the spring as incomes fell
and the number of Americans applying
for unemployment benefits remained at
elevated levels, highlighting how the
the end of other federal wage assistance
measures put in place earlier this year.
Restrictions aimed at slowing the
spread of Covid-19 have dented eco-
nomic activity, prompting lawmakers to
pass a $900bn stimulus bill this week.
The package includes nearly $300bn in
small business relief, a new round of
and less money for foreign aid.
“The economy is entering 2021 with
‘Without [Covid relief aid],
consumer spending growth
could flirt with zero in
week, when claims were revis­ed up to
892,000, the labour department said.
Economists had expected claims to dip
to 880,000. Before the crisis, filings av­-
er­aged about 225,000 a week and the
high­est such tally was 695,000 in 1982.
The jobless figures came alongside a
decline of 56,960 in claims for federal
nothing more than a correction after
last week’s leap,” said Ian Shepherdson
stuck in UK
at Pantheon Macroeconomics. With
fresh Covid restrictions and unfavoura-
ble seasonal adjustments, he expected Victor Mallet — Paris
claims to rise sharply and peak at about George Steer — DovER
Philip Georgiadis and Peter Foster
1.15m in the first full week of January.
The virus, which has already killed
London

pandemic continues to hit the economy.
Consumer spending, the biggest
driver of US economic growth, fell by 0.4
per cent in November, the first decline
since April, the commerce department
said yesterday, driven by fewer clothes
and footwear purchases and less eating
and drinking at bars and restaurants.
direct payments of up to $600 for
adults, and $300 a week in extra unem-
ployment benefits until mid-March.
Lawmakers hope the second-largest
economic relief bill in US history will
help cushion the blow until the vaccine
rollout helps ease restrictions.
However, President Donald Trump on
Diplomacy. Distance networking
[the first quarter]’
very little dynamism, and the urgency
of passing the Covid relief package can-
not be understated,” said Gregory Daco,
at Oxford Economics. “Without it, con-
sumer spending growth could flirt with
zero in [the first quarter].”
pandemic unemployment assistance to
397,511. There were 5.3m actively col-
lecting state jobless aid as of December
12, a decrease of 170,000 on a week ear-
lier, but economists caution this could
reflect that benefits had expired for
some unemployed workers, rather than
people finding new work.
300,000 Americans, is spreading fast,
with new cases and hospitalisations hit-
ting record numbers in places. Although
the rollout of vaccines has brightened
the economic outlook, there are fears
the country will miss its target of inocu-
lating 20m by the end of the year.
See Editorial Comment
The UK was facing days more disrup-
tion at its Channel border as a backlog
of thousands of truck drivers waited to
be tested for coronavirus to be allowed
to cross into France.
Tension on the south coast of England
rose yesterday, with truck drivers facing
the growing prospect of spending
Christmas stuck inside their vehicles
with limited access to food and washing
facilities.
A crowd of frustrated drivers scuffled
with police at the port of Dover, who
made one arrest after the disturbances.

Envoys in US mourn ghost of Christmas past France announced the reopening of

Washington’s winter parties
have moved online but are
pale shadows of predecessors
Katrina Manson — Washington
In the diplomatic whirl of Washington
there is no better time of year to find the
ear of a US decision maker than during
the winter festive season.
But coronavirus curbs have truncated
the Christmas party calendar in a city
that trades on networking, information
and influence.
“You can’t do diplomacy with people
you don’t know . . . it’s much harder to
create mutual trust,” a western embassy
official told the Financial Times. “Galas
have taken to Zoom, but drinking your
own champagne at home has its limits.”
As Covid-19 cases soar in the US, with
more than 18m contracting the disease,
gatherings in Washington have been
restricted to 25 people outside and 10
inside, and high-profile events have
been cancelled in the capital.
Among them are the French ambassa-
dor’s Christmas party — seen as among
the most glamorous — and the UK’s New
Year’s Eve bash at the envoy’s historic
residence, where guests celebrate
beneath Andy Warhol’s famous rendi-
tion of the Queen in the ballroom.
Embassies must now navigate the
restrictions while continuing to pursue
their nations’ interests, which rely on
the regular diplomatic outreach that
reaches a peak in December.
“Christmas parties are extremely
important,” said an ambassador in
Washington. Hitting it off with people in
social settings made it easier to know
the same people would pick up the
phone when you needed them, the
envoy said, adding: “These big, big par-
ties are an integral part of the diplo-
matic work.”
While President Donald Trump has
continued to hold large events in which
many guests have shunned masks,
president-elect Joe Biden’s team is
limiting contacts, including with foreign
officials, who must wait until after
Mr Biden’s inauguration on January 20
to gain full access to the new admin­-
istration.
Ambassadors who arrived in Wash-
ington after the curbs were imposed
face particular difficulties, with limited
opportunities to establish contacts in
what is often their home country’s most
important diplomatic posting.
“I know that it has been very, very
tough for colleagues who arrived during
The way they Covid . . . you might as well stay in your
were: clockwise, [own] capital,” said one ambassador.
from main, Karen Pierce, the UK ambassador, is
afternoon tea at among a clutch of envoys who arrived
the British after lockdown, including those from
embassy, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Finland, Nor-
Washington, in way, Sudan and Taiwan.
January 2017; a Dame Karen has been posted to
gathering at the Washington before — she was private
same embassy in secretary to the ambassador under
May 1965; and George HW Bush and Bill Clinton —
first lady Jackie making it easier to re-establish contacts,
Kennedy, right, a British official said. But she has limited
at a French room for manoeuvre.
embassy The UK embassy has thrown parties
reception in for the launch of British-themed televi-
January 1963 sion series such as Downton Abbey and
Paul Morigi/Getty The Crown, but as well as the new year
party cancellation it lost a more recent
chance to deploy its soft power by host-
ing a glamorous bash for the release of
the latest James Bond film, No Time to
Die, after its launch was postponed
because of coronavirus.
Diplomacy has been further ham-
pered by sickness in foreign embassies.
The ambassador from Albania is among
the 25,000 Covid-19 cases recorded in
Washington, while Taiwan’s top diplo-
mat was quarantined after several staff
fell sick.
Envoys have found ways to maintain
interaction. When the first cases of coro-
navirus reached the east coast in spring,
face-to-face meetings continued awk-
wardly before official restrictions
kicked in, with some elbow-bumping or
toe-tapping when greeting and others
insisting on a handshake.
“We are washing our hands at least
five times a day,” quipped Serdar Kilic,
Turkey’s ambassador to the US, soon
after the virus first struck, alluding to
the regular ablutions that accompany
the five-times daily Muslim prayers.
As coronavirus etiquette evolved,
some embassies took parties online,
devising ingenious ways to conduct
their influence campaigns.
Several embassies started delivering
food and alcohol to coax influencers to
dine together online.
“We tried to arrange Zoom as if it were
a cocktail party,” said the western
embassy official.
But the appeal of such “gimmicks”
soon palled, another ambassador said.
“Your drivers are going to make the
rounds in the city for three days doing
nothing but distributing bottles of wine
and little amuses-gueules,” the ambassa-
dor said. “That’s not what we’re here for,
but it was fun once or twice.”
The British official described diplo-
macy as a “contact sport” but said much
could still be achieved in the Covid era
via smaller-scale events, one-on-one
meetings and creative Zoom calls.
“There is no way we would allow any-
thing [to] get in our way of engaging
with everyone important to the UK’s
interest in the US,” the official said.
As the pandemic has worn on, some
embassies have held small outdoor
events, from piano recitals and embassy
bicycle rides to outdoor canapé eve-
nings and lunches.
Others have taken big events online.
The United Arab Emirates — whose
ambassador, Yousef Al Otaiba, is among
the longest-serving diplomats in the
capital — celebrated its 49th national
day with a “virtual” December party it
said was broadcast to millions.
The German embassy plans to hold an
online Christmas celebration, where
guests will participate as avatars wend-
‘Galas have ing their way through a virtual version
of the ambassador’s festively decorated
taken to residence.
Zoom, but Some argue that lockdown has actu-
ally boosted efficiency, with envoys able
drinking to attend multiple virtual events with
your own high-profile guests rather than lose time
in traffic.
champagne “Now you can literally be on two dif-
at home has ferent meetings at the same time,” said
one ambassador, “and still put them on
its limits’ mute to take a call from your capital.”
its border with the UK late on Tuesday,
ending a 48-hour closure imposed to try
to stop a new strain of coronavirus now
dominant in parts of southern England
from spreading throughout Europe.
But only a trickle of vehicles had
crossed the Channel by yesterday after-
noon, and UK ministers warned it
would take several days to ease the
queue.
The entrance to the Port of Dover was
blocked throughout the day by truck
drivers unable to board ferries without
access to the main testing operation sev-
eral miles away, threatening to derail
the testing within hours of it beginning.
‘This is a mammoth task
and clearing the backlog
will take time and
patience’
“The ships are blocked in Dover, so it’s
going very, very slowly in Calais,” said a
representative of the French port late in
the afternoon. “We have had two HGVs
since midnight.”
By 5pm, drivers at the front of the
queue outside Dover's main ferry termi-
nal had still not received Covid tests,
despite the arrival of testing facilities
earlier in the day.
Police officers were encouraging
increasingly agitated drivers who had
congregated by the entrance to the ter-
minal to return to their vehicles.
Ferries began arriving in France from
Dover in the early hours of yesterday
but they carried only a few cars, vans
and truck trailers without drivers.
Train services between the UK and
France resumed, as did some flights
between UK airports and France and
other EU countries, including Belgium
and the Netherlands eased restrictions
on arrivals from the UK.
The UK government called in the mil-
itary to help NHS staff begin testing
truck drivers before their departure,
part of a huge logistical exercise to clear
the backlog of thousands of trucks that
built up while the border closed.
“This is a mammoth task and clearing
the backlog will take time and patience,”
transport secretary Grant Shapps said.
The transport department said 5,000
lorries were at its holding sites at nearby
Manston airport and on the M20 before
testing began, but the Road Haulage
Association put the overall number
of those waiting to cross at 8,000 to
10,000.
The sudden closure of French fron-
tiers to all travellers from the UK
severely disrupted the crucial freight
routes between the UK and Europe
across the Channel by ferry and by the
Channel Tunnel.

North Korea Energy policy

Kim’s vanity projects hit by financial crisis
Edward White — Seoul
Ex-basketball star Dennis Rodman
once likened partying at Wonsan to the
Mediterranean island of Ibiza. But Kim
Jong Un’s plans of opening a world-class
tourism complex along the white sand
beaches of North Korea’s eastern coast-
line have been hit by severe delays.
The Wonsan beach resort is one of a
series of vanity projects, touted as
priorities for Mr Kim, which appear to
be falling months — if not years —
behind schedule, new satellite imagery
suggests. The delays are the latest indi-
cations of the financial crisis unfolding
in the secretive state, where the econ-
omy has been buffeted by sanctions,
pandemic-linked border closures and
damage from extreme flooding and
typhoons this year.
Rapid construction previously
observed at Wonsan, as well as a new
hospital in Pyongyang and facilities
at a training ground for the regime’s
theatrical nuclear weapons parades
continue to “lose steam”, according to
analysis of images published by 38
North, a programme run by the Stimson
Center, a US think-tank.
Martyn Williams and Peter
Makowsky, 38 North analysts, noted
that the tourism and hospital projects
had also faded from domestic propa-
ganda efforts.
“Despite visiting the [Wonsan] resort
four times in 2018 and 2019, Kim Jong
Un has not been back on-site since April
2019, when he pushed the deadline for
completion to April 2020,” the analysts
said. “That deadline has since passed,
with no indications of a revised timeline
for completion.”
Similarly, neither Mr Kim nor state
media have mentioned a revised com-
pletion date for the capital’s general
hospital. Critics doubt the “prestige
project” will offer much direct benefit to
the millions of ordinary, impoverished
North Koreans.
“The interior is unlikely close to com-
pletion given the hurried construction
timeline, the reports of difficulties
sourcing medical supplies and equip-
ment and the lack of North Korean state
media coverage showing interior views,”
Mr Williams and Mr Makowsky said.
The analysts believed focus had over
recent months shifted to efforts such as
rebuilding around Komdok, a typhoon-
damaged lead and zinc mining area
viewed as increasingly important to the
North Korean economy.
“North Korea has built hundreds of
homes and apartment buildings in the
span of a few months to rehouse those
left homeless. This work has surely
diverted construction machinery and
personnel from other projects,” the ana-
lysts said.
The delays coincide with one of the
toughest periods the young dictator has
faced since taking power in 2011.
Additional reporting by Kang Buseong in
Seoul
Asia’s developing economies shun coal power
Edward White — Seoul
New coal-power investments in Asia’s
developing economies are declining
rapidly as governments implement
clean energy policies and pressure
intensifies from environmentalists.
Policy changes touted by energy minis-
tries and politicians in Vietnam, Indo-
nesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh
could mean only 25 gigawatts of new
coal-power projects will remain in pre-
construction planning stages in 2021.
That is an 80 per cent reduction from
the 125GW planned five years ago,
according to a report from Global
Energy Monitor.
The U-turns are in line with similar
cancellations in India, where planned
coal projects will fall to 30GW, from
238GW in 2015.
“Taken together, the cancellations are
a major blow to coal’s hopes in Asia,” the
GEM, a non-profit organisation, said in a
report reviewed by the Financial Times.
Among the important policy changes
driving the changes is Vietnam’s new
energy plan, expected early next year.
The plan aims to help one of Asia’s
fastest-growing developing economies’
transition away from foreign-funded
coal-power producers and towards
A coal-powered
thermal plant in
Mundra, India.
Coal projects in
the country have
dropped since 2015
liquefied natural gas and renewables. In
Bangladesh, a policy to scrap all future
coal plants is awaiting the prime minis-
ter’s approval.
While the moves are spurring hopes
over the region’s long-term transition
away from fossil fuels, they came
against a backdrop of signs of increased
coal use in the near term.
Prices for thermal coal used in
electricity generation have surged over
recent months amid strong demand
from China, India, South Korea and
Japan.
And the International Energy Agency
this month forecast an increase in global
coal demand in 2021 as rising use of the
fossil fuel in parts of Asia offsets
declines in other parts of the world.
However, GEM analysts noted that
remaining coal projects faced an “ever
shrinking” landscape for attracting
investment.
Traditional lenders from Japan, South
Korea and Singapore have accounted for
nearly half the $52bn in coal-power
finance in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Phil-
ippines and Bangladesh since 2015.
But public and private institutions
across the three countries, which are
under mounting pressure from interna-
tional environmental activists and for-
eign investors, are slowly cutting their
connections to carbon-intensive power
and mining projects.
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 5

Cathie Wood The far-sighted are eyeing robotics, AI, energy storage, DNA sequencing and blockchain tech y MARKETS INSIGHT, PAGE 8

Stimulus helps Out to win Formula One woos Amazon in

drive to secure fan base for the digital age
Musk claims
Cook spurned
private equity his offer to sell
Tesla to Apple
dealmaking Patrick McGee — San Francisco

Tesla founder Elon Musk said he once

hit fresh highs

3 Value at $559bn largest since 2007
3 Sector rebounds after early turmoil
Kaye Wiggins — LONDON
The value of private equity deals this
year soared to its highest level since
2007, roaring back from a spring slow-
down as the industry snapped up com-
panies in record numbers even as the
pandemic triggered a global recession.
Buyout groups struck deals worth
$559bn worldwide in 2020, rising
almost a fifth from the previous year’s
total, according to figures from Refinitiv
covering January 1 to December
22. More than 8,000 deals were
announced this year, the most since
records began in 1980.
“Given the shock to the system we
saw . . . the way M&A has snapped back
‘The way M&A has
snapped back . . . has
definitely exceeded
our expectation’
more broadly, and for [private equity],
has definitely exceeded our expecta-
tion,” said David Kamo, Americas head
of financial sponsor M&A at Goldman
Sachs. After the 2008 crisis “it took
about two years to come back”, he said.
The spread of Covid-19 had threat-
ened in the spring to bring a decade-long
boom in mergers and acquisitions to a
halt. Private equity executives shifted
their focus to shoring up hard-hit com-
panies in their portfolios. Large pre-
pandemic deals, such as Carlyle’s acqui-
sition of a stake in American Express
Global Business Travel, were called off.
But enormous government stimulus
packages and sweeping central bank
measures meant the pandemic did not
derail dealmaking. The US Federal
Reserve’s decisions to cut interest rates
to zero and buy investment-grade bonds
and exchange traded funds that own
riskier junk debt, gave companies a life-
line and ensured private equity’s contin-
ued access to cheap debt for new deals.
Broader economic measures meant
firms could access bailout loans and fur-
lough funds for portfolio companies.
“Ultimately the lifeblood of private
equity is cheap debt,” said Bryce Klemp-
ner, partner at consultant McKinsey.
“When you’ve got the Fed saying debt
will stay cheap for years, plus histori-
cally high multiples, the numbers look
buoyant — especially if you’re a seller.”
Buyout groups took advantage of
reduced competition for deals and of
companies’ need to raise money in the
crisis by putting units up for sale.
The pandemic turmoil also did
little to bring down deal prices. The
average valuation multiple for US deals
between January and September
reached 13.5 times earnings, the highest
since Refinitiv began recording this
metric in 2004.
The tech sector accounted for 28 per
cent of all private equity deals by value
as groups ploughed into companies that
had prospered in the pandemic. The
largest tech deal was Thoma Bravo’s
purchase of RealPage, which valued the
US property software group at $10.2bn.
The share prices of large listed buyout
groups have rebounded after tumbling
in March, and Blackstone and KKR are
trading at all-time highs. Low interest
rates have created such demand for
higher-yielding debt that private equity
firms are increasingly able to load their
companies with fresh loans and use the
money to pay themselves dividends.
Buyout groups are “pricing in a recov-
ery that will be driven by the vaccine
and there’s light at the end of the tunnel
here”, said Goldman’s Mr Kamo.
“All the factors that embolden private
equity were still there: the large
amounts of dry powder sitting on the
sidelines, supportive financing markets,
willing sellers. The model doesn’t work
if you don’t put the money to work.”
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates after winning the F1 Turkish Grand Prix last month — Ozan Kose/Pool via AP
Samuel Agini and Murad Ahmed
London
Formula One is in “active” talks with
US internet group Amazon over
streaming deals to screen its Grand
Prix races, as the world’s most
valuable motorsports series seeks a
digital future beyond television
broadcasting.
Chase Carey, F1’s outgoing chief exec-
utive, told the Financial Times that
he had held “substantive discus-
sions . . . [with] Amazon and all the
global digital platforms” over con-
ducting new screening deals, adding:
“They’re [an] incredibly important
potential partner and an opportunity
for us to expand and grow our
business.”
The discussions come as F1 seeks to
expand its audience, targeting
younger fans who are switching to
watching sport online rather than on
traditional TV networks.
Amazon declined to comment on
Mr Carey’s remarks, but has been
among the most aggressive of the
internet giants in bidding for live
sports rights around the world.
The company has secured rights to
stream National Football League
matches in the US, is among the
broadcasters of the English Premier
League in the UK, and this month said
it wanted to secure deals to screen big
cricket matches in India. These
moves are designed to tie sports view-
ers to its Prime subscription services.
F1 is also under pressure to unlock
new revenues after coronavirus-
induced losses in 2020. The group
incurred operating losses of $363m in
the first nine months of the year,
because of lower fees from race pro-
moters and a hit to corporate hospi-
tality without fans in attendance.
Liberty Media, the US group that
acquired the sport for $8bn four years
ago, was forced to inject $1.4bn of cash
into F1 in April, furloughed half its
workforce and agreed salary cuts with
executives to weather the pandemic.
However, Amazon and other big
internet companies have been reluc-
tant to offer the sort of money that
broadcasters have previously paid for
the rights to show F1. The racing
series’ biggest broadcast deal with
Comcast-owned Sky in the UK is
worth $250m a year in an arrange-
ment that runs until 2024.
This year, F1 has negotiated or
renewed TV rights deals in Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the
Nordics, while it is also in the process
of finalising a deal in Brazil. Broadcast
deals represent about a third of over-
all F1 revenues.
Mr Carey, who will remain as F1’s
chairman while handing over the CEO
role in January to Stefano Domenicali,
said switching to screening deals with
online groups would be an “incremen-
tal” process.
approached Apple chief Tim Cook to
suggest that the group acquire his then-
struggling electric-car company, but
Mr Cook “refused to take the meeting”.
Mr Musk tweeted the anecdote after
reports that Apple was making progress
in its effort to develop an electric car for
consumers. He had contacted Mr Cook
“during the darkest days of the Model 3
programme”, according to the tweet —
presumably mid-2017, when Tesla came
within a month of bankruptcy in what
Mr Musk called “manufacturing hell”.
Mr Musk said Tesla was worth “1/10
of our current value” at the time, which
would suggest Apple could have bought
the group for $60bn. One person famil-
iar with the matter confirmed that Mr
Musk approached Mr Cook but could
not recall the date. Apple and Tesla both
declined to comment.
Apple’s ambitions in building a car, a
project known as Titan, go back to at
least 2014. In 2016 it was reported it had
scaled back its goals and let go of 190
people. It continued to test autonomous
tech on public roads and a California
Department of Motor Vehicles report
from March 2018 said Apple had 45 test
vehicles on the road — a greater number
in the state at the time than anyone but
Cruise, GM’s self-driving business. In
mid-2019 it purchased Drive.ai, an
autonomous driving tech start-up.
The latest report, from Reuters on
Monday, cited unnamed sources dis-
cussing Apple’s plans to build a vehicle
for consumers by 2024 using battery
tech developed in-house.
Analysts have suggested that Tesla
could be among the biggest losers if
Apple were to use its considerable
resources, brand appeal and logistics to
enter the electric-vehicle market.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas
said Apple “represents far more formi-
dable competition” to Tesla than estab-
lished car companies because it “pos-
sesses the key ingredients that we
believe are critical to be successful in the
future auto industry”.
The Apple threat has at various times
caused Mr Musk to dismiss rumours of
imminent competition. In 2015, for
instance, the Tesla chief was asked
about Apple allegedly poaching “impor-
tant engineers” from Tesla. “Important
engineers?” he said. “They have hired
people we’ve fired . . . If you don’t make
it at Tesla, you go work at Apple.”

Contracts & Tenders

Brussels looks to tap China’s zeal for an agreement on investment
ratification of any deal, on labour stand-
INSIDE BUSINESS ards and human rights.
“Trade policy does not take place in a
EUROPE vacuum. How the question of forced
labour is addressed in the CAI will deter-
Ben mine the agreement’s fate,” said Bernd
Lange, chairman of the European par-
Hall liament’s trade committee in a tweet
this week.
Putting aside the geopolitics, would
an agreement be much good for
European businesses operating in
ments to create a level playing field
under this agreement would help
reduce discrimination against foreign
companies, in theory.
The other notable Chinese concession
is to accept, for the first time in a bilat-
eral agreement, disciplines on state-
owned enterprises and greater trans-
parency over industrial subsidies. Hav-
ing made such a promise to the EU, Bei-
jing could come under pressure to offer
the same to the World Trade Organiza-

N
egotiators are racing to
agree a treaty on invest-
ment between the EU and
China, which European
businesses have long hoped
would rebalance the relationship
between the two markets.
It is intended to make it easier for
European companies to invest in China,
while safeguarding the EU’s much more
open market for Chinese businesses.
Until recently, Beijing was in no
hurry to do a deal. But in the countdown
to the inauguration of Joe Biden, the
Chinese leadership is pulling out the
China or seeking to invest there? It is
hard to say because the negotiations are,
regrettably, confidential — an opacity
that will not help win parliamentary or
public support.
Negotiators on the EU side say
that China made a series of concessions
in recent weeks that would have
been unthinkable a few months ago,
and Brussels wants
to capitalise on Experts who are against
Beijing’s sudden
eagerness to cut rushing in say that the
a deal.
The concessions
EU risks losing leverage
tion. But much will depend on the preci-
sion of Beijing’s commitment and how it
is enforced.
The putative investment agreement
will do nothing to open up China’s
procurement market. Beijing has
balked at EU demands for a binding
investor court system to settle disputes.
So EU negotiators appear to have
settled for looser arbitration. It may
do little to encourage companies to sue
the Chinese government, not that many
are likely to think it worth the risk of Business Opportunities
political retaliation.
A deal looks as if it will fall well short
Readers are strongly recommended to take appropriate
professional advice before entering into obligations.

stops and offering concessions. Striking
a deal with the EU on market access
would be a coup for Xi Jinping. It would
make it harder for the EU and the new
US administration to make common
cause on market opening and non-
discrimination.
Several prominent European experts
on China have made the case against
rushing into the so-called Comprehen-
sive Agreement on Investment. They
argue that the EU risks losing leverage
and could encourage Chinese
assertiveness. The EU, they say,
would be committing “the same mis-
take of partial and uncoordinated deal-
making” of which Europeans accuse
Donald Trump.
Some European parliamentarians are
preparing to do battle, when it comes to
included a removal and encouraging the
of barriers to assertiveness of Beijing
foreign investment
in electric vehicles, telecoms and
private hospitals — sectors that are
coveted by European industrials. China
is also willing to open financial services,
real estate and shipping services where
the opportunities may be less evident.
Beijing has a record of opening up
markets where China incumbents
have already built up impregnable posi-
tions, such as banking or payment serv-
ices. Once allowed in, foreign companies
also face all sorts of licensing and
administrative requirements.
Foreign insurers, given access
under China’s 2019 foreign investment
law, have to apply for licences province
by province, one at a time. Commit-
of European groups’ demands that the
EU and China enshrine the notion of
reciprocity in their investment relation-
ship and provide a high level of protec-
tion for investors and their investments.
Measured against original European
hopes for a “fundamental rebalancing of
the EU-Chinese economic relationship”,
it was “not a very good deal”, said Mikko
Huotari, director of the Mercator Insti-
tute for China Studies in Berlin. But Bei-
jing now seems increasingly confident
about its own divergent path of eco-
nomic development, with tough secu- Notice to Advertisers
rity screening of foreign investment and Calls to the Financial Times Advertising Department may be monitored.
an ambitious industrial policy. “Is it
Acceptance of any advertisement for publication will be subject to the then current terms and conditions of insertion
progress against the status quo?” Mr of advertisements in FT publications.
Huotari said. “It really is.”
A copy of the terms and conditions of insertion of advertisements in FT publications can be obtained from
+44 (0)20 7873 3000, or viewed at www.FT.com/advertising
ben.hall@ft.com
6 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

COMPANIES & MARKETS

Financials Financials

Dyal and Owl Rock agree Spac tie-up US president’s

Investment firms to
join HPS vehicle and list
with $12.5bn valuation
Ortenca Aliaj and Robert Smith
London
Investment firms Dyal Capital and Owl
Rock have agreed to combine in a com-
plex deal to take them public via a
blank-cheque vehicle, as they seek to
rival large private capital providers such
as Ares Management.
Altimar Acquisition Corporation, a
special purpose acquisition company
set up by HPS Investment Partners, will
merge with the combined entity, to be
named Blue Owl Capital, thereby taking
the asset managers public with a
$12.5bn valuation.
As part of the deal Blue Owl will
receive $1.8bn in transaction proceeds,
which includes $275m raised in the
Spac’s initial public offering in October
and $1.5bn from blue-chip investors
such as Iconiq Capital, the wealth man-
agement firm that manages money for
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, and
US conglomerate Koch Industries.
Doug Ostrover, one of Owl Rock’s
founders and part of the original trio
that set up Blackstone’s powerhouse
credit unit, GSO Capital, will lead Blue
Governance. Inequality
Owl. The businesses will manage a com-
bined $45bn in assets.
“Blue Owl’s expertise, agility and
scale, supported by a substantial per-
manent capital base, will enable us to
offer a holistic platform of capital solu-
tions to private equity firms and pri-
vately held businesses,” Mr Ostrover
said yesterday announcing the deal.
‘Blue Owl [will offer] a
holistic platform of capital
solutions to private equity
and private businesses’
The unusual combination brings
together three companies that are
already closely intertwined. Dyal, a divi-
sion of US asset manager Neuberger
Berman, owns a 20 per cent stake in Owl
Rock and a minority stake in HPS
Investment.
Spacs have done a record amount of
dealmaking this year — 158 deals have
been announced over the course of
2020 with a combined value of $142bn,
according to Refinitiv — but the Dyal
and Owl Rock transaction is among the
largest and most complex.
Founded by former Lehman Brothers
bankers in 2011, New York-based Dyal
has become a big player in the business
of buying up general partner stakes in
alternative asset managers.
The sector, which seeks to profit from
management and performance fees
generated by asset managers, has been
dominated by big groups such as Gold-
man Sachs and Blackstone. But Dyal has
raised money at a breakneck speed,
with a portfolio that includes stakes in
Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners and
Sixth Street Partners.
Owl Rock, on the other hand, is a
direct lending specialist best known for
helping to finance leveraged buyouts.
The firm was set up in 2016 by veteran
financiers Marc Lipschultz, Craig
Packer and Mr Ostrover.
private banker
Vrablic resigns
from Deutsche
Laura Noonan — New York
Donald Trump’s longtime private
banker, Rosemary Vrablic, has
resigned from Deutsche Bank, the
lender to which the US president owes
as much as $340m.
The bank’s New York office confirmed
Ms Vrablic’s resignation, which a
spokesman said would be effective at
the end of the year. Her corporate email
had been disabled by lunchtime on
Tuesday.
The departure, first reported by The
New York Times, comes four months
after Deutsche opened a probe into a
previously unknown apartment deal
between Ms Vrablic and Jared Kushner,
Mr Trump’s son-in-law and White

Brazil Inc faces racism reckoning after killing House adviser.

Carrefour deadly beating puts
businesses in spotlight over
failure to tackle injustices
Bryan Harris and Carolina Pulice
São Paulo
João Alberto Silveira Freitas was beaten
to death in the car park of a Carrefour
supermarket in southern Brazil by two
of the store’s security guards after an
altercation in the premises.
The killing of the black man by white
employees last month in Porto Alegre
sparked unrest, including protests and
vandalism, much of it directed at
French group Carrefour for its per-
ceived inaction on racism over years.
The death has prompted a broader
reckoning for Brazilian business. As
movements such as Black Lives Matter
gather steam and provoke change in
companies across North America, Bra-
zilian groups have been accused of mak-
ing little effort to address imbalances in
opportunities and income in one of the
most unequal nations.
Despite accounting for almost 60 per
cent of the 210m population, black Bra-
zilians occupy fewer than 5 per cent of
executive positions and 5 per cent of
seats on boards. This representation has
barely improved in the past decade.
Black Brazilians, typically defined to
include mixed-race citizens, earn on
average 50 per cent less than whites,
according to the Centre for the Study of
Labor Relations and Inequalities.
As incidents such as the killing of Sil-
veira Freitas proliferate and echo
through social media, groups that do not
act on racism increasingly risk reprisals
ranging from boycotts to vandalism.
The nation, meanwhile, must grapple
with the fallout of the discontent.
“We avoid places where we will be
treated badly. I avoid consuming from
renowned companies,” said Deisy Dias,
a businesswoman from São Paulo, who
says racism is an everyday occurrence.
She is growing increasingly impatient
with the status quo. “Boycotts don’t
have enough scale to make the neces-
sary impact. Burning the supermarkets
— the more radical things — they will
have a greater effect in the short term.”
After Silveira Freitas’s death, Alexan-
dre Bompard, Carrefour global chief
executive, wrote condolences on Twit-
ter, calling footage of the attack
“unbearable”. In addition to a $5m fund
to fight racism in Brazil, the group said
black Brazilians would represent at least
50 per cent of annual new hires.
But the group, alongside many Brazil-
ian companies, has been accused of act-
ing too slowly and failing to address the
A protester structural issues in the labour force.
holds a sign Following the death, Carrefour Brazil
reading ‘Black was this month removed from an index
lives matter’ at a of companies with the best environmen-
Carrefour tal, social and governance practice, run
branch in Rio de by S&P Dow Jones Indices and B3, a Bra-
Janeiro. Below, a zilian stock exchange. “Many compa-
Carrefour nies are still thinking about racism
worker douses a superficially and need to start thinking
fire started by institutionally,” said Daniel Teixeira, a
protesters at a researcher at the Center for the Study of
São Paulo store Labour Relations and Inequalities. “The
Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty;
Andre Penner/AP
black worker went from slavery to
informal worker with no labour rights.
Sadly, this discussion is only happening
because of a death at Carrefour.”
Raphael Vicente, co-ordinator of the
Business Initiative for Racial Equality,
said that between 2000 and 2013, the
number of black Brazilians in higher
education almost quadrupled, but this
had “not been reflected in their pres-
ence in large companies. Before, they
said there were not enough black Brazil-
ians with higher education. But now
there are and they are still not hiring.
We call it invisible walls.”
Many see a need for a strong incentive
to change, with analysts citing the Ama-
zon rainforest. Threats of divestment
this year spurred a groundswell of sup-
port from corporate Brazil to protect the
jungle from deforestation.
“Unfortunately, Brazilian companies
only respond to events that hurt their
value, like with [iron ore miner] Vale,”
after the Brumadinho dam collapse last
year, said Simone Pasianotto, chief
economist at Reag Investimentos. “We
are still crawling on the issue of the
responsibility of investors and compa-
nies on race. The investor needs to
understand the opportunity for soci-
ety’s gain and not just financial gain.”
The issue is gaining political traction.
Orlando Silva, a federal lawmaker, last
month proposed legislation that would
make businesses responsible for inci-
dents of racism occurring on their
premises. “We have to make responsible
‘Companies those who have responsibility. Compa-
nies cannot be allowed to get away with
cannot be it for longer. No more blaming security
allowed to guards and parking attendants.”
A handful of companies are attempt-
get away ing change. Ambev, unit of Anheuser-
with it for Busch InBev, is recruiting more black
Brazilians to traineeships, and Avon has
longer. pledged to ensure black Brazilians make
No more up at least 50 per cent of its workforce
before the end of the decade. But “the
blaming majority of companies act like the
security majority of the population, which is to
deny the existence of racism in Brazil. ‘If
guards and it does not affect me, it doesn’t exist. If it
parking doesn’t impact my profits, all good’ is
their thinking”, said Luciano Cequeira, a
attendants’ researcher at the Rio de Janeiro State
University. “The only thing companies
fear is losses and, when well-organised,
boycotts can do this to supermarkets.”
In the case of Carrefour, a boycott
quickly ran out of steam and the com-
pany said sales were not affected. Some
fear, however, that a lack of action from
companies will only fuel deeper discon-
tent. “Racism has always been there,
but we are now sick of being silent,” said
Tatiana Carvalho Costa, a teacher from
Belo Horizonte. “Companies will not
take action if they are not disturbed. If
we can’t stop consuming from them, we
will start complaining. If we do it mas-
sively, they will have to act.”
Dominic Scalzi, a private banker who
was involved in that deal and included
in the internal investigation, had also
resigned, Deutsche confirmed.
A spokesman would not elaborate on
the terms of their departures or whether
the bank had completed its investiga-
tion into the circumstances surround-
ing the duo’s 2013 purchase of a $1.5m
flat from a company part-owned by Mr
Kushner.
Ms Vrablic and her lawyer did not
immediately respond to requests for
comment.
The New York Times story cited her
confirming her retirement.
‘The boss’ became the
point person between the
lender and Trump, then
a property developer
Mr Scalzi did not respond to requests
for comment.
Ms Vrablic was hired by Deutsche
14 years ago and went on to become the
point person between the German
lender and Mr Trump, then a celebrity
property developer.
He turned to Deutsche for a number
of financings including for hotels in Chi-
cago and Washington and his Miami golf
course.
Mr Trump and Mr Kushner have lav-
ished praise on the banker in recent
years.
The president once erroneously
described her as the “head of Deutsche
Bank” in the US and “the boss”,
and invited her as a VIP guest to his
inauguration.
Mr Kushner told a closed-door meet-
ing of the House intelligence committee
that Ms Vrablic was an “amazing
banker, amazing woman”.
Private banking is one of Deutsche’s
smallest businesses in the US but the
Trump relationship has been one of its
biggest headaches, incurring scrutiny
from Congress as it probes the presi-
dent’s finances.
Mr Trump owes as much as $340m to
the German lender, making it his biggest
single creditor among banks, bondhold-
ers and other investors who are collec-
tively owed more than $1bn, according
to his government financial disclosures
and other documents.
The loans are generally backed by real
estate.
The Deutsche loans include about
$125m on the Doral golf course in Miami
and about $70m on the Old Post Office
building in Washington, which both
mature in 2023.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that
Mr Trump’s financial records could be
disclosed to prosecutors in New York,
but said a lower court should decide on
Congress’s attempt to see the records,
including some from Deutsche Bank.

Support services Oil & gas

Japan law firm to allow full foreign partners
Leo Lewis — Tokyo
Anderson Mori & Tomotsune has
become the first of Japan’s Big Four law
firms to let foreign lawyers become full
equity partners, as the quartet fights
international rivals for advisory work
on cross-border deals.
The decision comes amid a rising wave
of merger and acquisitions activity
involving Japanese companies and a
surge in foreign private equity and
activist fund interest in the world’s
third-biggest economy.
AMT’s move is expected to prompt
Japan’s three other top-tier law firms to
follow suit. Lawyers familiar with plans
at the country’s largest, Nishimura &
Asahi, said it was “actively considering”
doing the same.
The tradition-breaking shift involves
AMT establishing a foreign law joint
enterprise. That is the same structure
under which global firms such as White
& Case, Clifford Chance and Morrison &
Foerster operate in Japan, enabling
them to gain significant market share as
M&A activity has surged.
“Although the change is quite
straightforward in the technical sense, it
is something that represents a big
change of mindset for the firm,” said
Len Matsunaga, partner-elect at AMT.
“This will allow the firm to attract
talent at a time when the future of the
legal market in Japan will increasingly
see its main growth coming from cross-
border transactions involving Japanese
companies.”
AMT is betting that permitting for-
eign lawyers to become equity partners
will make the Japanese firm more
attractive to the best global talent.
Lawyers in the US, UK, China and
elsewhere have typically avoided join-
ing a firm at which they have no hope of
attaining the same status and profit
share as their Japanese counterparts.
The new structure will permit AMT to
offer equity partnership to four non-
Japanese lawyers currently in senior
positions.
The change was registered with the
Japan Federation of Bar Associations
this week and will come into effect on
January 1. It follows a new law intro-
duced this year that reduces the level of
experience required for foreign lawyers
to be registered in Japan and expands
the scope of business in which they can
engage — part of Tokyo’s drive to posi-
tion itself as an alternative financial cen-
tre to Hong Kong and Singapore.
M&A in Japan has long been driven by
local companies turning to large over-
seas acquisitions to offset a shrinking
home market. But pressure from for-
eign and domestic activist shareholders
is forcing companies to consider a wider
range of domestic dealmaking options,
while the historic taboo of hostile take­-
overs appears to be fading.
Cairn awarded $1.2bn in India tax arbitration
Anjli Raval — London
Stephanie Findlay — New Delhi
India must pay UK oil and gas explorer
Cairn Energy at least $1.2bn after New
Delhi lost one of the country’s longest
high-profile corporate tax disputes.
Shares in Cairn Energy rose 22.1 per
cent yesterday after a tribunal ruled
that India breached its obligations
under a UK-India bilateral treaty.
Cairn Energy said the tribunal found
that “India had breached its obligations
to Cairn under the UK-India Bilateral
Investment Treaty and has awarded to
Cairn damages of $1.2bn plus interest
and costs.”
The dispute dates to 2014, when India
demanded $1.4bn in tax payments from
Cairn Energy after the UK group’s flota-
tion of its Indian subsidiary on the Bom-
bay Stock Exchange in 2007.
Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy
rejected the claim, arguing that the law
under which the tax was being sought
was not passed until 2012, six years after
it established Cairn India as a separate
subsidiary.
In following years, New Delhi made
several efforts to apply pressure to the
UK group. After the oil company sold its
majority stake in the Indian subsidiary
to Vedanta, reducing its holding to 10
per cent, the government seized the
remaining shares in 2014, as well as divi-
dends Vedanta owed to Cairn Energy.
Cairn Energy filed a dispute under the
treaty, seeking international arbitration
that started in 2015 for the value of the
confiscated shares and the forgone divi-
dends, plus interest.
“Although many years in the waiting,
the question quickly moves to when this
might be paid,” said Nathan Piper at
Investec. New Delhi said it “will be stud-
ying the award” and “take a decision on
[any] further course of action, including
legal remedies”.
Arvind Datar, part of Cairn Energy’s
legal team, said he was “very happy”
with the ruling that “is one of the few
cases that deals with retrospective taxa-
tion”.
India had the right of appeal, and
“given [the] huge amount of damages, I
suppose they will”.
Al Stanton at RBC Capital Markets
said he expected “a significant portion
of today’s award to be paid out as a spe-
cial dividend”.
Earlier this month, Cairn Energy
announced a one-off shareholder pay-
out of $250m after completion of the
sale of its Senegalese assets.
The ruling is India’s second loss at
such arbitration this year after tele­coms
group Vodafone in September won a dis-
pute where the government sought
€3bn in back taxes and penalties.
Both disputes stem from a decision by
the Indian government in 2012 to retro-
spectively change the tax code.
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 7

COMPANIES & MARKETS

Pinduoduo showcases the realm of Property

Shanghai’s secretive internet king
Assortment of ecommerce and gaming ventures in spartan offices laid foundations for $170bn Chinese colossus
Ryan McMorrow — Beijing
From a rundown office tower in down-
town Shanghai, wedding dresses are
sold to the US, wristwatches to France
and cheap trainers to the UK.
Dozens of websites and apps operate
from the 23-floor Greenland business
building, where staff sit in offices
adorned only with the words “Self Con-
fidence” pasted on glass doors.
Behind the ventures is Colin Zheng
Huang, 40, billionaire founder, chair-
man and controlling shareholder of Pin-
duoduo, the online shopping app that
has enjoyed a share price leap of 261 per
cent since January.
Alongside Pinduoduo, which is worth
$170bn, Mr Huang has set up a network
of other ecommerce and gaming groups,
making him Shanghai’s internet king.
Some ventures are more famous out-
side China than Pinduoduo. Vova is one
of Europe’s most popular, ranking in the
top 10 online shopping apps in France
and Italy this past quarter, according to
Sensor Tower.
The hub of ecommerce and gaming
businesses at the Greenland building
provided early employees for Pinduo-
duo, and helped the breakout business
with its sales and marketing.
Pinduoduo previously told investors
that Mr Huang founded, or was con-
nected to, some of the companies, but in
records registered with Chinese regula-
tors they were owned by his associates.
Known as baishoutao, or white gloves,
it is not uncommon for wealthy Chinese
to ask friends or relatives to hold their
shares in companies to lessen their per-
sonal risk and shield their holdings from
public scrutiny.
Mr Huang has only occasionally held
shares in his own name in China. Even at
Pinduoduo, he signed over all his shares
in its Chinese business ahead of the 2018
initial public offering to Chen Lei, Pin-
duoduo’s chief executive, with whom he
studied at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison.
One apparent stand-in shareholder,
Gu Yanping, 69, from a rural area
known for goji berries, held a 90 per
cent stake in several companies until
the Financial Times asked about her
identity.
Pinduoduo has told investors in its
Nasdaq-listed shares little about the
web of companies. It calls Mr Huang a
“serial entrepreneur” who founded
“Xinyoudi Studio” in 2011. No company
of that name has ever existed, although
xinyoudi.com was once registered.
Chinese media describe Mr Huang as
mysterious. It is not even known if he is
married. The secrecy extends to Pin-
duoduo, where staff use nicknames and
two former employees said it was rare to
know their colleagues’ real names.
Pinduoduo did not respond to a list of
questions for comment.
Mr Huang, the son of factory workers,
was born in Hangzhou, the home of Ali-
baba, the online shopping giant, and
studied computer science at Zhejiang
University before going to the US in
2002.
He worked at Google China before
striking out on his own, in the pursuit of
both “making money” and “making me
a little bit cooler”.
Cashing in his Google stock, he started
Ouku, a consumer electronics website
and sold it for $2.2m in 2010. His next
venture, Leqee, was already under way,
with Mr Chen and an Ouku intern regis-
tering the company in 2009 as its found-
ing shareholders.
Pinduoduo later told venture capital-
ists that Mr Huang “successfully
founded” Leqee in 2009, according to
documents seen by the FT. Leqee
helped big brands run their shops on
Alibaba and JD.com, China’s biggest
internet shopping platforms. It also
US office
space dumped
after success
of working
from home
Joshua Chaffin — New York
Companies are dumping record vol-
umes of office space on to the sublease
market, flashing a potential warning
sign over the long-term health of the
office properties that comprise the big-
gest chunk of US real estate.
The amount of sublease inventory in
many US markets is at or exceeding lev-
els reached in the aftermath of both the
dotcom bust and the 2008 financial cri-
sis, according to brokers, with expecta-
tions that it will expand further.
That development — coupled with a
flurry of recent announcements from
companies such as Bank of America and
SalesForce that they will require less
office space as more employees work
from home — is leading some analysts to
conclude that the damage to the office
market wrought by the coronavirus
pandemic will not be fully repaired even
when the economy heals.
“The nation just underwent what will
end up being close to a year-long work-
from-home experiment and the results
continue to show for themselves. You
have a company every other week say-
ing how successful work-from-home
has been for them, and their plans to
reduce or shrink their total office space
needs,” said Daniel Ismail, the office
analyst at Green Street Advisors, a real
estate research firm.
Mr Ismail believes that demand for
Colin Zheng became an informal holding group for Then Mr Huang landed on the idea ees and has its own team, he has to be
‘You have a company
Huang set out the succession of new businesses set up that would become Pinduoduo. In 2015,
‘The other responsible to them, he can’t just shut- every other week saying
in the pursuit of in the Greenland building. Two years he asked his team to build a “social companies ter the companies,” the person added.
how successful work-
‘making money’ later, the group set up Lebbay, again ecommerce” venture. Called Pinhao- are just This past year the gaming business
and ‘making me owned on paper by Mr Chen and the huo, shoppers got a better price if a has enjoyed sales of $489m, according from-home has been’
a little bit now former intern. Using the skills Mr friend bought the same product. The making to data from Sensor Tower. With Pin-
cooler’ — FT Montage/ Huang learned at Google, Lebbay built a site started with selling fruit, and at one a little duoduo, it has moved to the Shanghai office space could be down 10 to 15 per
Bloomberg
series of online shopping websites that point Mr Huang redeployed 100 Arch, a gleaming new tower where staff cent even after the economy recovers,
aimed to get to the top of the search employees from Leqee to help out. money, they wear anime costumes and bright blue with rents in large US cities like New
rankings for their offerings. A few months later, Mr Huang’s gam- don’t have wigs to match the characters in their York and San Francisco taking an even
“Building one site only takes a week,” ing team created a second app applying games. greater hit. Changes in work habits that
said a former manager, noting the web- the same group-buying model to an any impact’ The other ventures remain in the Green Street expected to unfold over
sites’ funnelled orders into the same online marketplace, where any mer- Greenland building. But the lines four to five years were instead happen-
back end system for fulfilment. Mr Chen chant could list their goods. It was between the companies are still blurred. ing in a matter of months. “We’re turn-
had run the operation, reporting to Mr named Pinduoduo and 20 key gaming Six current and former employees at ing on a dime,” Mr Ismail said.
Huang, the employee said. employees shifted to focus on the ven- Vova and the other ecommerce sites Office owners have been somewhat
Another profitable foray began life a ture, Mr Huang told local media. told the FT that while they were cushioned from the pandemic’s eco-
few floors above Lebbay. Under the “These were two different roads, Pin- recruited by Lebbay or Leqee they were nomic blow because their tenants are
name Shanghai Xunmeng, Mr Huang’s haohuo was pushing to build ware- paid by the company Ms Gu set up in generally signed to long-term leases.
team developed online games such as houses and fulfilment, like a JD.com 2016 to take over the gaming assets New leasing activity has largely been
Joyspade Texas Holdem Poker, targeting [akin to Amazon] for fresh produce, but being spun out of Pinduoduo. “It was put on hold. Still, some recent transac-
south-east Asian gamblers, and Girls X the employees from the gaming com- always a mystery, they never told us tions have provided a glimpse into the
Battle, where players collect an army of pany didn’t see it as viable,” said Mr why,” said Ice Chen, a former software market’s weakness.
girlfriends to fight for them. Huang. developer for one of the sites. SL Green, which recently cut the tape
Pinduoduo’s business model quickly After the FT asked two of the compa- on one of the city’s most ambitious office
won out and swallowed the Pinhaohuo nies about Ms Gu’s identity this sum- towers, the $3bn One Vanderbilt, beside
Top shopping apps downloaded in France team. But the companies in the Green- mer, she transferred almost her entire Grand Central Station, told analysts this
and Italy land building had close links. Lebbay stake in both to a man, who has also set month that its asking rents were down
Q3 2020 (m) was used to register Pinhaohuo’s social up an investment partnership for Pin- 5 to 10 per cent. It is also having to grant
France media accounts, which were key sales duoduo this year, business records prospective tenants more generous con-
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 channels, and brought in a quarter of show. cessions, such as covering remodelling
Vinted the combined company’s sales in 2016. It was the latest of a series of share costs, the developer said.
Leboncoin Leqee was listed as Pinhaohuo’s opera- transfers Mr Huang and his acquaint- Brokers’ data on sublease space tends
Shein tor on its website. Shanghai Xunmeng, ances have made, with most carried out to vary. But all report sharp increases in
Amazon Shopping the gaming arm, ran Pinduoduo. in the spring of 2018 as Pinduoduo pre- major US markets over the past year.
Wish When outside investors ploughed pared for its Nasdaq listing. In New York City, by far the largest
Vova $50m into Pinduoduo in 2016, the own- The most consequential share trans- office market, Cushman & Wakefield
AliExpress ership of the group of companies began fer came in May 2018 when Mr Huang estimated subleasing space was just shy
Zalando to change. Ms Gu, Xunmeng’s 90 per transferred majority ownership of Pin- of 18m square feet as of November. That
Cdiscount cent owner on paper, transferred her duoduo’s main Chinese operating entity, was an all-time high, and up from 10.5m
Deliveroo stake to the entity US investors buy into known as a variable interest entity, to sq ft the previous November.
today. Pinduoduo later said in its pro- Mr Chen. Savills estimated that Manhattan sub-
Italy spectus that Xunmeng was “controlled Other Chinese tech executives, such lease space had swelled to 16.1m sq ft by
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 by the Founder [Mr Huang] since its as Pony Ma of Tencent or Richard Li of the end of the third quarter, up 46.8 per
Shein establishment”. Baidu, have kept tight control of their cent from the beginning of the year, and
Amazon Shopping Ms Gu, from rural Ningxia province, onshore companies, which run their nearing the all-time high of 16.3m sq ft
Wish then set up a second company for the businesses and hold crucial licences. But recorded in 2009.
Zalando spun-out gaming assets. One early Pin- Mr Huang holds no shares in Pinduo- The Bay Area of San Francisco, home
Vova duoduo investor acknowledged that the duo’s VIE. to the technology industry, has been
IKEA Store web of companies was tied to Mr Huang. “Colin must really trust Chen Lei or particularly hard hit, with sublease
Subito “The other companies are just making a it’s a scary situation, for both Colin and space increasing by 148 per cent to the
eBay Shopping little money, they don’t have any US investors,” said Jesse Fried, a corpo- end of September, according to Savills.
Idealo impact,” the person said. With Pinduo- rate governance expert at Harvard Law In late August, Pinterest cancelled a
AliExpress duo “he wants to make a great com- School. 490,000 sq ft lease at a building it was
Source: Sensor Tower
pany”, the investor said. Additional reporting by Nian Liu in Beijing developing in the city — incurring a
“Every company has its own employ- and Wang Xueqiao in Shanghai charge of $89.5m to do so.

Automobiles Airlines

LG and Magna join forces on electric car parts EasyJet directors suffer shareholder revolt
Song Jung-a — Seoul
LG Electronics will spin off part of its
electric vehicle components business
and set up a $1bn joint venture with
Canada’s Magna International — a deal
aimed at capturing a bigger share of the
fast-growing global EV parts market and
which lifted its shares by nearly a third.
The South Korean group will hold a 51
per cent stake in the JV and Magna the
rest. The venture will produce e-motors,
inverters and onboard chargers in LG’s
factories in Incheon, South Korea, and
Nanjing in China, LG said.
It is LG’s second big investment in the
auto industry, following its $1.3bn pur-
chase of ZKW Group, an auto-
lighting and headlight systems provider,
in 2018. This month, the group’s
battery-making affiliate LG Chem spun
off its EV battery and energy storage
business into a standalone unit.
Auto parts suppliers are keen to make
inroads into the lucrative EV market as
automakers accelerate their transition
to electrification in response to stricter
fossil fuel regulations and rapid
improvements in battery technology.
“The market for e-motors, inverters
and electric drive systems is expected to
have significant growth between now
and 2030 and the JV will target this fast-
growing global market with a world-
class portfolio,” LG and Magna said in a
joint statement. LG shares climbed by
their maximum daily limit of 30 per
cent yesterday to Won119,500, their
highest in nearly 10 years. The Kospi
Composite index was up 1 per cent.
The deal is the latest in a wave of con-
solidation in the sector. Gear maker
BorgWarner took over rival Delphi this
year, while Toyota Motor has set up an
EV parts-making venture with Japanese
manufacturers Aisin Seiki and Denso.
LG’s vehicle component solutions
business has reported operating losses
for the past 19 quarters but the company
expects to swing to profit in the third
quarter of next year.
The deal will be completed in July
next year pending LG shareholders’
approval. The joint venture, tentatively
named LG Magna e-Powertrain, will
employ about 1,000 people in the US,
Seoul and China. LG has supplied EV
components for GM’s Bolt and Jaguar’s
I-Pace, while Magna makes gear for
Volkswagen and other carmakers.
Sarah Provan
EasyJet directors have suffered a rebel-
lion after the airline’s founder and big-
gest shareholder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou,
voted against their re-election.
The airline said that 42 per cent of
shareholders voted against the reap-
pointment of top directors, including
chief executive Johan Lundgren, chief
financial officer Andrew Findlay and
chairman John Barton at its annual
meeting yesterday.
Sir Stelios, a longstanding critic
of easyJet’s leadership, owns about
30 per cent of the company along with
his family and had previously said he
would vote against the board.
In May Sir Stelios lost his attempt to
oust four directors, including the air-
line’s chairman and chief executive,
after more than 99 per cent of votes cast
by independent shareholders at an
extraordinary meeting backed the
board. Sir Stelios has clashed with the
low-cost carrier he founded in 1995 over
a multibillion-pound order for 107 Air-
bus aircraft. A week before the meeting
in May, he offered a reward for informa-
tion that could lead to the cancellation
of the airline’s contract with Airbus.
EasyJet said it would “continue to
engage with shareholders to discuss
their concerns but understands [the
vote against the board] was predomi-
nantly as a result of the company’s larg-
est shareholder (and its related parties)
voting against these resolutions”.
The investor revolt came as easyJet
said it was ready to put a post-Brexit
contingency plan in place to comply
with EU regulations, as the UK
approaches the end of the Brexit transi-
tion period. Activating this plan would
involve suspending certain sharehold-
ers’ voting rights.
EU regulations demand that airlines
with EU operating licences, including
easyJet, are majority owned and con-
trolled by nationals of the bloc, Switzer-
land, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.
From January, UK nationals will be
treated as non-EU and their shares will
no longer count towards that ownership
requirement.
EU nationals, excluding UK investors,
hold 47 per cent of easyJet’s shares,
which is below the requirement.
EasyJet’s share price rose 7 per cent to
830p yesterday.
8 ★
Beware the five big
tech convulsions
reshaping investing
Cathie Wood
Markets Insight
T
he global economy appears
to have entered a period of
convulsive changes, some
exceptionally good and
others devastating, that
could shape financial markets for years
to come.
In Ark’s view, any company not
investing aggressively in one or more of
five major platforms of innovation will
lose its way.
In harm’s way are companies that
have engineered their financial results
to satisfy the short-term demands of
short-sighted investors.
Those that have leveraged their bal-
ance sheets to buy back shares and pay
dividends are at particular risk as they
will have less balance sheet flexibility to
invest in response to technology shifts.
Seeded during the tech and telecoms
bubble more than 20 years ago, the five
main platforms of innovation that we
think will transform the global econ-
omy are: DNA sequencing, robotics,
energy storage, artificial intelligence,
and blockchain technology.
These involve 14 technologies
including gene therapies, 3D printing,
cloud computing, big data analytics,
and cryptocurrencies.
Importantly, they cut across eco-
nomic sectors, posing problems for
research efforts that are short term,
siloed and highly specialised.
In our experience, most research
departments of banks and fund manag-
ers are structured in that way, creating
inefficiencies to be exploited as “conver-
gences” create the new world order.
Sectors most at risk of disintermedia-
tion are energy, industrials, consumer
discretionary, communications serv-
ices, healthcare, and financial services.
As autonomous transport evolves, for
example, cars, rails and airlines are
likely to capitulate to the convergence of
robotics, energy storage and artificial
intelligence. Combined, these forces will
collapse the cost structure of transport.
Traditional healthcare is also likely to
give way to the convergence of next-
generation DNA sequencing, artificial
intelligence and gene therapies.
Meanwhile, in traditional financial
services, the middlemen that dominate
today’s financial ecosystem face disin-
termediation thanks to application pro-
gramming interfaces, social platforms
and blockchain technology that will
Innovation is evolving
so rapidly that equity
benchmarks are being
populated by value traps
enable the convergence of business and
consumer marketplaces.
Broadly defined, the sectors at risk of
disintermediation account for more
than half of the S&P 500.
Though at small bases today, we
believe most innovation platforms are
entering dramatic growth trajectories
thanks to lower costs and higher
productivity.
For example, we forecast that in
response to the 28 per cent cost decline
in lithium-ion batteries for every
cumulative doubling in units produced
globally, prices will continue to fall,
“turbocharging” electric vehicle sales.
According to our estimates, EV sales
will increase 20-fold globally during the
next five years, from an estimated 2m
and about 2.5 per cent of the market this
year to 40m and about 45 per cent in
FINANCIAL TIMES
COMPANIES & MARKETS
2025. Even if you think this ambitious,
the direction of travel appears clear. It is
one reason why Ark is a shareholder in
Tesla.
The bad news is that the more expen-
sive petrol-powered cars that dominate
the market today will lose almost half of
their sales base.
Moreover, if transport goes autono-
mous, as we believe it will, the auto
market will continue to shrink as the
capacity utilisation per car increases.
More broadly, if our forecasts for
the five innovation platforms are near
the mark, there will be an economic
impact.
Both growth in the value of goods and
inflation are likely to surprise on the low
side of expectations as market share
shifts to the poorly measured digital
world and as the “good” deflation asso-
ciated with technology takes hold.
We believe the winners will win in a
big way but losers, particularly those
that have levered balance sheets to sat-
isfy certain stakeholders, will unwind.
While risk-free interest rates are
likely to remain low, spreads between
companies on debt costs could widen
dramatically as disruptive innovation —
the likes of which we have not seen
since the telephone, electricity, and the
automobile burst on the scene in the
Roaring Twenties — causes dislocation.
So, investors beware. Innovation
appears to be evolving at such a rapid
pace that traditional equity bench-
marks are being populated increasingly
by so-called value traps — stocks that
are “cheap” for a reason.
Critical to investment success will be
moving to the right side of change.
Cathie Wood is founder and chief executive
of Ark Investment Management
Alternative assets. Diversification
Fine wine earns place in
well-blended portfolios
Investors turn to segment that
has dodged the wild swings of
2020 to record healthy gains
Laurence Fletcher — London
In a former Bath stone mine 100 feet
below the rolling Wiltshire countryside,
one low-profile company is benefiting
from a renewed thirst this year among
retail investors for trading markets.
Octavian, a 1m square foot wine ware-
house holding more than 10m bottles at
a temperature of 13-14C, has experi-
enced a surge in business as investors
have flocked to invest in fine wines.
“We’ve seen a lot more interest from
investors wanting to open an account,”
said Vincent O’Brien, managing direc-
tor, whose mine was used to store mis-
siles and torpedoes during the second
world war before being converted into a
wine store around 30 years ago.
Inquiries have more than doubled
compared with a year ago, while new
account openings are up 70 per cent.
Younger customers, in their late 20s and
early 30s, are becoming more inter-
ested, he said.
A rollercoaster year in financial mar-
kets, in which stocks plunged in March
on concerns over coronavirus before
rebounding to new highs, has prompted
a resurgence in retail investor day
trading.
Fine wine, an investment market that
has fallen in and out of favour with retail
investors over the years, is also enjoying
renewed interest this year. While only a
tiny fraction of the size of global equity
markets, it is wine’s ability to act
as a haven, rather than to provide
astronomical gains, that has attracted
investors.
Fine wine gained 4.7 per cent this year
to the end of November, as measured by
online exchange Liv-ex’s Liv-ex 100
index, in sterling terms. That compares
with a 14 per cent drop in the FTSE 100
index, a 5 per cent decline in the Stoxx
600 and a 14 per cent rise in the S&P
500, in local currency.
Wine’s relatively stable performance,
which includes a fall of just 1.1 per cent
during March’s market turmoil, comes
despite the impact of US tariffs on
French wine. It also comes in spite of
lockdowns in many countries forcing
the closure of restaurants, which are
large buyers of wine, and making tast-
ings, a key part of the sales process,
more difficult.
The day in the markets
What you need to know
3 Treasuries under pressure as traders
look past Trump stimulus pushback
3 Stocks on Wall Street heading for first
rise in four sessions
3 Pound jumps on hopes that Brexit
talks are nearing a deal
Stocks on Wall Street climbed and
Treasuries slid as investors weighed up
the prospects that a stimulus plan of
about $900bn could be derailed by
President Donald Trump at the eleventh
hour.
The benchmark S&P 500 rose for the
first time in four sessions, up 0.6 per cent
by lunchtime in New York, to put its gains
for the year at nearly 15 per cent. The
tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was little
moved.
Garrett Melson, a portfolio strategist at
Natixis Advisors, said investors were
A vintage year for wine
investors
Performance of £1,000
1,200
S&P 500
1,100
1,000
Liv-ex 100
900
800
FTSE 100
700
Jan 2020 Nov
All indices are in sterling terms
Sources: Liv-ex; Refinitiv
Tom Gearing, chief executive of
£150m-in-assets Cult Wines who held
tastings with wineries over Zoom during
lockdown, capitalised on growing inves-
tor demand this spring. Spotting an
opportunity to pick up wines at bargain
prices, he raised a £5m special opportu-
nities portfolio in four weeks from 80
investors, of which 31 were new clients
to the firm. The portfolio is up 17.5 per
cent this year, according to Mr Gearing,
who was previously a finalist on the UK
version of The Apprentice.
Gregory Swartberg, chief executive of
Cru Wine, a London-based wine invest-
ment firm, who trades the business’s
own money and also on behalf of clients,
says his book of clients has risen by
about two-thirds this year.
“To our surprise, even considering the
fact that restaurants were not taking in a
lot of stock and tried to sell stock, [the
wine market has] seen a tremendous
amount of demand coming from private
clients,” said Mr Swartberg.
And at Bordeaux Index, the wine mer-
chant, the number of new trading
‘Wine has
shown little
correlation
with
financial
assets
during
disruption’
largely looking through the last-minute
“twist” from Mr Trump.
The US president late on Tuesday
called the stimulus package a “disgrace”
and said he would ask Congress to
increase the size of cheques being cut to
eligible Americans to $2,000 per person
— far above the level that his Republican
party has been willing to agree to.
“We either get the original package
now or we get another package next
month with [Joe] Biden’s signature on it,”
Mr Melson said.
Additional fiscal support is seen as
critical to keep the economic recovery
from faltering as coronavirus cases rise
and cities consider new shutdowns.
While the number of Americans
applying for unemployment benefits
declined last week, it still remained
elevated compared with pre-Covid levels.
Thursday 24 December 2020
Liquidity play:
wine fell just
1.1% in March’s
turmoil — Regis
Duvignau/Reuters
accounts opened is 60 per cent higher
this year than in 2019. “Most notably
[wine] did not drop materially during
the Covid crisis,” said Matthew O’Con-
nell, head of wine investment, adding
“wine has shown little correlation with
financial assets during disruptive mar-
ket events.”
Some parts of the market have been
especially fizzy. Liv-ex’s Champagne 50
index rose 8.3 per cent, driven by top-
end vintage champagnes such as Louis
Roederer’s Cristal, Dom Pérignon and
Salon. Bollinger’s La Grande Année
2008, for instance, rose 27.4 per cent.
Italian wine, as measured by Liv-ex’s
Italy 100, rose 6.7 per cent.
Both have benefited from growing
demand in Asia, at the expense of Bor-
deaux, while Italian wines have bene-
fited from US tariffs on French wine.
The market’s quirks have also thrown
up trading opportunities.
There had been speculation, for
instance, that château Lafite Rothschild
would change its famous label for its
2018 vintage, which marks 150 years
since the Rothschild family bought the
Pauillac winery. Cru Wine’s Mr Swart-
berg bought a large amount of the wine
for clients and the company’s own
account this summer.
When the label was released two
months ago, it featured a tiny hot air
balloon with the letters CL — roman
numerals for 150. Mr Swartberg made a
quick profit of around 30 per cent as col-
lectors snapped up the wine, which will
not be bottled until next year.
While trading costs remain much
higher and liquidity is far lower than in
stock markets, there are signs that the
wine market is becoming easier for
retail investors to access. Octavian this
year launched a portal allowing its cus-
tomers to trade with each other. Mr
Gearing’s company advises customers
on how they should rebalance their
portfolios and uses an algorithm to help
determine which wines and regions to
buy and sell.
“The days when you would get an allo-
cation of wine, put it in the cellar for 10
years and forget about it are over,” said
Mr Gearing. “More analytics now allow
you to trade.”
laurence.fletcher@ft.com
US government debt sold off with the
yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly
rising 6 basis points to 0.97 per cent, near
its highest level since March, before
slipping back to 0.95 per cent.
The weakness in Treasuries was
accompanied by a sell-off in sovereign
bonds in Europe as the UK and EU
worked towards a trade deal.
The yield on the 10-year UK gilt rose 10
basis points to 0.29 per cent while the
yield on the equivalent German Bund
climbed 5bp to minus 0.55 per cent.
The pound strengthened against the
dollar on hopes of the UK striking a post-
Brexit trade deal with the EU before
Christmas. The currency advanced 0.9
per cent to $1.3479 on signs that
significant progress had been made in
trade talks between Brussels and the UK.
Colby Smith and Eric Platt
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 9

MARKET DATA

WORLD MARKETS AT A GLANCE FT.COM/MARKETSDATA

Change during previous day’s trading (%)
S&P 500 Nasdaq Composite Dow Jones Ind FTSE 100 FTSE Eurofirst 300 Nikkei Hang Seng FTSE All World $ $ per € $ per £ ¥ per $ £ per € Oil Brent $ Sep Gold $

-0.101% -1.422% -0.15%

0.50% 0.06% 0.73% 0.66% 0.89% 0.33% 0.86% 0.65% 0.164% 1.502% 0.26%
Stock Market movements over last 30 days, with the FTSE All-World in the same currency as a comparison
AMERICAS EUROPE ASIA
Nov 24 - - Index All World Nov 24 - Dec 23 Index All World Nov 24 - Dec 23 Index All World Nov 24 - Dec 23 Index All World Nov 24 - Dec 23 Index All World Nov 24 - Dec 23 Index All World

S&P 500 New York S&P/TSX COMP Toronto FTSE 100 London Xetra Dax Frankfurt Nikkei 225 Tokyo Kospi Seoul
13,587.23 2,759.82
3,705.75 17,622.94 6,495.75
6,432.17 13,292.44 26,524.79
3,635.41 17,274.25 26,165.59 2,617.76
Day 0.50% Month 3.58% Year 14.94% Day 0.40% Month 3.09% Year 2.89% Day 0.66% Month 2.52% Year -14.82% Day 1.26% Month 0.16% Year NaN% Day 0.33% Month 3.91% Year 11.37% Day 0.96% Month 8.08% Year 25.21%

Nasdaq Composite New York IPC Mexico City FTSE Eurofirst 300 Europe Ibex 35 Madrid Hang Seng Hong Kong FTSE Straits Times Singapore
12,816.04
43,343.58 1,523.06 8,143.20 8,073.60 2,891.63
42,736.48 1,514.38 26,588.20 26,343.10 2,833.40
11,880.63
Day 0.06% Month 7.89% Year 43.29% Day 1.74% Month 2.57% Year -2.09% Day 0.89% Month 1.56% Year -6.74% Day 1.76% Month 1.16% Year -16.42% Day 0.86% Month -0.47% Year -5.54% Day 0.22% Month 0.58% Year -11.93%

Dow Jones Industrial New York Bovespa São Paulo CAC 40 Paris FTSE MIB Milan Shanghai Composite Shanghai BSE Sensex Mumbai
118,099.32 46,444.18
30,234.40 5,558.42 5,527.59 22,145.06 22,130.18
3,402.82 3,382.32
29,591.27 109,786.30 44,077.15
Day 0.73% Month 2.15% Year 5.87% Day 1.25% Month 9.99% Year 1.94% Day 1.11% Month 0.65% Year -8.32% Day 1.31% Month 2.03% Year -7.35% Day 0.76% Month 0.14% Year 12.56% Day 0.95% Month 5.84% Year 11.43%

Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous Country Index Latest Previous
Argentina Merval 51054.90 50406.93 Cyprus CSE M&P Gen 68.46 68.68 Italy FTSE Italia All-Share 24089.23 23787.23 Philippines Manila Comp 7204.38 7202.39 Taiwan Weighted Pr 14223.09 14177.46 Cross-Border DJ Global Titans ($) 432.55 431.32
Australia All Ordinaries 6892.60 6845.50 Czech Republic
PX 1008.78 1001.90 FTSE Italia Mid Cap 37834.64 37606.71 Poland Wig 55843.46 55108.83 Thailand Bangkok SET 1416.02 1424.39 Euro Stoxx 50 (Eur) 3539.26 3497.49
S&P/ASX 200 6643.10 6599.60 Denmark OMXC Copenahgen 20 1444.69 1452.58 FTSE MIB 22130.18 21844.33 Portugal PSI 20 4825.28 4726.08 Turkey BIST 100 1417.66 1404.97 Euronext 100 ID 1099.82 1088.81
S&P/ASX 200 Res 5095.10 5113.80 Egypt EGX 30 10677.51 10655.91 Japan 2nd Section 6481.46 6490.89 PSI General 3737.64 3639.61 UAE Abu Dhabi General Index 5142.31 5109.61 FTSE 4Good Global ($) 9170.77 9138.81
Austria ATX 2737.12 2707.52 Estonia OMX Tallinn 1320.55 1324.01 Nikkei 225 26524.79 26436.39 Romania BET Index 9685.26 9642.66 UK FT 30 2535.00 2489.10 FTSE All World ($) 419.94 417.22
Belgium BEL 20 3655.87 3607.72 Finland OMX Helsinki General 10720.37 10654.48 S&P Topix 150 1491.03 1488.37 Russia Micex Index 3252.10 3236.46 FTSE 100 6495.75 6453.16 FTSE E300 1523.06 1509.67
BEL Mid 8261.70 8196.74 France CAC 40 5527.59 5466.86 Topix 1765.21 1761.12 RTX 1366.76 1351.43 FTSE 4Good UK 6090.73 6043.45 FTSE Eurotop 100 2856.66 2829.41
Brazil IBovespa 118099.32 116636.18 SBF 120 4379.60 4331.07 Jordan Amman SE 1621.68 1623.49 Saudi-Arabia TADAWUL All Share Index 8720.67 8680.45 FTSE All Share 3681.19 3649.62 FTSE Global 100 ($) 2441.55 2433.45
Canada S&P/TSX 60 1049.01 1046.36 Germany M-DAX 30413.79 30233.41 Kenya NSE 20 1812.00 1810.82 Singapore FTSE Straits Times 2833.40 2827.32 FTSE techMARK 100 6289.13 6235.51 FTSE Gold Min ($) 2330.40 2392.36
S&P/TSX Comp 17622.94 17552.46 TecDAX 3183.97 3179.70 Kuwait KSX Market Index 6633.44 6603.51 Slovakia SAX 342.22 344.80 USA DJ Composite 10011.95 9945.09 FTSE Latibex Top (Eur) 4440.00 4432.20
S&P/TSX Div Met & Min 663.52 678.03 XETRA Dax 13587.23 13418.11 Latvia OMX Riga 1128.25 1122.40 Slovenia SBI TOP - - DJ Industrial 30234.40 30015.51 FTSE Multinationals ($) 2656.78 2656.52
Chile S&P/CLX IGPA Gen 20851.32 20963.78 Greece Athens Gen 787.48 780.21 Lithuania OMX Vilnius 797.48 795.30 South Africa FTSE/JSE All Share 58986.72 58619.75 DJ Transport 12546.71 12459.81 FTSE World ($) 746.22 741.45
China FTSE A200 13254.72 13152.95 FTSE/ASE 20 1884.05 1865.35 Luxembourg LuxX 1349.44 1333.86 FTSE/JSE Res 20 56379.69 56038.37 DJ Utilities 845.49 842.22 FTSEurofirst 100 (Eur) 3899.49 3848.76
FTSE B35 9000.71 8988.96 Hong Kong Hang Seng 26343.10 26119.25 Malaysia FTSE Bursa KLCI 1647.50 1631.92 FTSE/JSE Top 40 53958.73 53648.03 Nasdaq 100 12701.73 12717.56 FTSEurofirst 80 (Eur) 4838.91 4782.39
Shanghai A 3545.30 3518.50 HS China Enterprise 10482.52 10384.18 Mexico IPC 43343.58 42601.71 South Korea Kospi 2759.82 2733.68 Nasdaq Cmp 12816.04 12807.92 MSCI ACWI Fr ($) 633.65 634.60
Shanghai B 238.88 238.44 HSCC Red Chip 3671.97 3650.81 Morocco MASI 11338.84 11164.60 Kospi 200 371.32 366.43 NYSE Comp 14452.30 14321.34 MSCI All World ($) 2643.07 2644.97
Shanghai Comp 3382.32 3356.78 Hungary Bux 41197.14 41049.52 Netherlands AEX 622.42 617.50 Spain IBEX 35 8073.60 7934.20 S&P 500 3705.75 3687.26 MSCI Europe (Eur) 1592.08 1575.38
Shenzhen A 2387.18 2369.60 India BSE Sensex 46444.18 46006.69 AEX All Share 900.66 894.38 Sri Lanka CSE All Share 6629.02 6634.92 Wilshire 5000 39246.59 39053.01 MSCI Pacific ($) 3011.29 3057.96
Shenzhen B 1072.26 1077.22 Nifty 500 11225.55 11075.75 New Zealand NZX 50 13020.21 12842.69 Sweden OMX Stockholm 30 1867.99 1863.28 Venezuela IBC 1235117.00 1267251.25 S&P Euro (Eur) 1643.56 1625.19
Colombia COLCAP 1368.49 1383.59 Indonesia Jakarta Comp 6008.71 6023.29 Nigeria SE All Share 37893.61 37443.40 OMX Stockholm AS 760.34 755.95 Vietnam VNI 1078.90 1083.45 S&P Europe 350 (Eur) 1572.33 1557.09
Croatia CROBEX 2013.05 2011.29 Ireland ISEQ Overall 7474.66 7347.57 Norway Oslo All Share 1017.37 1006.88 Switzerland SMI Index 10411.92 10403.37 S&P Global 1200 ($) 2928.89 2909.13
Israel Tel Aviv 125 1506.75 1486.18 Pakistan KSE 100 43087.70 42906.94 Stoxx 50 (Eur) 3075.17 3049.64
(c) Closed. (u) Unavaliable. † Correction. ♥ Subject to official recalculation. For more index coverage please see www.ft.com/worldindices. A fuller version of this table is available on the ft.com research data archive.

STOCK MARKET: BIGGEST MOVERS UK MARKET WINNERS AND LOSERS

AMERICA LONDON EURO MARKETS TOKYO Dec 23 %Chg %Chg Dec 23 %Chg %Chg Dec 23 %Chg %Chg Dec 23 %Chg %Chg
ACTIVE STOCKS stock close Day's ACTIVE STOCKS stock close Day's ACTIVE STOCKS stock close Day's ACTIVE STOCKS stock close Day's FTSE 100 price(p) week ytd FTSE 250 price(p) week ytd FTSE SmallCap price(p) week ytd Industry Sectors price(p) week ytd
traded m's price change traded m's price change traded m's price change traded m's price change Winners Winners Winners Winners
Apple 56.6 131.53 -0.35 Lloyds Banking 121.9 37.13 2.43 Amadeus It 279.7 58.98 0.76 Softbank . 1299.8 8075.00 -212.00 Intermediate Capital 1732.00 5.4 5.6 Signature Aviation 400.00 49.3 26.2 Kin And Carta 135.00 29.8 34.3 Industrial Transportation 2864.37 14.2 17.3
Amazon.com 29.2 3198.51 -8.01 Astrazeneca 106.9 7224.00 -104.00 Santander 200.3 2.62 0.09 Mitsubishi Ufj Fin,. 287.5 446.10 -4.10 Barclays 151.82 5.3 -18.0 Cairn Energy 202.60 21.0 -0.7 Capital & Regional 78.00 23.8 -69.9 Construction & Materials 6967.38 2.8 -1.3
Facebook 16.4 270.06 2.97 Barclays 106.4 151.82 5.84 Allianz Se Na O.n. 197.3 199.88 4.66 Toyota Motor 274.0 7720.00 -57.00 Entain 1163.50 4.8 - Oxford Biomedica 982.00 9.8 45.9 Metro Bank 134.00 15.8 -35.9 Industrial Metals 4956.92 2.7 31.2
Microsoft 15.0 222.47 -1.47 Bp 102.5 265.75 7.20 Enel 194.6 8.27 0.20 M3,. 240.2 9386.00 179.00 Persimmon 2829.00 4.6 3.6 Polypipe 597.00 8.9 9.4 Spire Healthcare 156.60 13.5 10.3 Electricity 8921.51 2.2 6.2
Boeing 14.9 221.58 2.80 Unilever 81.0 4311.00 -31.00 Sap Se O.n. 169.0 103.76 0.14 Sumitomo Mitsui Fin,. 222.6 3083.00 -47.00 Berkeley Holdings (the) 4638.00 4.2 -6.3 Cmc Markets 405.50 8.6 174.7 Bloomsbury Publishing 295.00 11.7 1.8 Software & Computer Services 1914.21 1.9 -
Advanced Micro Devices 12.0 91.74 -1.42 British American Tobacco 70.5 2714.00 -9.50 Royal Dutch Shella 163.2 14.93 0.43 Sony 217.2 10150.00 105.00 Barratt Developments 676.00 4.0 -10.1 Osb 436.60 8.3 -1.6 Tyman 355.00 10.9 32.3 General Financial 12139.22 1.8 -5.8
Nvidia 9.5 525.20 -5.93 Glaxosmithkline 66.6 1337.40 -12.40 Intesa Sanpaolo 160.4 1.91 0.03 Fast Retailing Co., 180.4 84320.00 -100.00 Wpp 812.40 3.9 -24.0 Puretech Health 372.50 7.7 17.5 Arrow Global 193.80 10.9 -27.1 Automobiles & Parts 4118.09 1.1 -
Salesforce.com 8.2 229.38 -1.79 Int Consolidated Airlines S.a. 59.7 161.80 9.55 Daimler Ag Na O.n. 158.5 58.52 1.88 Tokyo Electron 165.1 36560.00 510.00 Ashtead 3441.00 3.8 43.4 Watches Of Switzerland 561.00 7.5 43.8 Rps 74.90 10.5 -57.0 Media 7961.18 1.1 -
Pfizer 7.2 37.61 0.87 Hsbc Holdings 57.5 385.80 2.00 Total 149.7 35.86 0.98 Recruit Hldgs Co Ltd 157.5 4204.00 69.00 Schroders 3426.00 3.7 1.1 Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust 372.00 7.4 87.5 Senior 93.00 10.2 -50.0 Household Goods 17478.11 1.0 -2.7
Jpmorgan Chase & Co 6.8 125.32 3.65 Rio Tinto 56.8 5600.00 20.00 Asml Holding 147.8 390.25 -1.15 Mizuho Fin,. 155.2 1293.00 -19.00 Natwest 166.90 3.3 -31.7 Just 69.00 6.6 -16.9 Go-ahead 993.50 8.4 -55.0 Electronic & Electrical Equip. 9950.74 0.9 15.0
Just Eat Takeaway.com N.v. 8000.00 3.1 - Greggs 1803.00 6.6 -24.1 Lsl Property Services 272.00 8.4 0.7 Health Care Equip.& Services 6661.94 0.9 -
BIGGEST MOVERS Close Day's Day's BIGGEST MOVERS Close Day's Day's BIGGEST MOVERS Close Day's Day's BIGGEST MOVERS Close Day's Day's
Crh 3111.00 3.0 0.4 Computacenter 2444.00 6.3 35.5 Funding Circle Holdings 91.20 7.9 -5.6 Support Services 9920.85 0.8 5.0
price change chng% price change chng% price change chng% price change chng%
Ups Ups Ups Ups Losers Losers Losers Losers
Marathon Oil 6.84 0.53 8.40 Cairn Energy 202.60 36.70 22.12 B. Sabadell 0.36 0.02 5.66 Hitachi Zosen 533.00 26.00 5.13 Burberry 1758.00 -6.0 -20.1 Avon Rubber 3155.00 -15.6 51.7 Chrysalis Investments 173.00 - - Mobile Telecommunications 2805.66 -5.6 -
Diamondback Energy 47.52 3.47 7.88 Virgin Money Uk 139.20 10.90 8.50 Natixis 2.69 0.13 5.03 Trend Micro orporated 5980.00 220.00 3.82 Vodafone 123.00 -5.9 -16.8 Petrofac 143.50 -12.0 -62.5 Dignity 584.00 -17.0 -2.7 Tobacco 28849.33 -5.0 -
Alliance Data Systems 72.46 4.76 7.03 Easyjet 832.00 57.00 7.35 Repsol 8.20 0.36 4.62 Yaskawa Electric 4990.00 180.00 3.74 United Utilities 900.20 -5.5 -5.6 Airtel Africa 73.40 -7.9 -6.9 Premier Oil 19.99 -12.3 -79.9 Pharmaceuticals & Biotech. 15614.51 -3.7 -
Occidental Petroleum 18.10 1.18 6.98 Hammerson 25.49 1.74 7.33 Airbus 91.95 4.01 4.56 Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., 5205.00 171.00 3.40 Astrazeneca 7224.00 -5.5 -5.7 Frasers 449.60 -7.7 -2.1 Amigo Holdings 8.10 -11.6 -88.5 Oil & Gas Producers 4666.61 -3.7 -
Flir Systems 44.23 2.73 6.57 Lloyds Banking 37.13 2.43 7.00 Lufthansa Ag Vna O.n. 9.86 0.41 4.34 Cyberagent,. 6990.00 220.00 3.25 British American Tobacco 2714.00 -5.1 -16.9 Coats 67.50 -7.0 -9.8 Kkv Secured Loan Fund 34.35 -9.4 -59.7 Oil Equipment & Services 5728.46 -3.3 -
Morrison (wm) Supermarkets 173.85 -5.1 -14.1 Liontrust Asset Management 1245.00 -6.4 11.2 Pendragon 10.72 -9.3 -16.4 Gas Water & Multiutilities 4734.93 -2.4 -
Downs Downs Downs Downs
Royal Dutch Shell 1291.00 -5.0 -42.8 Royal Mail 330.80 -5.4 42.6 Kkv Secured Loan Fund 16.58 -9.2 -79.8 Food & Drug Retailers 4230.47 -1.8 1.0
Int Flavors & Fragrances 111.90 -3.06 -2.66 Just Eat Takeaway.com N.v. 8000.00 -194.00 -2.37 Iliad 166.95 -2.70 -1.59 Pacific Metals Co., 2148.00 -131.00 -5.75
Mondi 1707.00 -5.0 -3.5 Capita 39.00 -5.3 -76.8 Int Personal Finance 84.60 -8.0 -47.6 Personal Goods 36553.39 -1.8 -4.0
Pultegroup 44.25 -1.17 -2.57 Rotork 315.40 -5.60 -1.74 Novo Nordisk B A/s 57.28 -0.81 -1.39 Mitsui Eng & Shipbuilding Co., 371.00 -15.00 -3.89
Royal Dutch Shell 1334.60 -4.2 -40.9 Uk Commercial Property Reit 65.00 -5.1 -26.3 Hostelworld 72.80 -7.8 -42.7 Real Estate & Investment Servic 2592.54 -1.4 -
Lennar 78.38 -1.96 -2.44 Reckitt Benckiser 6452.00 -104.00 -1.59 Atlas Copco Ab Ser. A 41.81 -0.58 -1.38 Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings 589.00 -23.00 -3.76
Land Securities 684.40 -3.7 -31.1 Trainline 441.80 -5.0 -12.3 Honeycomb Investment Trust 960.00 -6.8 -1.3 Real Estate Investment Trusts 2728.53 -0.8 -
Dr Horton 70.75 -1.57 -2.17 Crh 3111.00 -46.00 -1.46 Kone 65.70 -0.90 -1.35 Mitsubishi Motors 206.00 -7.00 -3.29
Dcc 5302.00 -3.1 -19.8 Oxford Instruments 1956.00 -4.8 26.5 Ten Entertainment 190.00 -6.4 -37.6 Food Producers 6989.01 -0.8 -
Marketaxess Holdings 578.49 -11.83 -2.00 Astrazeneca 7224.00 -104.00 -1.42 Kinnevik Ab Ser. B 40.50 -0.52 -1.28 Fujikura 451.00 -15.00 -3.22
Sainsbury (j) 224.00 -3.1 -3.5 C&c 215.00 -4.7 -47.6 Zotefoams 360.00 -6.2 -18.2 Beverages 23065.72 -0.6 -9.1
Based on the constituents of the S&P500 Based on the constituents of the FTSE 350 index Based on the constituents of the FTSEurofirst 300 Eurozone index Based on the constituents of the Nikkei 225 index
Based on last week's performance. †Price at suspension.

CURRENCIES
DOLLAR EURO POUND DOLLAR EURO POUND DOLLAR EURO POUND DOLLAR EURO POUND
Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's Closing Day's
Dec 23 Currency Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Dec 23 Currency Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Dec 23 Currency Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change Dec 23 Currency Mid Change Mid Change Mid Change
Argentina Argentine Peso 83.3641 0.1200 101.5917 0.2956 112.7212 1.8651 Indonesia Indonesian Rupiah 14200.0000 -5.0000 17304.8403 19.3831 19200.6390 283.8163 Poland Polish Zloty 3.6947 -0.0098 4.5025 -0.0053 4.9958 0.0625 ..Three Month 0.7397 -0.0114 0.9011 -0.0125 - -
Australia Australian Dollar 1.3187 -0.0112 1.6070 -0.0113 1.7830 0.0120 Israel Israeli Shekel 3.2163 -0.0133 3.9195 -0.0104 4.3489 0.0481 Romania Romanian Leu 3.9984 -0.0045 4.8727 0.0017 5.4065 0.0758 ..One Year 0.7399 -0.0114 0.9007 -0.0125 - -
Bahrain Bahrainin Dinar 0.3771 - 0.4595 0.0007 0.5098 0.0077 Japan Japanese Yen 103.6000 -0.1050 126.2522 0.0581 140.0833 1.9794 Russia Russian Ruble 74.9288 -0.5912 91.3119 -0.5850 101.3153 0.7453 United States United States Dollar - - 1.2187 0.0018 1.3522 0.0205
Bolivia Bolivian Boliviano 6.9100 - 8.4209 0.0124 9.3434 0.1413 ..One Month 103.5999 -0.1052 126.2522 0.0582 140.0833 1.9793 Saudi Arabia Saudi Riyal 3.7526 0.0008 4.5730 0.0076 5.0740 0.0778 ..One Month - - 1.2185 -0.1130 1.3523 0.0204
Brazil Brazilian Real 5.2017 0.0556 6.3390 0.0770 7.0334 0.1804 ..Three Month 103.5998 -0.1053 126.2523 0.0584 140.0832 1.9792 Singapore Singapore Dollar 1.3322 -0.0043 1.6235 -0.0028 1.8013 0.0215 ..Three Month - - 1.2183 -0.1130 1.3523 0.0204
Canada Canadian Dollar 1.2858 -0.0073 1.5669 -0.0065 1.7386 0.0166 ..One Year 103.5995 -0.1061 126.2526 0.0590 140.0833 1.9790 South Africa South African Rand 14.5963 -0.0600 17.7877 -0.0468 19.7364 0.2187 ..One Year - - 1.2176 -0.1130 1.3525 0.0204
Chile Chilean Peso 714.3000 -12.3100 870.4819 -13.6978 965.8446 -1.7818 Kenya Kenyan Shilling 108.8000 -0.5000 132.5891 -0.4132 147.1145 1.5597 South Korea South Korean Won 1107.8500 0.3500 1350.0817 2.4137 1497.9855 23.1280 Venezuela Venezuelan Bolivar Fuerte - - - - - -
China Chinese Yuan 6.5378 -0.0100 7.9673 -0.0004 8.8401 0.1204 Kuwait Kuwaiti Dinar 0.3050 -0.0001 0.3717 0.0005 0.4124 0.0062 Sweden Swedish Krona 8.2952 -0.0485 10.1089 -0.0441 11.2164 0.1051 Vietnam Vietnamese Dong 23132.5000 5.0000 28190.4547 47.6016 31278.7373 479.8449
Colombia Colombian Peso 3485.0000 39.2300 4246.9968 53.9911 4712.2622 123.5297 Malaysia Malaysian Ringgit 4.0630 0.0020 4.9514 0.0097 5.4938 0.0858 Switzerland Swiss Franc 0.8895 0.0001 1.0839 0.0018 1.2027 0.0184 European Union Euro 0.8206 -0.0012 - - 1.1096 0.0152
Costa Rica Costa Rican Colon 609.1600 1.0450 742.3530 2.3647 823.6790 13.8524 Mexico Mexican Peso 20.1373 0.0563 24.5403 0.1046 27.2287 0.4868 Taiwan New Taiwan Dollar 28.1385 -0.0080 34.2910 0.0408 38.0476 0.5649 ..One Month 0.8204 -0.0012 - - 1.1095 0.0152
Czech Republic Czech Koruna 21.5800 -0.0743 26.2985 -0.0517 29.1795 0.3425 New Zealand New Zealand Dollar 1.4108 -0.0106 1.7193 -0.0104 1.9077 0.0147 Thailand Thai Baht 30.2200 0.0025 36.8276 0.0573 40.8621 0.6215 ..Three Month 0.8203 -0.0012 - - 1.1094 0.0152
Denmark Danish Krone 6.1032 -0.0104 7.4377 -0.0017 8.2525 0.1110 Nigeria Nigerian Naira 394.7500 - 481.0622 0.7083 533.7633 8.0748 Tunisia Tunisian Dinar 2.6948 -0.0135 3.2840 -0.0117 3.6437 0.0371 ..One Year 0.8195 -0.0012 - - 1.1090 0.0152
Egypt Egyptian Pound 15.7000 0.0430 19.1328 0.0805 21.2288 0.3784 Norway Norwegian Krone 8.6495 -0.0944 10.5408 -0.0993 11.6955 0.0513 Turkey Turkish Lira 7.6360 -0.0035 9.3056 0.0094 10.3251 0.1515
Hong Kong Hong Kong Dollar 7.7529 0.0004 9.4480 0.0143 10.4831 0.1591 Pakistan Pakistani Rupee 160.3000 -0.3500 195.3496 -0.1383 216.7505 2.8129 United Arab Emirates UAE Dirham 3.6732 - 4.4763 0.0066 4.9667 0.0751
Hungary Hungarian Forint 297.1937 -0.6122 362.1751 -0.2117 401.8520 5.2640 Peru Peruvian Nuevo Sol 3.6119 -0.0058 4.4016 -0.0005 4.8838 0.0662 United Kingdom Pound Sterling 0.7396 -0.0114 0.9013 -0.0125 - -
India Indian Rupee 73.7613 -0.0863 89.8892 0.0274 99.7367 1.3940 Philippines Philippine Peso 48.0600 -0.0300 58.5683 0.0497 64.9846 0.9431 ..One Month 0.7397 -0.0114 0.9012 -0.0125 - -
Rates are derived from WM Reuters Spot Rates and MorningStar (latest rates at time of production). Some values are rounded. Currency redenominated by 1000. The exchange rates printed in this table are also available at www.FT.com/marketsdata
UK SERIES
FTSE ACTUARIES SHARE INDICES www.ft.com/equities FT 30 INDEX FTSE SECTORS: LEADERS & LAGGARDS FTSE 100 SUMMARY
Produced in conjunction with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Dec 23 Dec 22 Dec 21 Dec 18 Dec 17 Yr Ago High Low Year to date percentage changes Closing Day's Closing Day's
£ Strlg Day's Euro £ Strlg £ Strlg Year Div P/E X/D Total FT 30 2535.00 2489.10 2456.50 2517.60 2544.90 0.00 3314.70 1337.80 Leisure Goods 64.99 Forestry & Paper -1.47 Media -12.37 FTSE 100 Price Change FTSE 100 Price Change
Dec 23 chge% Index Dec 22 Dec 21 ago yield% Cover ratio adj Return FT 30 Div Yield - - - - - 0.00 3.93 2.74 Industrial Metals & 31.10 General Retailers -2.39 Food Producers -12.60 3I Group PLC 1159 17.00 Land Securities Group PLC 684.40 15.90
FTSE 100 (100) 6495.75 0.66 5602.83 6453.16 6416.32 7632.24 3.68 1.54 17.67 208.44 6208.35 P/E Ratio net - - - - - 0.00 19.44 14.26 Mining 16.91 Personal Goods -3.50 FTSE 100 Index -13.43 Admiral Group PLC 2945 -21.00 Legal & General Group PLC 259.80 10.40
FTSE 250 (250) 20297.76 1.74 17507.56 19950.72 19692.11 21981.09 2.33 1.34 32.09 343.17 16108.71 FT 30 since compilation: 4198.4 high: 19/07/1999; low49.4 18/02/1900Base Date: 1/7/35 Basic Materials 15.07 Household Goods & Ho -4.50 Mobile Telecomms -13.93 Anglo American PLC 2462 49.50 Lloyds Banking Group PLC 37.13 2.43
FTSE 250 ex Inv Co (183) 20837.57 2.10 17973.17 20408.30 20141.94 23402.04 2.32 1.23 34.93 308.54 16868.47 FT 30 hourly changes Electronic & Elec Eq 15.01 Financial Services -6.40 Tobacco -14.23 Antofagasta PLC 1429 11.50 London Stock Exchange Group PLC 8900 -32.00
FTSE 350 (350) 3708.02 0.85 3198.30 3676.74 3651.03 4294.61 3.44 1.51 19.21 108.68 7062.50 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 High Low Tech Hardware & Eq 14.58 FTSE 250 Index -8.08 Financials -14.58 Ashtead Group PLC 3441 -5.00 M&G PLC 201.00 4.35
FTSE 350 ex Investment Trusts (281) 3611.89 0.87 3115.38 3580.77 3556.66 4240.53 3.52 1.39 20.40 107.74 3550.19 2489.1 2494.2 2493.1 2435.3 2399.1 2395.8 2394.3 2414 2426.7 2439.2 2366.1 Equity Invest Instr 11.79 Utilities -8.23 Real Est Invest & Se -14.91 Associated British Foods PLC 2251 46.00 Melrose Industries PLC 172.90 4.40
FTSE 350 Higher Yield (145) 2922.90 1.51 2521.11 2879.36 2862.41 3700.36 4.97 1.42 14.14 122.31 6122.70 FT30 constituents and recent additions/deletions can be found at www.ft.com/ft30 Industrial Eng 9.16 Beverages -8.36 Telecommunications -18.31 Astrazeneca PLC 7224 -104.00 Mondi PLC 1707 -2.50
FTSE 350 Lower Yield (205) 4273.05 0.22 3685.67 4263.71 4229.40 4549.73 1.96 1.73 29.40 74.75 5055.84 Industrial Transport 5.62 Consumer Goods -8.85 Health Care Eq & Srv -20.11 Auto Trader Group PLC 588.40 4.40 Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets PLC 173.85 2.85
FTSE SmallCap (257) 6098.07 1.28 5259.81 6020.96 5989.08 5946.81 3.07 -0.67 -49.04 130.38 9692.18 Chemicals 4.23 Pharmace & Biotech -9.74 Real Est Invest & Tr -20.17
FTSE SmallCap ex Inv Co (141) 4805.90 1.82 4145.27 4720.22 4677.76 4880.78 3.03 -0.37 -89.98 76.94 7989.33 FX: EFFECTIVE INDICES Support Services 4.21 Technology -10.30 Travel & Leisure -21.35
Avast PLC 527.50 -4.00 National Grid PLC 859.00 6.60
Aveva Group PLC 3209 -4.00 Natwest Group PLC 166.90 8.00
FTSE All-Share (607) 3681.19 0.87 3175.16 3649.62 3624.30 4239.28 3.43 1.45 20.14 106.81 7082.70
FTSE All-Share ex Inv Co (422) 3549.60 0.89 3061.66 3518.43 3494.59 4156.52 3.51 1.36 20.86 104.88 3543.56 Dec 22 Dec 21 Mnth Ago Dec 23 Dec 22 Mnth Ago Electricity 3.50 Health Care -10.92 Automobiles & Parts -25.16 Aviva PLC 326.00 8.30 Next PLC 6934 256.00
FTSE SmallCap Index 1.86 NON FINANCIALS Index -11.15 Aerospace & Defense -26.78 B&M European Value Retail S.A. 513.00 6.40 Ocado Group PLC 2239 -26.00
FTSE All-Share ex Multinationals (538) 1186.59 1.89 848.27 1164.64 1151.91 1288.45 2.77 1.40 25.68 25.26 2377.81 Australia - - - Sweden - - - Food & Drug Retailer 0.47 Consumer Services -11.76 Fixed Line Telecomms -27.80 Bae Systems PLC 501.20 7.00 Pearson PLC 674.20 4.40
FTSE Fledgling (90) 10185.71 0.45 8785.55 10140.06 10139.98 9761.21 2.57 0.60 65.35 216.25 20956.38 Canada - - - Switzerland - - - Nonlife Insurance 0.41 Gas Water & Multi -11.76 Banks -33.96 Barclays PLC 151.82 5.84 Pennon Group PLC 941.80 -0.80
FTSE Fledgling ex Inv Co (43) 12250.71 0.40 10566.69 12202.02 12192.72 11661.71 2.62 4.32 8.84 178.22 24614.41 Denmark - - - UK 77.48 77.27 78.53 Construct & Material 0.26 Life Insurance -11.81 Oil Equipment & Serv -33.97 Barratt Developments PLC 676.00 27.00 Pershing Square Holdings LTD 2405 20.00
FTSE All-Small (347) 4227.21 1.24 3646.12 4175.61 4154.69 4118.66 3.04 -0.61 -54.12 90.40 8619.61 Japan - - - USA - - - Industrials 0.11 FTSE All{HY-}Share Index -12.07 Oil & Gas -40.27 Berkeley Group Holdings (The) PLC 4638 207.00 Persimmon PLC 2829 115.00
FTSE All-Small ex Inv Co (184) 3591.72 1.76 3097.99 3529.65 3499.07 3637.76 3.01 -0.21 -161.37 57.27 7563.15 New Zealand - - - Euro - - - Software & Comp Serv -12.09 Oil & Gas Producers -40.36 Bhp Group PLC 1966 6.00 Phoenix Group Holdings PLC 712.80 18.60
FTSE AIM All-Share (723) 1113.80 1.33 960.69 1099.18 1089.21 950.27 0.85 0.31 381.76 7.51 1279.05 Norway - - -
BP PLC 265.75 7.20 Polymetal International PLC 1682.5 6.50
FTSE 100 (100) 6495.75 0.66 5602.83 6453.16 6416.32 7632.24 3.68 1.54 17.67 208.44 6208.35 Source: Bank of England. New Sterling ERI base Jan 2005 = 100. Other indices base average 1990 = 100. British American Tobacco PLC 2714 -9.50 Prudential PLC 1355.5 28.00
FTSE Sector Indices Index rebased 1/2/95. for further information about ERIs see www.bankofengland.co.uk British Land Company PLC 497.70 14.10 Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC 6452 -104.00
Oil & Gas (12) 4847.12 2.36 4180.82 4735.45 4732.36 8542.19 6.38 1.19 13.13 308.86 5452.86 Bt Group PLC 136.85 3.35 Relx PLC 1781 -11.50
Oil & Gas Producers (9) 4688.20 2.32 4043.74 4581.88 4578.48 8280.08 6.49 1.19 13.00 303.82 5468.81 FTSE GLOBAL EQUITY INDEX SERIES Bunzl PLC 2432 -27.00 Rentokil Initial PLC 510.60 -5.20
Oil Equipment Services & Distribution (3) 5681.81 4.58 4900.77 5433.11 5458.23 8764.22 0.20 17.16 29.38 11.22 4898.07 Burberry Group PLC 1758 -14.50 Rightmove PLC 657.40 1.80
Dec 23 No of US $ Day Mth YTD Total
YTD Gr Div Dec 23 No of US $ Day Mth YTD Total YTD Gr Div Coca-Cola Hbc AG 2389 23.00 Rio Tinto PLC 5600 20.00
Basic Materials (23) 7275.36 0.75 6275.26 7221.21 7255.43 6364.35 3.46 2.68 10.76 251.27 8740.01
Chemicals (8) 14913.07 -0.19 12863.07 14941.45 14728.67 14366.59 1.55 2.03 31.94 222.25 14336.79 Regions & countries stocks indices % % % retn
% Yield Sectors stocks indices % % % retn % Yield Compass Group PLC 1396.5 8.00 Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC 115.60 2.95
Industrial Metals & Mining (4) 5339.39 1.38 4605.42 5266.77 5252.88 3986.54 5.42 2.19 8.41 453.68 7183.12 FTSE Global All Cap 8970 713.70 -0.1 4.3 12.1
14.4 1099.47
1.9 Oil Equipment & Services 25 188.93 -1.2 -1.2 -29.5 319.60 -25.5 5.8 Crh PLC 3111 -46.00 Royal Dutch Shell PLC 1291 24.20
Mining (11) 21137.14 0.83 18231.56 20962.96 21112.08 18215.76 3.60 2.74 10.13 759.99 13408.46 FTSE Global All Cap 8970 713.70 -0.1 4.3 12.1
14.4 1099.47
1.9 Basic Materials 353 596.54 -1.0 -1.0 16.1 1012.55 19.6 2.7 Croda International PLC 6416 -6.00 Royal Dutch Shell PLC 1334.6 25.40
FTSE Global Large Cap 1732 637.30 -0.2 3.7 12.3
14.7 1011.15
1.9 Chemicals 163 849.21 -0.4 -0.4 13.2 1427.11 16.3 2.4 Dcc PLC 5302 -12.00 Rsa Insurance Group PLC 679.20 0.60
Industrials (97) 5996.27 0.19 5172.01 5984.86 5917.58 6074.18 1.73 0.83 69.37 82.21 6670.57
Construction & Materials (16) 7320.94 -0.48 6314.58 7356.14 7217.36 7429.27 1.88 0.13 398.31 131.95 8457.92 FTSE Global Mid Cap 2229 903.02 -0.1 4.7 8.9
10.9 1308.92
1.9 Forestry & Paper 20 309.29 0.2 0.2 11.2 588.56 14.9 2.5 Diageo PLC 2932.5 -36.00 Sage Group PLC 586.80 -4.80
Aerospace & Defense (9) 3886.89 2.08 3352.59 3807.79 3749.43 5302.73 2.98 -2.01 -16.70 99.51 4535.82 FTSE Global Small Cap 5009 994.73 0.3 7.7 15.0
16.9 1385.93
1.6 Industrial Metals & Mining 92 457.20 -1.4 -1.4 20.9 782.89 24.9 3.0 Entain PLC 1163.5 34.00 Sainsbury (J) PLC 224.00 6.20
General Industrials (9) 5303.89 0.16 4574.80 5295.66 5243.90 5211.10 2.00 1.32 38.11 79.14 6643.96 FTSE All-World 3961 417.22 -0.2 3.9 11.8
14.1 680.23
1.9 Mining 78 865.28 -1.8 -1.8 18.7 1501.71 22.9 3.0 Evraz PLC 473.40 6.80 Schroders PLC 3426 68.00
Electronic & Electrical Equipment (8) 11729.87 -0.47 10117.44 11785.78 11603.65 10325.29 0.98 2.23 45.69 83.28 11252.57 FTSE World 2567 741.45 -0.2 4.1 11.6
14.0 1622.53
1.9 Industrials 737 514.65 -0.3 -0.3 14.6 792.74 16.7 1.6 Experian PLC 2779 -35.00 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC 1184 -1.00
Industrial Engineering (9) 16167.72 -0.42 13945.25 16235.21 16086.12 15009.39 1.20 2.58 32.41 178.00 21138.39 FTSE Global All Cap ex UNITED KINGDOM In 8679 755.18 -0.2 4.4 13.5
15.8 1142.41
1.8 Construction & Materials 142 603.60 0.2 0.2 8.9 976.01 11.1 1.8 Ferguson PLC 8858 -32.00 Segro PLC 936.00 12.00
Industrial Transportation (7) 4309.59 0.91 3717.18 4270.63 4130.16 3979.81 3.35 0.49 61.30 12.73 4377.74 FTSE Global All Cap ex USA 7215 548.09 -0.3 3.2 5.7
8.3 921.30
2.4 Aerospace & Defense 36 719.27 -0.1 -0.1 -19.6 1091.28 -18.4 2.1 Flutter Entertainment PLC 15250 410.00 Severn Trent PLC 2297 11.00
Support Services (39) 9475.52 0.02 8172.99 9473.94 9409.38 9251.30 1.32 2.34 32.53 103.84 10533.12 FTSE Global All Cap ex JAPAN 7575 737.29 0.0 4.4 12.5
14.8 1146.51
1.9 General Industrials 71 247.65 -0.8 -0.8 8.6 418.36 11.4 2.3 Fresnillo PLC 1137 -3.50 Smith & Nephew PLC 1542 -14.50
FTSE Global All Cap ex Eurozone 8330 751.44 -0.2 4.3 12.9
15.2 1133.77
1.9 Electronic & Electrical Equipment 139 643.30 -1.1 -1.1 26.4 898.92 28.4 1.4 Glaxosmithkline PLC 1337.4 -12.40 Smith (Ds) PLC 378.00 -1.20
Consumer Goods (42) 18258.94 -0.17 15749.01 18290.03 18098.49 20256.38 3.97 1.47 17.15 694.04 15516.91
FTSE Developed 2136 678.55 -0.2 4.0 12.0
14.3 1053.96
1.9 Industrial Engineering 145 1003.80 -0.7 -0.7 21.0 1538.26 23.4 1.5 Glencore PLC 236.55 3.90 Smiths Group PLC 1521 1.00
Automobiles & Parts (2) 4139.19 1.93 3570.21 4060.76 3962.78 5294.73 0.40 -7.08 -34.87 0.00 4235.29
FTSE Developed All Cap 5622 712.65 -0.1 4.5 12.4
14.7 1091.32
1.8 Industrial Transportation 122 906.90 -0.2 -0.2 19.7 1405.83 21.9 1.7 Halma PLC 2427 -29.00 Smurfit Kappa Group PLC 3440 -10.00
Beverages (6) 23148.62 -0.96 19966.54 23372.32 23062.57 25512.31 2.44 1.62 25.30 546.42 17786.61
FTSE Developed Large Cap 832 634.73 -0.2 3.9 12.6
14.9 1003.32
1.9 Support Services 82 642.64 0.2 0.2 27.3 933.80 29.0 1.1 Hargreaves Lansdown PLC 1529.5 24.00 Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC 11330 -110.00
Food Producers (10) 7066.48 1.93 6095.10 6932.92 6873.27 8097.61 2.59 1.79 21.55 102.21 6572.71
FTSE Developed Europe Large Cap 225 383.56 0.8 2.8 -0.1
2.6 717.01
2.6 Consumer Goods 533 593.35 -0.5 -0.5 16.3 957.72 18.9 2.1 Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC 2528 -17.00 Sse PLC 1516.5 31.00
Household Goods & Home Construction (14)14657.35 1.07 12642.50 14502.52 14345.77 15097.02 2.78 1.99 18.07 324.68 11811.55
FTSE Developed Europe Mid Cap 344 680.01 0.8 4.5 7.5
9.7 1112.35
2.1 Automobiles & Parts 130 583.47 -1.0 -1.0 53.2 916.98 56.2 1.5 HSBC Holdings PLC 385.80 2.00 St. James's Place PLC 1139 18.50
Leisure Goods (2) 27465.87 -1.05 23690.32 27757.49 26936.48 16825.50 1.64 1.20 50.98 449.56 28868.71
FTSE Dev Europe Small Cap 691 928.25 0.9 5.3 3.3
5.3 1462.38
1.9 Beverages 67 719.62 0.0 0.0 1.6 1172.51 4.0 2.4 Imperial Brands PLC 1540 -1.00 Standard Chartered PLC 472.00 9.00
Personal Goods (6) 31650.92 -0.66 27300.08 31862.80 31514.02 33408.76 3.28 1.38 22.05 917.13 23707.74
FTSE North America Large Cap 224 816.85 -0.1 4.3 17.2
19.4 1192.09
1.6 Food Producers 132 700.31 0.1 0.1 2.7 1152.91 5.1 2.4 Informa PLC 544.60 14.60 Standard Life Aberdeen PLC 289.20 5.60
Tobacco (2) 28849.38 -0.30 24883.65 28934.76 28767.21 34799.80 8.27 1.28 9.43 2389.17 23687.24
FTSE North America Mid Cap 412 1052.74 0.0 5.2 11.3
13.1 1417.01
1.7 Household Goods & Home Construction 61 566.11 -0.4 -0.4 11.8 908.30 14.3 2.1 Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC 4687 101.00 Taylor Wimpey PLC 166.85 6.10
Health Care (15) 11205.40 -1.05 9665.07 11324.64 11351.23 13100.93 3.76 1.12 23.74 419.30 9752.67
FTSE North America Small Cap 1299 1145.17 0.7 9.6 20.0
21.6 1486.70
1.3 Leisure Goods 44 319.05 -1.5 -1.5 31.7 440.14 33.4 1.0 Intermediate Capital Group PLC 1732 28.00 Tesco PLC 226.20 5.90
Health Care Equipment & Services (6) 6778.54 -0.43 5846.74 6808.05 6671.48 8621.34 1.99 0.96 52.34 120.44 6246.07
FTSE North America 636 533.46 -0.1 4.5 16.3
18.4 795.53
1.6 Personal Goods 85 1027.56 -0.1 -0.1 14.0 1532.19 15.8 1.4 International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. 161.80 9.55 Unilever PLC 4311 -31.00
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology (9) 15559.25 -1.12 13420.43 15736.28 15814.23 18005.02 3.97 1.13 22.31 617.91 12167.57
FTSE Developed ex North America 1500 284.46 -0.2 3.2 4.6
7.2 514.98
2.5 Tobacco 14 908.12 -0.9 -0.9 -8.9 2291.57 -2.8 6.7 Intertek Group PLC 5790 -40.00 United Utilities Group PLC 900.20 3.60
Consumer Services (80) 5039.86 1.81 4347.06 4950.48 4923.10 5721.54 2.13 1.24 37.77 69.53 5156.62 FTSE Japan Large Cap 179 439.55 -1.6 2.7 10.8
13.4 616.66
2.1 Health Care 309 672.03 -0.2 -0.2 10.0 1035.32 12.1 1.7
Food & Drug Retailers (5) 4394.62 1.65 3790.52 4323.41 4360.80 4355.17 3.00 1.33 24.97 133.29 5593.25 Jd Sports Fashion PLC 850.20 36.60 Vodafone Group PLC 123.00 1.22
FTSE Japan Mid Cap 335 628.59 -1.9 0.4 0.0
2.1 835.83
2.1 Health Care Equipment & Services 113 1360.57 0.2 0.2 16.0 1639.63 17.0 0.7 Johnson Matthey PLC 2491 -23.00 Whitbread PLC 3138 121.00
General Retailers (27) 2369.98 1.78 2044.19 2328.64 2307.68 2424.72 1.62 1.55 39.84 11.48 2965.39
FTSE Global wi JAPAN Small Cap 881 691.44 -2.3 1.0 -0.6
1.5 952.51
2.2 Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 196 435.90 -0.4 -0.4 6.2 713.85 8.8 2.4 Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. 8000 -194.00 Wpp PLC 812.40 15.80
Media (13) 8134.39 0.75 7016.21 8073.93 8002.76 9375.71 1.70 2.94 19.99 125.77 5482.35
FTSE Japan 514 181.57 -1.6 2.3 8.6
11.1 285.11
2.1 Consumer Services 440 678.50 -0.4 -0.4 21.7 950.56 22.9 1.0 Kingfisher PLC 270.00 4.10
Travel & Leisure (35) 8025.01 2.65 6921.86 7818.14 7761.72 10198.00 2.36 0.21 199.27 82.90 8236.05
FTSE Asia Pacific Large Cap ex Japan 928 843.84 -1.0 2.3 16.1
18.8 1459.61
2.2 Food & Drug Retailers 69 291.52 -1.0 -1.0 -1.1 442.31 1.5 2.6
Telecommunications (6) 1829.75 1.37 1578.23 1805.10 1801.76 2321.53 7.47 0.57 23.35 86.13 2530.89 FTSE Asia Pacific Mid Cap ex Japan 893 987.33 -1.6 3.7 14.0
16.6 1637.97
2.6 General Retailers 148 1260.58 -0.3 -0.3 39.3 1697.43 40.2 0.6
Fixed Line Telecommunications (3) 1723.15 2.23 1486.28 1685.60 1668.63 2407.25 10.32 1.04 9.32 5.68 1890.78
Mobile Telecommunications (3) 2801.42 1.03 2416.33 2772.78 2776.43 3409.77 6.36 0.28 56.58 180.11 3521.65
FTSE Asia Pacific Small Cap ex Japan
FTSE Asia Pacific Ex Japan
1843 625.24
1821 658.88
-1.7
-1.1
3.7
2.4
15.1
17.7
16.0
18.7
1014.58
2.4 Media
1210.60
2.2 Travel & Leisure
84 454.51
139 479.42
-0.4
-0.8
-0.4
-0.8
18.3 640.79
-7.4 686.82
19.5
-6.2
1.0
1.7
UK STOCK MARKET TRADING DATA
Utilities (8) 7102.52 1.22 6126.18 7017.08 6973.77 7818.90 5.09 1.15 17.11 361.49 9926.86 FTSE Emerging All Cap 3348 865.60 -0.5 2.7 9.5
12.3 1423.74
2.3 Telecommunication 95 152.97 -0.8 -0.8 -4.6 333.38 -0.4 4.6 Dec 23 Dec 22 Dec 21 Dec 18 Dec 17 Yr Ago
Electricity (3) 8901.26 2.24 7677.66 8706.46 8540.76 8555.83 5.22 1.04 18.43 464.92 16328.54 FTSE Emerging Large Cap 900 835.82 -0.5 2.2 10.3
13.1 1383.52
2.2 Fixed Line Telecommuniations 41 115.56 -1.0 -1.0 -14.7 282.71 -10.3 5.8 - - - - - -
Gas Water & Multiutilities (5) 6257.69 0.85 5397.49 6204.86 6195.21 7206.86 5.04 1.19 16.68 315.42 8654.19 FTSE Emerging Mid Cap 925 1013.49 -0.5 5.4 4.1
7.1 1666.50
3.0 Mobile Telecommunications 54 182.88 -0.5 -0.5 9.6 348.70 13.6 3.3 Order Book Turnover (m) 200.80 231.24 178.02 178.02 178.02 100.08
Financials (307) 4443.83 1.69 3832.96 4369.84 4315.82 5172.11 3.10 1.74 18.54 88.31 4637.40 FTSE Emerging Small Cap 1523 822.31 -1.0 4.2 8.8
11.6 1297.07
2.5 Utilities 190 310.48 0.2 0.2 -2.3 681.33 1.0 3.3 Order Book Bargains 723026.00 1307883.00 932802.00 932802.00 932802.00 882048.00
Banks (11) 2516.32 2.62 2170.42 2452.04 2412.21 3781.37 3.73 2.22 12.10 1.57 2074.02 FTSE Emerging Europe 76 355.61 1.3 7.5 -19.2
-14.9 673.01
5.2 Electricity 130 349.61 0.2 0.2 -1.8 756.40 1.6 3.4 Order Book Shares Traded (m) 1446.00 2100.00 2416.00 2416.00 2416.00 1382.00
Nonlife Insurance (7) 3731.68 0.57 3218.71 3710.38 3686.45 3723.28 2.95 1.86 18.20 107.44 7401.19 FTSE Latin America All Cap 244 805.57 0.4 11.0 -18.2
-16.1 1379.01
2.8 Gas Water & Multiutilities 60 310.19 0.2 0.2 -3.4 702.50 -0.2 3.2 Total Equity Turnover (£m) 2950.86 9431.42 6678.71 6678.71 6678.71 5537.56
Life Insurance/Assurance (6) 7318.26 2.73 6312.27 7123.59 7029.88 8253.36 3.67 1.98 13.77 257.34 8319.58 FTSE Middle East and Africa All Cap 321 648.35 0.5 4.3 -6.0
-3.2 3.2 Financials
1120.49 866 244.42 -0.4 -0.4 -7.6 443.62 -4.9 2.8 Total Mkt Bargains 926968.00 1623070.00 1147092.00 1147092.00 1147092.00 1098685.00
Real Estate Investment & Services (18) 2492.59 1.15 2149.95 2464.14 2452.63 2909.52 1.04 3.10 30.94 34.06 7169.18 FTSE Global wi UNITED KINGDOM All Cap In 291 307.53 0.6 1.9 -14.0
-11.4 3.5 Banks
587.63 271 179.42 -0.5 -0.5 -16.0 357.34 -13.2 3.5 Total Shares Traded (m) 8112.00 8523.00 9476.00 9476.00 9476.00 7225.00
Real Estate Investment Trusts (40) 2441.20 2.28 2105.63 2386.81 2357.28 2975.34 3.14 -2.23 -14.28 65.40 3474.47 FTSE Global wi USA All Cap 1755 927.29 0.0 5.1 17.5
19.5 1.5 Nonlife Insurance
1306.12 74 290.48 -0.3 -0.3 -5.9 456.30 -3.6 2.2 † Excluding intra-market and overseas turnover. *UK only total at 6pm. ‡ UK plus intra-market turnover. (u) Unavaliable.
General Financial (40) 10302.75 1.27 8886.50 10173.05 10038.82 10942.95 3.22 1.10 28.23 321.23 13338.50 FTSE Europe All Cap 1411 459.04 0.8 3.5 0.9
3.6 2.5 Life Insurance
825.04 53 222.31 -0.8 -0.8 -7.9 398.86 -4.3 3.4 (c) Market closed.
Equity Investment Instruments (185) 12625.76 0.58 10890.19 12553.25 12438.70 11284.61 2.27 3.23 13.65 276.44 7555.96 FTSE Eurozone All Cap 640 453.82 1.0 4.3 4.3
6.7 2.1 Financial Services
812.29 209 402.08 -0.7 -0.7 8.6 591.75 10.7 1.7
Non Financials (300) 4396.35 0.58 3792.01 4371.10 4349.01 5043.06 3.55 1.36 20.76 142.07 7436.28 FTSE EDHEC-Risk Efficient All-World 3961 462.72 -0.2 3.8 6.9
9.2 2.1 Technology
696.92 310 515.23 0.6 0.6 43.3 660.83 44.8 0.9
Technology (17) 2038.74 0.05 1758.49 2037.66 2003.12 2293.23 1.86 0.09 596.23 33.33 2845.06 FTSE EDHEC-Risk Efficient Developed Europe 569 363.78 0.7 4.3 7.6
9.9 2.2 Software & Computer Services
606.97 166 842.95 0.5 0.5 38.7 1009.20 39.4 0.5 All data provided by Morningstar unless otherwise noted. All elements listed are indicative and believed
Software & Computer Services (14) 2185.94 0.01 1885.46 2185.83 2148.33 2519.67 1.93 -0.15 -354.67 36.15 3227.47 Oil & Gas 128 252.66 -0.7 5.4 -30.6
-27.0 472.09
5.2 Technology Hardware & Equipment 144 415.81 0.7 0.7 49.5 569.15 52.0 1.3 accurate at the time of publication. No offer is made by Morningstar or the FT. The FT does not warrant nor
Technology Hardware & Equipment (3) 5039.12 0.47 4346.42 5015.51 4939.43 4171.58 1.17 3.47 24.63 69.78 6255.25 Oil & Gas Producers 92 236.21 -0.7 5.2 -33.1
-29.6 451.07
5.3 Alternative Energy 11 253.02 2.5 2.5 99.9 359.61 102.9 0.6 guarantee that the information is reliable or complete. The FT does not accept responsibility and will not be
Real Estate Investment & Services 162 352.53 -0.3 -0.3 -4.5 650.21 -1.4 2.8 liable for any loss arising from the reliance on or use of the listed information.
Hourly movements 8.00 9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 High/day Low/day Real Estate Investment Trusts 97 445.42 0.6 0.6 -10.2 978.41 -7.2 3.7 For all queries e-mail ft.reader.enquiries@morningstar.com
FTSE 100 6438.12 6444.64 6452.41 6446.41 6455.53 6448.84 6454.23 6477.36 6477.93 6497.18 6431.35 FTSE Global Large Cap 1732 637.30 -0.2 -0.2 12.3 1011.15 14.7 1.9
FTSE 250 19957.50 20000.67 20052.26 20054.98 20064.16 20056.13 20118.29 20237.63 20255.74 20297.76 19955.39 The FTSE Global Equity Series, launched in 2003, contains the FTSE Global Small Cap Indices and broader FTSE Global All Cap Indices (large/mid/small cap) as well as the enhanced FTSE All-World index Series (large/
mid cap) - please see www.ftse.com/geis. The trade names Fundamental Index® and RAFI® are registered trademarks and the patented and patent-pending proprietary intellectual property of Research Affiliates, LLC
Data provided by Morningstar | www.morningstar.co.uk
FTSE SmallCap 6025.35 6035.19 6052.78 6054.94 6055.28 6058.40 6059.43 6077.57 6087.28 6098.07 6025.35
FTSE All-Share 3643.14 3647.63 3653.09 3650.52 3654.92 3651.72 3656.11 3670.62 3671.63 3681.30 3641.91 (US Patent Nos. 7,620,577; 7,747,502; 7,778,905; 7,792,719; Patent Pending Publ. Nos. US-2006-0149645-A1, US-2007-0055598-A1, US-2008-0288416-A1, US-2010- 0063942-A1, WO 2005/076812, WO 2007/078399 A2,
Time of FTSE 100 Day's high:16:29:30 Day's Low11:39:00 FTSE 100 2010/11 High: 7674.56(17/01/2020) Low: 4993.89(23/03/2020) WO 2008/118372, EPN 1733352, and HK1099110). ”EDHEC™” is a trade mark of EDHEC Business School As of January 2nd 2006, FTSE is basing its sector indices on the Industrial Classification Benchmark - please see
Time of FTSE All-Share Day's high:16:29:00 Day's Low08:05:00 FTSE 100 2010/11 High: 4257.93(17/01/2020) Low: 2727.86(23/03/2020) www.ftse.com/icb. For constituent changes and other information about FTSE, please see www.ftse.com. © FTSE International Limited. 2013. All Rights reserved. ”FTSE®” is a trade mark of the London Stock Exchange
Group companies and is used by FTSE International Limited under licence.
Further information is available on http://www.ftse.com © FTSE International Limited. 2013. All Rights reserved. ”FTSE®” is a trade mark of the
London Stock Exchange Group companies and is used by FTSE International Limited under licence. † Sector P/E ratios greater than 80 are not shown.
For changes to FTSE Fledgling Index constituents please refer to www.ftse.com/indexchanges. ‡ Values are negative.

UK RIGHTS OFFERS UK COMPANY RESULTS UK RECENT EQUITY ISSUES

Amount Latest Company Turnover Pre-tax EPS(p) Div(p) Pay day Total Issue Issue Stock Close Mkt
Issue paid renun. closing Caledonian Trust Pre 0.536 0.881 0.095 2.059 0.810 17.470 0.00000 0.00000 - 0.000 0.000 date price(p) Sector code Stock price(p) +/- High Low Cap (£m)
price up date High Low Stock Price p +or- Critical Metals Pre 0.000 0.000 0.098L 0.073L 0.690L 0.660L 0.00000 0.00000 - 0.000 0.000 12/22 1.00 RNEW Ecofin US Renewables Infrastructure Trust PLC 1.02 0.01 1.03 1.00 126.9
There are currently no rights offers by any companies listed on the LSE. Draper Esprit VCT Int 5.695 0.228 5.300 0.300 1.00000 1.50000 Mar 26 2.492 3.000 12/22 100.00 SBSI Schroder BSC Social Impact Trust PLC 102.50 1.50 104.00 100.00 7687.5
Foresight Solar & Technology VCT Int 0.263L 0.348L 0.500L 0.800L 0.00000 0.00000 - 1.989 4.044 12/15 96.00 AIM ABDX Abingdon Health PLC 97.50 -2.64 109.93 95.25 9330.7
GCM Resources Pre 0.000 0.000 1.515L 6.024L 1.450L 6.140L 0.00000 0.00000 - 0.000 0.000 12/14 20.00 AIM IIG Intuitive Investments Group PLC 23.25 -0.60 23.70 21.70 939.7
12/04 2.84 AIM HE1 Helium One Global Ltd 6.80 -0.12 8.90 3.75 3378.9

Figures in £m. Earnings shown basic. Figures in light text are for corresponding period year earlier. §Placing price. *Intoduction. ‡When issued. Annual report/prospectus available at www.ft.com/ir
For more information on dividend payments visit www.ft.com/marketsdata For a full explanation of all the other symbols please refer to London Share Service notes.
10 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

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unless otherwise stated.
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 11

MANAGED FUNDS SERVICE

Fund Bid Offer D+/- Yield Fund Bid Offer D+/- Yield Fund Bid Offer D+/- Yield Fund Bid Offer D+/- Yield Fund Bid Offer D+/- Yield Fund Bid Offer D+/- Yield Fund Bid Offer D+/- Yield Fund Bid Offer D+/- Yield

GBP Accumulating Share Class £ 29.97 - 0.04 0.00 Franklin Emg Mkts Debt Opp USD $ 16.47 - 0.01 6.42 Rubrics Global Fixed Income UCITS Fund $ 182.13 - 0.16 0.00 Data Provided by
GBP Distributing Share class £ 20.63 - 0.03 1.23
EUR Accumulating Share Class € 30.06 - 0.02 0.00
GBP Distributing Class (H) £ 11.83 - -0.06 0.98
Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds plc-U.S. Stock Fund
USD Accumulating Share Class $ 30.13 - -0.27 0.00

Aberdeen Standard Capital (JER)

GBP Accumulating Share Class
GBP Distributing Share Class
£ 35.08
£ 21.31
-
-
-0.08 0.00
-0.05 0.95 Slater
Investments
PO Box 189, St Helier, Jersey, JE4 9RU 01534 709130 GAM
FCA Recognised
EUR Accumulating Share Class
GBP Distributing Class (H)
€ 32.14
£ 12.45
-
-
-0.09 0.00
-0.12 0.97
funds@gam.com, www.funds.gam.com www.morningstar.co.uk
Aberdeen Standard Capital Offshore Strategy Fund Limited Regulated
Data as shown is for information purposes only. No
Bridge Fund £ 2.2208 - 0.0042 1.70 LAPIS GBL TOP 50 DIV.YLD-Na-D £ 99.70 - -0.51 3.25
offer is made by Morningstar or this publication.
Global Equity Fund £ 3.1590 - 0.0055 1.04 LAPIS GBL F OWD 50 DIV.YLD-Na-D £ 100.73 - -0.14 0.70
Global Fixed Interest Fund £ 0.9961 - 0.0006 4.15
Income Fund £ 0.6419 - 0.0015 2.46
Sterling Fixed Interest Fund
UK Equity Fund
£ 0.9309
£ 1.9777
-
-
0.0024 2.87
0.0090 2.77
Guide to Data
Ashmore Investment Management Limited (LUX) New Capital UCITS Fund PLC (IRL) Polar Capital Funds Plc (IRL)
2 rue Albert Borschette L-1246 Luxembourg Leconfield House, Curzon Street, London, W1J 5JB Regulated The fund prices quoted on these pages are supplied by
Slater Investments Ltd (UK)
the operator of the relevant fund. Details of funds
FCA Recognised www.newcapitalfunds.com Automation & Artificial Intelligence CL I USD Acc $ 17.53 17.53 -0.04 0.00 www.slaterinvestments.com; Tel: 0207 220 9460
published on these pages, including prices, are for the
Ashmore SICAV Emerging Market Debt Fund $ 93.57 - 0.08 4.86 Genesis Investment Management LLP FCA Recognised Asian Financials I USD $ 443.10 443.10 1.49 0.00 FCA Recognised purpose of information only and should only be used
Ashmore SICAV Emerging Market Frontier Equity Fund $ 164.34 - 0.62 1.49 Other International Funds New Capital UCITS Funds Biotechnology I USD $ 40.17 40.17 0.22 0.00 Slater Growth 652.58 652.58 4.09 0.00 as a guide. The Financial Times Limited makes no
Ashmore SICAV Emerging Market Total Return Fund $ 82.73 - 0.00 4.15 Emerging Mkts NAV £ 7.21 - -0.16 0.00 New Capital China Equity Fund $ 277.77 - -2.42 - Emerging Market Stars I USD Acc $ 14.65 - -0.15 0.00 Slater Income A Inc 125.30 125.30 1.38 5.22 representation as to their accuracy or completeness
and they should not be relied upon when making an
Ashmore SICAV Global Small Cap Equity Fund $ 203.35 - -1.59 0.02 New Capital Dynamic European Equity Fund € 129.54 - 1.42 0.00 European Ex UK Inc EUR Acc € 11.31 11.31 0.09 0.00 Slater Recovery 303.85 303.85 1.75 0.00
investment decision.
Aegon Asset Management UK ICVC (UK) EM Active Equity Fund Acc USD $ 156.49 - -0.89 0.00 New Capital Dynamic UK Equity Fund £ 115.29 - 0.68 - Financial Opps I USD $ 13.34 - -0.05 2.05 Slater Artorius 271.54 271.54 0.14 0.00
3 Lochside Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9SA EM Equity Fund Acc USD $ 144.21 - -0.68 0.00 New Capital Global Alpha Fund £ 117.48 - -0.04 0.00 GEM Income I USD $ 12.74 - -0.07 0.00 The sale of interests in the funds listed on these pages
0800 358 3009 www.aegonam.com may, in certain jurisdictions, be restricted by law and
EM Mkts Corp.Debt USD F $ 92.34 - 0.03 5.64 New Capital Global Equity Conviction Fund $ 202.06 - -0.17 - Global Convertible I USD $ 17.27 17.27 0.05 0.00
Authorised Funds the funds will not necessarily be available to persons
EM Mkts Loc.Ccy Bd USD F $ 79.92 - -0.09 4.55 New Capital Global Value Credit Fund $ 161.43 - 0.15 0.00 Global Insurance I GBP £ 7.09 - -0.02 0.00 in all jurisdictions in which the publication circulates.
Global Equity GBP B Acc £ 3.21 - 0.05 0.00 Dragon Capital
EM Short Duration Fund Acc USD $ 120.53 - -0.07 0.00 www.dragoncapital.com New Capital Japan Equity Fund ¥ 1606.18 - -29.88 0.00 Global Technology I USD $ 87.63 - 0.58 0.00 Persons in any doubt should take appropriate
New Capital US Growth Fund $ 439.60 - 0.75 0.00 professional advice. Data collated by Morningstar. For
Fund information:info@dragoncapital.com Healthcare Blue Chip Fund I USD Acc $ 15.76 15.76 -0.03 0.00
other queries contact reader.enquiries@ft.com +44
Other International Funds HPB Assurance Ltd New Capital US Small Cap Growth Fund $ 234.59 - 3.91 0.00 Healthcare Opps I USD $ 63.74 - 0.03 0.00 (0)207 873 4211.
Anglo Intl House, Bank Hill, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 4LN 01638 563490 New Capital Wealthy Nations Bond Fund $ 156.74 - 0.11 0.00
Vietnam Equity (UCITS) Fund A USD $ 25.14 - -0.09 - Income Opportunities B2 I GBP Acc £ 2.32 2.32 0.01 0.00
International Insurances The fund prices published in this edition along with
Japan Value I JPY ¥ 109.24 109.24 -0.29 0.00
Holiday Property Bond Ser 1 £ 0.49 - 0.00 0.00 additional information are also available on the
North American I USD $ 30.71 30.71 -0.05 0.00 Financial Times website, www.ft.com/funds. The
Holiday Property Bond Ser 2 £ 0.62 - 0.00 0.00
UK Val Opp I GBP Acc £ 11.79 11.79 0.10 0.00 funds published on these pages are grouped together
by fund management company.
Atlantas Sicav (LUX)
Regulated Prices are in pence unless otherwise indicated. The
change, if shown, is the change on the previously
American Dynamic $ 6677.83 6677.83 144.43 0.00 quoted figure (not all funds update prices daily). Those
American One $ 6365.21 6365.21 86.65 0.00 designated $ with no prefix refer to US dollars. Yield
Ennismore Smaller Cos Plc (IRL)
Bond Global € 1493.33 1493.33 -5.80 0.00 percentage figures (in Tuesday to Saturday papers)
5 Kensington Church St, London W8 4LD 020 7368 4220
allow for buying expenses. Prices of certain older
Eurocroissance € 1209.35 1209.35 3.81 0.00 FCA Recognised insurance linked plans might be subject to capital
Far East $ 1216.98 - 10.56 0.00 Ennismore European Smlr Cos NAV £ 134.69 - 0.66 0.00 Intrinsic Value Investors (IVI) LLP (IRL)
Polar Capital LLP (CYM) Stonehage Fleming Investment Management Ltd (IRL) gains tax on sales.
Ennismore European Smlr Cos NAV € 147.40 - 1.22 0.00 1 Hat & Mitre Court, 88 St John Street, London EC1M 4EL +44 (0)20 7566 1210 www.stonehagefleming.com/gbi
Regulated
FCA Recognised enquiries@stonehagefleming.com Guide to pricing of Authorised Investment Funds:
European Forager A EUR € 185.24 - 17.13 0.00
IVI European Fund EUR € 23.81 - 0.26 0.00 (compiled with the assistance of the IMA. The
Regulated
Investment Management Association, 65 Kingsway,
Aegon Asset Management Investment Company (Ireland) (IRL) IVI European Fund GBP £ 28.94 - 0.19 0.33 SF Global Best Ideas Eq B USD ACC $ 243.20 - 0.73 - London WC2B 6TD.
1 North Wall Quay Dublin 1, Ireland +35 3162 24493 SF Global Best Ideas Eq D GBP INC £ 277.07 - 0.88 - Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 0898.)
FCA Recognised
Absolute Return Bond B GBP Acc 1156.06 - 0.02 1.61 OEIC: Open-Ended Investment Company. Similar to a
High Yield Global Bond A GBP Inc 511.81 - 0.24 4.49 Oasis Crescent Management Company Ltd unit trust but using a company rather than a trust
Barclays Investment Funds (CI) Ltd (JER) Other International Funds structure.
High Yield Global Bond B GBP Inc 1095.89 - 0.52 5.23 39/41 Broad Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE2 3RR Channel Islands 01534 812800 Ennismore European Smlr Cos Hedge Fd Oasis Crescent Equity Fund R 10.79 - 0.03 0.21
Global Equity Income B GBP Acc 2077.06 - 0.55 0.00 FCA Recognised Different share classes are issued to reflect a different
Other International Funds Private Fund Mgrs (Guernsey) Ltd (GSY) currency, charging structure or type of holder.
Global Equity Income B GBP Inc 1455.44 - -8.32 3.19 Bond Funds
NAV € 527.99 - 0.75 0.00 Regulated
lobal Equity Market Neutral Fund - B Acc GBP £ 12.45 - 0.07 0.00 Sterling Bond F £ 0.50 - 0.00 2.17 Janus Henderson Investors (UK)
Monument Growth 22/12/2020 £ 516.20 521.21 -0.52 - Selling price: Also called bid price. The price at which
Global Sustainable Equity B Acc GBP £ 28.30 - 0.40 0.00 PO Box 9023, Chelmsford, CM99 2WB Enquiries: 0800 832 832 units in a unit trust are sold by investors.
Global Sustainable Equity C Acc GBP £ 28.70 - 0.40 - www.janushenderson.com
Authorised Inv Funds Buying price: Also called offer price. The price at
Inv Grd Gbl Bond A Inc GBH 629.09 - 0.48 1.81 which units in a unit trust are bought by investors.
Janus Henderson Instl UK Idx Opps A Acc £ 0.94 - 0.00 -
Short Dated High Yld Bd B Acc GBP £ 11.02 - 0.00 0.00 Includes manager’s initial charge.
Short Dated High Yld Bd C Acc GBP (Hdg) £ 11.13 - 0.01 0.00
Strategic Global Bond A GBP Inc 1324.39 - 1.73 2.70
OGM Oasis Crescent Global Investment Funds (UK) ICVC (UK) Single price: Based on a mid-market valuation of the
Regulated underlying investments. The buying and selling price
Strategic Global Bond B GBP Inc 751.88 - 1.00 3.45 for shares of an OEIC and units of a single priced unit
Equinox Fund Mgmt (Guernsey) Limited (GSY) OGM Oasis Crescent Global Short Term Income Fund USD Class A Shares (Dist) $ 0.99 - 0.00 2.00
Prusik Investment Management LLP (IRL) trust are the same.
Regulated OGM Oasis Crescent Global Equity Fund USD Class A Shares (Dist) $ 34.64 - -0.06 0.25
Equinox Russian Opportunities Fund Limited $ 184.85 - 11.87 0.00 OGM Oasis Crescent Variable Fund GBP Class A Shares (Dist) £ 9.44 - 0.03 0.00 Enquiries - 0207 493 1331
Treatment of manager’s periodic capital charge:
Regulated The letter C denotes that the trust deducts all or part
OGM Oasis Crescent Global Income Fund USD Class A Shares (Dist) $ 11.12 - 0.01 2.63
Prusik Asian Equity Income B Dist $ 177.73 - -0.04 - Toscafund Asset Management LLP (UK) of the manager’s/operator’s periodic charge from
M & G Securities (1200)F (UK) OGM Oasis Crescent Global Low Equity Fund USD Class D Shares (Dist) $ 12.53 - -0.01 0.81
Prusik Asia Emerging Opportunities Fund A Acc $ 188.61 - 0.95 - www.toscafund.com capital, contact the manager/operator for full details
PO Box 9038, Chelmsford, CM99 2XF OGM Oasis Crescent Global Medium Equity Fund USD Class A Shares (Dist) $ 13.66 - -0.01 0.32 of the effect of this course of action.
Prusik Asia Fund U Dist. £ 231.23 - 2.71 0.00 Authorised Funds
www.mandg.co.uk/charities Enq./Dealing: 0800 917 4472 OGM Oasis Crescent Global Property Equity Fund USD Class A Shares (Dist) $ 7.97 - 0.06 1.14
Authorised Inv Funds Aptus Global Financials B Acc £ 3.73 - 0.03 4.35 Exit Charges: The letter E denotes that an exit charge
M&G Charibond Charities Fixed Interest Fund (Charibond) Inc £ 1.25 - 0.00 2.24 Aptus Global Financials B Inc £ 2.60 - 0.02 5.58 may be made when you sell units, contact the
manager/operator for full details.
M&G Charibond Charities Fixed Interest Fund (Charibond) Acc £ 42.94 - 0.03 2.20
Euronova Asset Management UK LLP (CYM) M&G Charity Multi Asset Fund Inc £ 0.83 - 0.00 4.28 Time: Some funds give information about the timing of
Brooks Macdonald International Fund Managers Limited (JER) Regulated M&G Charity Multi Asset Fund Acc £ 91.92 - 0.12 4.11 price quotes. The time shown alongside the fund
5 Anley Street, St Helier, Jersey, JE2 3QE Smaller Cos Cls One Shares € 53.64 - 1.02 0.00 manager’s/operator’s name is the valuation point for
their unit trusts/OEICs, unless another time is
+44 (0) 1534 700 104 (Int.) +44 (0) 800 735 8000 (UK) Smaller Cos Cls Two Shares € 35.33 - 0.81 0.00
indicated by the symbol alongside the individual unit
Brooks Macdonald International Investment Funds Limited Smaller Cos Cls Three Shares € 18.05 - 0.66 0.00 Purisima Investment Fds (CI) Ltd (JER) trust/OEIC name.
Omnia Fund Ltd Regulated
Euro High Income € 1.5663 - 0.0009 2.50 Smaller Cos Cls Four Shares € 23.40 - 1.04 0.00
Other International Funds
High Income £ 0.8908 - 0.0026 3.77 PCG B 290.20 - 1.63 0.00 Toscafund Asset Management LLP The symbols are as follows: ✠ 0001 to 1100 hours; ♦
Estimated NAV $ 621.90 - 60.56 0.00 1101 to 1400 hours; ▲1401 to 1700 hours; # 1701 to
Sterling Bond £ 1.6523 - 0.0059 2.06 PCG C 283.51 - 1.58 0.00 www.toscafund.com
midnight. Daily dealing prices are set on the basis of
Algebris Investments (IRL) Tosca A USD $ 340.23 - 33.46 -
Brooks Macdonald International Multi Strategy Fund Limited the valuation point, a short period of time may elapse
Regulated Tosca Mid Cap GBP £ 180.86 - 27.47 - before prices become available. Historic pricing: The
Cautious Balanced Strategy £ 1.3488 - 0.0007 0.00 MMIP Investment Management Limited (GSY)
Algebris Financial Credit I EUR € 187.34 - -0.02 0.00 Tosca Opportunity B USD $ 274.77 - 41.76 - letter H denotes that the managers/operators will
Growth Strategy £ 1.9544 - 0.0004 0.00 Regulated
normally deal on the price set at the most recent
Algebris Financial Credit R EUR € 163.01 - -0.01 0.00 Multi-Manager Investment Programmes PCC Limited Pegasus Fund Ltd A-1 GBP £ 43.14 - 6.53 0.00
High Growth Strategy £ 2.6905 - 0.0012 0.00 valuation. The prices shown are the latest available
Algebris Financial Credit Rd EUR € 109.74 - -0.01 4.74 US$ Growth Strategy $ 1.8896 - -0.0045 0.00 UK Equity Fd Cl A Series 01 £ 2617.54 2659.42 495.99 0.00 before publication and may not be the current dealing
Algebris Financial Income I EUR € 152.57 - 0.67 0.00 FIL Investment Services (UK) Limited (1200)F (UK) levels because of an intervening portfolio revaluation
Dealing Daily. Initial charge up to 2% Diversified Absolute Rtn Fd USD Cl AF2 $ 1668.32 - 107.37 0.00
or a switch to a forward pricing basis. The
Algebris Financial Income R EUR € 141.29 - 0.61 0.00 130, Tonbridge Rd, Tonbridge TN11 9DZ Diversified Absolute Return Stlg Cell AF2 £ 1568.83 - 97.48 0.00
Callfree: Private Clients 0800 414161
Oryx International Growth Fund Ltd managers/operators must deal at a forward price on
Algebris Financial Income Rd EUR € 93.34 - 0.40 3.61 Global Equity Fund A Lead Series £ 1620.07 1625.45 135.16 0.00 request, and may move to forward pricing at any time.
Broker Dealings: 0800 414 181 Other International Funds
Algebris Financial Equity B EUR € 108.65 - -1.53 0.00 Forward pricing: The letter F denotes that that
OEIC Funds NAV (Fully Diluted) £ 9.10 - -0.52 0.00 managers/operators deal at the price to be set at the
Algebris IG Financial Credit B EUR € 110.99 - 0.04 0.00
Fidelity American Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 53.95 - 0.07 0.31 next valuation.
Algebris IG Financial Credit R EUR € 110.16 - 0.04 0.00
Algebris Global Credit Opportunities I EUR € 129.37 - -0.31 0.00 Fidelity Cash Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 1.02 - 0.00 0.66 Troy Asset Mgt (1200) (UK) Investors can be given no definite price in advance of
FID Emerg Europe, Middle East and Africa Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 2.35 - 0.00 4.21 65 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NQ the purchase or sale being carried out. The prices
Algebris Global Credit Opportunities R EUR € 127.37 - -0.21 0.00
Fidelity Global Enhanced Income Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 2.04 - 0.00 3.68 Order Desk and Enquiries: 0345 608 0950 appearing in the newspaper are the most recent
Algebris Global Credit Opportunities Rd EUR € 127.37 - -0.21 0.00 CCLA Investment Management Ltd (UK)
Authorised Inv Funds provided by the managers/operators. Scheme
Algebris Core Italy I EUR € 120.69 - 1.29 0.00 Senator House 85 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4ET Fidelity Global Focus Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 34.17 - 0.03 0.20
Authorised Corporate Director - Link Fund Solutions particulars, prospectus, key features and reports: The
Algebris Core Italy R EUR € 112.83 - 1.21 0.00 Authorised Inv Funds Fidelity Global High Yield Fund Y-ACC-GBP £ 15.55 - 0.00 3.65 most recent particulars and documents may be
Marwyn Asset Management Limited (CYM)
Diversified Income 1 Units GBP Inc £ 1.55 1.55 0.00 0.03 Fidelity Japan Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 4.98 - -0.01 0.58 Trojan Investment Funds obtained free of charge from fund
Algebris Allocation I EUR € 103.40 - -0.51 0.00 Regulated
managers/operators. * Indicates funds which do not
Diversified Income 2 Units GBP Inc £ 1.49 1.49 0.00 0.03 Fidelity Japan Smaller Companies Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 4.26 - 0.02 0.35 Marwyn Value Investors £ 340.40 - -14.66 0.00 Ram Active Investments SA Trojan Ethical O Acc 118.66 - -0.31 0.10
price on Fridays.
Diversified Income 3 Units GBP Inc £ 1.50 1.50 0.00 0.03 Fidelity Select 50 Balanced Fund PI-ACC-GBP £ 1.15 - 0.00 0.83 www.ram-ai.com Trojan Ethical O Inc 118.43 - -0.31 0.09
Fidelity Special Situations Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 33.68 - 0.24 3.43 Other International Funds Charges for this advertising service are based on the
Short Dated Corporate Bond Fund Y ACC GBP £ 11.08 - 0.00 3.86 RAM Systematic Emerg Markets Eq $ 207.69 207.69 -1.55 - number of lines published and the classification of the
RAM Systematic European Eq € 466.07 466.07 4.29 - fund. Please contact data@ft.com or
Fidelity Sustainable Water & Waste W Acc £ 1.10 - 0.00 - call +44 (0)20 7873 3132 for further information.
Fidelity Sustainable Water & Waste W Inc £ 1.10 - 0.00 - RAM Systematic Funds Global Sustainable Income Eq $ 130.59 130.59 0.01 0.00
Fidelity UK Growth Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 3.34 - -0.05 1.14 RAM Systematic Global Eq Sustainable Alpha $ 100.78 100.78 0.36 -
RAM Systematic Long/Short European Eq € 131.18 131.18 -0.12 -
The Antares European Fund Limited Fidelity UK Select Fund W-ACC-GBP £ 3.19 - 0.02 2.36
Other International RAM Systematic US Sustainable Eq $ 351.62 351.62 -0.24 -
Institutional OEIC Funds
CG Asset Management Limited (IRL) RAM Tactical Global Bond Total Return € 156.37 156.37 0.05 - WA Fixed Income Fund Plc (IRL)
AEF Ltd Usd (Est) $ 556.91 - 2.07 0.00 Europe (ex-UK) Fund ACC-GBP £ 7.17 - 0.02 0.55
25 Moorgate, London, EC2R 6AY Orbis Investments (U.K.) Limited (GBR) RAM Tactical II Asia Bond Total Return $ 156.73 156.73 -0.05 - Regulated
AEF Ltd Eur (Est) € 521.03 - 1.90 0.00
Dealing: Tel. +353 1434 5098 Fax. +353 1542 2859 28 Dorset Square, London, NW1 6QG European Multi-Sector € 127.24 - 0.11 3.16
FCA Recognised www.orbis.com 0800 358 2030
CG Portfolio Fund Plc Regulated
Orbis OEIC Global Cautious Standard £ 10.35 - -0.02 0.03
Absolute Return Cls M Inc £ 131.60 131.60 0.26 1.35
Orbis OEIC Global Balanced Standard £ 15.36 - -0.03 0.00
Capital Gearing Portfolio GBP P £ 35991.98 35991.98 48.03 -
Orbis OEIC Global Equity Standard £ 19.43 - -0.01 0.00
Capital Gearing Portfolio GBP V £ 175.04 175.04 0.23 -
Orbis OEIC UK Equity Standard £ 8.07 - 0.09 0.00
Dollar Fund Cls D Inc £ 171.28 171.28 0.20 1.43
Findlay Park Funds Plc (IRL)
Arisaig Partners
Dollar Hedged GBP Inc £ 106.86 106.86 0.11 1.31 30 Herbert Street, Dublin 2, Ireland Tel: 020 7968 4900 Ruffer LLP (1000)F (UK)
Milltrust International Managed Investments ICAV (IRL)
Other International Funds
Real Return Cls A Inc £ 209.57 209.57 -0.04 1.61 FCA Recognised mimi@milltrust.com, +44(0)20 8123 8316 www.milltrust.com
65 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NQ Zadig Gestion (Memnon Fund) (LUX)
Order Desk and Enquiries: 0345 601 9610 FCA Recognised
Arisaig Asia Consumer Fund Class A (Ex-Alcohol) shares $ 126.16 - 0.04 0.00 American EUR Unhedged Class € 128.71 - 0.27 - Regulated
Authorised Inv Funds Memnon European Fund - Class U2 GBP £ 197.76 - 1.95 0.00
Arisaig Asia Consumer Fund Limited $ 125.65 - 0.04 0.00 American Fund USD Class $ 156.61 - -0.24 - British Innovation Fund £ 121.92 - 2.89 0.00
Authorised Corporate Director - Link Fund Solutions
Arisaig Global Emerging Markets Consumer Fund $ 16.87 - 0.11 0.00 American Fund GBP Hedged £ 78.92 - -0.11 - MAI - Buy & Lease (Australia) A$ 102.95 - -0.80 0.00
LF Ruffer European C Acc 808.41 - 11.19 0.05
Arisaig Global Emerging Markets Consumer UCITS € 12.85 - -0.01 - American Fund GBP Unhedged £ 117.58 - -0.16 0.00 MAI - Buy & Lease (New Zealand)NZ$ 97.26 - -0.02 0.00
LF Ruffer European C Inc 147.52 - 2.04 0.09
Arisaig Global Emerging Markets Consumer UCITS STG £ 14.50 - -0.10 - Milltrust Global Emerging Markets Fund - Class A $ 114.71 - 0.27 0.00
LF Ruffer European O Acc 788.32 - 10.87 0.00
Arisaig Latin America Consumer Fund $ 26.49 - 0.09 0.00 The Climate Impact Asia Fund (Class A) $ 112.68 - 5.26 -
LF Ruffer Equity & General C Acc 491.30 - -0.85 0.18
Chartered Asset Management Pte Ltd LF Ruffer Equity & General C Inc 449.32 - -0.77 0.18
Other International Funds LF Ruffer Equity & General O Acc 479.13 - -0.85 0.00
CAM-GTF Limited $ 320238.08 320238.08 -4382.36 0.00 LF Ruffer Equity & General O Inc 443.59 - -0.79 0.00
CAM GTi Limited $ 788.22 - -58.29 0.00 LF Ruffer Gold C Acc 296.30 - 5.08 0.00
Raffles-Asia Investment Company $ 1.53 1.53 0.08 1.96 Foord Asset Management LF Ruffer Gold C Inc 179.33 - 3.07 0.00
Website: www.foord.com - Email: info@foord.com LF Ruffer Gold O Acc 288.85 - 4.93 0.00
FCA Recognised - Luxembourg UCITS LF Ruffer Japanese C Inc 167.30 - 1.51 0.08
Artemis Fund Managers Ltd (1200)F (UK) Milltrust International Managed Investments SPC
Foord International Fund | R $ 45.14 - -0.19 - em@milltrust.com, +44(0)20 8123 8316, www.milltrust.com LF Ruffer Japanese C Acc 359.50 - 3.24 0.08
57 St. James's Street, London SW1A 1LD 0800 092 2051
Regulated Platinum Capital Management Ltd LF Ruffer Pacific & Emerging Markets C Acc 393.40 - -2.40 0.79
Authorised Inv Funds Foord Global Equity Fund (Lux) | R $ 17.08 - -0.05 -
Milltrust Alaska Brazil SP A $ 74.14 - -1.00 - Other International Funds LF Ruffer Pacific & Emerging Markets C Inc 107.21 - -0.66 0.82
Artemis Corporate Bond I Acc £ 1.14 - 0.00 1.68 Regulated
Milltrust Laurium Africa SP A $ 95.63 - -0.48 - Platinum All Star Fund - A $ 139.89 - - - LF Ruffer Pacific & Emerging Markets O Acc 383.28 - -2.37 0.51
Artemis Target Return Bond I Acc £ 1.06 - 0.00 - Foord Global Equity Fund (Sing) | B $ 20.93 - -0.06 -
Milltrust Marcellus India Fund $ 118.43 - 1.05 - Platinum Global Growth UCITS Fund $ 13.51 - 0.04 0.00 LF Ruffer Total Return C Acc 501.37 - 0.40 0.84
Foord International Trust (Gsy) $ 44.94 - -0.19 0.00
Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds (IRL) Milltrust Singular ASEAN SP Founders $ 149.81 - -3.16 - Platinum Essential Resources UCITS Fund SICAV USD Class E $ 7.83 - -0.06 0.00 LF Ruffer Total Return C Inc 324.46 - 0.26 0.85
48-49 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JG. Milltrust SPARX Korea Equity SP A $ 158.83 - -5.01 - Platinum Global Dividend UCITS Fund $ 55.42 - -0.14 0.00 LF Ruffer Total Return O Acc 488.90 - 0.36 0.84
www.dodgeandcox.worldwide.com 020 3713 7664 Milltrust VTB Russia Fund SP $ 117.87 - 0.11 - LF Ruffer Total Return O Inc 316.21 - 0.24 0.85
FCA Recognised Milltrust Xingtai China SP A $ 141.06 - -2.12 -
Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds plc - Global Bond Fund
EUR Accumulating Class € 14.97 - 0.08 0.00
EUR Accumulating Class (H) € 11.68 - 0.00 0.00
EUR Distributing Class € 11.65 - 0.06 3.74
Franklin Templeton International Services Sarl (IRL)
EUR Distributing Class (H) € 9.04 - -0.01 3.77 JPMorgan House - International Financial Services Centre,Dublin 1, Ireland
GBP Distributing Class £ 12.95 - 0.08 3.85 Other International Funds
GBP Distributing Class (H) £ 9.53 - -0.01 4.09 Franklin Emerging Market Debt Opportunities Fund Plc Rubrics Global UCITS Funds Plc (IRL)
USD Accumulating Class $ 13.13 - -0.01 0.00 Franklin Emg Mkts Debt Opp CHFSFr 14.38 - 0.03 9.35 www.rubricsam.com
Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds plc-Global Stock Fund Regulated
Franklin Emg Mkts Debt Opp GBP £ 9.45 - 0.03 6.20
USD Accumulating Share Class $ 24.34 - -0.13 0.00 Rubrics Emerging Markets Fixed Income UCITS Fund $ 142.08 - -0.15 0.00
Franklin Emg Mkts Debt Opp SGD S$ 20.70 - 0.03 4.49
Rubrics Global Credit UCITS Fund $ 17.77 - 0.01 0.00
12 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 13

FT BIG READ. TECHNOLOGY

After a bruising week, with antitrust cases launched in the US and new laws proposed in Europe, Sundar
Pichai, boss of Alphabet, expects to be spending as much time with regulators in 2021 as he did in 2020.
By Richard Waters

‘Regulation can get it wrong’

F
or Google, the Techlash
arrived with a vengeance last
week. After years of mounting
angst about the power of Big
Tech, two state-level antitrust
suits against the search giant in the US
landed on consecutive days, adding to a
federal case launched in October.
The European Commission, which
has fought a running battle with Google
over a series of competition complaints
for the past decade, also upped the ante
by proposing sweeping new laws aimed
at curbing the power of a handful of
dominant tech platforms.
For Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief
executive officer since 2015, defending
the company against the multiplying
legal and legislative threats has become
almost a full-time job. He is also ending
his first year at the helm of Alphabet,
the parent company of both Google and
“moonshot” ventures like driverless car
subsidiary Waymo.
Honing the diffuse, cash-burning
holding company, while refocusing
Google on artificial intelligence, have
been less public parts of the job, but
could prove more significant.
Like it or not, for Google, government
intervention is now an inescapable fact
of life. Faced with the inevitable, Mr
Pichai’s strategy is clear: to publicly wel-
come new forms of regulation, while at
the same time trying to head off its most
onerous effects. The tactic is evident
from his response to Europe’s proposal
last week for a Digital Services Act
which would force powerful tech com-
panies to better police their platforms.
“I think it’s an important regulation to
think through and get right,” he says in
an interview with the Financial Times.
“What are the responsibilities on plat-
forms? What is the contract we want to
have? Where do there need to be clear
processes, more transparency? All that
makes sense to me. Thinking that
through and tackling it, it’s a worthwhile
effort.”
When it comes to the details, how- Sundar Pichai most of the mobile web traffic into there’s more information than ever of doing it. We are looking at what ‘One of the Elon Musk, often strike a hyperbolic
ever, things are unlikely to be so simple. wants to talk Google’s search engine. before. And that’ll always be true.” works, and we are adapting to it. That’s tone when discussing AI, veering
GDPR, Europe’s privacy regulation about artificial Mr Pichai denies that Google has used A mark of the tech backlash has been how they would approach it — and that’s possibilities towards science fiction when describing
introduced two years ago, has had the intelligence in acquisitions to build a dominant posi- the mistrust around this year’s US pres- how I approach it as well.” for some of the time when machines will surpass
effect of favouring the companies that areas like tion saying the company has previously idential race. And Mr Pichai seems There are other apparent changes in human intelligence — a point known
have amassed the largest troves of data robotics, right. eschewed deals. “There are definitely resigned to the idea that Google has direction. Mr Page, while he ran Alpha- these things as Artificial General Intelligence. Mr
on their own users, like Google. “It But has instead areas we wouldn’t look at, from an become a perennial target, whichever bet, said he saw no underlying techno- is that they Pichai, by contrast, makes it sound like
shows that for a lot of these things, the spent the past acquisition standpoint,” he adds of pos- party is in power. He also seems logical connection between its different a more routine and prosaic computer
answers are nuanced, and regulation year tied up in sible future deals. “We only want to do resigned to a continued barrage of com- operations: the main determining factor
[become] science problem.
can get it wrong,” Mr Pichai says. regulatory acquisitions where we are able to add to plaints over a failure to prevent misin- was whether they were bold and poten- standalone “I just call it AI,” he says. “AI over time
And he sounds a warning about one issues amid innovation. We’ve had that framework formation spreading online — while still tially transformative enough. companies will be more general in nature. I still
idea floated by the EU: to promote criticism from for a long time.” claiming significant headway. Mr Pichai, however, talks of a more think we have ways to go — but I think
competition by forcing companies like the likes of However, Dina Srinavasan, a former “When I look at the progress we have coherent AI conglomerate taking shape outside it’s one of the most profound things we
Google to open up some of their data to Timnit Gebru, ad tech executive who was involved in all made in ranking and quality, using AI out of the disparate collection of [Alphabet]’ are working on.”
competitors. “These are going to be the below, Google’s drafting one of the latest US antitrust to calculate some of these things, I think projects he inherited. Pointing to Every- Even with Google’s enviable resources
difficult questions they will have to former co-head cases, says the company has used acqui- that the pace of innovation is pretty day Robotics — a project to build robots Sundar Pichai and acknowledged lead in the field,
grapple with,” Mr Pichai says. “Govern- of AI ethics, who sitions as part of its strategy to dominate steep,” he says. “But there are clearly capable of handling day to day tasks — however, building the AI machine that
ments need to think through these alleges she was in all areas of digital advertising, squeez- areas where misinformation exists and he says: “Why does it exist within Mr Pichai envisages will not be easy. An
important principles. Sometimes we dismissed after ing out rivals. we have work to do to make it all better. Alphabet? Because the underlying inno- incident last month highlights the
can design very open ecosystems, they the company Another, somewhat unlikely, defence And so both are simultaneously true, I vation is going to come from AI. And so extent of the managerial challenge.
can have security implications.” suppressed has been to try to depict the company as think there’s both a lot of progress and a we are doing that.” Timnit Gebru, Google’s former co-
research — FT an underdog, at least in markets dom- lot of work that needs to be done.” Challenged about whether Alphabet head of AI ethics, and a rare black
Resisting a break-up montage
inated by other big tech platforms. is still in the business of backing so female researcher at the company,
Naturally cautious, Mr Pichai, 48, has “There are many areas where we are Reordering Alphabet claimed to have been fired after the
the sort of non-confrontational style challengers, be it cloud or be it com- If his year has ended under a regulatory company blocked the publication of a
that makes him well suited to the job at merce or be it trying to make a phone.” spotlight, it began on a very different report she had co-authored.
hand — a contrast to Google co-founders These are certainly big markets where note. After taking over as head of Alpha- It raised ethical questions about the
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who made Google has struggled to make an impact, bet from Google’s founders, he gave Wall use of large, data-consuming language
a virtue of their disregard for the including against Amazon and Apple. Street what it had long been asking for: a models in which Google is one of the
expected ways of doing things. But with a stock market value of nearly more detailed financial breakdown of leaders.
The antitrust challenges piling up $1.2tn, and a strong grip on online Google’s various activities. Her statement brought allegations
against the company, with politicians search and digital advertising that are Mr Pichai and Ruth Porat, the com- that Google was suppressing research
hinting that they may even try to push forecast to leave it with revenue of more pany’s chief financial officer, have also into an important ethical question out
for a break-up, provide the most imme- than $200bn next year, such protest- been pushing financial discipline of self-interest. It also stirred up dis-
diate threat. The accelerated switch to ations are liable to ring hollow. deeper into the group’s disparate quiet internally over the company’s con-
digital forms of communication and col- “Google’s a one-trick pony,” says Mr projects, in the process preparing the tinuing struggles to promote diversity.
laboration during the pandemic, he sug- Lowe. “The only way [it] would even be way for what has started to look like a “I definitely felt pain and disappoint-
gests, may have boosted Google’s eco- able to dabble in these fields is the ill- slow-motion unbundling of Alphabet. ment going through a moment like
nomic heft, but it has hardly been alone: gotten gains of dominating and exploit- Waymo took in outside investors for that,” Mr Pichai says. “I think we have
“It’s one thing if there’s only one com- ing search.” the first time, while Verily — the life to understand all the circumstances and
pany which is doing well, but that’s not Mr Pichai also plays down Google’s sciences division which had been the many “moonshot” ideas, Mr Pichai ‘The formula see what we can learn from there.
what we are seeing.” influence over the mass market for dig- first to look beyond its parent for fund- points to Wing, a drone delivery com- “We don’t always get it, right,” he
Mr Pichai’s arguments have the well- ital information. What once sounded ing — raised another $700m last week. pany that has seen a big pick-up in with Google adds, “but we are, as a company,
honed style of a company that has been like a bold corporate mission for an These businesses now have independ- demand during the pandemic, and is, they start committed to learning from these
on the receiving end of antitrust chal- internet start-up — to “organise the ent boards and Mr Pichai concedes that AlphaFold, a potential breakthrough in moments.”
lenges for years — even if US regulators world’s information and make it univer- their investors will want to cash out AI understanding of how proteins are with open Nor is it the first time Google has
have been late to join the action. One of sally accessible and useful” — risks some day. formed. [platforms] stumbled when it comes to AI ethics.
his main arguments is that Google’s sounding more sinister when applied to “One of the possibilities for some of AI is the engine that drives all these Nearly two years ago, it abandoned a
technology platforms bring broad bene- a company with such wealth and power. these things is that they [become] stan- projects. That has turned technologies
and then plan to set up an AI ethics board made
fits in the tech world. “We are still a small part of the overall dalone companies outside [Alphabet],” like machine vision into potentially become up of external advisers after internal
Of the Android mobile operating sys- information ecosystem,” the chief exec- he says. “We don’t have any specific foundational capabilities that underpin closed, they unrest about its composition.
tem, for instance, he says: “We are pro- utive insists. “If you take an area like plans, but it is one of the possible paths.” much of the work inside Google and the Mr Pichai points out that the com-
viding a software platform to literally video, you look at the amount of players It is a different vision to the one laid wider Alphabet network of companies. jack up the pany was one of the first to publicly lay
hundreds of handset manufacturers in the market today. And so I think out by Larry Page, who once told the FT “Waymo is pushing the state of the art rent’ out principles for how it will apply AI,
around the world.” Yet the antitrust that Alphabet could become a digital- in terms of AI [and] computer vision and claims it has internal processes to
complaints now pending against the era Berkshire Hathaway, assembling a very, very hard,” Mr Pichai says. “And Luther Lowe, govern the technology’s use — for
company accuse it of dominating those collection of independently run, unre- that applies to robotics. It applies to our Yelp instance, choosing not to open up its
same informal technology networks, lated businesses under a loose umbrella. search: over time, it will be based on facial recognition technology for use by
sucking out a disproportionate share of Mr Pichai plays down any suggestion what you’re seeing, not just what you’re other companies.
the profits. of disagreement over Alphabet’s future willing to type in. “Over time we expect there will be
“The formula with Google is, they — and the Google founders, who gave up “In some ways,” he adds, “the future important regulation” in this and other
start with open [platforms] and then direct involvement in the group a year across all of these things is connected. areas of AI, he says.
become closed, they jack up the rent,” ago, are still his bosses, thanks to a sep- That’s what gives us the comfort to take The Google boss wants the world to
says Luther Lowe at Yelp, the local arate class of stock that gives them a long-term view and invest in them.” know his company is a responsible stew-
search company that has been cam- 51 per cent of the votes, despite having ard of some of the world’s most powerful
paigning against Google’s tactics for a less than 12 per cent of the equity. Ethical challenges technologies. But in this, as in so much
decade. Android has “increased the “I think they always envisioned being The Google boss’s understated style can of what it does, he is preparing for a time
chance for developers to write apps”, he able to innovate with the structure,” he belie the scale of this ambition. Technol- when it is no longer left to exercise that
says, while at the same time sucking says. “It’s not like we have a specific way ogy leaders, like Tesla’s chief executive responsibility on its own.
14
THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2020
Triumph of science is
cause for festive cheer
This year has been marked by extraordinary endeavour and success
Festive cheer may feel in short supply
this holiday season amid rising con-
cerns over the spread of a more infec-
tious strain of the coronavirus. Yet
despite the multitude of miseries the
pandemic has inflicted, the year has
witnessed extraordinary scientific
endeavour. The Christmas period
should be not only a time to remember
the 1.7m people lost to Covid-19, but
to celebrate the resilience and spirit of
the human race — and the success of
science and technology — in the face of
a deadly killer.
Even while much of the world was
forced to close down in the spring to
halt the spread of the disease, research-
ers were racing to develop a vaccine.
The global health emergency brought
about unprecedented collaboration in
the form of data sharing and mobilisa-
tion of resources between academia,
governments, philanthropic organisa-
tions and private companies. These
initiatives enabled the development of
the Covid vaccines that are already
being distributed to millions of people.
Researchers managed to complete a
process that on average takes 10 years
in just 10 months — without cutting
corners on normal standards of design,
testing and manufacture.
Technology has helped economies
through the crisis. Advances that
would have been unthinkable as
recently as the financial crisis 12 years
ago allowed governments to all but
shutter their economies yet keep vital
activity, including that of their finan-
cial institutions, alive. The widespread
installation of fast broadband and the
recent emergence of new online
platforms such as Zoom have allowed
millions to work from home, and
lessened the economic damage.
There have been other scientific
breakthroughs which, in a normal year,
would have dominated the headlines.
In March, a man from London became
Pandemic calls for a new
approach to growth
Record plunges in national income do not reflect damage to wellbeing
The coronavirus pandemic means that
2020 will go down in history as the year
with one of the deepest plunges in
national income on record. In the UK,
which has one of the longest continu-
ous logs of economic output, gross
domestic product looks likely to have
fallen around a tenth this year, making
for the biggest recession in three centu-
ries. Yet even these figures, however
eye-watering, do not capture the true
collapse in wellbeing, which must be
the ultimate goal of economic policy.
In theory, gross domestic product
adds up everything that a country pro-
duces in one year. The fall in national
income during 2020 is easy to explain:
interruptions to normal economic
activity have meant that far less has
been produced. In this regard the drop
in gross domestic product will capture
some of the missed outings and trips to
the cinema, the cancelled holidays and
all the meals and drinks with friends
that had to be postponed.
There is, however, plenty that the fig-
ures miss. To aggregate the value of
very different activities that take place
in an economy statisticians use market
prices — allowing them to compare the
production of both apples and oranges
on a common scale. But the absence of
these prices for much of healthcare and
education in many countries — statisti-
cians merely impute their production
from how much the government
spends on them — means the disrup-
tions to schools and delays in adminis-
tering non-coronavirus medical care is
missed. Spending on healthcare might
have risen but on a net basis societies
got far less for their money.
On the other hand, public parks and
other green spaces have become much
more important but their contribution
to the economy will not be registered as
part of GDP. Unpaid labour too, those
who tried to teach their children at
home, sewed personal protective
only the second person in the world to
be cured of HIV. In August, the World
Health Organization announced the
eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa
following its disappearance in Nigeria.
As recently as the 1990s, polio was
paralysing 75,000 children a year in
Africa. And in November, researchers
from DeepMind, the UK-based artifi-
cial intelligence company, announced
they had cracked a challenge that has
eluded scientists for decades: how to
determine a protein’s 3D shape from its
amino-acid sequence, an advance that
could accelerate dramatically the
discovery of new drugs.
Science also triumphed in other
areas this year, not least in the US.
Here, outgoing president Donald
Trump openly fought against science
and sidelined his scientific advisers —
exemplified by Dr Anthony Fauci — but
was ultimately beaten. Rarely has there
been a more head-on clash between
scientific analysis and political will.
Challenges remain, from the safe and
equitable delivery of the vaccines to
dealing with the social inequalities that
the pandemic has both exposed and
exacerbated. The successful inocula-
tion of the world’s population will also
help governments to overcome the rise
of the anti-vaxxer movement. For
policymakers, the response to Covid-19
holds a lesson for what is possible when
faced with a lethal challenge; govern-
ments should apply this to the looming
emergency of climate change.
Pandemics are an age-old scourge,
from the bubonic plague to the 1918 flu
pandemic. What has been different this
time, as social epidemiologist Dr
Nicholas Christakis recently pointed
out, is that humanity has been able to
respond in real time with effectual
medicines. After such a challenging
year, the triumph of science — both
practically and symbolically — is a
crucial source of solace.
equipment or baked banana bread, will
not appear in the story of the year told
by national income figures. Nor will the
drop in air pollution or the volunteers
who took care of neighbours.
Even an accurate counting of the
drop in production this year would still
miss the psychological damage done by
prolonged isolation and loneliness; the
“hidden pandemic” of mental health
problems. That suggests the solution
would not be to expand the definition
of gross domestic product to include
the production it misses but to consider
focusing on wellbeing directly.
All the same, the experience of this
year — when governments shut down
their economies in order to protect
public health — has shown that eco-
nomic growth has not been prioritised
above all else. Already, a wider defini-
tion of wellbeing than a pure economic
one is implicitly being used to inform
policy. Daily count cases and death
rates have played a much bigger role in
policymaking than quarterly growth
figures. Suggestions that health meas-
ures represent a trade-off with eco-
nomic fortunes have also been over-
played. The best way of protecting jobs
this year has been keeping the virus
under control: New Zealand, which
managed to remain virtually virus-free
thanks to an early and strict lockdown,
is reaping the economic rewards.
This will remain true when the pan-
demic has passed. A healthy and well-
educated workforce is one of the most
important prerequisites to growth and
secure, well-paid, high quality jobs are
among the best foundations to protect
mental wellbeing. Unemployment and
poor quality work can easily destroy
people’s sense of self-worth while a
robust private sector is essential to pro-
vide the tax revenues for health and
education. The goal should be to create
the kind of society where economic
growth and wellbeing go hand in hand.
★ FINANCIAL TIMES
Letters
Tunisia uprising tore down a modern state
David Gardner reminds us of a key
point which explains why Tunisia has
fared better than its Middle East peers
in its attempt to build democracy
(“Biden should learn from the Arab
uprising 10 years on”, Opinion,
December 22). It has built institutions
over a century and a half since Bey
Ahmed abolished slavery in 1846, two
years before France and 19 years before
America. In 1857, its “Fundamental
Pact” was akin to a Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen,
followed by the first constitution in
the Muslim world, the Law of the State
(Qanun al-Dawla).
Data-driven clinical trials
reduce participant risk
As this year has shown so clearly,
clinical trials are at the heart of
innovative drug development. When
we work together, barriers can be
overcome and solutions can come
faster. Therefore, long-term plans to
accelerate clinical development are
welcome (“UK to fast-track drug trials
to boost post-Brexit life sciences”,
Report, December 20).
However, there are two factors to
address. First, many companies —
whether based in the UK full-time or
conducting trials in-country — lack the
capability to generate and collate the
specific data that regulators will
require. Considerable investment in
data management infrastructure and
skills is needed to enable companies to
take advantage of the “rolling review”
approach.
Second, as regulators and companies
alike become more aware of the power
of data, we must not miss this
opportunity to reduce the burden of
clinical trials on the most important
stakeholder of all — the patient.
Eliminating the ethically questionable
placebo arm of a clinical trial is within
reach. The industry has huge volumes
of data available to it that, when
analysed via a synthetic comparator
arm, allow it to model precise
outcomes. For example, given the
many osteoarthritis trials completed,
rather than give patients in chronic and
severe pain a placebo, synthetic data
mean results can be predicted with
satisfactory accuracy.
Next year is certain to see more
breakthroughs in clinical development,
but any changes to the sector must
include advancing the use of synthetic
comparator arms. If the UK can make
approvals easier and faster without
compromising safety or unduly
burdening patients, it can lead the
process globally, and data-driven
regulatory decision-making can be at
the core of achieving that global
leadership.
Dr Gen Li
Founder and President, Phesi
Connecticut, US
A stop-start Covid policy
hasn’t helped at all
It is fitting that a populist government
that promises to save Christmas is
overruled by events. They cannot but
be behind the curve (FT View,
December 21).
Of course, rather than learn, they
blame events, in this case the new,
more infectious, variant of Covid-19.
The question, though, is whether the
Chocolate
treat leaves a
sour taste for
cocoa farmers
Ghana
Notebook
by Orla Ryan
The second key to Tunisia’s
exceptionalism is the support that
reformers gave, more than a century
ago, to defending the idea of education
and equal rights for women. Tahar
Haddad was vocal on this point in the
1920s and was supported — not
opposed — by Cheikh Fadhel Ben
Achour, leader of one of the oldest
qoranic universities, the Zitouna.
When the founder of modern
Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba granted
women equal rights in 1956, soon
followed by family planning, he was
following a well trodden path. By 1960,
Tunisian women enjoyed more rights
new variant is actually another result
of the stop-start approach to policy.
Just as diseases such as tuberculosis
develop in response to unfinished
treatment, maybe we are seeing now
the viral equivalent, as lockdowns start
too late and then finish too early. We
suspect the opportunity for such viral
development is limited in countries
such as New Zealand, that go in hard,
fast and stay in until the job is done.
Ultimately the “NZ-style” response is
more popular, but not populist.
Dr William Dixon
Plumstead, London, UK
Dr David Wilson
Essex, UK
The humble lizard’s
moment in the sun
Reptilian conspiracy theories are
undoubtedly absurd. Yet, Derek
Brower noted how the fate of drilling in
the American south-west partly hinges
on a forthcoming decision by the US
Fish and Wildlife Service over whether
the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard is
endangered (“Biden faces political fight
on climate”, The Big Read, December
22).
Then Guy Chazan reported that a
German court’s ruling on the protected
status of the “humble sand lizard” had
brought a halt to Elon Musk’s plans to
build an electric-car factory outside
Berlin (“German lizard throws sand
into works of Tesla’s new €4bn electric-
car factory”, Report, December 23).
I must admit that lizards do seem to
be having an unusual amount of
influence lately.
Dr Mia Bennett
Assistant Professor, Department of
Geography and School of Modern
Languages & Cultures
The University of Hong Kong
For Larbi Siaw, a cocoa farmer in
Ghana’s western north region, this is
one of the busiest times of year. Like
millions of smallholders across west
Africa, he and his family are chopping
down ripe yellow pods, scooping out
white pulpy beans and leaving them to
dry on reed mats in the heat.
Ghana and neighbouring Ivory
Coast produce 60 per cent of the
world crop and at the December
height of the main harvest, visitors to
their rural heartlands are greeted by
the smell of drying cocoa, seductive
and familiar.
But for Mr Siaw, who has grown
cocoa for more than half of his 60
years and whose father farmed the
crop, this year leaves a sour taste. For
a start, the rains didn’t come as
expected in July, so output may be
low. Even though the government has
raised the farmgate price nearly 30
per cent to $1,800 a tonne, he says
that it is still too little. “They don’t
give us a good price,” he tells me.
The 2020 Cocoa Barometer report
on the sector’s sustainability agrees
with him, estimating that farmers
need at least $3,100 per tonne to make
a decent living. Governments in
Ghana and Ivory Coast have long
argued that farmers should earn more
for their labour. By some estimates,
they make just 6 per cent of the sale
price of a bar of the confectionery.
With this in mind, Accra and
Abidjan recently added a $400-a-
tonne “living income differential” to
the price of cocoa harvested from this
crop year. When Hershey bought
If you are not satisfied with the FT’s response to your complaint, you can appeal
to the FT Editorial Complaints Commissioner: complaints.commissioner@ft.com
than many of their European sisters.
The tenth anniversary of the
Tunisian uprising — it was never a
revolution — is not a cause for
celebration in that country. The
economy is in tatters, standards of
living have fallen and the political class
totally discredited. Yet Tunisians have
a long tradition of being reformers and
therein lies hope for the future. Rome
was not built in a day, nor will
Carthage, which today is the residential
suburb of Tunis where its elite live.
Francis Ghilès
Senior Research Fellow, CIDOB
Barcelona, Spain
Health passports could
ease haulage logjam
The UK-France border freight issues
(Report, December 22) are a reminder
that there is much to be done to
improve management of the current
crisis.
The UK government has always said
testing is key but has failed to put in
place a trustworthy system of test
result certification which is crucial to
making best use of this capacity and
would allow testing away from the
border which is logistically essential. A
good system would be reliable,
portable, accessible, protecting of
personal privacy, time limited and
secure. It would prevent fraud and be
accepted by the bearers and checkers
of test results. The same issues apply to
vaccination status.
Health passports are a reliable and
proven system that could be put in
place swiftly. The UK government
needs to consider them rapidly. In
digital or paper-based form, they
would provide proof of status of a
negative Covid test for hauliers looking
to make cross-Channel journeys,
enabling trust between the UK and
France and unlocking the border. This
can be extended in the future to
include vaccination status.
It is a solution that must be
considered as a priority if we wish to
avoid a repeat of scenarios like the one
currently unfolding in Dover.
Christine Macqueen
Director Corporate Affairs, SICPA
London SW11, UK
Nero’s reign should not be
reduced to his tyranny
It takes strong nerves to decry Martin
Wolf. But, in his piece, “The fading
light of liberal democracy” (Opinion,
December 22), Mr Wolf states that
“Nero was not very interested in
governing . . . but he definitely was
tyrannical”.
It is true that Nero was a tyrant.
However, it is a lapse on the part of our
great economist to fall in with the
propaganda of Suetonius that, like
Shakespeare’s wonderful hatchet job
on Richard III, wilfully distorts the true
picture.
The first part of Nero’s reign (famous
as the Quinquennium Neronis) when
the emperor listened to his brilliant
special advisers, were years of good
government . . . and he didn’t fiddle,
but braved the flames when Rome
burned.
John Gerson
Visiting Professor, The Policy Institute
King’s College
London WC2, UK
cocoa on the futures market instead —
which analysts said allowed it to avoid
the LID — both countries shut down
the company’s sustainability
programmes. In the end, Hershey
agreed to pay the surcharge.
But the problem of how to agree a
fair price for farmers’ output rumbles
on. When I was a reporter in west
Africa nearly 15 years ago, I visited
cocoa farms, warehouses and buyers
regularly so I could file stories for
Reuters’ commodity news service.
Working in the world’s second-largest
exporter of beans (after Ivory Coast), I
grew to appreciate the popular saying
“Ghana is Cocoa and Cocoa is Ghana”.
It was commonly said that about a
quarter of the country’s population
relied on cash from cocoa.
I visited small villages, which often
lacked electricity, water and decent
schools, and spoke to the
sharecroppers, migrants and families
upon whose labour the world’s
chocolate industry rests. It is back-
breaking and hard, carried out with
nothing more sophisticated than a
machete. Officials were suspicious and
anxious about my reports, which
could move the price. Such was the
sensitivity surrounding a crop that
brought in much-needed foreign
exchange that one request for an
interview was met with the reply:
“Why is it in the interests of mother
Ghana for us to speak to you?”
In truth, there are a lot of reasons
farmers’ incomes are low. The
government sets the farmgate price
and can tax it heavily. It strives to give
Thursday 24 December 2020
Email: letters.editor@ft.com
Include daytime telephone number and full address
Corrections: corrections@ft.com
Accountancy conflicts of
interest are the exception
Mark Bull writes on conflicts of interest
faced by major accountancy firms,
which are involved in other
commercial services, advising on both
sides of a business-to-business
transaction (Letters, December 22).
I cannot see that there would
normally be a conflict of interest for an
accountancy firm specifically from
being involved in both sides of a deal.
An exception might be when a
transaction is driven in part by the
desire to achieve accounting or tax
outcomes that are inconsistent
between the two advised parties. An
example would be trying to keep an
asset off the balance sheet of any
company, when it might be expected to
be on the balance sheet in some form
for one party — or perhaps even for
both of them, as a financial asset for a
lender/lessor and a physical one for the
borrower/lessee.
There is of course always a potential
conflict of interest for accounting
firms: between pleasing the client and
compliance with accounting standards
(or tax rules). However, this would not
usually be made any worse by having
one firm advise both sides of a deal.
By contrast, when it comes to legal
advice and other consultancy services,
there will often be a conflict factor that
prohibits acting for both sides. Such
advice is more likely to affect
negotiating tactics between the two
principal parties, rather than the
interests of third parties, such as
accounts users or tax authorities.
Nevertheless, when accountancy firms
have legal or consulting arms, the
inadequacy of competition is less likely
to result in any one firm acting for
incompatible clients in a deal. This
inadequacy does not necessarily
extend to the field of law firms or other
players.
Andy Thompson
Worcester Park, Surrey, UK
A Christian Christmas
tree in Baghdad
Reading “Christmas trees: needle
match” (Lex, December 19) took me
back on a nice journey to my first ever
Christmas celebration in Baghdad. In
the 1950s I experienced the joy of
seeing baby Jesus in a blue-lit manger
alongside a fake Christmas tree with
flashing lights. A lady primary school
teacher (a Christian) invited me, her
pupil (a Moslem boy), to her home to
share the joy of how Christmas is
celebrated. This was the nicest
Christmas for me in my life up to now
— never mind the tree was artificial.
Dr Sadiq Hussain
Blackpool, UK
Thanks to all who ensure
the FT is at your door
The FT Weekend editor’s column
(December 19) rightly praised the staff
of the newspaper for their efforts in
this difficult year. However, he omitted
to pass on thanks to those invaluable
individuals who invariably manage to
deliver the hard copy newspaper to
subscribers. I have never met Winston
who delivers mine, as he unfailingly
delivers my copy before 7am.
Nonetheless, my thanks go out to him
for ensuring I have the perfect
accompaniment to the espresso and
toast with which I tend to start my day.
Sterl Greenhalgh
Windsor, UK
smallholders at least 70 per cent of the
price at export but at times has paid
just a fraction of that.
While Mr Siaw supplements his
income selling palm oil, many rely on
a few bags of cocoa for their annual
income. Farms are small and
scattered, yields are low, productivity
poor, disease can wipe out the crop.
Farmers are often poorly educated
and struggle with modern farming
techniques. Increasing cocoa prices
also encourages farmers to grow more,
driving prices down in a vicious circle
that it is hard to escape. And with
most chocolate made close to the end
market of western consumers, little
value is added in west Africa.
The most pertinent question of all
may be whether farmers will want to
stick with the crop in the long term.
Most want a better future for their
children and many hope this will not
involve the cocoa farm. “I can’t advise
my children to do it,” says Mr Siaw, as
he complains about the price. He is
not alone.
Accra, the Ghanaian capital is now
jazzed up by oil money, and full of
energy. It is an attractive prospect for
a young person in the bush. The cocoa
price is an issue not just for Mr Siaw
but also the global confectionery
industry that relies on the output of
people like him.
If farmers don’t think it’s worth
their while to labour during the cocoa
harvest, then the whole industry
crumbles.
orla.ryan@ft.com
Thursday 24 December 2020
Complacency and wasteful spending blight higher education
AMERICA
Oren
Cass
T
he push by American pro-
gressives to have Joe Biden’s
incoming administration
forgive $50,000 of student
debt per borrower is deeply
stupid, but at least clarifyingly so.
More polite language fails to capture
the absurdity of singling out college
attendees for an unprecedented $1tn
transfer of wealth, equivalent to the total
spent on cash welfare in the last 40 years.
The top sources of US student debt are
professional business and law degrees.
All the rationales offered — addressing
“systemic inequities” and the “racial
wealth gap”, providing “much-needed
Democracy
across Africa
is in retreat
global affairs
David
Pilling
I
t is election time in Uganda, and the
main opposition candidate has
pulled on his bulletproof vest. In
recent months, Bobi Wine, the rap
singer turned presidential aspirant,
has survived arrests, beatings and what
he alleges were two assassination
attempts as bullets strafed his vehicle.
Mr Wine has good reason to be afraid
in the run-up to January’s presidential
contest. Two years ago, his driver was
shot dead in what he alleges was a
botched attempt on his own life. And
last month, as his supporters came out
to cheer him, scores were gunned down
by security forces.
Mr Wine, whose real name is Robert
Kyagulanyi, was four years old when
President Yoweri Museveni came to
power after overthrowing another
dictator. Thirty-four years later, Mr
Wine and Mr Museveni represent two
opposing sides — the street and the
palace — in a continent where democ-
racy has taken a battering but where the
thirst for democratic representation
remains strong.
At 38, Mr Wine — who styles himself
the “ghetto president” after his tough
upbringing in a Kampala slum — sym-
bolises the street: a frustrated, under-
employed youth in a continent where
the median age is below 20. At 76, Mr
Museveni represents an entrenched and
ageing political royalty, skilled in the art
of economic extraction and the brutal
mechanics of clinging on to power.
If leaders like Mr Museveni are the
immovable object, then challengers like
Reza
Moghadam
T
he European Central Bank
ended 2020 with a flourish,
following up the successful
stabilisation of markets
with fresh measures to
ensure easy financing conditions in the
coming year. So is that the end of the line
for monetary stimulus? What should we
expect in 2021?
Three challenges will loom large at
the ECB as the continent transitions to a
post-vaccine, post-pandemic world: the
problem of chronically low inflation; the
tools to tackle it; and the link to climate
policy. These may seem like long-term
issues but are of acute interest to
forward-looking financial markets as
they bear on how long easy financial
economic stimulus”, reducing “negative
health outcomes” associated with debt —
make a better case, assuming one is giv-
ing away money, for simple cash trans-
fers to lower-income households. If “debt
forgiveness” is the goal, why not car
loans or credit card balances?
True, student loans are rarely dis-
chargeable in bankruptcy. But that could
be fixed by letting the small share of
student borrowers with unmanageable
debts discharge them through other
standard and orderly processes. What’s
more the federal government already
has “income based repayment” pro-
grammes that can limit payments for
households with under $50,000 in
income to less than $200 per month.
Perhaps this debt-forgiveness non-
sense will shake the US from its compla-
cency about higher education. Compris-
ing the thousands of colleges and uni-
versities that together receive more
than $150bn a year in public subsidies,
Big Ed is among the nation’s most
Mr Wine are the unstoppable force. The
result is likely to be more and more con-
frontations across the continent in
which ordinary people, frustrated with
crooked elections, demand change.
The contents of Mr Wine’s political
platform are vague. More than specific
policies, he represents the smouldering
rage of an urban youth that has retained
a faith in democracy as the best way out
of poverty. “Young Ugandans feel like
they are first-world brains trapped in a
third-world country,” Mr Wine told
CNN this month. “They want to live
their full potential.”
Surveys by Afrobarometer, a pan-
African polling organisation, show that
Africans express consistent support for
multi-party democracy, direct elections
of their leaders and, above all, presiden-
tial term limits. In a 2019 survey of more
than 30 African countries, three-
quarters of respondents said they
wanted open and fair elections.
More than in Asia, where some autoc-
racies have delivered economic success,
most Africans persist in the belief that
democracy is the surest path to develop-
ment, says Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi,
Afrobarometer’s co-founder.
After years of gaining ground after the
fall of the Berlin Wall, democracy in
Africa is in retreat. Leaders like Mr
Museveni have grown adept at manipu-
lating democratic norms to deliver the
appearance of democracy without its
content. In Burundi, Guinea, Ivory
Coast, Rwanda and many other coun-
tries, leaders have engaged in constitu-
tional chicanery to extend term limits.
Former soldiers have donned demo-
cratic robes. Chidi Odinkalu, senior
manager for Africa at the Open Society
Foundations, reckons there are 21
former military men in power in Africa
— including Angola, Chad, Egypt, Ethio-
pia, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan,
South Sudan and Zimbabwe.
The ingredients of ECB success will be boldness and clarity
conditions might persist. All three
issues are to be taken up in a forthcom-
ing strategy review, which is likely to be
the ECB’s most consequential policy
pronouncement in 2021.
First, the inflation challenge. Consid-
ering the ECB’s success in stabilising
markets and holding the eurozone
together, its failure to deliver on its core
mandate — inflation “close to but under
2 per cent” — is remarkable. Inflation
has been closer to 1 than to 2 per cent for
seven of the past eight years, and mar-
kets expect that will be the case for the
next decade.
The shortfall is not just a problem for
debtors, who end up paying more in real
terms than they bargained for. It is also a
problem for a central bank effectiveness
once expectations, in the face of system-
atic error in one direction, start to
adjust.
Thus, the ECB may have succeeded in
pushing down nominal interest rates,
but since inflation expectations have
★ FINANCIAL TIMES
Opinion
powerful but toxic forces. It thrives on
the carefully cultivated myth of cam-
puses as citadels of learning and on the
mistaken notion that enrolment is
the sine qua non of a successful life — that
college, as Barack Obama was fond of
saying, is the “ticket to the middle class”.
Debt acquired in the ivory tower obtains
talismanic status.
In fact, Big Ed’s performance is woeful,
which is how a student debt crisis
emerged to begin with. Its deformation
of the cultural expectations and eco-
nomic incentives facing young people at
the formative stage of their adult lives is
wreaking havoc. Higher education costs
more than $30,000 per student per year
in the US, roughly twice as much as in
Germany or France. Still, more than 40
per cent of recent graduates land in jobs
that do not require degrees. And that’s
among those who do finish. At two-year
community colleges, barely one-quar-
ter of enrollees complete the programme
within six years. University leaders
In Mali this year, soldiers moved
straight into the presidential palace,
without bothering to pass the ballot box.
International condemnation of even
naked power grabs has been muted.
“Donald Trump has made dictatorship
hip again,” says Mr Gyimah-Boadi. He
hopes the needle may shift back under
the US president-elect Joe Biden.
Still, African governments are less
reliant on western donors, who at least
made some pretence of linking aid with
respect for democratic norms. Instead,
until Covid at least, they have borrowed
from eurobond markets for whom
Leaders such as
Uganda’s Museveni
have grown adept at
manipulating norms
also fallen, the decline in expected real
rates — the key variable for savers and
investors — has been more modest.
Keep this up and a central bank loses all
traction. Some commentators already
bracket the ECB with the Bank of Japan,
which lost control of its inflation anchor
to become an institution perpetually at
war with deflation.
Avoiding such a fate requires remov-
ing the ambiguity and ambivalence sur-
rounding the ECB’s “close to but under 2
per cent” target. This has become a big-
ger issue since an influential minority in
the ECB’s governing council has made
clear it sees no problem in low inflation.
The hawks favour a lower target range
that would allow the ECB to declare vic-
tory and end monetary easing sooner.
But lower inflation is the last thing a cur-
rency zone ridden with debt, wage rigid-
ities and differing vulnerabilities needs.
Rather, the ECB should look to elimi-
nate the “close to but under” clause
attached to its current target.
are notably reticent to measure or report
whether students learn anything at all.
Yet the students continue to pour in.
Look at it from their point of view. It’s
easy enough to disprove the economic
claim that attending college promises
them success, but much harder to refute
the cultural message equating “not
Those facing a harder road
in the ‘knowledge economy’
should have the greatest
public support
college material” with “loser”. Worse,
we advertise the college experience as
an amusement park entitlement — a rite
of passage filled with sports and parties,
sex and alcohol, activities calendars
overseen by cruise-ship directors called
“campus life co-ordinators”, and, oh,
classes that you should try to attend, all
prompt repayment is more important
than credible elections.
Money has flowed, too, from the Gulf
and the Middle East. For 20 years, one-
party China has been the biggest lender
of all. “The model of authoritarian
developmentalism has come from
China,” says Mr Odinkalu. “And it
comes with a spigot of Chinese money.”
If external pressure to democratise
has waned, pressure from the street has
intensified. Mr Wine represents a civic
pushback in a continent where ordinary
people continue to make the case for
liberal values.
In Sudan, the 30-year dictatorship of
Omar al-Bashir ended in 2019 after mil-
lions took to the streets to demand his
exit. This February, Malawi’s constitu-
tional court annulled the results of the
2019 “Tipp-Ex election” after months of
mass protests in which tens of thou-
sands poured on to the streets to
Alternatively, it could follow the US
Federal Reserve’s lead in adopting an
average inflation target, which, by
encouraging expectations of above 2 per
cent inflation in coming years, could
counter the inflation pessimism that
pervades Europe.
Second, the toolset. It is unclear if the
Three challenges will
loom large as the
continent transitions
to a post-vaccine world
strategy review will produce more than
tweaks to the ECB’s asset purchase and
credit subsidy programmes. A bolder
move would be to expand into private
asset purchases and revive short-term
interest rates as an active policy tool.
The latter was set aside in the belief that
rates cannot be taken much below zero
paid for by someone else or at some
other time. Try convincing a teenager it
would really be smarter to forgo that
experience for a few years of hard work,
an industry credential and some savings
in the bank.
This is why, while policymakers’ new-
found focus on developing effective
non-college career pathways is neces-
sary, it is not sufficient. The Big Ed boon-
doggle must be unwound, the govern-
ment funding slashed. Young people
regardless of their academic talent ben-
efit from programmes that facilitate the
transition to adulthood and productive
work, the exploration of options and
skill acquisition. For those of greatest
academic talent, the classroom will
probably play a greater role.
But that classroom should not come
attached to a four-year summer camp,
or be the focus of the most generous
funding. To the contrary, those likely to
face a harder road in the modern
“knowledge economy” should be the
Efi Chalikopoulou
denounce a fraudulent poll. The elec-
tion was rerun and the incumbent
ejected.
The streets of Nigeria, Africa’s most
populous country, have also been in
flames as mass protests erupted against
police brutality. The echoes of their
“EndSars movement” — named for a
brutal unit of the Nigerian police force —
has hash-tagged around the continent.
For a constitutional democracy to
“survive and flourish”, says John
Mukum Mbaku, senior non-resident
fellow at Brookings, it must have both a
“robust and politically active public”
and “political elites dedicated to main-
taining the country’s constitutional
institutions”.
The clamour from the street is loud
and clear. But few in the palaces appear
to be listening.
david.pilling@ft.com
without harming banks. But there are
ways around the problem, and the
prospect of a digital euro issued by the
ECB, on which a small fee can be
imposed, opens the door to more
negative interest rates without under-
mining banks.
A more potent tool to raise inflation
expectations involves breaking a taboo:
co-ordination with fiscal policy. The
proscription made sense in a world of
robust growth, where any hint of collu-
sion with fiscal authorities risked ignit-
ing inflation. But that world is long gone.
In the new secularly stagnating one,
sustained public investment will be key
to lifting demand, growth and inflation.
The ECB has been supportive of fiscal
expansion during the pandemic, but
whether this stance will continue is
unclear, placing question marks over
inflation prospects.
A more overt co-ordination with fiscal
authorities, without underwriting prof-
ligacy or violating monetary financing
15
beneficiaries of greatest public support.
We can’t stop the rich from creating pri-
vate playgrounds for their kids, but we
can ensure they do it on their own dime.
Big Ed will scream, of course. Its
defenders will be the coterie of college-
educated professionals who benefited
most from the current system, and who
see hypocrisy in their own kind criticis-
ing the status quo. What a cosy arrange-
ment. Only people who went to college
write about public policy for a living,
and people who went to college must not
say that too many people go to college.
This is the dynamic that yields “pro-
gressives” arguing with a straight face
that student debt forgiveness should be
a top priority, while making no effort to
hold these institutions more account-
able in the future. It is not a dynamic the
American people are likely to tolerate
much longer.
The author is executive director of American
Compass
Techopoly
(noun) the band of Big Tech groups
that exercise monopolistic control
over the supply of digital services
Technology has often seemed to be
the only story in the markets this
year; the sector has a “techopoly” on
news both good and bad. A handful
of the largest tech companies,
including Facebook, Apple, Amazon,
Google and Microsoft, have come to
dominate the value of the S&P 500.
Driven by everything from the
pandemic (which sped up the shift to
digital), to continued monetary and
fiscal stimulus, the sector has been
on a tear this year, with share price
gains in the hottest tech initial public
offerings greater than anything seen
since the dotcom boom of 1999.
What makes the soaring valua-
tions all the more amazing is that
they are coming as Big Tech is under
threat from regulators globally. In
the US, both the justice department
and the Federal Trade Commission
have brought antitrust cases against
Google and Facebook, respectively.
Europe has proposed tough new
rules for digital gatekeepers, as has
the UK, which has also created a spe-
cial digital markets unit to regulate
platforms. Even China, the world’s
leading surveillance state, is crack-
ing down on big firms like Alibaba.
Techlash has become the status quo.
Yet the sector keeps growing. Cov-
id-19 and its aftermath ensure that
the future will be far more digital
than the past, as much work remains
remote and companies spend a
greater percentage of their capital
investments on intangible assets:
software, patents, data analytics and
other forms of intellectual property.
That will be good for Big Tech, but
quite possibly bad for workers, at
least in the short run — a rise in
intangible assets is associated with
jobless recoveries. All of it means the
sector will probably continue to hold
its techopoly on our economy, and
our attention, in the months and
years to come.
rana.foroohar@ft.com
of deficit rules, is well within the ken of
the ECB.
Third, climate change. This is not an
issue usually associated with central
banking. But it has become relevant as
green spending is a focus of the EU’s
recovery fund. Moreover, recognition of
the financial risks stemming from cli-
mate change is growing. The ECB will
need to go beyond insisting on transpar-
ency about climate risks in bank portfo-
lios to actually incorporating these risks
in its operations — be that in stress tests,
capital requirements or eligibility for
ECB asset purchases and collateral.
It is a well-worn trope in European
policy circles that nothing changes out-
side of a crisis. If the ECB is to succeed in
the coming decade, not just in 2021, it
will need to prove itself the exception to
that rule.
The writer, a former head of the IMF’s
European department, is chief economic
adviser at Morgan Stanley
16 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

Executive pay: it’s all gravy

Executives in sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, such as retailing and leisure, were most exposed to pay
reductions in the past year. Even so, pay cuts came mostly in the form of reduced salaries, the smallest part
of executive packages. Bosses at companies where shares underperformed were at greater risk of pay cuts.

Executive pay cuts by sector Disclosure of pay cuts

Twitter: @FTLex
Hits and misses of the year
Pandemic prediction:
turkey and trimmings
A UK weatherman earned infamy in
1987 by decrying rumours of a
hurricane that devastated the country
shortly afterwards. There were echoes
of this in Lex’s reassuring words in
January. We wrote that fears
concerning the economic impact of
coronavirus were “overdone”.
This turkey of a prediction was
repeated in a note later that month
that said overcapacity was a better
reason for investors to shun cruise lines
than “the enigmatic coronavirus”. It is
the centrepiece of our review of the
year, served in the form of a traditional
festive repast. The forecast stands as a
reminder of how often governments,
pundits and markets have been
blindsided by the pandemic this year.
Lex got lots right too: we predicted
plentiful financing for vulnerable
businesses and the direction of gold
from the middle of the year (see box).
Further, we did a tyre-burning U-turn
on coronavirus just before western
markets tanked in February, writing of
the hotel sector: “The swift rebound
that followed the Sars epidemic cannot
be expected this time.” By then, we
were calculating the rate at which
infections were compounding daily.
This pointed to the millions of cases
that would soon occur. The R value, for
the number of secondary infections
from each new infection, became the
much-quoted official version.
We initially got coronavirus wrong
owing to common cognitive kinks of
market prophets. Acknowledge these
and you may do better next time.
First, it is always tempting to assume
a new risk will have the same traits as
an old one. As a result, though we
expected coronavirus to have a bigger
economic impact than Sars, we
envisaged an equally speedy rebound.
Second, we overweighted data that
did exist against numbers that, for the
moment, did not. That is why the huge
order book of cruise ship builders
loomed larger than a small number of
fatalities that would shortly balloon.
The third, related bias is the most
important one for investors and
analysts to avoid: committed thinking.
Humans tend to assume what is
normal now will be normal in future.
On that basis, two contemporary
forecasts may be turkeys, too: that the
US will keep its trade war with China
going and that tech groups will hang on
to advances in market share.
Tesla/bonds/gold:
Christmas crackers
Nervous pundits end their ruminations
with the cop-out “only time will tell”.
This is forbidden on Lex. You must
buy, sell or at least predict what will
happen next if you never backed the
stock in the first place. In this virus-hit
year, with high volatility in equity and
bond prices, all three courses of action
have been hazardous (see lead note).
Even so, we produced some crackers,
as good ideas and indoor fireworks are
known in colloquial English.
Lex has often been bearish on Tesla
and its leader Elon Musk. But we did
give him credit for his China growth in
January. Adding capacity there, when
the local car market looked shaky,
appeared a brave call. Lex noted that
Tesla’s Asian suppliers should benefit.
Battery specialist LG Chem’s shares
have more than doubled in dollar
terms. Those of two suppliers,
Changzhou Almaden and Ningbo
Tuopu, soared more than 80 per cent.
In fixed income, Lex could only
marvel at the market appetite for high-
yield corporate bonds, especially in the
devastated travel sector. Tech groups
rarely issue debt. Exceptions do pop
up, and one of those is Chinese social
media and gaming group Tencent,
which issued billions of US dollar
bonds with maturities out to 40 years
in May. Lex thought these attractive
given their coupons. The 2.39 per cent
10-year was popular, now yielding
about 25 basis points less.
From early last year we touted the
benefits of owning gold. We did so
primarily because the shiny metal’s
price does not correlate well with other
asset classes. But as summer
approached, even the grizzliest gold
bears had turned into fluffy teddies.
Lex felt it was time investors switched
focus to other more economically
sensitive commodities to prepare for
an inevitable economic recovery. We
2020 (%)*
Consumer discretionary
33
Industrials
22
*Russell 3000 companies
FT graphic Sources: Harvard Law School, Mahabier et al; University of Stanford, Batish, Gordon et al
Business, culpable for the 2008-09
crisis, bears no blame for this year’s
downturn. But widespread financial
distress — and a swath of job losses —
prompted many chief executives to
share in the pain. Temporary salary
cuts were often highlighted in
company announcements. Unaltered
incentive schemes, however, were
rarely mentioned. Salary losses were
sometimes covered by discretionary
awards. The executive gravy train has
suffered only temporary delays.
Pay sacrifices by US bosses
mirrored downturns in economic
sectors. Travel, leisure and retail bore
the brunt. Oscar Munoz took action
in March, pledging to forgo an entire
quarter’s worth of pay. The United
Airlines boss was the first of almost
were early on the turnround. Since
May, the latter two have left gold
behind. They should continue to do so.
Pandemic winners:
a shout for sprouts
Unloved and unexciting, Brussels
sprouts are usually given a wide berth.
Their corporate equivalent, the
padding of investment portfolios, gets
pushed around the plate. But
furloughed workers and nixed holidays
this year have turned traditionally dull
fare into the green shoots of recovery.
Purveyors of household goods and
DIY were on a roll. Shares in AO World
are up nearly fivefold. In its wake are
DIY chain Kingfisher, up by about a
Healthcare Energy
13 9 undisclosed
Financials
7 changes
IT
Materials
7 3
Other 1
Communication services 5
500 Russell 3000 chief executives to
take pay reductions worth $173m this
year, says Stanford University.
FTSE 100 heads followed suit. About
a third took salary cuts. On average the
reductions amounted to about a fifth of
the total. Changes to performance-
based pay formulas have been less
forthcoming, although returns have
plunged in some industries,
automatically trimming awards.
About 100 US companies changed
annual bonus plans. Few made tweaks
to long-term incentive plans. About
40 per cent of the changes made were
in favour of bosses, making targets
easier to hit. Others were topped up
with share option awards.
Edward Stack, chief of Dick’s
Sporting Goods, announced a token
third, and furniture retailer Dunelm up
a tenth or so.
Some may sneer but these suburban
diehards were already ahead of their
retail rivals. Eschewing city centres in
favour of big-box out-of-town stores or
online sales, they avoided the
evisceration of the high street. When
the first set of lockdowns shuttered
stores in March, online sales flew.
Kingfisher, owner of B&Q and
Screwfix, had a horrid April. Like-for-
like store sales halved year on year. But
June and July were each up 20-25 per
cent; in the third quarter, sales at its
B&Q chain were up 24 per cent.
Profitability was not sacrificed for
volume gains: retail profit margins
gained 140 basis points to 9 per cent in
the year to end-July. AO World, a big
spender on marketing that has yet to
% of total*
Other 100
Base salary
cut, amount 80
60
40
Base salary
cut, amount 20
disclosed
0 Spending the year in and out of
CEO Board of directors
Pay changes and share price
First six months of 2020 (%)*
Reduced CEO/ No change in
director pay CEO/ director pay
0 cheque” groups, also known as special
-10
-20
-30
Median Mean
six-month return six-month return
salary reduction shortly before
putting 40,000 staff on unpaid leave.
But losses for Mr Stack were more
than offset with an additional 1m
share options granted just days
before. Dick’s made the largest award
of the 50 US groups identified by the
Financial Times to have handed out
shares in compensation for reduced
executive pay.
Rising tech pay had the strongest
justification from share price
performance. The bosses of
Alphabet, Microsoft and Apple were
among the highest-paid US chief
executives in 2019. Tim Steiner of UK
grocery logistics tech group Ocado
was the highest-paid boss in the FTSE
100. Expect tech bosses to continue
leading pay tables this year.
turn a profit at operating level, is set to
do so next year.
Can their newfound attractions last
beyond the pandemic? A vaccine that
puts holidays and office work back on
the agenda will inevitably curtail home
improvements. But both companies are
mid-turnround. Thierry Garnier, who
took up the reins at Kingfisher last
year, has handed divisional managers
more autonomy. AO World has
curtailed its costly global ambitions.
John Roberts, returning to lead the
company he founded, is centralising
the structure and diversifying to
reduce dependence on product sales.
The latter takes time to feed through
to the bottom line but will pay off in
the longer run. After all, look what the
addition of a bit of pancetta and
chestnuts did for Brussels sprouts.
Spacs/Nikola:
fresh-baked fruitcake
lockdown required the acceptance that
gratification would often be delayed.
No such patience was required from US
vehicle technology companies. Instead,
they merged with listed “blank-
purpose acquisition companies. They
hope they will be outputting thousands
of cars or components in a few years.
For now, their main outputs are glossy
PR and optimistic profit projections.
Nikola is the most notorious. After
its Spac deal, the market capitalisation
of the electric trucks group soared to
nearly $20bn. The group even inked a
tie-up with General Motors, which took
a 12 per cent stake. A short-seller’s
report shortly afterwards challenged
Nikola’s technology. It included the
revelation that the truck in a video was
propelled by gravity, not electricity.
Flashy founder Trevor Milton quit
the board as controversies multiplied.
Lex is a longtime sceptic concerning
plans to power heavy trucks with
electricity. The power-to-weight ratio
of batteries is currently too low. Thus
Nikola has been chosen as the fruitcake
in our food-themed festive review.
The battered shares mean it now has
a market capitalisation of just $6bn.
The company maintains it should start
delivering electric trucks in a couple of
years. Nikola and peers such as Fisker
and Hyliion believe that, if their 2024
and 2025 projections are simply
discounted to a present value, their
valuations remain reasonable, single-
digit ebitda multiples.
An FT study of listings from more
than 80 Spac IPOs from 2015-19 shows
that 60 per cent trade below the $10 a
share threshold price. Among the
minority of Spacs to have appreciated
substantially, the largest sub-category
is speculative vehicle start-ups. Such
mergers were historically focused on
undervalued sectors. Growth
companies in frontier specialisms
ranging from cannabis to tele-health
now dominate Spac deals. The trend
means these deals smack more than
ever of a market overreaching itself.
Lex on the web
For notes on today’s stories
go to www.ft.com/lex

CROSSWORD
No 16,669 Set by IO
       ACROSS
1 Provider of course heard seethin’: wages
received, but tips mixed up (6,3,5)
8 Dadaist back cycling (5)
   9 Which side will win it? (It’s touch and go)
(3-3-3)
 11 See 4
12 “Moving” style of Vasarely’s old role (2,3)
 
13 It’s only just succeeded in light
entertainment (5,4)
14 A country in which you’ll see black
  
diamonds before lock-keeper? (5,4)
16 What players may perform in Rome and
jockeys Ascot (5)
17 This paper’s deserted the most excellent
  French clerics! (5)
18 Distracted alumnus I see slipping
through grating (9)
19 One may be battered after being kicked
    in groin (5,4)
22 A failing put this into action! (4,1)
 23 Like missing the first festivity (1,2)
24 A sailor attending to cut astern (2,3,4)
  25 Indicate more beer’s needed, it seems?
(5)
26 Weather-beaten centenarian associated
with endless Rime? (7,7)

DOWN
1 Long flip working, Arsenal’s first scored
by Gunners great (sadly lost) (5,8)
2 Composer approaching peak, Weller &
JOTTER PAD Co shortly to receive music award (8,7)
3 Cross cracking new train-set’s ruined
(2,7)
4, 11 Too bad if this little party screws up!
(3,2,1,2)
5 Affluent youth finished something easy?
Do my cryptic to seal it! (9)
6 They may be run around inferior bells
(5)
7 Unconscious insights gleaned from this
Cruciverbalist Club? (4,11)
10 I’m snarled by trawler and soon cooked
(6,7)
15 Legume men left off menu baked in
foremost of Asian stews (5,4)
16 Litmus exam? (4,5)
20 Io has a name for shooting up marks (5)
21 Fish sauce Georgia’s made with spirit (5)
The FT Christmas crosswords are in Weekend FT published today
Thursday 24 December 2020

The Hug An exclusive short story by Curtis Sittenfeld — PAGES 12-14

Follow us on Instagram @ft_weekend

the spotlight, leading a mesmerising

revival of Brian Friel’s Faith Healer. (You
can still see Lungs and Faith Healer as
part of In Camera: Playback.)
The scheme made an artistic virtue
out of necessity. There’s a special inti-
macy and intensity to seeing actors as
fine as this, at close quarters, and know-
ing that every twitch and sigh is live, not
edited. When Scott finished his spell-
binding monologue, everyone in my liv-
ing room burst into spontaneous
applause — the only pity being that the
actor himself couldn’t hear it.

Comedian Elsa Majimbo — Nigel Akala

Elsa Majimbo —
the Covid comedian
by Jemima Kelly
“Ever since corona started, we’ve all
been in isolation and I, like . . . miss no

Illustration by Alex Green

Andrew Scott in the flesh, you could at
one!” Elsa Majimbo says as she zooms
into her face with her phone camera and
back out again, laughs, says a few words
in Swahili and then adds: “Why I am
missing you? There is no reason for me
to miss you!”
Posted on to Instagram in late March,
when much of the world had just gone
into lockdown, the quirky low-fi video
soon went viral and began the process of

Reasons to be cheerful
station has cut off its evening business.
In an ill-starred year, there have been glimmers of “We’ll survive,” says one of the bosses.
Thank goodness.
for years, and her recent book Darning:
Repair, Make, Mend promotes darning
not simply as craft but also as a means of
least have him in your living room. The
In Camera series brought top-drawer
performances filmed on the Old Vic’s
handsome stage and transmitted, live,
via Zoom into homes across the world.
Beginning with Lungs, starring Claire
Foy and Matt Smith, the season moved
on to Three Kings, a new solo piece writ-
ten expressly for Scott, with the actor
demonstrating up close his mercurial
talent. Michael Sheen followed him into
turning Majimbo, then an 18-year-old
Kenyan journalism student, into a
worldwide comedy sensation. She now
has 1.5m followers on Instagram, among
them Rihanna and Naomi Campbell.
It’s hard to put your finger on what it is
exactly that makes Majimbo’s videos
quite so hilarious and delightful, but
part of it is the “we’re-all-thinking-it-
Continued on page 2

self-repair. Yet it was during lockdown

light. FT writers look back at what lifted our souls
and broadened our horizons during the pandemic
Your local corner shop
by Henry Mance
It’s hard to remember those weeks in
March and April when pasta vanished
from supermarket shelves and online
grocery delivery slots were like golden
tickets. It was at that point that corner
shops came into their own. They didn’t
close, they didn’t complain, they barely
ran out of goods. Their sales rose nearly
two-thirds in March, April and May,
according to Kantar.
I picked up a basket and whizzed
round my local store, slightly amazed to
discover how much stuff was crammed
on to its shelves. Unfamiliar brands of
yoghurts, boxes of persimmon fruit,
bars of Ritter Sport (who can resist
chocolate that poses as exercise?).
To live near a good corner shop is good
fortune, not a given. There are around
47,000 local shops in the UK — which
works out at roughly one every 1,400
people. In rural areas, they are now
disappearing and those that remain can
be relics.
Even in big cities, there’s a huge differ-
ence between the places where you
reluctantly go for emergency milk, and
the corner shops that shone during the
pandemic — packed with fresh veg and
human warmth. A good corner shop
reminds you who your neighbours are.
The ones near me sell corned beef,
instant noodles and the Daily Star. They
also stock Leffe beer, yoga mats and the
Times Literary Supplement.
My own favourite local shop is truly a
convenience store — because it does not
have a £5 minimum for paying by card,
and offers credit if you’ve forgotten your
wallet. I assumed that it, like many
independent stores, had thrived during
the pandemic. But in fact the lack of
commuters at the nearby railway
‘A good corner shop reminds you who
your neighbours are’ — Antony Sojka
The puppy premium
With socialising outlawed, people turned for emotional support to their pets.
But as demand soared, so too did prices . . .
How the pandemic affected the price of a cuddly companion
Cost of a puppy in the UK, by breed (£)
English Bulldog
Pomeranian
Miniature Dachshund
French Bulldog
Cavapoo
Dachshund
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Cockapoo
German Shepherd
Labrador Retriever
Cocker Spaniel
Staffordshire Bull Terrier
English Springer Spaniel
Shih Tzu
0 500
Source: Pets4Homes
Hikaru Noguchi —
make do and mend
by Rosie Dastgir
“Before coronavirus, people were
jaded. They didn’t understand this until
now,” says Hikaru Noguchi, the Japa-
nese knitwear designer whose brand
sells around the world. When the pan-
demic hit Tokyo, she put on pause the
workshops she gives in the city after
decades of living and studying in Lon-
don and South Africa.
As the work dried up, her worries
bloomed. “Darning was a way for me to
get rid of my anxious feelings,” she says,
“so I started doing Instagram Live
instead to show what is wonderful about
darning and mending.”
Her approach draws on the Japanese
wabi-sabi aesthetic of hand-hewn sim-
plicity and beauty in old, worn objects
that need care. Her methods of repairing
damaged garments beautifully tap into a
rejection of disposable fashion, the ten-
dency to condemn a jumper to landfill at
the appearance of a moth hole.
Noguchi has practised sustainability
2019 2020
1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
that her reach fanned out beyond her
dining table in Setagaya, a suburb of
Tokyo, to a worldwide communion of
stitchers keen to learn.
In March, about 30 people joined her
Instagram Live from their lockdown
perches; by December, more than 3,000
followers from Brazil to Johannesburg
were watching her transform thread-
bare socks with jewel bright mohair
yarn. “How is your winter, how is your
summer?” she sang out, her instruc-
tions toggling between Japanese and
English as comments and emojis
spooled up the chat.
In the early weeks, she was sensitive to
people’s constraints in sourcing materi-
als, drawing inspiration from the old
sewing box that her English mother-in-
law had during the war. Very simple,
low-tech. “Basic needles. Old English
darning thread in men’s sock colours;
beige, grey, brown.” Make do and mend
conjures frugality and hardship, but
Noguchi saw this as an opportunity.
Instead of flaunting her rainbow yarns
and darning mushroom to her followers,
she reached for whatever was close to
hand; a humble ladle, a spool of thread.
The Old Vic —
keeping theatre alive
by Sarah Hemming
A curtain call for those UK theatres
that battled on and brightened our eve-
nings in 2020 would be a crowded one.
Among those lined up to take a bow
would surely be London’s National The-
atre for its near-instant offering of NT at
Home (free online streaming of earlier
shows); Headlong theatre company for
rapid-response original drama made on
Zoom; Huddersfield’s Lawrence Batley
Theatre for innovative online work, and
both the Bridge Theatre, London, and
producer Nica Burns for being among
the first to open their theatre doors and
admit audiences again.
But step forward the Old Vic for a spe-
cial ovation. Leading the line in stream-
ing live performances, the theatre
ensured that even if you couldn’t see
2 ★
Life
Note from
FTWeekend
editor
Reasons
for cheer
Continued from page 1
but-don’t-dare-say-it” nature of her
humour. In one of her clips, posted
under the caption “When I’m required
to participate in anything social”,
Majimbo gleefully tells the camera, “I
wanted to meet up but ooh, it’s a pan-
demic!” and then repeats that senti-
ment in various ways as she munches
on crisps and lies back on her pillow
shrieking with laughter, wearing a pair
of Matrix-style plastic sunglasses —
all elements that have become her
trademarks.
Majimbo has shown the extent to
which this pandemic is a shared global
experience. Some of her fans might be
tens of thousands of miles away from
her and from vastly different cultures,
but her videos still resonate.
Though her brand is partially built on
the idea that she is lazy and work-shy,
and while her videos might come across
as effortless, she gives the impression of
being highly driven in a Zoom interview
with the Financial Times. In the new
year she is starting a podcast, and once
coronavirus restrictions have been
lifted, she plans on moving to Los Ange-
les to further her career.
“It’s too early in the game to lag,” she
says. “For someone like me to even
have been able to get such an opportu-
nity — it’s insane. With my background,
it literally seemed impossible — like
something like this wouldn’t happen in
1,000 years.”
In praise of small weddings
by Anna Nicolaou
On a relatively ordinary afternoon
last month, my best friend got married.
In any other year, this would probably
have involved several months (if not a
year) of planning, shopping and anxiety
for me, and infinitely more logistics for
the couple. But not this one. After a
weekend at the beach with her longtime
partner, she texted me: “btw getting
married lol”.
In the ensuing weeks we picked out a
dress (online), a mutual close friend got
ordained (also online), and by mid-No-
vember it was wedding day. We brought
pizza, cake and champagne to New
York’s Prospect Park and huddled
under blankets to fend off the late
autumn chill. There were seven of us in
total, including a photographer. No par-
ents, no family members.
Thanks to lockdowns and isolation, I
had barely seen these friends in person
for more than a quick walk or phone call
since March. Passers-by in the park
watched what was happening and
cheered it on. As the sun started going
down and the temperature dropped, we
retreated back to our homes. But those
idle few hours felt more intimate and
unique than the months-long extrava-
ganzas that had been typical of pre-
pandemic weddings.
In New York the average wedding in
2019 cost $48,600, according to a study
by The Knot website. This year, those in
the business of putting on weddings —
venues, florists, DJs, event planners,
caterers and others that make up an
industry worth $74bn in the US alone —
have been hit hard.
But there are already resourceful
wedding planners offering up their serv-
ices for “microweddings”, as more peo-
ple opt to have small ceremonies in
backyards and parks during the pan-
Newlyweds with guests in face masks in Beverly Hills in October — AFP/Getty Images
A couple of months ago, back in
the distant pre-Tier age, I was in
our local coffee house — one of
the many outlets whose spirit
and endurance have sustained
us this year — discussing with
the barista whether this was a
year to shelve his and my usual
optimism. We agreed that it’s
not a great overarching ethos
Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo, in a portrait by Kwesi Botchway (2020) — Gallery 1957, Accra
demic. Maybe these tiny, ad hoc wed-
dings will turn out to be a fleeting func-
tion of Covid-19, and we will all inevita-
bly return to our old ways. In this case, I
hope we don’t.
Headspace — how to
stay sane in a pandemic
by Elaine Moore
Spiritual enlightenment via smart-
phone is easy to scoff at. So is any sort of
belief based in Los Angeles, endorsed by
celebrities and available to buy for a
$69.99 annual subscription. But for mil-
lions of people, Headspace’s daily medi-
tations have been a source of solace.
If ever the world needed the cheerful
voice of former monk turned mindful-
ness guru Andy Puddicombe, it was this
lost, strange year. Between the frighten-
ing early weeks of the pandemic in mid-
March and the end of the first wave of
lockdowns in June, download rates for
Headspace doubled.
The goal of mindfulness is not to stop
thinking but to pay closer attention to
our thoughts. That may seem perverse
in a crisis. But anyone who tried to
numb their mind with Netflix and
snacking in 2020 knows that zoning out
is not a long-term fix. Acknowledging
panicky thoughts is more effective than
trying to drown them out.
Headspace has focused its efforts on
trying to help groups under the most
severe strain, offering free subscriptions
to US healthcare professionals and NHS
workers in the UK. It can take credit for
encouraging mental health to become a
central discussion in the workplace too.
Inbound requests from companies seek-
ing to support staff rose 500 per cent
this year.
There are limits to the things mindful-
ness can achieve. But perhaps it can help
to prevent a delayed traumatic reaction
to the pandemic. If there is a choice
between post-pandemic depression and
a roaring ’20s full of fun and freedom,
who wouldn’t wish for the latter?
FINANCIAL TIMES
for leaders in a health crisis but
that it was an essential life force.
And so this idea was born: we
would celebrate the people and
projects whose creative force
has inspired and motivated us.
Or as Justin, my co-conspirator,
put it so well: “The flowers that
have sprouted in the cracks . . .”
I hope you will find these
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s
lockdown flourishing
by Ludovic Hunter-Tilne
Fans monitoring Taylor Swift’s daily
routine during the spring lockdown
gleaned titbits from the singer’s Insta-
gram posts and the odd interview.
Watching old films, listening to old
music, cooking, looking after her cats:
that was the gist of it. Except Swift was
covertly doing something else too.
The singer’s secret was revealed in
July — a surprise album, Folklore, which
she made while in quarantine. Its prior
existence was unknown to all but a close
circle of collaborators and intimates. So
was a companion album, Evermore,
which materialised two days before the
singer’s 31st birthday this month.
Surprise albums are showbiz feats of
magic. Originally designed to foil pirat-
ing, they have become tricks in their
own right, rabbits produced from hats
to cries of delight from the fandom. But
it’s not Swift’s usual way. With her coun-
try music background, she typically
takes an old-school approach to releas-
ing albums. Campaigns involve pre-
cisely targeted marketing and a drip-
feed of advance single releases. Then
comes the concert tour, the next act in
the sales cycle.
Swift was supposed to spend 2020
touring last year’s Lover. The two new
albums that have instead emerged rep-
resent a double reinvention, not just in
the manner of their release but also sty-
listically. The songs are reflective and
hushed, a shift from the brighter hues of
previous work. Her co-producer Aaron
Dessner calls them “anti-pop” — which
hasn’t stopped them being immensely
popular: Folklore was streamed 80.6m
times on Spotify on its first day, the most
ever by a female artist.
Kwesi Botchway — painter
of the modern age
by Jackie Wullschläger
Like a blast of sun in midwinter, the
new paintings that most lifted my spirits
this year are Kwesi Botchway’s
monument­al, hyper-stylised portraits
of black figures. There’s a “Farm Boy” in
vignettes uplifting. It is the least
festive of Decembers for many
a decade; traipsing to shops this
week and finding them bereft of
vegetables reminds me of being
in Romania at the end of
communism. We will of course
continue fiercely to probe the
crisis, and on Jan 2 we will focus
on science. But it seems right
translucent pink with the looks and
bearing of a catwalk model; “Green
Stone Earrings”, where everything
except the woman’s huge jewels is bright
orange, in luminous contrast with dark
skin; and the bar girl, contemporary
stare, classical pose, baroque gossamer
gown, perched high and laconic in “Blue
Stool Gaze”.
The 26-year-old Botchway, awarded
a residency earlier this year at Accra’s
Gallery 1957, painted these party fig-
ures alone under lockdown, playing
with imagery sourced from social
media, entangled with a visionary
response to French Impressionist
mark-making and celebration of urban
democracy. He calls his style “Afro-im-
pressionism — impressionism from the
Black perspective”, where colour is
political — black skin is deep purple,
historic hue of royalty; fashion is dyed
luxury emerald, sapphire.
Showing black people “living nice”,
Botchway wants to “elevate blackness
and to place it at its rightful space — a
space of honour and beauty”.
Still in lockdown, Botchway
responded to global protest movements
with dynamic banner-bearing figures,
one in reflective shades, another in stun-
ning headdress, like a crown, surging
against vibrant yellow, in “blacklives-
matter (divine protesting)”. Among an
important emerging generation of black
figurative artists, Botchway is a riveting
original, producing memorable images
while querying straightforward realism
and invigorating his medium with an
urgent conceptual edge.
High culture on
the small screen
by Adrienne Klasa
For some in the arts, adversity has
spurred creativity. Yo-Yo Ma, arguably
the greatest cellist alive today, spent
part of the pandemic performing via a
series of Instagram videos he has called
“songs of comfort”. He also performed a
series of pop-up concerts for essential
workers with pianist and longtime col-
laborator Emanuel Ax from the bed of a
flatbed truck. The audience stood in
hula hoops in order to maintain social
distancing.
Elsewhere, the Joyce Theater’s digital
revival of State of Darkness — Molissa
Fenley’s seminal and technically
demanding 1988 solo work — is the per-
fect work for the quarantine era. A sin-
gle dancer performs alone on the New
York theatre’s darkened stage for 36
minutes, building whole scenes and
moods in isolation. Recordings of the
series of seven interpretations by differ-
ent top-tier dancers are streaming to Jan
10 ($13 a ticket, joyce.org).
But perhaps the most striking piece of
work I experienced during the pan-
demic was this series of beautifully
filmed and produced performances of
new commissions for solo viola by Law-
rence Power. Each was filmed in an
iconic venue in the UK shut down dur-
now to sound a different note.
To readers of the daily paper
who are newcomers to Life &
Arts, welcome. This section
appears in the FTWeekend
along with several others you
will get a taste of in today’s
special edition: the Magazine,
House & Home and FTMoney.
To FTW readers, this is the
A ‘slow street’, open to cyclists and pedestrians only, in Vancouver — Eyevine
ing lockdown, among them London’s
Royal Festival Hall and the Queen’s Hall
in Edinburgh. The compositions are
gorgeous and technically demanding,
the interpretation masterful, and their
urgency captured on film. The full series
is available on YouTube, with several
commissions still to be released.
Animal Crossing —
blissful escapism
By Tim Bradshaw
The super-rich had lavish parties on
private islands, offering guests rapid
testing on arrival. Silicon Valley execu-
tives decamped to Hawaii. For the rest
of us, there was Animal Crossing: New
Horizons — the Nintendo Switch game
that offered escape and safety in a cha-
otic year.
Tens of millions of players have trav-
elled to their own unique island since
the game was released — at precisely the
right moment — in mid-March. There,
they could build and decorate a home,
plant and harvest fruit trees, tend to
their gardens or even carve out a new
landscape.
Unlike the storm-shrouded isle of
Fortnite’s battle royale or Call of Duty’s
promise of cathartic violence, there is
very little peril in Animal Crossing. The
worst a player might encounter is a spi-
der bite or a swarm of wasps — though
the latter can be dispelled with a well-
timed party popper. If one of the talking
animals who shared your island did get
sick, all you needed to cure them was a
honeycomb. There was, however, finan-
cial volatility, as players chased the
ever-fluctuating price of turnips on the
“stalk market” and panicked when the
interest rate paid on savings in the
“Bank of Nook” was slashed in April.
Yet Animal Crossing also brought
opportunities that were denied to us in
the real world, such as travel and social-
ising. Dodo Airlines flew me to friends’
islands, where I could marvel at just how
many hours they had spent digging up
dinosaur bones for their island
museum. We traded turnips, went fish-
ing and even watched shooting stars on
a clear night.
But perhaps Animal Crossing’s most
compelling feature was not its benign
time-wasting but its ability to mark the
passage of the seasons. There were spe-
cial events for “Bunny Day” in spring,
summer bug hunts, Halloween and
birthday parties. Now there is snow on
the ground and the villagers are getting
ready for the New Year’s Eve countdown
— and another year of blissfully little
happening.
Benign escapism: ‘Animal Crossing’
The city slows down
by Dave Lee
I can’t say I gave it much thought
when, a couple of weeks into lockdown,
the signs started going up on our road.
“Closed to through traffic.”
We’d become a “slow street”, part of a
scheme under which 25 stretches
around San Francisco have been pedes-
trianised — unless you were pulling into
your house, or engaged in the heroic
task of delivering all that we’ve been
ordering off the internet.
Streets are being slowed all over the
world, in London, Milan, Berlin, Bogotá
and Paris. Discussion has quickly
turned to whether such arrangements
Thursday 24 December 2020
last Life & Arts of 2020. Thank
you for your support this year.
Ben Okri, a longtime FTW
friend, wrote this week wishing
a “magical Christmas” and
saluting “courage and quiet joy”.
The same to all of you from
your editors here — and thank
you as ever for reading us.
Alec Russell
should be made permanent (or, as some
have asked, torn down immediately).
Keep them. Sometimes it takes a crisis
to show us a better way. What was
designed to help us socially distance,
has in a different way brought us closer
together. Perhaps through a sense of
shared purpose, that need to just get out
of the house, the community in which I
live has suddenly revealed itself.
This is a city where, in normal times, a
great number of its residents are picked
up each morning by huge blacked-out
buses, shuttled to a desk at Facebook/
Apple/Google/wherever, and returned
bleary-eyed some 10-or-so hours later.
Now we’re all together on the slow
street; taking a stroll with our partners
in the middle of the afternoon, or riding
bikes with the children after a day of
Zoom-school. At the weekend there’s a
little band playing on one corner. It’s a
mile-long stretch that empties your
mind and pacifies your Apple Watch.
Sadly, it feels inevitable that our slow
street will one day be taken from us.
And I get it — when the cars come back,
our tranquility would mean a busier
road somewhere else. But I hope the
spirit can remain.
A home workout with Joe Wicks — Getty
Joe Wicks —
healthy-living hero
by Guy Chazan
With lockdown shutting gyms down for
months at a time, enforced idleness
beckoned for millions. Joe Wicks, aka
the Body Coach, rode to the rescue.
I was one of the hordes who worked
out at home to Wicks’s YouTube videos
— simple fitness routines that raise the
heartbeat, loosen the joints and get the
endorphins flowing.
Wicks’s chirpiness grated, as did the
constant plugs of his latest exercise
DVD. But there’s still something endear-
ing about him. Most internet fitness
gurus might as well be avatars. Wicks is
real, a bloke-next-door with shaggy
curls who pants, coughs and splutters
between sets. It makes your own
exhaustion somehow more bearable.
A former teaching assistant who grew
up on a council estate in Epsom, Wicks
became a personal trainer and then in
2014 began posting workouts and snip-
pets of nutritional advice on Instagram
and YouTube. Lockdown made him a
household name. He launched a “PE
with Joe” programme on YouTube that
started out as a replacement for school
PE lessons but became popular with
adults too. Aired daily during the first
wave of the pandemic, it was viewed
80m times.
It’s not clear whether Wicks has fully
succeeded in his mission to prevent Brit-
ons becoming a nation of couch pota-
toes. A survey by Sport England found
that more than 3m people were less
active between mid-March and mid-
May compared to the same period a year
before (perhaps understandably).
I’ll continue with the Joe Wicks work-
outs during Germany’s current lock-
down — though I’m waiting for the
neighbours to complain. The creaking
floorboards from all those mountain-
climbers, burpees and lunge jumps
must be annoying the hell out of them.
Thursday 24 December 2020
Lunch with the FT Craig Brown
‘You have to have some
prickle in you to get going’
He is Britain’s most beloved — and feared
— satirist. Over cider and squid ink
pasta in Suffolk, he tells Henry Mance
about skewering the famous, being
threatened by Harold Pinter and writing
biography without the ‘boring bits’
C
raig Brown does not work
afternoons. “I try to get it all
over by 1 o’clock. If you start
work at eight, why should
you work any more?”
But another defining feature of Brown
is that he does not have a grip on tech-
nology. On the day that we have
arranged lunch, these two habits collide
disastrously, like rival lovers discover-
ing each other’s existence.
Arguably Britain’s funniest satirist, he
arrived at the rural gastropub having
finished his column for the next day.
Then he realised he’d forgotten to send it
from his home laptop.
So I discover him by the exit with a
cordless landline in his hand and a pan-
icked look on his face. “I was ringing my
wife. I was trying to talk her through
copying and pasting on to an
email,” he says. His expression
says he might as well be sequenc-
ing RNA.
I head back to the table,
where I’d already been wait-
ing for Brown for some time.
There was no way of contact-
ing him, because he doesn’t use a
mobile phone. The maître d’
explains that we were wrongly seated
at separate tables: “It was not Mr
Brown’s fault.”
Do I detect trepidation in the maître
d’s voice? If so, it’s understandable,
because Brown is the gentle assassin of
British journalism. For 30 years, his
parody diaries in Private Eye magazine
have punctured egos from Sarah Fergu-
son (“So happy to announce that I
have been appointed Brand Ambassa-
dor for @Coronavirus”) to John Bolton
(“At Yale College, from which I gradu-
ated with a BA, summa cum laude, I
learnt to treat China with deep suspi-
cion. What did they want all those
people for?”). You can be Richard
Dawkins or the Dalai Lama: no one
escapes unskewered.
Brown has now produced two biogra-
phies of lasting brilliance. Ma’am Dar-
ling, published in 2017, depicts the utter
rudeness of the Queen’s sister. One Two
Three Four, coinciding with this year’s
50th anniversary of the Beatles’ split, is
not satirical, but a fond exploration of
the band.
“The Beatles did make people proud
to be English in some way,” says Brown,
now seated. “We had a Russian
exchange girl once. There were three
things she knew about England: the
Beatles, having milk in your tea, and
crop circles. And crop circles have fallen
out of fashion.”
One Two Three Four touches on how
the band helped to heal America after
the loss of JFK, to bring down the USSR,
and to undermine the British class sys-
tem. It ponders the what ifs, and the
lives of those affected by the Beatles’
fame, such as Sister Luc-Gabrielle, the
Belgian nun whose songs fell out the
charts and who years later, in financial
ruin, killed herself in a suicide pact with
her partner. Most biographies are like
stodgy porridge, but each chapter of
Ma’am Darling and One Two Three Four is
a surprising canapé.
“Everyone — well, not everyone, peo-
ple have said — people have been kind
enough to say — that it’s reinventing the
biography,” says Brown, trying to avoid
the type of grandeur that he would par-
ody. “But it’s not. It’s just cutting out the
boring bits. If you don’t want to mention
Princess Margaret’s great-great-grand-
parents, you just don’t.”
Through the pandemic, Britain’s gov-
ernment has pretended to be world-
beating. But it is this 63-year-old satirist
who truly represents what’s world-beat-
ing about Britain — its humour and parts
of its history. Forget Sexy Sadie, it is Craig
Brown who made a fool of everyone.
We order quickly. Brown goes for the
set menu, brushing off the waiter’s
warning that the pork will come pink. I
go for the vegan options and an ale;
Brown is “sticking to cider, because it
will stop me drinking too much”. He
once described himself as being “a dead
man’s shape”, but I notice his hair has a
life of its own.
★ FINANCIAL TIMES
Anyone doubting the problems of
t h e u n r u ly p i g writing history should check Brown’s
Orford Rd, Bromeswell, own story. In 1994 an interviewer
Suffolk, UK called him the “most successful young
journalist of his generation”, before
Set menu (ink
revealing he lived in a house in Essex
tagliatelle, pork) £18.50
with “no mains water, no mains sewer-
Tonnarelli £9.50 age, no gas and, until two years ago, no
Gnocchi with central heating”.
rosemary and garlic £16.00 This is startling. It’s also “absolute
Aspall cider £5.25 crap,” says Brown. “It was a normal
Adnams, 1½ pints £7.30 house! Perhaps we just didn’t want him
to stay for lunch.” As it happens, the
Cappuccino £3.50
interviewer was Hunter Davies, official
Americano £3.00 biographer of the Beatles. Even reputa-
Tip £8.00 ble sources err.
Total £71.05
B
rown’s origins are closer to
Princess Margaret’s than the
Beatles. A stockbroker’s son,
he went to Eton, which he
recalls partly hating,
although this may be a trick of memory.
Why do so many British satirists come
from public school? “If you go to board-
ing school young [he started aged
seven], you become emotionally
detached. You see people as gargoyles,
the teachers, then you’re getting your
own back on them.”
He established himself at Private Eye,
and at numerous newspapers, sweeping
up awards. There were bumps: in 2008
he was sacked by the Daily Telegraph.
He found a new berth working at the
Daily Mail. It was a steady job, but he
wanted to be a paperback writer. His
novels had not been breakout successes.
Then, in One on One (2011), he
recounted 101 encounters between
famous people. Each meeting was
described in 1,001 words. It was also a
daisy chain, starting and ending with
Adolf Hitler.
With Margaret, who died in 2002, he
envisaged another trick: 101 people
talking about her. But “everyone’s story
was the same: her getting pissed and
being haughty”. He settled for 99
“glimpses” of her, including a hallucina-
tion in his kitchen.
He kept writing for newspapers
addictively: parodies, book reviews, col-
umns. “I feel I don’t really have thoughts
unless I’m writing them.” I say that Jeff
Bezos insists his underlings write out
their ideas for that reason. “Well, I never
thought I’d agree with him on anything.”
Britain has other parodists, but “most
try too hard, whereas I just lift 75 per
cent of the words from what people have
said or written”, says Brown. One sub-
ject, Harold Pinter, seethed at Brown at
a party, and only just declined to hit
him, saying “I wouldn’t dirty my fists.”
Another, the novelist Nick Hornby, was
apparently upset by a parody, although
Brown heard “that he hadn’t read it”.
The Mail’s former editor Paul Dacre
only ever once gave him instruction:
“could I lay off [Downton Abbey creator]
Julian Fellowes for a bit?”
Is there anyone Brown wouldn’t par-
ody? “Ian [Hislop, Private Eye’s editor]
suggested doing Paul McCartney, but I
need some little bit of irritation or some-
thing, otherwise it’s just needless. Obvi-
ously Alan Bennett’s parody-able, but I
admire Alan Bennett . . . You have to
have some prickle in you to get going.”
This makes it worse, I say: now subjects
know you dislike them.
The waiter arrives, not with food, but
with the phone: “A Frances Welch?”
Brown’s wife, a historian, is calling about
his unsent column. He resumes the
RNA sequencing. “Do you know how to
do the search key?” I overhear.
Happily, Brown has different files on
his laptop, with names such as
“Reviews”, “Private Eye”, and “Daily
Mail”. Unhappily, he writes articles
randomly in these files, often one
below another. The phone call ends
inconclusively.
Is Brown a Beatles fan? “I’d say I’m a
real fan, I’m not an obsessive.” But you
didn’t choose any in your Desert Island
Discs, I say — you chose the theme tune
to Crossroads. “You’re the first person to
notice that.”
One Two Three Four is most favourable
to McCartney (pretty, polite) and Ringo
Starr (dogged, earthy), and least
favourable to John Lennon. “I’d least
like to be in a room with John. There
were bits of him that I thought were too
unpleasant to put in: anti-Semitism,
hatred of handicapped people. But my
interest would be [in descending order]
John, Paul, Ringo, George.”
Brian Epstein, the manager whose
death catalysed the end of the group, is
also a “completely fascinating figure”:
money and fame “didn’t make any dif-
ference to his essential misery; in fact it
exaggerated it”.
Brown is sympathetic to the band’s
faults: “The key thing about the Beatles
is quite how young they were. They were
all under the age of 30 when they split
up.” But he savages Yoko Ono as deriva-
tive and manipulative. “I find her a really
annoying person.” Ono is now credited
with writing the lyrics to “Imagine”, I say.
“I take it with a pinch of salt. Have you
heard her solo albums? Put in a song
called ‘Don’t Worry Kyoko’ into Spotify
— absolutely hideous caterwauling.”
Brown argues that it was good that the
band split in 1970. “The Beatles felt that
they were drying up . . . Basically
[even] the Rolling Stones did stop in
about 1979. No one can name a song
since then . . . With all pop stars, even
with Dylan, you have a maximum seven
years when it works and after that,
something goes. You stop being young, I
suppose . . . It’s not like writing, which
tends to mature and gets better.”
Indeed, Brown’s career has crescen-
doed in later life. Another contrast is
that the Beatles were rebels, whereas in
One Two Three Four he hilariously
recounts his discomfort at recording a
National Trust guided tour against
instructions. “I am a sort of scaredy-
cat,” he smiles.
I wonder if that limits his insight.
Did he even take LSD? “I have had LSD
actually. Maybe twice. Heroin I might
have had twice. Acid is certainly the
most interesting. I wouldn’t recommend
it. I do remember I couldn’t stop pun-
ning — incessant punning. If you said
now, would you like a tab of acid, I’d say
no.” Tough, I say, it’s part of the set menu.
Unexpectedly, the landline rings. We
wonder if Brown should answer. “It
wouldn’t be Frances. . . ”. He leaves it.
“If I was you,” he says, “I’d make a theme
of me having forgotten to send my arti-
cle, like mission control trying to talk
Frances through.” For once, I am a step
ahead of him.
I
wolf down a pasta starter with
sliced chilli. Brown pronounces his
ink pasta good. He reviewed restau-
rants for years, but says “the vocab-
ulary of taste is very, very limited.
Tasty, delicious, quite nice — that’s
about it . . . Why does anyone want to
know a detailed description of what you
ate a week ago?”
Some satirists lament their failure to
change the world. Brown has a solution:
he doesn’t want to change it. “I don’t have
firm opinions about anything. If you said
‘I’m a real royalist’, I’d start arguing
against you — or the other way round.”
But even he draws a line at Brexit
(“I’ve a very strong suspicion that that’s
a bad idea”) and Boris Johnson (“He was
a very, very funny journalist and quite
obviously he shouldn’t be prime minis-
ter. That’s just miscasting.”)
Having written about the royals,
Brown draws a bigger line at the
“creepy” factual inaccuracies of the lat-
est series of Netflix’s The Crown.
“That offends me actually. With paro-
dies, it’s clear that I’m making a joke.
But people do watch The Crown as if it’s a
documentary . . . I can’t see there’s any
difference between Trump spouting
lies and [Crown writer] Peter Morgan
writing lies.”
In the second series, Prince
Philip is blamed by his father for
the death of his sister in a plane
crash, which in reality had noth-
ing to do with him. “That is
heartless.”
Brown’s books show how
celebrities edged out royalty as
the centre of British culture.
The Beatles made seven alterna-
tive Christmas messages, George Harri-
son asked Margaret to leave a party so
the guests could eat.
“The royals used to be the only people
who were famous and quite stupid; now
there are lots of stupid people who are
famous . . . It used to be the preserve of
the Royal Family. It makes them comi-
cal, but it also makes them pitiable.”
The waiter brings the mains, we give
him the landline. Brown’s pork comes
with asparagus and potato. My gnocchi
are chewy, and surrounded by capers.
Will people be obsessed with the
3
Life
Beatles in 50 years? “Not obsessed,” says
Brown because the obsessives are
remembering their own youth. “When
people are talking about the Beatles,
they’re talking about themselves.”
In One Two Three Four, Brown quotes
the politician Desmond Donnelly: “My
greatest fear is that Britain will sink gig-
gling into the sea.” In Brown’s case, the
risk is now literal: Aldeburgh, the
nearby coastal town where he lives,
could be submerged by rising sea levels.
“Actually what they say is that Alde-
burgh will become an island — it’ll flood
from behind,” he corrects me.
He never went to the office much, and
being stuck in Aldeburgh during lock-
down had upsides: “I’ve quite liked the
absence of choice.” He has a ping-pong
table in the garage. “In five minutes you
can play one game, it’s like going for a
swim in the sea — it’s a blast of some
other world.”
Brown seems normal for a comedian.
Is he too well-adjusted to be anxious, or
too English to show it? “I’m not a per-
former,” he protests, distancing himself
from those “like Tommy Cooper or
Frankie Howerd” who were propelled
to the stage by “some sort of psychologi-
cal undoing”. He adds: “I wouldn’t say I
was a relaxed person . . . This year it’s
been really existential.” Because of the
pandemic? He nods. “There’s more
time to think about things and not get
them resolved.”
‘The royals used to be the
only people who were
famous and quite stupid;
now there are lots of stupid
people who are famous’
One Two Three Four just won the Baillie
Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, but
Brown hasn’t “really enjoyed it”, proba-
bly because there was no party. He is
anxious about his future work (“Can I be
bothered to write another book?”).
Mostly though, he is anxious about his
unsent column. The pub is playing
“Fairytale of New York”, the other din-
ers have left. It’s time for the bill.
I think of Brown’s dissections of Ger-
maine Greer (“Why am I the only person
in the world who eats rice?”) and David
Hare (“As a child, I was cursed with the
twin burdens of excessive numeracy and
heightened sensitivity.”) Their sharp-
ness contrasts with his mildness.
On the train home, I wonder if it’s pos-
sible to parody Craig Brown. You’d need
his tech wizardry. Oddly enough, people
think I’m not very modern, but I’ve just
bought a Filofax. And his sense of being
an outsider. Well, I did go to Eton, but I
grew up in Surrey. And his ambivalence
about everything. I suppose I’m called
Craig, but I do find these people who are
absolutely certain of their names off-
putting. How do they know they’re not
called Amanda?
Something is missing. Maybe Brown
lacks the pomposity. Maybe only he
could detect his linguistic tics. Yes, Craig
Brown could parody Craig Brown. He
would work it out. I’m just a jealous guy.
Henry Mance is the FT’s chief
features writer
4 ★
Life&Arts Quiz
Do bad gifts
get a pass this
Christmas?
Tim Harford
Undercover economist
1 In May, the Vienna Philharmonic
orchestra took part in an experiment
to find out which musical instruments
were most dangerous for spreading
coronavirus. Name the worst offender.
A Flute
B Trumpet
C Trombone
D Cor anglais
2 Chinese president Xi Jinping has
praised this western thinker’s ideas
as “worthy of our consideration”. But
the latest book by the same western
thinker wasn’t published in mainland
China this year, after he refused to allow
sections on the country to be cut by his
Chinese publisher. Who?
A Noam Chomsky
B Thomas Piketty
C Jürgen Habermas
D Paul Krugman
3 With the pandemic extinguishing
nightlife, Berlin’s famous techno
club Berghain found a new use in
September, as pictured below right.
What has it temporarily become?
A Wellness zone
B Art gallery
C Non-denominational space for
worship
D Amazon warehouse
4 Which of these won The Bookseller
magazine’s annual Diagram Prize
for oddest book title of the year?
A Introducing the Medieval Ass
B A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path:
Animal Metaphors in Eastern Indonesian
Society
C Lawnmowers: An Illustrated History
D How to Make Love to a Despot: An
Alternative Foreign Policy for the Twenty-
First Century
5 Princess Diana’s visit to New York in
1989 turned up in The Crown
television series this year, as pictured
below. Where was it filmed?
A Manchester
B Liverpool
C Glasgow
D New York
5 keep a high-maintenance girl like Tania
6 At his final campaign rally in
November, Donald Trump mocked
Joe Biden for supposedly making gaffes
before being joined on the podium by
the rapper Lil Pump for an
endorsement. How did the president
introduce him to the crowd?
A Lil Plump
B Little Poop
C Lil Perp
D Little Pimp
7 Controversial plans to demolish
a country’s legislative buildings and
replace them as pictured below were
temporarily blocked by the nation’s
supreme court in December. Where?
A Delhi
7
P
erhaps there is no wrong way
to exchange Christmas gifts,
but in a hurried rendezvous
just off junction six of the
M40 must come close. My
sister was furious; we had planned to
go for a walk in the woods together the
day before Christmas Eve, one of the
safest activities imaginable.
No longer: true to form, the prime
minister had promised far more than
seemed possible, realised it wasn’t
possible after all, and then snatched it
all away in a tumble of confusion. If the
present-swap was to be legal, we had
just hours to get it done.
As I drove to the rendezvous, I
couldn’t help but laugh at myself. For
15 years I’ve been writing columns
discussing the problem with Christmas
gifts, and now we were testing the idea
to destruction. If nothing remained of
Christmas except the presents, what
would I do? The situation revealed the
answer: at almost any cost, I’d hand
over the damn presents.
We economists have a troubled
relationship with gift exchange. Our
objection is simple: people are not very
good at buying Christmas presents. To
a brother-in-law who likes cricket, we
give a cricket-themed tchotchke whose
sole purpose is to symbolise the fact
that we know he likes cricket.
To a music-lover, we give CDs, not
realising that she threw out the CD
Reuters; AP; Satoshi Nagare/Nippon Foundation; Getty Images; Titus Kaphar/Maruani Mercier Gallery; Jack Valentine/Splash News and Picture Agency; EPA-EFE; ©arthénon/Institut Van Gogh
9a 9b
The quiz of the year
How well did you manage to keep up with popular
culture? Test yourself. By Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
3
B Pretoria
C Brasília
D Ottawa
8 Oxford University Press, which
licenses Oxford Dictionaries to
Apple and Google for their online
dictionaries, has been engaged in a
project to eradicate sexist examples of
word usage, such as “rabid feminist”
and “nagging wife”. In March, it was
revealed that about 500 changes had
been made. Three of the four phrases
below are among them. One phrase
remains in use. Can you identify it?
A High-maintenance: “if Martin could
happy, he must be doing something
right”
B Housework: “she still does all the
housework”
C Ditzy: “don’t tell me my ditzy
secretary didn’t send you an
invitation!”
D Psyche: “I will never really fathom the
female psyche”
9 They’ve been materialising
enigmatically all around the world
since the first one was found in
November. Where is the site of the
original monolith?
A The Isle of Wight
B Utah
C California
D Romania
10 In the Netflix
series The
Queen’s Gambit, the
last move that its
chess-playing heroine
Beth Harmon makes
in her climactic
match with Borgov in
Moscow in 1968
involves her king.
Which piece is it in
the 1983 novel by
Walter Tevis, upon
FINANCIAL TIMES
player years ago and listens only to
vinyl. The shirt is lovely but does not
fit; the toys would have been cool three
years ago; the book is so perfectly
chosen that in fact the recipient read it
over the summer. Many pitfalls lie in
wait even for a gift-giver who has
empathy, imagination and patience —
and by mid December many of us are
running low on all three.
This problem was first formally
studied in the early 1990s by Joel
Waldfogel, economist and author of
Scroogenomics. Each Christmas we
divert scarce resources of energy, raw
materials, skill and time to producing
unwanted gifts that will end up as
fodder for landfill. It’s no joke.
But economists have an image
problem, so people laugh at Waldfogel
even though he is essentially correct. I
have found that it is better to quote
Harriet Beecher Stowe making much
the same observation 170 years ago:
“There are worlds of money wasted, at
this time of year, in getting things that
nobody wants, and nobody cares for
after they are got.”
I asked Joel Waldfogel, Mr
Scroogenomics himself, whether the
pandemic has changed his views of
Christmas gifts.
“Some things are really different
about this Covid year,” he told me.
Some people have lost their jobs, while
others have money flowing in and no
9c
which the series is
based?
A The same
B Her queen
C A pawn
D A knight
11
In February, the
new £20 note
entered circulation
with a portrait of the
painter JMW Turner.
During his lifetime he
was known for his
thriftiness, including a
reputed occasion when he sold a
seascape painting to a marquess for 250
guineas and then repeatedly but
unsuccessfully demanded 20 guineas
more. Why?
A For the cost of the frame
B To touch up the painting
C Otherwise Turner threatened to paint
an exact replica of the painting
D To add his signature
12 This year saw the discovery of a
French postcard dating from
about 1905, which pinpoints the exact
location of the scene depicted in what is
thought to be an artist’s final painting.
The postcard is pictured right. Name
the artist.
A Van Gogh
B Monet
C Pissarro
D Cézanne
13 The first part of what is billed as
the largest recording project in
history was released on to the internet
this year. Due to last 7,000 hours on
completion, what does it involve?
A 45 Japanese monks singing every
Buddhist chant
B Greek monks singing every Byzantine
chant
18
Thursday 24 December 2020
way to spend it. “Maybe even bad gifts neutron bomb, destroying the hugs and
are a useful, relatively high return the feasting and carol services and the
investment this year.” visiting of elderly relatives, while
With other avenues of celebration
blocked, I suspect many people have
allowing the flow of gift-wrapped
plastic to continue unabated.
poured even more money and effort
into gifts this year. I know I have,
against my better judgment. Yet my
What a shame that things aren’t the
other way around. Imagine an
alternate universe in which Christmas
scepticism of gifts remains. carols and pantomimes and parties and
In some cases the logical gift from feasts with family and friends were all
lucky to unlucky would be the gift of possible, but because of a strange virus
cash, but that is always a sensitive that lived on wrapping paper, it was
matter. Waldfogel has long advocated unsafe, illegal and deeply antisocial to
charitable donations, and this year the offer Christmas gifts.
case for such “gifts” is stronger: rather Would you prefer that imagined
than giving the customary cricket Christmas to the one we have in 2020,
knick-knack, why not donate on behalf Getty Images
where the gifts are easily arranged but
of the cricket-lover to a sports charity? many of the secular and religious
Traditionally, Christmas wasn’t traditions are reckless, illegal, or both?
about giving shop-bought gifts — it was To ask the question is to answer it.
a festival of public feasting and revelry Whether the true spirit of Christmas
that the more puritanical Christians lies in the nativity crib or the
were keen to discourage. When wassailing bowl — or in the numinous,
Clement Clarke Moore penned the line, magical combination of both — it could
“’Twas the night before Christmas”, in survive with fewer poorly chosen gifts.
1822, he was part of a movement to Above all I hope that the sheer
make Christmas more of a quiet, The pandemic has difficulty of celebrating with family
domestic affair. Not a creature stirring, and friends will make us more mindful
and all that. And when Christmas is a
stopped the hugs about how we do it. And who knows?
stay-at-home festival, gifts of food and and feasting while Maybe next year we will have learned a
drink to raucous wassailers are lesson about what is truly valuable in
replaced by gifts of toys, books and
allowing the flow this strange winter festival.
bath salts for family members. of gift-wrapped After Christmas, epiphany.
This year Clement Clarke Moore has
finally got his wish. We are all at home.
plastic to continue Tim Harford’s latest book is ‘How to
The pandemic has operated like a unabated Make the World Add Up’
9d 19 In February, British playwright
Juliet Gilkes Romero’s new play
opened at the Swan Theatre in
15
Stratford-upon-Avon. It dramatises the
passing of a bill through Parliament in
1833 — to do what?
A End the Corn Laws
B Expand the voting franchise to
women of property
C Introduce closing times to pubs and
alehouses
D Abolish slavery and pay slaveowners
£20m in compensation
25 In September, at Sotheby’s first
ever auction devoted to hip-hop
memorabilia, a fancy-dress item
bought for a 1997 photo shoot involving
20 In May, the designer Anifa
Mvuemba of the fashion brand
Hanifa debuted her Pink Label Congo
New York rapper Biggie Smalls, aka the
Notorious B.I.G., sold for $594,750. It
originally cost $6. What is it?
collection. What was groundbreaking A NY Knicks baseball cap
about the runway show? B Police cap
A It took place on Zoom, with 10 C Plastic crown
models in different locations D Santa Claus hat
B It involved 10 models wearing
biohazard suits over the newly designed
clothes
C It took place in Kinshasa, capital of
26 Hopes to turn a place associated
with Oscar Wilde into an arts
centre were dashed when a property
the Democratic Republic of Congo developer bought it. But the idea was
C French nuns singing every Gregorian D It was a 3D virtual show without revived in November when the bidder
chant
D Israeli cantors singing every psalm
models, broadcast on Instagram Live withdrew their offer. Where?
A 34 Tite Street, London
14 During 2020, British artist
Maggi Hambling unveiled a
21 The day after lockdown began in
the UK in March, the below
happened (see picture). Which of the
B Reading prison
C Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris
D 1 Merrion Square, Dublin
portrait of the tennis player Andy following corresponds to it, left to right?
Murray, a self-portrait of herself at A Ringo, George, Paul, John
22
work and a statue of the writer and
philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft.
Which one was depicted without any
B Paul, Ringo, George, John
C George, Paul, Ringo, John
D John, Ringo, George, Paul
clothes on?
A Andy Murray
B Maggi Hambling
C Mary Wollstonecraft
22 In November, Wole Soyinka, the
1986 Nobel Prize winner,
pictured right, did something that he
15 Architect Shigeru Ban designed
these audaciously transparent
hasn’t done for 47 years, as a result of
lockdown. What was it?
A Published a novel
public toilets, pictured above right,
which opened in Tokyo this year. What
B Stood for election to Nigeria’s
National Assembly 27 “Sir, I couldn’t find a place to
change,” says the protagonist of
happens when you enter one and lock
the door?
A Nothing
C Staged a play that had been banned in
Nigeria when first performed
D Refused the offer of a knighthood
the Netflix film Gunjan Saxena: The
Kargil Girl, explaining her lateness to a
superior. “You should have changed on
B The glass goes opaque from the UK the tarmac!” he yells at her. Which
C An alarm goes off and pioneer is claimed as the real-life
signs light up asking inspiration for the biopic, whose
passers-by to avert historical accuracy has been disputed?
12
their eyes
D Hidden electronic
blinds come down
A The first female driver in the Force
India Formula One Team
B The first female cadet in the Indian
Army’s Special Frontier Force
16 Archive papers
released this
year by the Swedish
C The first female pupil at Indian
boarding school, the Doon School
D The first female pilot in the Indian Air
Academy revealed
strong disagreement
Force to go into combat
about giving the 1969
Nobel Prize for
literature to a writer
28 In June, Barcelona’s Liceu opera
house reopened after a three-
month lockdown with a string quartet
with “a bottomless playing Puccini’s “Chrysanthemums” in
contempt for the human condition”, in
the words of a member of the judging 23 Which urban location, famous
as a site of protest, received a
front of an audience of more than 2,000
— what?
committee. Who was the writer?
A Jean-Paul Sartre
B Samuel Beckett
controversial makeover this year
involving an obelisk?
A Tiananmen Square
A Potted plants
B Public park staff
C Mannequins
C Albert Camus B Tahrir Square D Public health workers
D Yasunari Kawabata C Taksim Square
D Trafalgar Square
29 A leisure centre in the English
17 Which celebrity exhorted
members of her family to wear a
24 By the penultimate week of the
town of Swindon announced its
closure in November. Which famous
mask in July but was criticised a few
months later for sharing a false
conspiracy theory with her 102m
year, the anime film Demon
Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie:
Mugen Train was on the verge of
Britpop band took its name from it?
A Blur
B Shed Seven
Instagram followers about disposable overtaking which film to become the C Elastica
masks causing cancer?
A Kim Kardashian
biggest box-office draw ever in Japan,
with takings of more than $300m?
D Oasis
B Khloé Kardashian
C Kourtney Kardashian
D Kendall Jenner
A Star Wars: The Force Awakens
B Titanic
C Spirited Away
30 This year the American Library
Association published a list of
the 100 books that received the most
D My Neighbor Totoro requests to be removed from US
18 US artist Titus Kaphar designed
the cover image for Time
magazine’s issue devoted to this 21
libraries and schools during the
2010s. Which of the following was not
on the list?
summer’s Black Lives Matter protests. A Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
He also had an exhibition at a B Captain Underpants series of
deconsecrated Brussels church this illustrated novels
year whose new pieces included “Jesus C The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Noir”, pictured left. It is based on a D The Bible
painting by — who?
A Raphael
B Ingres How many did you get right?
C Rubens For answers, turn to the back page
D Delacroix
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 5

Style
Albam crafts them
Menswear | The French from outdoorsy rip-
stop in cherry red and
a grassy green.
workers’ jacket has made the Some brands, such
as Mr Porter’s own
label Mr P and De
leap from factory floor to Bonne Facture, have
elevated it well beyond
its origins — a velvety
political stage. Grace Cook suede Mr P version
sells for a steep £745.
on how to wear it well But Jake Grantham,
co-founder of British
tailoring brand Anglo
Italian Company, is
conflicted about turn-

A
s the pandemic has high- ing it into a luxury
lighted England’s north- item. “Co-opting and
south divide, Manchester commercialising an
mayor Andy Burnham has iconic garment of the
not only taken a starring working class is trou-
role in the debate, he’s also dressed the blesome to say the
part. In October, with Greater Manches- least,” he says. His
ter facing the harshest lockdown three-pocket jacket,
restrictions, he implored the British crafted from a sturdy
government to give £65m of funding to navy wool, riffs more
top up furloughed wages in the histori- on the Forestière
cally working-class region. Instead of a jacket by Parisian tai-
suit, he wore a dark navy workers’ lor Arnys, which was
jacket. created for architect
With his broad northern drawl, a Le Corbusier. “Arnys
swoosh of dark hair and quasi-fashiona- brought it out of the
ble wardrobe, Burnham’s image is more factory and into the
practical than parliamentary. His infor- cosmopolitan,” he
mal attire, which also includes open- says. “I feel that legiti-
collar shirts and North Face cagoules, mises us stamping our
has helped turn him into a man of the take on it.”
people, representing blue-collar work- blue version from Le Laboureur. Last While he hopes it won’t replace the
ers in his blue-collar coat while tapping year, the nose-to-tail restaurateur lent tailored blazer, Grantham thinks the
into the heritage of the industrial north. the St John logo to Comme des Garçons, workers’ jacket has relevance because of
which printed the pig on a white the casualisation of menswear — which
Andy Burnham’s weekend chef’s jacket and put it on a has only increased this year due to the
Paris runway. The lowly coronavirus. Albam’s Rae agrees.
dad get-up was a way of button-up suddenly “Menswear is in a very relaxed
distancing himself from the became a high fashion mood — trousers are looser
garment. cut,” he says. “The boxy,

True
shirts and ties of Downing St Perhaps it was ripe roomy fit of the workers’
for reinvention. Man- jacket is bang-on for now,
ufacturing offshor- and it’s versatile for being
“His workers’ jacket was a political ing in the 1980s led able to layer up as the win-
statement of his working-class creden- to factories shutting ter sets in.” There’s also
tials,” says Jonathan Tonge, professor of and the jacket’s something reassuringly

politics at the University of Liverpool,
when asked about Burnham’s canny
wardrobe choices. Tonge thinks Burn-
ham is “very image conscious, with his
‘people’s jacket’ and his smart Mancu-
nian pop star looks . . . he’s gone
from New Labour to New Order in
terms of his fashion sense,” he says.
Like lots of middle-aged Mancu-
nian men, “Burnham dresses like
the bands he follows.” Tonge thinks
it helps him be seen as authentic.
Workers’ jackets are so ubiqui-
tous today that it would be easy to
not read much into Burnham’s fash-
ion choices. Favoured by menswear
brands such as YMC, Albam and
Arpenteur, the silhouette is an easy
trans-seasonal staple, which is
understated, comfortable to wear
and straightforward to style. “It’s like
a pair of jeans in that it’s never really
been properly in fashion, to go out of
fashion,” says Alastair Rae, co-founder
of Albam. It has broad appeal across the
generations as an everyday garment —
it’s just as likely to be worn by dads in
the city suburbs as countryside gran-
dads in the garden, and young urbanites
collars
in
n London, Tokyo or Paris. “If you
aasked the average person where the
teerm blue collar comes from, they
wouldn’t know,” says Fraser Moss, co-
w with blue jacket wearers — oft-depicted
founder of YMC.
fo
The jacket’s roots are in manual
laabour. The “bleu de travail” was cre-
aated in France in the 19th century for
factory workers, labourers and engi-
fa
neers who needed hardworking cov-
n ion history and theory at Central Saint
erallsll that could easily be patched and
Clockwise from main: repaired. Colour distinguished workers
the factory origins of from the ranks of management; George
‘blue-collar’; Junya Orwell utilised this in Nineteen Eighty-
Watanabe SS2020; Four, where Winston and the rest of the
Manchester mayor Andy low-level Party members wore Prussian
Burnham blue overalls. This blue jacket was an
Getty Images; Victor Virgil; Paul Ellis/AFP
indicator of social status.
Burnham is likely well aware of the
sartorial connection. In post-war Brit-
ain, northern England was a manufac-
turing powerhouse. Its cities were filled
by LS Lowry in his industrial cityscapes.
“Historically, the jacket has been worn
beyond its working context to express
solidarity with the working classes,”
says Alistair O’Neill, professor of fash-
Martins. “Today, however, it’s better
known for being worn by middle-class
creatives”, who enjoy it for its practical-
ity. Jackson Pollock kept paintbrushes
and cigarettes in his pockets. Photogra-
pher Bill Cunningham put rolls of film in
his. Gardener Monty Don buys his from
British brand Old Town, while chef Fer-
gus Henderson wears a rumpled dusky
demise. It was popularised
again when cool Parisian
brand Bleu de Paname
revisited it in 2010 with
a streetwear mood.
Dormant French
labels such as Lafont
1844 and Kidur were
revamped with young
designers at the helm,
and new brands such as
Arpenteur and Le
Laboureur offered inter-
pretations with a Crayola
colour palette.
“If you’re referencing
iconic clothing, it’s lazy
to create a literal fac-
simile,” says Moss. He
tweaks the silhouette
and updates fabrics each
season to make YMC’s From top: Albam,
jackets feel fresh. For Ripstop jacket, £195,
AW20, there’s a stripy albamclothing.com;
blanket style crafted Vetra, cotton twill
from Japanese wool, one blazer, £140, northern- inspired by the 2016 US
in a businessy black pin- fells.com; YMC, Cubist
stripe and a yellow cor- jacket, £325,
duroy for the daring. youmustcreate.com
sturdy about a workwear jacket,
especially if it’s been in your
wardrobe for so long that it’s
moulded to your shape.
“They seem to look better the
older and more beat up they
get,” says Ash Ashbridge, co-
founder of Northern Fells,
which stocks designs from
Le Laboureur, Kidur and Vetra.
Burnham’s jacket, however, was
pristine. Perhaps he’d just hit up
Oi Polloi in the city’s buzzy
Northern Quarter in a pre-
lockdown shopping spree.
Likelier, this weekend dad
get-up was a way of distanc-
ing himself from the shirts
and ties of Downing Street.
Maybe the Paris run-
ways will come calling for
this working-class mayor.
After all, Balenciaga turned
democratic socialist Bernie
Sanders into a logo in 2017,
election. Burnham for
Comme des Garçons?
Wouldn’t that be ironic.

The lure of the ‘phygital’ fashion show

Collections | In the era of Covid-19, a hybrid of the physical and digital is transporting viewers to deserts, châteaus and discos. And it’s a hit on social media. By Alexander Fury

T
his month, Chanel staged a
fashion show for its Pre-Fall
2021 collection in the Châ-
teau de Chenonceau in the
Loire Valley. Models strode
down the chequerboard floor of the
Grand Gallery, devised by Catherine de’
Medici in the 16th century, in Sixties-
style checked skirts and doublet-like
jackets, black-and-white tweeds and not
exactly historically correct leggings.
They were observed by a physical,
socially distanced audience of just one:
Kristen Stewart, the actor and a “face”
of Chanel. But the show was viewed
more than 1.5m times on YouTube, not
to mention by some 42.4m followers of
the brand’s Instagram account.
Almost a year into the pandemic,
fashion brands have realigned, reconfig-
ured and regrouped around an
approach to showing their wares they’re
dubbing “phygital”.
The ungainly, industry-coined port-
manteau describes a semi-physical,
mostly digital approach that will likely
stretch well into 2021, as press and
buyers from the US and Asia in particu-
lar are still reticent (or, indeed, unable)
to travel.
According to market analysts
Launchmetrics, who measure fashion
shows’ Media Impact Value — an algo-
rithm that translates placements and
mentions via social media engagement
to a monetary value — when successful,
these hybrids have six times the impact
of purely physical or digital experiences.
“Phygital” can have many definitions,
as this autumn’s crop of shows for
assorted seasons demonstrates. Prada
held an intimate (physical) reception in
Shanghai in September, to debut (digit-
ally) a film of the label’s Spring/Sum-
mer 2021 collection, the first designed
by Miuccia Pradaa and Raf Simons. Dior
did the same in December, launching
Kim Jones’ 2021 Pre-Fall menswear
collection. And in October, Bottega
Veneta staged two catwalk shows for
Spring/Summer 2021 in London’s
Sadler’s Wells Theatre.
The brand called them “Salons”, each
with about 30 attendees including fash-
ion photographer Juergen Teller and
Kanye West. However, most will see
these clothes digitally: a film created
from the events was released online this
week, alongside images of the clothes.
Sarah Burton showed her Spring/
Summer 2021 Alexander McQueen
collection in the brand’s Bond Street
store, via a film with Jonathan Glazer
and a physical installation of clothes
that will tour different countries (Amer-
ica and China are next) through to
February 2021. That is fashion in the
“phygital” age.
Removing the need to accommodate
audiences between the hundreds and
thousands — with all the seating, secu-
rity and health and safety concerns that
entails — permits designers to execute
fashion shows that are otherwise
improbable, even impossible.
Glazer’s film, for instance, showed
Burton’s precious McQueen dresses get-
ting muddied and soaked as models
waded through the river Thames in
London at 4am, giving some welcome
grit to her grace.
Demna Gvasalia created an online
game to show his new Balenciagaa collec-
tion for Fall 2021: the press watched a
more conventional show, but through
Oculus Rift 3D headgear, entirely virtu-
ally rendered on avatars. A little cold,
slightly chilling, it was nevertheless
mesmerising — and a computer game
feels like the perfect communication
Clockwise from main: Saint Laurent
SS21 collection; Chanel Pre-Fall
2021; Alexander McQueen SS21
method to engage with Balenciaga’s
hypebeastt hordes of fans.
Another Kering brand, another
impossibility: Saint Laurentt filmed its
latest Spring/Summer 2021 show in a
desert — the house wouldn’t disclose
which one, but it’s mighty tricky to host
an audience there. So why not transport
mentally? “The desert, to me, symbol-
ises that yearn for serenity, open space,
a slower rhythm,” wrote Saint Laurent
creative director Anthony Vaccarello in
a statement: and the stark lines of his
clothes made a graphic impact even on a
vast panorama of sand.
Vaccarello frequently engineers his
physical shows for live-streamed spec-
tacle, too, with swinging Kliegg spotlights
or models splashing through water as if
walking messiah-like across the surface.
Those kind of grand visions garner
views: on September 9 Saint Laurent
debuted a film showcasing its mens-
wear, with models darting across Paris-
ian rooftops. Nine days later, it had been
viewed 42.4m times.
Other labels are harnessing the same
kind of viewer power. Jones’ Pre-Fall
Dior show — hyper-coloured, hyper-
real — took place in a virtual reality hin-
terland like a 1990s music video. “A real
show, done digitally without an audi-
ence,” the designer told me. Lady Miss
Kier, of cult dance band Deee-Lite,
crooned a soundtrack name-checking
The difference today is
the sophisticated interplay
of physical event,
digital experience and
social-media engagement
Dior, and Jones collaborated with the
pop artist Kenny Scharf,f whose work
often resembles a computer game. That
show, streamed across 18 different
channels, including the gaming-geared
platform Twitch, has garnered 140m
views since December 8.
Fashion brands have, of course, been
live-streaming catwalk shows for
a good decade. It was 2009 when Lee
Alexander McQueen collaborated with
photographer Nick Knight on a live
stream of his ultimately final
fashion show, Spring/Summer 2010’s
Plato’s Atlantis.
The difference today is the sophisti-
cated interplay of physical event,
digital experience and social-media
engagement. For example: Balmain’s
Spring/Summer catwalk show was a
physical event, but alongside the press
were 58 video-screens, creating a “dig-
ital front-row” of video figures who
could not attend including Anna Win-
tour, Jennifer Lopez, and Cindy Craw-
ford. Prada’s September digital show
was followed by an online Q&A between
Miuccia Pradaa and Raf Simons — a civi-
lised version of the traditional post-
show press scrum.
Streamed across multiple social chan-
nels — including TikTok — audience
engagement was 16 times higher than
the previous year. In China, the Prada
stream across social media platforms
Weibo and Douyin had more than 48m
participating users. The Weibo hashtag
#PradaSS21 hit 170m views in one day,
and with triple-digit percentage growth
in Instagram viewers.
Prada’s social media success was mir-
rored by triple-digit ecommerce growth
in the first half of 2020, both during and
after lockdowns. Which goes some way
to answer the big question: namely,
whether any of this will actually trans-
late to sales.
Directing viewers to watch a show
staged on a retail platform has a simple
logic, particularly when physical stores
are closed. Certainly, online luxury sales
are growing: in the third quarter, Kering
Group reported that online sales
increased 101.9 per cent, led by North
America and Asia-Pacific, and in the
first nine months of 2020 ecommerce
accounted for 12.5 per cent of group
retail sales, versus just 9.4 per cent in
2018.
With vaccines rolling out, hopefully
fashion will return to some semblance
of “normality” next year. Yet, if the
“phygital” has been normalised, and
consumers and press are now willing —
and, more importantly, able — to experi-
ence and purchase fashion online, will
the industry ever really shift back to the
old ways of doing things?
6 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

Style
I love clothes,
A
comprehensive inventory Christmas crap, canned delicacies and would be rational temporary, and we will fall back into
of all the clothes I have used books in weird quantities. But to buy now. Yet I our old patterns, and start buying
purchased since the when it comes to clothes, I have not can’t manage it. again. But when people quit smoking,
I’m just not Covid-19 pandemic took
hold in February:
sprung for so much as a cosy pair of
cashmere socks.
This genuinely
surprises me.
many of them stay quit.
From one point of view, this would

buying any 1. Dickies hooded brown canvas jacket,

heavily used, at L-Train vintage,
Gowanus, Brooklyn. $20.
That’s the lot. And I only made that
purchase because my daughter, 11
and a zealous convert to thrift stores,
was having so much fun buying old
pairs of jeans and vinyl handbags that
I got jealous.
There are obvious explanations for
the parsimony. I’ve got too much of
everything I like already. A man with
four pairs of wingtips, in subtly
different shades of brown, should
probably find a new way to express
himself. And who is getting dressed up
in lockdown? Clothes are for being
seen in and no one is looking at me,
except my family, who have proven
difficult to impress.
But the pandemic has not suppressed
my appetite for other forms of
pointless or at any rate mindlessly
indulgent consumption. Desperate to
Robert Armstrong get out into the outside world, I take
any excuse to mask up and go into
hardware stores, wine shops, and
Menswear gourmet emporiums.
I’ve bought power tools, curtains,
Strangely, my abstract interest in
clothes has not diminished. One of the
lockdown purchases I’ve got the most
pleasure out of is Scott Schuman’s fine
coffee table book The Sartorialist: Man,
a collection of photos of beautifully
dressed men, snapped on streets all
over the world, paired with smart
observations by the author. The book
captures the expressive power
of small differences, and I find myself
going back to the same pages again
and again.
Similarly, I love gawping at
Instagram, admiring Sartoria Dalcuore
jackets (@sartoria_dalcuore), Bode
patchwork shirts (@BODE), Fox
Brothers tweeds (@foxbrothers1772),
or whatever else. It all still provides a
kick, even a little acquisitive spark.
But when it comes time to click
“buy”, or even to visit my favourite
clothing shops, I can never quite make
the final push. And this despite my
favourite enticement: price.
There has been more or less
continuous discounting, even among
the best brands, since this summer.
This will end with the pandemic, so it
Coming into the
crisis, I thought
wearing certain
clothes would
help carry me
through. Instead
I’ve come to care
less and less.
I’m not sure
why this is, or
how many other
clothes-lovers feel
the same way. But I have a tentative
theory of what is going on: vanity takes
practice. It’s an impulse that loses its
force when deprived of stimulus.
When we spend less time looking
and being looked at, the urge to
present ourselves in the best light fades
away. In this, it is unlike lust or
gluttony, which only gain a sharper
edge when not indulged.
This makes vanity something akin to
an addiction. If that’s right, we have all
been forced to go more or less cold
turkey, for almost a year. And so the
next question is: to what degree is the
habit broken for good? The fashion
industry had better hope the effect is
be the best news to come out of Covid.
Fashion is a famously wasteful
industry. The planet would thank us
for taking less care of how we look.
The economy would suffer, but
ultimately we would just spend more
on something else (this may already be
happening — observe the way
Americans have dumped cash into
home renovation in recent months).
And surely a world less focused on
appearance would be freer, simpler,
Vanity, like greed, and more egalitarian.
But vanity, like greed, has positive
has positive side effects, too. It keeps us in line.
side effects, too. Dressing right and acting right are
psychologically linked; this is one
It keeps us in line. reason uniforms exist.
Dressing right and The desire to look sharp nudges us
towards good manners, exercise,
acting right are cleanliness, and assorted other small
psychologically virtues that keep us from falling to
pieces at moments of stress.
linked Without our vanity, we might be
lazier, ruder, more careless. We all
know the dangers of caring too much
Above: Scott Schuman’s about appearances. In the wake of
‘The Sartorialist: Man’ — © The
Sartorialist: Man by Scott Schuman, Rizzoli New York
Covid, we may learn about the dangers
of caring too little.

Getty/Shutterstock

P
resident Donald Trump will
leave a lasting style legacy.
From the giant red ties and
billowing Brioni suits to his
signature blond comb-over
and Make America Great Again baseball
cap, Potus has been consistent — sartori-
ally speaking at least.
The same cannot be said for his wife
Melania. Despite her background as a
fashion model, during the past four
years as Flotus, the third Mrs Trump’s
wardrobe is notable for its inconsist-
ency. It stands out as much for what it
didn’t do, as what it did.
“Unlike many of the first ladies before
her, there won’t be a signature style with
Melania,” says Lauren Rothman, a
Washington-based stylist, pointing to
Nancy’s “Reagan Red”, Jackie Kennedy’s
pillbox hats and Michelle Obama’s car-
digans (covering those famously toned
arms). Trump’s image is anchored in
her poise, adds Rothman: “the storms
Melania in Dior in Feb 2017
On a visit to Nairobi, Oct 2018
In Dior suit in Paris, Jul 2017
Gabbana. “Melania dresses how she
thought she ought to dress as a first lady.
That was her interpretation of it,” says
Isabel Spearman, a style expert and
former special adviser to Samantha
Cameron. “Sometimes it was not partic-
ularly well read for the situation she was
dressing for.”
At worst this made Trump appear out
of touch with reality. She wore vertigi-
nous Manolo Blahnik stilettos with avia-
tor sunglasses and an army green jacket
boarding a plane to visit the damage
wreaked by Hurricane Harvey. On a
rare solo trip in October 2018, she
donned an Out of Africa-esque outfit dur-
ing a visit to Kenya, complete with pith
helmet — a colonialist anachronism.
And, most infamously of all, Trump
wore a $39 Zara jacket emblazoned with
“I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” to visit a
migrant child detention centre on the
In Ralph Lauren, Jan 2017 US-Mexico border in June 2018. Her
communications chief gave it the hash-

Legacy of a first lady

don’t sway her. She always looks per-
fectly put together.”
Perhaps more than any other first
lady before her, we are destined to inter-
pret Trump’s enigmatic outfit choices
through our own political lens. For the
president’s diehard supporters, she’s an
elegant model of uxorial loyalty, immac-
ulate in Dior suits, glossy caramel blow
dry and Christian Louboutin stilettos.
“The president’s critics will say she’s a
fembot, a quiet trophy wife,” says Kate
Bennett, a CNN reporter in the White
House and author of Free, Melania: The
Unauthorized Biography. Some in the
anti-Trump movement even cast her as
‘She has a background in
fashion but never seemed
to want to put herself out
there as a role model’
a captive princess who uses clothes to
support Democrat causes, showing
streaks of rebellion from her gilded
Trump Tower in the only way available
to her.
Historically first ladies have taken an
“America First” attitude towards their
wardrobes and nurtured a close associa-
tion with US designers: Kennedy and
Oleg Cassini; Reagan with Adolfo and
James Galanos; and every first lady
since Kennedy has worn Oscar de la
Renta.
Obama, Trump’s immediate prede-
cessor, gained acclaim for mixing high-
end (Vera Wang) with high street (J
Crew and Target), and promoting less-
er-known American designers such as
Jason Wu and Christian Siriano. She tied
her fashion choices to the country, cause
or prevailing political wind, and used
clothes as a tool to illustrate her values:
diversity, creativity, entrepreneurship.
A 2010 academic paper, “The
Michelle Markup: The First Lady’s
Impact on Stock Prices of Fashion Com-
panies”, highlighted Obama’s halo effect
on the industry. Its author David Yer-
mack, professor of finance at the New
York University Stern School of Busi-
ness, calculated that during 2009
Obama’s public appearances led to
immediate gains of more than $5bn in
shareholder value for various brands, in
a pattern that closely tracks her daily
schedule.
No such “Melania markup” has
emerged. The way that Trump dresses is
“a missed opportunity” to spotlight
something, be it a brand, a business or a
cause, says Yermack. “She has a back-
ground in the fashion industry but
never seemed to want to put herself out
there as a role model in the way that
Michelle Obama did.”
Obama knew that she was an exten-
sion of her husband’s political brand,
and her fashion choices reflected this.
Early indications suggest that we may
see a similar strategy with Jill Biden, the
wife of president-elect Joe Biden. In the
run-up to the November US elections,
Report | Four years on, Melania Trump’s style choices leave more questions than answers. Harriet Agnew
looks back at the highs and lows — and asks what conclusions we can draw from her enigmatic appearance
In J Mendel dress, Jul 2018
In Dior coat, Jun 2019
she sported a limited-edition pair of
Stuart Weitzman boots, which read
“Vote” on the side.
The political messaging vis-à-vis Mel-
ania Trump is more complex. At first
her fashion choices seemed to encom-
pass her husband’s pledge to Make
America Great Again.
At the January 2017 inauguration she
wore a sky-blue cashmere dress by quin-
tessentially American designer Ralph
Lauren. For her long white inauguration
In Dior dress, Jun 2019
In Gucci, Oct 2016
gown, she collaborated with Hervé
Pierre, a French-born American immi-
grant, after her then senior adviser
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff dissuaded
her from picking Karl Lagerfeld.
In her book Melania and Me: The Rise
and Fall of My Friendship with the First
Lady, Winston Wolkoff recalls her view
that by choosing American immigrant
designers for the inauguration, Trump
— herself “one of America’s most
famous immigrants” — “could send a
In Manolo Blahnik shoes, Aug 2017
In Zara jacket, Jun 2018
unifying message to balance out her
husband’s anti-immigration rhetoric”.
Winston Wolkoff writes: “Melania
loved the idea of getting to play designer
for a day, but highlighting to the press
that she and Hervé were both immi-
grants was out of the question. Her take
was to let the clothing speak for itself
and not to bother with the backstory.”
That approach was cemented in the
days ahead. Arriving in Palm Beach,
Trump stepped off Air Force One in a
In Givenchy, Jun 2019
In Dior pantsuit, Jan 2018
red Givenchy cape dress, followed by a
hot-pink gown by Dior at the Red Cross
Ball in Mar-a-Lago.
There were other sartorial choices
that seemed at times to indicate that her
husband’s politics hadn’t made their
way wholeheartedly to her wardrobe.
As the president promised to revive
US industry and urged the country to
“Buy American”, his wife posed for her
official first lady portrait in a chic black
tuxedo suit by Italian designer Dolce &
tag #itsjustajacket, but Trump back-
tracked in an interview with ABC News
a few months later. She said she wore the
jacket as a riposte to the leftwing press,
adding that, “I would prefer [the media]
focus on what I do and on my initiatives
than what I wear.”
But by remaining largely silent and
making few solo public appearances,
Trump has left us with no choice than to
focus on what she wears, to look for
clues on what she’s thinking and feeling.
CNN’s Bennett says: “I don’t believe in
Melania Trump coincidences” when it
comes to her wardrobe. “She knows
what she’s doing.”
“I have a theory that she wears mens-
wear when they’re fighting,” she adds.
“We know that Donald Trump likes
very feminine women: Eighties-throw-
back feminine — bodycon dresses and
short hemlines. When Melania wears a
suit it’s a moment of independence.”
Bennett believes that there’s a “play-
ful ambiguity” to how Trump dresses.
She points to Donald Trump’s famous
“pussy grabbing” video, which surfaced
in October 2016 and records him mak-
ing extremely lewd remarks about
women a decade earlier. Days after the
video emerged, Melania Trump wore a
fuchsia pussy-bow blouse by Gucci to
watch her husband take part in a presi-
dential debate. Solidarity with the sis-
terhood or subliminal support of her
husband? Who knows. Coincidence?
Bennett doesn’t think so.
And then in January 2018, Trump
appeared in public alongside her hus-
‘Sometimes [her choice]
was not particularly well
read for the situation she
was dressing for’
band for the first time since allegations
of his affair with porn star Stormy
Daniels became public. She picked a
white Christian Dior pantsuit for the
occasion.
Winston Wolkoff was adamant that
this was a disastrous choice: “the white
suit was practically Hillary Clinton’s
trademark, the uniform of anti-Trump-
ers, a symbol of female empowerment
and the #MeToo movement,” she writes
in her book. “The more I begged, the
more she laughed it off, saying ‘Oh
Stephanie! Come on. I mean, really. Get
over it!’” She wore the Dior.
We will probably never know what
Trump was really trying to say with her
ambiguously political fashion choices.
What we do know is that the one thing
that has remained consistent through-
out her time as Flotus is her composure.
Perhaps when historians, aspiring poli-
ticians and future first ladies contem-
plate her legacy, it will be her ability to
appear publicly unflappable. Maintain-
ing this — regardless of what the perma-
tanned man in the giant red tie and bil-
lowing Brioni suit is doing next to her —
is no mean feat.
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 7

Travel
on Christmas Day in 2004. They were
“BAM-binos” — the second generation
of residents. Vadim was an engine driver
Trundling through — he said Tynda produces the best driv-
ers in the country. Ekaterina’s father
had also been a driver: their son planned
thousands of miles of to be one too.
In Tynda station, Vadim took us into
wilderness, the Baikal-Amur Mainline is the cab of an idling engine where we
drank coffee and talked about bear
sightings along the line. He was
a cure for claustrophobia. By Oliver Smith frank that Tynda was becoming a ghost
town — at the last census its population
stood at 36,000, down from a Soviet-era
peak of 65,000. He tried to be hopeful

O
n a satellite image, Siberia for the future.
at night appears as an “Younger generations don’t want to
expanse of darkness, hear about the BAM,” he said. “It’s not
extending from the cities taught in history lessons — maybe
of western Russia to the because it is a story from Soviet times.
Pacific, from the Gobi Desert to the Arc- But we are proud of the railway — in the
tic. Zoom in on the north shore of Lake future people will hear about it.”
Baikal, and you can see a faint chain of Since I left, there has been some posi-
lights running eastward through this tive news for locals: freight traffic has
blackness: the electric glow of little been increasing. Construction of a new
towns along the Baikal-Amur Mainline spur north to the city of Yakutsk is con-
— also known as the BAM. tinuing (the so-called AYAM railway).
It is a mostly single-track railway, on There have been official announce-
which trains trundle at about 25mph
through some of the most remote terri- RUSSIA
tory on Earth. It runs north of and very
Tayshet Severobaikalsk
roughly parallel to the famous Trans-

Siberia by
Siberian but is firmly in its shadow — the Novy Neryungri
Bratsk Uoyan
BAM is slower, more decrepit, and Komsomolsk-
according to the rail enthusiasts’ web- na-Amur
site Seat61.com, “is of little interest to Irkutsk Kuanda
most Western travellers”. Tynda
Lake

slow train
It extends about 2,700 miles — from Baikal Baikal-Amur
Tayshet, where it branches off the MONGOLIA Mainline
Trans-Siberian, to Vanino, on the Pacific
Vanino
coast. Were you to move those same CHINA
rails west, you could stretch them from
London to Jerusalem, via Paris, Milan 500 km
and Istanbul. But out here, the BAM

Armchair adventures
As the pandemic continues
to disrupt travel, we have
been asking writers to travel
in their imaginations to
distant places they long to
revisit. Read more from the
series at: ft.com/wishiwere
passes only a few small, obscure settle-
ments, marooned in inkless parts of the
atlas. To step aboard the BAM is to
travel for travelling’s sake.
I had wanted to ride the railway since I
first read about it — a few paragraphs,
hidden near the index of a Russia guide-
book. It was described as a feat of endur-
ance, but to me it sounded like an invita-
tion, like the closest you could come to
falling off the map on dry land. It proved
to be so: my BAM journey lingers in my
memory years afterwards.
I can see how it has useful lessons for
life under lockdown: inhabiting small
places, living in proximity with others.
But, during days when we are perma-
nently going nowhere, I miss constantly
going somewhere on the BAM — its ever-
retreating horizons are the vaccine
against claustrophobia. Being a passen-
ger on the BAM is like being Gulliver in
Brobdingnag: the rivers are as wide as
lakes, the lakes as mighty as oceans, the
forests seem infinite. Travelling at
25mph, you watch the vast dimensions
of planet Earth slowly uncoil.
What the Wild West was to America,
the East was to Russia: a virgin land
where dreams flooded in. No dreams
were bigger than the BAM. Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev declared this railway
the “Hero Project of the Century” when
work commenced in the 1970s. The
BAM was meant to blaze a trail through
the wilderness to unlock Siberia’s
deposits of gold, copper, coal and tim-
ber. The metropolises of tomorrow
would spring out of the taiga. The BAM
would be a bulwark against a feared Chi-
nese invasion: it would connect Euro-
pean markets with the Pacific. Com-
rades would go forth (in bulldozers) and
multiply in this promised land.
But the railway’s story was, like the
story of the Soviet Union, one of hubris.
This was a land beyond risk assess-
ments. Rails and buildings (even a hos-
pital) were swallowed by shifting per-
mafrost. Houses spun 45 degrees in seis-
mic tremors. Tunnellers accidentally
hit an underground lake and unleashed
a tsunami from within a mountain.
Many comrades deserted: what were to
be million-strong metropolises ended
up as impoverished villages. Some esti-
mate that $20bn was spent building the
mother of all white elephants.
The railway opened in 1991: just as the
ideology that it was built to glorify was
being abandoned. As the Soviet Union
collapsed, locals feared promises being
forgotten in the new Russian Federa-
tion: even threatening to declare “BAM
Land” an independent country. In truth,
the BAM felt to me like its own country
— an archipelago of little towns, adrift
somewhere between the Soviet Union
and the modern world.
Even from a passenger seat, you can
see the mighty projects of BAM Land,
writ large on the landscape. On my first
day on board, passengers rushed to the
right-hand side as we trundled over the
Bratsk Dam, eager for a glimpse of the
2,110 square miles of water, shimmering
to the southern horizon. This reservoir
was once the largest in the world: it sup-
plies a hydroelectric station that was,
upon opening, the biggest power pro-
ducer on Earth. It’s still there, in the
middle of nowhere, ready to supply
electricity to millions of settlers who
never came. It could have been worse.
The Soviet Union once planned to
Clockwise from reverse the flow of Siberian rivers using
main: early nuclear bombs. As abruptly as it
morning on the arrived, the Bratsk Sea slipped back into
outskirts of the woods.
Severobaikalsk; I miss idle days riding the BAM: days
workers greet with little to do but slip into a trance as
the first train you gaze out at the scenery. Like a
in operation in dervish, you become hypnotised by
Tyndinsky, 1975; constant motion. BAM trains are less
Tynda’s luxurious than their Trans-Siberian
futuristic counterparts: there is no first class, and
railway station; the carriages I travelled in creaked wea-
BAM passengers rily. On certain stretches, they swayed
riding between like ships on stormy swells. Russian
Severobaikalsk train journeys are often compared to sea
and Tynda voyages, and the BAM is no exception.
Philip Lee Harvey;
Tass/Getty Images
To travel from west to east takes four
or five days, a little shorter than a
transatlantic crossing.
During my journey, I read about the
story of Valery Malkov. Travelling from
his home in Bratsk to Neryungri,
Malkov was enjoying a bedtime ciga-
rette in a train vestibule when he acci-
dentally fell out the door, and into the
night-time taiga. It was -40C, and he was
wearing a T-shirt. Malkov chased the
train along the tracks for half an hour,
running four miles through the snow in
his slippers. By a miracle, he found a
guard at a normally unmanned stop,
deep in the wilderness. He didn’t suffer
hypothermia, and boarded another
train the next day. Malkov was lucky. To
fall off a train out here can be as fatal as
going overboard at sea.
I miss those remote stops along the
BAM: little towns that ambush you with
a screech of brakes, and the waft of dried
fish being loaded into the dining car.
They represent the Soviet Union in
microcosm: the town of Novy Uoyan —
built by Latvian workers, with Baltic-
style houses that conjure up the sea
spray of Riga — or Kuanda, an Uzbek-
sponsored town with Central Asian
ambience. Armenians, Georgians,
Ukrainians, even Angolan and Cuban
comrades worked on the BAM, some
leaving tiny mementoes of their home-
lands on the frontier.
Comrades travelled 4,000 miles from
St Petersburg to build the city of
Severobaikalsk — my favourite stop —
set between mountains and the north
shore of Lake Baikal. Unlike St
Petersburg, there is no pressure to go
sightseeing. I wandered aimlessly
among five-storey tower blocks. I vis-
ited the monument to BAM construc-
tion workers, which proclaimed “Glory
to the Tunnel Builders”. After a short
while in any BAM town, you actually
realise that the grandest building is in
fact the first and last place you visit: the
station. In the case of Severobaikalsk it
is a piece of space-age architecture, with
a swooping roof like a sail, allegedly in
tribute to the quays of St Petersburg.
BAM towns never quite lived up to their
futuristic stations.
In the loneliness of lockdown, I miss
the ever-changing cast of passengers on
the BAM, for whom births, marriages
and deaths are often linked to railway
timetables. Midway along the line, in
the BAM “capital” of Tynda, I met
Vadim and Ekaterina: a husband and
wife whose eyes first met in a train cabin
ments of billion-dollar upgrades along
the BAM. But the most recent timeta-
bles still show passenger trains crawling
along at average speeds of about 25mph.
At least, during the pandemic, BAM
trains are still running. For many, the
railway is the only route in and out —
roads are impassable for much of the
year. It is the biggest employer too.
Essential supplies arrive on two rails:
travelling hospital trains serve sick resi-
dents along the line. What the Nile is to
Egypt, the BAM is to BAM Land, both a
highway and a vital artery, sustaining
life in a hostile wilderness.
As well as the landscapes, the com-
pany and the stories, I even miss the
night-times on board: the deep sleeps as
you cross time zones. Eating my break-
fast in London this morning, I could see
the overnight train from Tynda would
soon be leaving for Komsomolsk-na-
Amur, near the eastern terminus of the
line. The Russian Railways website was
selling 28 bunks. With the streets
around my house eerily quiet, I thought
about the chorus of snores on board, the
clockwork clatter of the rails. People
buried under blankets as the tempera-
ture sinks outside.
On my last night on board the BAM, I
remember waking in the small hours,
and spending some time with my nose
pressed against a cold window pane.
The reflection of the moon glittered on
the rivers. Pine forests were swathed in
snow, shadow and silence. Once or
twice, the lights of a lineside hut
appeared — like a lighthouse in the dark.
Most of the time, there was no mark of
homo sapiens; we could have been on a
train ride through the Pleistocene.
Spending my days between four walls,
I miss the BAM’s unfenced horizons.
And in future — in an increasingly popu-
lated planet — I wonder if these vast
open spaces will be more precious than
the mineral riches that lie beneath them.
i / d e ta i l s
Regent Holidays (regent-holidays.co.uk) and
Real Russia (realrussia.co.uk) can arrange trips
along the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The Golden
Eagle (goldeneagleluxurytrains.com), a luxurious
private train, is due to operate a one-off trip
along the BAM in June 2022

The grandmother who refused to give up on 2020

Her Nepal expedition was
foiled by Covid but Rosie
Swale Pope, 74, just kept on
running. By Simon Usborne
in Turkey. The adventurer and writer
had been running unsupported from
her home in Sussex to Kathmandu when
the coronavirus pandemic struck.
Swale Pope spent more than two
months cooking spaghetti on her camp-
ing stove and running up and down the
locked-down hotel’s stairs to stay fit.
recalls, breaking off to describe the
rising sun shooting under clouds on the
horizon. “You can’t love another coun-
try unless you love your own and I’d
always had a dream to run from Land’s
End to John O’Groats.”
With her lightweight carbon-fibre
trailer still stuck at the Turkish hotel,
Nepal — she intends to catch a cargo
ship or ferry from Scotland to Norway,
then to attempt to reach Kathmandu via
Finland, Russia and China. “Nearly get-
ting to Kathmandu just isn’t good
enough, is it?” she says.
If anyone else spoke as breezily about
such outlandish plans in the grip of a
inspire derision. But Swale Pope is not
familiar with the concepts of self-doubt
or giving up. In a globetrotting career,
she has completed ultra-marathons in
the Sahara, sailed solo across the Atlan-
tic, ridden the length of Chile on horse-
back and raised hundreds of thousands
of pounds for charity.
(White was about nine times faster,
although she carried nothing and slept
in a motorhome.)
On her latest adventures, which she
still completes in Clive’s memory, Swale
Pope’s own mortality has appeared over
the horizon. As the clock ticks on her
Kathmandu trek, she’s keenly aware

R
osie Swale Pope is choosing to
spend Christmas Day alone. At
some point tomorrow, she will
walk into John O’Groats, in
northernmost Scotland, climb
into the little trailer-cum-home she has
dragged across the length of Britain
from Land’s End in Cornwall, and gorge
on chocolates and wine.
“Then I’ll turn on my solar panel if it’s
sunny, plug in my phone and call all my
family and friends — as many as I can,”
the 74-year-old tells me, speaking at
dawn from a layby outside Thurso. “It
will be wonderful.”
The last time I spoke to Swale Pope, in
late March, she was confined to a
deserted hotel in the hills of Safranbolu
Her red coffin-sized trailer, which held
all her supplies and space for sleeping,
sat in the empty car park.
Then her visa expired. She had no
choice but to fly back to Britain, arriving
in June and going into quarantine. She
hoped to fly back to Turkey to continue
her 5,300-mile journey through 18
countries, to raise money for Phase
Worldwide, a British charity that sup-
ports rural communities in Nepal. But
as days turned to weeks, and with no
sure sign that she would be able to com-
plete the 3,000 remaining miles through
Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan,
Pakistan and Kashmir, she had another,
only slightly less mad idea. “I thought,
‘Hey, there’s England, you know,’” she
she has had to use her back-up vehicle, a
greater burden made of fibreglass. She
got a lift in a van to Land’s End — at the
far south-west of mainland Britain —
and started running on July 12. She
hasn’t stopped since, mostly camping in
the 110kg trailer, and has been manag-
ing about 10 miles a day. “I haven’t
taken all my clothes off for several
weeks,” says Swale Pope, who has faced
days on end of rain on her route through
Exeter, Bristol, Liverpool, Carlisle,
Edinburgh and Inverness.
The spontaneous adventure began as
a 1,000-mile training run while she
waited to complete her bigger chal-
lenge. But the plan now is for it to be the
start of an alternative route back to
global pandemic while nearing the mid-
dle of her eighth decade, she might
Rosie Swale Pope passes through
Bettyhill, Scotland, on December 17
Propelled by grief after the death of
her husband Clive in 2002, she set out
from her then home in Wales and ran
around the world, clocking up almost
20,000 miles through northern Europe,
Russia, Alaska, Canada and the US. Yet
it has been in the UK, on an unplanned
jaunt by her standards, that she has felt
perhaps most fulfilled. Her bright-red
trailer is a beacon for well-wishers. “One
woman came up to me at midnight
when I was in a muddy layby,” she says.
“We chatted and she came back an hour
later with an amazing cheese board.”
Swale Pope will be the oldest woman
to travel from Land’s End to John
O’Groats on foot, surpassing Angela
White, 60, who set the record last year.
that she doesn’t have many continent-
crossing years left in her. “I’m fit and 74,
and hope to skip along when I’m 94, but
nothing is certain,” she says.
Swale Pope may wait out any travel
ban in Scotland, seeing it as a chance to
work on her latest book. The adven-
turer’s resilience and patience in the
face of age, discomfort and thwarted
plans are, perhaps, a universal lesson in
a tumultuous year. “Sometimes you
can’t do what you’re meant to do, but
you can always do something,” she tells
me above the sound of a passing tractor.
She hangs up, hauls her trailer back on
the road and continues north.
phaseworldwide.org/rosieruns
8 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

House & Home

A housing market
that defied gravity

Opinion
Nathan Brooker

A
side from all else, 2020 has
been the year that really
put our homes through
the wringer. The pressures
of homeworking and
schooling have pummelled them
into submission.
In our flat, the clutter has taken over:
boxed and unboxed monitors crowd
every table, laptops teeter on piles of
books and sprouting from every
corner is a tangled mass of cables,
unclearable, like a bad case of Japanese
knotweed. At the start of lockdown,
a colleague tweeted that we weren’t
so much working from home, as living
at work. He was right — except that in
the office, the neighbours aren’t
“But, whether this will translate into
a flurry of new transactions in the new
year remains to be seen. I think a lot
of people wanting to make a move this
year already have.”
Estate agents have come to celebrate
the beginning of the year as one of
the busier times of the calendar. But at
the start of 2021, the “mini boom” in
the UK property market might start
petering out, as a series of government
schemes that have helped shield house
prices from the economic realities of
the coronavirus crisis are withdrawn.
The stamp-duty holiday — which
waives the charge on the first £500,000
of any home purchase, saving buyers Christmas tree, lights and bauble sales are up sharply this year, with buyers otherwise facing more muted celebrations — Maryna Gumenyuk/Alamy
up to £15,000 — is due to end on March

Look into our world

banging and crashing all day as they
extend into the loft.
Back in April, after the first
lockdowns took hold in Europe, the
UK and the US, worldwide Google
searches for “DIY” hit record highs.
Sales of premium paint brands such as
Farrow & Ball have surged; the
managing director of Mylands paint
even took a forklift truck driving test
so that he could help shift orders.
Bitten by the home-improvement
bug, my wife and I rearranged all the
furniture in our living room at the
Our homes have become
everything to us this year —
it is no wonder we’re sick
31. When it was announced on July 8,
some 8.5m people logged on to
Rightmove to see what was on offer; it
was the portal’s busiest day ever.
The end of March is also when the
business loan schemes are set to close,
and new applications for the mortgage-
holiday programme; a month later, the
worker-furlough scheme will end. dreams of the past; in the other, archi-
We are, thankfully, in the process of
rolling out the coronavirus vaccine,
Architecture | This year, more than ever, tecture has become a painful series of
easily shattered membranes, a meta-
but it is anyone’s guess how long the UK phor for a fraying family and a world
property market can continue its Christmas windows have become public in which criminals are as smooth and
gravity-defying run — which, given the ruthlessly efficient as corporations.
fact that the UK is facing the worst The window is a medium capable of
economic recession in 300 years, is a channels of communication. By Edwin Heathcote accommodating mixed messages.
source of perpetual bemusement. Last In Home Alone, Marv, a luckless
month, the average house price was 7.6 burglar, attempts to break in through
per cent higher than in November 2019, the window (very unChristmassy)

to death of them
beginning of lockdown. A couple of
weeks ago, we moved it all back. Turns
out there is no way of placing a sofa that
will make a room bigger by 30 sq ft.
Our homes have become everything
to us this year: offices, schoolrooms,
restaurants, weekend retreats — it is no
wonder we’re sick to death of them.
This is a level of contempt usually
reserved for the weeks following
Christmas when, after being cooped
up with our families for days on end,
traffic on property portals begins to
rise. Between Boxing Day last year and
January 8, the number of daily visits to
Rightmove increased by 71 per cent.
This year is different, of course, but
Camilla Dell, managing partner at
buying agents Black Brick, still thinks
people will find the time for some
mindless festive scrolling.
“This time of year people are always
drawn to the portals for some good old
‘property porn’ — and perhaps this
year more than ever as, let’s face it,
there isn’t much else to do,” she says.
L
according to Halifax, the strongest
annual growth rate for four years.
Even now, the booming market is not
being felt by everyone. Many first-time
buyers have had their dreams upended
by the impact of the pandemic on their
incomes and savings; many have
struggled to get financing, as lenders
have reduced the availability of higher
loan-to-value mortgages — though this
is slowly coming back.
Above all, I am reminded of the
homeowners I spoke to this year who
have had to put their lives on hold
because they have been caught up in
the cladding crisis. One campaign
group estimates that there are 1.93m
people in England who cannot sell their
flats because they need a new fire-
safety certificate known as an EWS1
form before lenders will offer
mortgages to any would-be buyers.
Among them, there will be thousands,
perhaps hundreds of thousands, who
must face spending this Christmas in
homes they do not feel safe in.
It rather puts a few monitors and
unruly cables into perspective.
Nathan Brooker is editor of House & Home
House & Home: Unlocked
FT subscribers can sign up for our
weekly email newsletter containing
guides to the global property market,
distinctive architecture, interior design
and gardens. Go to ft.com/newsletters
ong lockdowns and the
strange stretch of intensi-
fied interiority have led to
a curious transformation
of our homes’ windows.
Traditionally, they are conceived to
let light into our interior spaces and
allow us to look out. But this year,
perhaps like never before, they have
become channels of communication,
semi-public vitrines that create a
kind of screen to the street, mediat-
ing between private and public in a
conscious sense of display. Windows
have become a new kind of architec-
tural social media and, just like Twit-
ter, Facebook or Instagram, they can
amplify our image of ourselves.
Think of the explosion of public
window display we have seen in the
UK this year, from NHS rainbows to
support for Black Lives Matter to
silent screams for help from barri-
caded students, to assorted messages
of hope.
And now that our homes are not
opening to others for Christmas in
the way they might usually be, the
presentation of our interiors, dressed
and decorated for the festive season,
has taken on a more public function
— telling anyone who might look, we
are still celebrating.
Normally we expend effort obscur-
ing our interior lives; blinds, curtains,
net curtains, shutters, frosting —
myriad devices to allow in light but
deflect insight. At this time of year,
however, with Christmas as an
excuse, we suddenly put decorations
in our windows, fairy lights, trees,
Scandi-candles, inviting the world
outside to look in.
This year, that feeling has been
supercharged. Christmas decora-
tions — which have been going up
earlier and earlier in recent years —
were on display in many homes by
late November. According to the Brit-
ish Christmas Tree Growers Associa-
tion, sales of trees are up 31 per cent
this year, compared with 2019, as
It is impolite to stop and
stare but who can resist
a glance through the
veils of fairy lights?
buyers compensate for more muted
celebrations. UK retailer John Lewis
reports that sales of fairy lights are up
21 per cent on last year; baubles are
up 23 per cent.
In Denmark, home of hygge and
enforced cosiness, people place can-
dles in the windows of their homes to
relieve the darkness of the street-
scape; the interior becomes a public
good. It’s an intriguing turn from an
otherwise very private people.
The London of my childhood was
similarly private, yet even then peo-
ple used to tape a grid on to their win-
dow and spray frost from a can into
the corners of each box, faking leaded
glass (it only actually snowed once at
Christmas, I think, when I was about
Above: NHS rainbow on a window
in Bedford
Below: silent screams from
Manchester students — Keith Mayhew/
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
three). The status of the window has,
perhaps, always been flipped a little
at Christmas, upending ideas about
privacy and transparency.
You might compare the cinema
screen to a window, with its curtains
and its view on to another world,
albeit one replaced by the TV and the
computer screen in our long lock-
down. In Christmas films, from Die
Hard to the 1951 classic Scrooge, win-
dows themselves play a key role. In
the latter, the anti-hero peers through
them to glimpse Christmas scenes
with the ghosts of past and present; in
the former, the hero machine guns the
glass, smashes through it and walks
over it with bare feet. In one, the win-
dow is pure nostalgia, a portal to
and is forced to walk barefoot on a sea
of shattered baubles.
In It’s a Wonderful Life, the would-be
couple throw rocks to smash the win-
dows of the derelict house that will
one day be theirs. George, played by
James Stewart, tells Mary (Donna
Reed) that he’s “gonna build sky-
scrapers a hundred storeys high”. Of
course, he doesn’t. He stays right
there in the company of his small-
town compatriots with their small
dreams of owning a small house.
Stewart went on to play LB Jefferies
in Rear Window a few years later. He’s
the photographer who becomes
obsessed with the goings-on behind
the New York City windows that he
sees when confined to a wheelchair.
In both films, the window is the por-
tal to possible worlds. Jefferies might
have seen a murder, he might just be
bored out of his mind, or a sleazy
voyeur. Either way, the window acts
as the way to viewing a new scene, like
the doors on an advent calendar.
As so many shops stay shuttered
and department stores go bust, the
responsibility for creating a public
Christmas falls more heavily on all of
us, to communicate to the street
through the window.
It’s impolite, of course, to stop and
stare, but who can resist a glance
through the veils of fairy lights to
check out someone else’s tree? The
message is, after all, aimed at you.
Edwin Heathcote is the FT’s
architecture critic

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Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 9

Personal finance

I
have not eaten a canapé for the have gone well, because I’m still here. and I arrived just in time to host a live
whole of December. I’m
devastated. This time of year is
Where’s the party? I’ve got One final tip: when the sweet
canapés arrive, that’s your cue to grab a
phone-in littered with drunken callers.
Pre-Covid, the easiest way to avoid
usually stacked with enforced
partying at corporate and client
gatherings, but because of Covid-19
canapé withdrawal symptoms couple of miniature chocolate
spectaculars or mini brûlées and
summon an Uber Exec before you
the pain of New Year’s Eve was to go
abroad, but that’s largely off the menu
now. Every year, for a decade, I spent a
they have all been cancelled. make a spectacle of yourself. Don’t be a most enjoyable couple of weeks in the
You may feel you’ve escaped lightly straggler unless it’s your party. Caribbean. The hotel provided
donning a Christmas jumper for a few Will firms return to throwing everything, from glorious cocktails,
hours for your team’s virtual party on
Zoom, but the dearth of physical
events could have an unpalatable effect
James Max cocktail parties? They will have saved a
fortune this year — but may actually
find they lose out on business. A well-
dinner, live band, fireworks and even a
hangover-curing breakfast.
Some intrepid sun seekers may have

Rich People’s Problems

on one’s personal finances. We have
lost the golden opportunity to
schmooze the bosses, push for more
cash or seek out new opportunities
without raising suspicion.
Cocktail parties are a fertile stalking
ground. Years of experience have
taught me how to play these events.
Some judge a corporate “do” by the
quality of the guest list or venue. I
judge it by the quality of the fizz, which
needs to be a fine English, or tasty,
recognisable champagne, poured with
abundance and served cold.
Avoid any event where the fizz is
Prosecco, no matter how cold it is.
Beware if there’s a vodka ice luge —
you’re at a media party and that’s
where the photographer will hang out.
As for the food, if the canapé
selection is supermarket or has been
anywhere near the “meecro-wav-ay”,
as Nigella Lawson would say, I’m out —
it simply isn’t worth getting fat for. If
the company in question can’t afford a
decent party, they’re certainly not
going to be able to afford my daily rate.
When we’re allowed out again,
remember that for a corporate party to
be useful, you’ll need a strategy.
Accountants and lawyers will often
stand near the door, ready to pounce
on a potential client. Stride past them
with confidence, or you’ll be stuck all
evening (they charge by the hour, so
brevity isn’t generally an attribute).
For an evening of chat and hilarious
banter, head towards the bar. Deal
Half-baked: doers and recruiters will gravitate here
Microwaved and it’s often near the canapé “landing
canapés are a strip”.
sign you’re at Importantly, work out where the big
the wrong party bosses and grands fromages are located.
Getty Images/iStock
They’ll be circulating, as they will be
desperate not to look isolated.
If, and only if, you have something
useful to say, now’s your chance.
Because so many people actively avoid
such an encounter, they will never have
been so pleased to see you!
Last year, I attended two excellent
corporate shindigs. The Goldman Sachs
festive party, at the National Portrait
Gallery, wasn’t overly lavish, but it was
classy, well attended and perfectly
catered. I bumped into former
colleagues, decision makers, wedged-
up entrepreneurs and marvellous
storytellers. The canapés were works of
art and there was proper champers.
The other? Why of course it was FT
Weekend’s seasonal gathering. Neither
overstated nor under provided. It must
executed event creates significant
goodwill and deal flow. If the guest list
is strong with a high bar to entry, your
attendees will spend the rest of next
year ensuring they’re still on your list.
As much as I love a box set, it’s no
substitute for a good party. It’s unlikely
you’ll prepare a range of stunning
nibbles to hoover up as you binge-
watch The Mandalorian on the sofa.
There is of course a bigger horror
ahead — the enforced partying of New
Year’s Eve. Corporate hospitality rarely
extends this far into the season, often
making it an expensive let down.
I’m really not fussed that spectators
have been banned from the annual
fireworks display on the Embankment
in London this year. You’ll get a much
better view on the telly, not to mention
a live set from Nile Rodgers and Chic.
Years ago, I was due to present a New
Year’s Eve radio show from a studio
near the South Bank. I decided to cycle
there, and got caught up in a
motionless throng with people tutting:
“Honestly, who brings a bicycle with
them on New Year’s Eve?”
My only escape was to shout “Doctor
coming through!” The path cleared,
planned to make the annual
pilgrimage, but I decided to save the
money and avoid the mandatory
privately funded Covid-19 test.
By some miracle, at the time of
writing, my Essex beachside paradise
of Frinton-on-Sea is one of the few
parts of the country to have avoided
tier three or four restrictions. Not that
it matters much. Sadly, at the tennis
club that I chair, we’ve cancelled our
New Year’s Eve dinner.
Those restaurants that can open, will
bring forward the traditional
countdown to 10pm to sustain the
party atmosphere. But I’m going old
school — it’s time to get the fondue set
out. And we’ll celebrate early. I’m all in
favour of fake bongs, as I’m at an age
where any requirement to stay up late
has long since passed. I’ll be very
happy with a delicious retro dinner, a
few glasses of fizz and an early night to
end 2020 as soon as possible.
James Max is a property expert and radio
presenter. The views expressed are
personal. Twitter: @thejamesmax. If you
have a problem for James, contact him
at richpeoplesproblems@ft.com

The 12 days of investing

Guinness Asian Equity Income Fund.
Funds | Moira O’Neill finds Days eight and nine of the Christmas
12 bring women to the party — the milk-
maids and the ladies. Even today you
inspiration in a classic festive may struggle to find a female fund man-
ager: last year Morningstar found that
investors in UK funds are more likely to
song for those keen to have their money managed by a man
called David than a woman.
But some of the best managers are
improve their wealth in 2021 women: in August, Goldman Sachs
found that US female fund managers
had outperformed their male colleagues

I
t might be tempting to splurge on
Christmas gifts and treats, espe-
cially if this particularly bleak mid-
winter sees you far from loved ones
or feeling lonely, and you are fortu-
nate enough to have surplus funds sit-
ting in the bank.
In a year when many people, unable
to spend in shops and restaurants, have
become “forced savers”, why not con-
sider gifting money instead to your fam-
ily and loved ones?
To make this more attractive than
simply giving a cheque, think about
handing them a carefully selected
investment. It should last longer than an
Xbox, could spur an interest in financial
education and will at least give you the
opportunity to talk about something
other than Covid-19 and Brexit. Plus,
the pandemic has also focused many
people’s attention on the need for a long-
term investment plan — this could be a
helpful kick-starter.
Our 12 funds of Christmas, based on
the traditional song, are not personal
recommendations but ideas to explore.
We recommend that you discuss them
with loved ones — perhaps do a bit of
research together each day of the festive
period. This is not a joke — HM Revenue
& Customs reports many tax returns are
filled out during this period, so why not
research investments?
On Christmas Day we suggest you find
your partridge, a bird considered full of
wisdom, being closely associated in
Greek mythology with Athena, the god-
dess of wisdom.
Clever investors know they cannot
control performance, but they can con-
trol costs. So a smart choice would be
a low-cost, highly diversified, global
multi-asset fund, perhaps investing in
trackers (index funds), which aim for
growth in line with stock market per-
formance, as opposed to active funds
planning to beat the market (which may
underperform).
With a tracker fund, you might catch
any Santa rally — the seasonal upsurge
in shares that traditionally occurs
between Christmas and New Year —
though there are no guarantees that we
will see one in 2020.
Potential partridges are Vanguard
Life Strategy 80% Equity, BMO Sustain-
able Universal MAP Growth (a low-cost
active fund), Fidelity Index UK.
After the largely housebound par-
tridge, we turn to the next gift, two tur-
tle doves — migratory birds that annu-
ally cover big distances. Investors too
must look far and wide in search of
opportunities, not least in the US, the
largest global financial market and the
most important overseas destination for
British savers.
Two turtle doves to consider are Van-
guard US Equity Index Fund, Premier
Miton US Opportunities.
Next come more airborne gifts —
From partridges three French hens, followed by four call-
to gold rings and ing birds, which together develop a
geese a-laying, European theme. The original calling
where will you bird, or “colly bird”, was the European
put your money blackbird as “colly” meant black, as in
after a turbulent “coaly”.
year for Europe is home to some amazing glo-
investors? — FT bal brands, such as Ferrari, L’Oréal and
montage/Getty Images
LVMH, which might be expected to per-
form well as high-spending countries
come out of recession. You should have
such fancy fowl in your portfolio.
European birds to watch are MAN
GLG Continental European Growth
Fund, Liontrust Sustainable Future
European Growth, TR European
Growth Investment Trust.
On the fifth day of Christmas, buy five
gold rings for the enjoyment of wearing
them, but be aware that the price will far
exceed the meltdown value, due to the
workmanship and the retail mark up.
Investors usually buy gold to diversify
their risk, to hedge against a fall in the
stock market, or as a store of wealth
when the political or economic outlook
is uncertain.
You can buy gold coins or bullion if
you have a secure place to store them.
However, many investors prefer to buy
the precious metal using a low-cost
physical gold exchange-traded com-
modity, which holds bullion on your
behalf and can be easily bought and
sold. Others look to funds that invest in
gold miners. But don’t be dazzled, even
at Christmas — limit gold and gold min-
ing to a small portion of your invest-
ments because it can be volatile.
Gold ring alternatives could be
iShares Physical Gold ETC, Merian Gold
& Silver Fund, BlackRock Gold & Gen-
eral Fund.
Six geese a-laying makes me think of
income funds, which are popular with
retired investors and can also be used by
investors growing their money, if they
reinvest the income.
For extra diversification, I am adding
the next gift in the song — seven swans
a-swimming, as these too produce
plenty of eggs.
The UK has long been the goose that
laid the golden income egg for many
investors, but this year UK dividends —
the regular income paid out by many
stock market listed companies — have
been scarce.
So I am suggesting you diversify your
income sources, which is easily done as
geese and swans are plentiful elsewhere
in the world.
Some geese and swan egg-layers could
be Royal London UK Equity Income,
City of London Trust, Morgan Stanley
Global Brands Equity Income Fund,
so far in 2020, beating them in the worst
of the turmoil of the pandemic.
Milkmaids and ladies to follow are
Karina Funk, head of sustainable
investing at Brown Advisory, and man-
ager of the US Sustainable Growth Fund,
Catherine Stanley, manager of BMO
Responsible UK Equity Income, and
Laura Foll at Janus Henderson, who co-
manages Lowland Investment Trust.
Ten lords a-leaping gives us time to
pause and look up some advice from
iconic investors from history.
Some lords of investment: Benjamin
Graham, John Templeton, Peter Lynch
and John Maynard Keynes.
Their lordly investment wisdom
includes: “The intelligent investor is a
realist who sells to optimists and buys
from pessimists” (Graham) and “Suc-
cessful investing is anticipating the
anticipations of others” (Keynes).
Next come 11 pipers piping — a
reminder that Edinburgh has a thriving
financial centre including some major
investment fund houses such as Baillie
Gifford. It is worth checking out some of
Edinburgh has a thriving
financial centre. It is worth
checking funds managed
north of the border
the funds managed north of the border.
Some show their Scottish links in their
names, while others are not so obvious.
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust,
managed by Baillie Gifford, was up 121
per cent over the year to December 11,
driven by the performance of some of its
technology holdings, while Murray
International Investment Trust, run by
Aberdeen Standard Investments, is a
good option for income-seekers, having
a dividend yield of 4.8 per cent.
On the 12th day, the last in our song,
give yourself a well-earned break and
contemplate this list of investment gifts
— perhaps to the sound of two hits from
the 1970s — Money, Money, Money from
Abba and Money by Pink Floyd. Or you
might prefer something more modern —
Independent Women, by Destiny’s Child
(2001), with the great feminist, or per-
haps post-feminist, line, “I buy my own
diamonds and I buy my own rings.”
But whatever your musical taste, if
you are thinking of finance don’t forget
about tax — and listen to The Beatles’
classic, Taxman. It doesn’t give you 12
drummers drumming but we can do
better and offer you Ringo Starr on
drums, cowbell and tambourine.
Moira O’Neill is head of personal finance
at Interactive Investor. She holds
investments in Vanguard LifeStrategy
80% equity fund, City of London
Investment Trust and Scottish Mortgage
10 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

Food&Drink
dozen snipes, four grouse and four
The History Cook | From widgeons, a small York ham and two
tongues baked with forcemeat in a hot-
crust pastry. Your butcher might need
boar’s head to sherry-soaked advance warning.

The early 20th century

chestnuts, our ancestors knew Today, chestnuts feature alongside
sprouts and stuffing, but cookery books
from the early 1920s and 1930s suggest
how to celebrate the season how this winter nut should contribute
more to the festive menu.
in style, says Polly Russell Though the Victorian fashion for lav-
ish, formal entertaining among wealthy
circles lasted well into the 20th century,
by the 1920s cooking had become
noticeably less fancy. Complex French
dishes requiring days of labour fell out

W
e have the Victorians, in
large measure, to thank
for Christmas. Or at
least the version of it
that we celebrate today.
After all, they were the ones who,
encouraged by the Christmas-crazy
royal family, religious fervour and eco-
nomic growth, normalised present-
giving, Christmas trees, crackers, Father
Christmas, chocolate boxes and Christ-
mas cards. And, crucially, the “tradi-
tional” Christmas dinner.
Seasonal feasting and celebration
existed long before the Victorians, how-
ever, and I’ve come to think there are
food traditions worth resuscitating from
earlier centuries. Some of the dishes rec-
ommended for revival here might chal-
lenge those of us without servants, but if
you are historically curious and have
time on your hands, I invite you to
embrace a forgotten Christmas recipe
from across the centuries.
A medieval Christmas
Surely, after a year of imposed restraint
and repetition, we should go the whole
hog on excess and drama and embrace
the medieval tradition of serving a
roasted boar’s head? Medieval festivities
of favour. A new generation of cookery
writers looked to regional British food
for inspiration, with recipes that priori-
tised flavour, simplicity and seasonality.
The Gentle Art of Cookery (1925) by
hostess, herbalist and cookery writer
Hilda Leyel is a case in point. She
includes no fewer than 26 recipes for
chestnuts. “Chicken liver and chestnut
sandwich” and “chestnut salad” sound
perfect for a Boxing Day buffet.
And how about “hot chestnuts and
prunes” after Christmas dinner?
Cooked chestnuts soaked with prunes,
cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice and a
“wineglassful of sherry” and served hot
“in a silver dish”? It sounds like a more
digestible way to end a gut-busting retro
feast than stodgy Christmas pudding.
The kitsch 1960s
There was a brief window in the second
half of the 20th century when the house-
wife ruled supreme in the domestic
kitchen. Before then, she’d had to cede
control of her larder to the government,
thanks to rationing and war-induced
austerity. But when the Ministry of Food
Buying hot chestnuts from a street seller in London in 1948 — Getty Images finally departed and 1960s prosperity
kicked in, the nation was gripped by a
cult of domesticity.

The feasts of Christmas past

were celebrated over 12 days, with feasts
and games. In wealthy households, a
boar’s head would be gilded with gold
leaf and served surrounded by coloured
jellies. Those of lesser means prepared
the head by pickling it in ale and spices,
then chopping the flesh to create either
a thick liquid or a solid, pâté-like brawn.
Traditionally served with salt and
mustard, brawn is almost unheard of
now, but it was a mainstay of English
cookery until the early Victorian period.
Domestic goddess Eliza Acton includes
two recipes for it in her 1845 Modern
Cookery for Private Families. Getting hold
of a wild boar’s head is not as easy today
as it was in medieval times, but a pig’s
head will work just as well and should
only set you back about £5. This is
clearly not one for the squeamish but, if
you have the stomach to shave a pig’s
face and the patience to bone out its
plentiful flesh, then it could well become
a festive staple.
Bringing in the boar’s head on
Christmas Day — Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Elizabethan and Jacobean eras
There are two recipes I propose we
recover from Elizabethan and Jacobean
Christmas. As befits the period, both are
laden with sugar. This was, remember,
the time of European expansion to the
New World, creating misery and geno-
cide for indigenous and enslaved popula-
tions — and bringing untold wealth and a
sweet tooth to the English. Sugar was
both fantastically expensive and consid-
ered to have medicinal properties. Creat-
ing sweet foods therefore served the dou-
ble function of promising good health
while also displaying wealth and status.
First up for revival is Elizabethan
“quidany”, a jelly made from boiled
quince and sugar, rather like Spanish
membrillo. In season from October to
December, quince features regularly in
17th-century recipe books. Deep, ruby-
red quidany was set in elaborate
wooden moulds or shaped into small
rounds like edible jewels. It could hap-
pily replace today’s Quality Street or
Chocolate Orange.
The other recipe is a Jacobean version
of the mince pie. Like their close cousin
the Christmas pudding, mince pies date
back to the early 1400s, when “pyes” or
“coffyns” of tough flour paste contain-
ing meat or fish, fat and dried fruit dou-
bled up as cooking and storage vessels.
The suet found in modern mince pies is
what remains of the meat in older ver-
sions. Gervase Markham’s 1615 “minc’d
pie” recipe in his cookery book The Eng-
lish Housewife calls for a “legge of mut-
ton” with “some Orenge-pils [orange
peel] sliced” and “great Raisins and
Prunes”. What passes for a mince pie
today seems positively parsimonious by
comparison.
The Georgian period
Rather than the standard Christmas
cake, consider instead a Twelfth Night
Cake, which is a cake and a game rolled
into one. Twelfth Night Cake is a Geor-
gian leavened fruitcake, so less dense
and stodgy than a Christmas cake but
not as fluffy and insubstantial as a pan-
ettone. Symbolising good fortune,
Twelfth Night Cakes were a feature of
celebrations from the 1500s, intended
to serve a large crowd and integral to fes-
tive games.
Before the 1800s these cakes were
Elizabethan ‘quidany’, baked with a bean inside. The person
made from quince and who ended up with it in their slice of
sugar — DeAgostini/Getty Images cake became “King of the Bean”,
allowed to rule over everyone for a night
and make their “subjects” perform
pranks and tasks. By the late 1700s, bak-
ers and confectioners were selling cakes
along with colourful sheets of paper
with satirical characters such as “Gouty
Roger”, “Mrs Flash-Along”, “Lady
Tulip” and “Miss Gillyflower”. Partygo-
ers would act the character on their
card, in what was rather like a Georgian
version of charades.
Twelfth Night Cakes were tradition-
ally enormous, elaborate and expensive
— Queen Victoria’s cake in 1849 was
Deep, ruby-red 80cm in diameter, and even the recipe
in John Mollard’s 1802 The Art of Cookery
quidany was shaped Made Easy and Refined calls for seven
into small rounds pounds of flour.
Over time, the Twelfth Night Cake
like edible jewels. was superseded by Christmas cake,
It could happily which could be made in a domestic
oven. Nevertheless, a light, giant fruity
replace today’s cake including a game sounds like a tra-
Quality Street or dition worth resuscitating and begs the
question: who is the modern-day equiv-
Chocolate Orange alent of Gouty Roger?
In homage to this moment, why not
embrace 1960s kitsch and crack out the
piping bag and gelatin? Why not, for
instance, fashion penguins out of boiled
eggs and black olives? Or how about
Ham Cornets, as recommended for a
Boxing Day buffet by the 1967 Cordon
Bleu Cookery Course, an essential
monthly publication for aspirational
housewives? These are slices of ham
rolled into cones piped with pâté de foie,
béchamel sauce, sherry and cream.
Or why not try the Cordon Bleu Box-
ing Day Egg Mousse, made with bécha-
mel, 12 hard-boiled eggs, cream and gel-
atin and decorated with ribbons of
cucumber? According to the Cordon
Bleu, this forms part of a “light” and
“quick” menu, which suggests the words
A Victorian Yorkshire pie: a ‘beast have changed meaning in the interven-
of a pasty’ — Universal History Archive/Getty Images ing years. What has not changed is the
fact that a pâté-stuffed cornet of ham or
cake-sized cold mousse would look good
Victorian Christmas in any Boxing Day buffet.
Despite our devotion to Victoriana,
there are at least two 19th-century tradi- Polly Russell is a curator at the British
tions we have neglected — the cold side- Library; @PollyRussell1; Instagram:
board and the Christmas pie. the_history_cook
In large homes, throughout the festive
period, the dining-room sideboard
would be kept stocked with pickles,
hams, pressed tongue, brawn, spiced
beef and cheese. It was a seasonal sign of
welcome and hospitality. Without cen-
tral heating, rooms were cold enough for
food to sit out without spoiling, so these
delectable treats were on hand for graz-
ing and could be used to feed any unex-
pected visitors.
The centrepiece of the sideboard
would be a Christmas pie, sometimes
known as Yorkshire pie. This beast of a
pasty was intended to be eaten gradually
over the duration of festivities and was
invariably sumptuous and ornate.
Charles Elme Francatelli, one-time
chef to Queen Victoria, has a recipe
from 1846 for one that requires a tur-
key, a goose, a brace of young pheasants, A festive buffet from the 1960s, with
four partridges, four woodcocks, a egg penguins— ClassicStock/Getty Images

Can restaurateurs turn the tables?

Restaurant Insider | It has been a bruising year for the business. But, writes Nicholas Lander, the altered landscape may favour brave new ventures

A
t this time of the year, I usu-
ally write about the best
meals I have had over the
previous 12 months. In
2020, I can summon up just
five candidates: SingleThread in
Healdsburg, California; Sunda in Mel-
bourne; Davies and Brook in London;
Maison Troisgros in Ouches, France;
and Zoldering in Amsterdam.
That’s all the looking back I intend to
do in this column. I want instead to look
forward to next summer, when I hope
enough people will have received a coro-
navirus vaccine for the world of hospi-
tality to return to something approach-
ing “normal”.
It will still be very different from the
one we all knew as recently as February.
Some favourite restaurants may simply
not reopen. Long closure periods will
have forced restaurateurs to reconsider
their exposure; exigent landlords will
provoke tenants to walk away; and the
drains on cash flow will force many to
sell up — if they can.
In the UK, the situation has been com-
pounded by the timing of the second
lockdown and subsequent restrictions.
The run-up to Christmas and New Year
is usually the busiest time for restaura-
teurs, and they expect their profits from
this six-week period to keep their busi-
nesses buoyant until the clocks go for-
ward in March.
Yet there has also been a certain opti-
mism about the future more generally,
particularly among my colleagues in the
US. There are some who believe this new
world of hospitality won’t just be differ-
ent but far more exciting. Buildings
occupied by the usual suspects, invaria-
bly bankrolled by venture capitalists,
will surely become a thing of the past.
Landlords will have to take risks — or
leave their properties vacant — and
should, therefore, be more responsive to
the independent sector. Lower rents will
favour the smaller, more ambitious res-
taurateurs who have been priced out of
many of the most attractive sites for the
past 20 years.
However, I fear this new dawn may be
some time in breaking. The fallout from
the pandemic will still be felt next sum-
mer. That so many restaurants remain
closed in New York, Paris, San Francisco
and London does not augur well for the
immediate future. As Viewpoint Part-
ners, accountants to many in the British
hospitality industry, wrote in their
recent report: “These are still choppy
waters to navigate in smaller boats and
we’ve been at sea a long time.”
And yet there remains room for hope.
In my view, a restaurant’s success
depends on its mastery of the three Cs.
Conviviality, that magical combination
of food, alcohol and service. Connectiv-
ity, a restaurant’s ability to act as a neu-
tral space for people to meet. (As a res-
taurateur, I used to say that I would sac-
Sean O’Brien
rifice the profit on all we were selling in
return for a small commission on the
deals concluded over lunch or dinner.)
And finally the local Community, which
has become important in the absence of
customers travelling further afield.
Master the three Cs and your restaurant
should prosper.
Some believe this new
world of hospitality
won’t just be different
but far more exciting
So what would I like to see? Above all,
more restaurants that are owned by
individuals or small restaurant groups
and bear the imprimatur of a talented
chef and a welcoming restaurateur.
At the same time, I hope to see more
properties offered on a turnover-only
basis for the rent, whereby both tenant
and landlord would share the risk. The
restaurateur would not be liable for a
fixed rent and there would be no more
guarantees for the landlord. This is the
most equitable way forward. I suspect
the first major landlords to offer such
attractive terms to restaurateurs will be
among the earliest to turn around their
ailing property portfolios.
Where could the capital come from to
finance this new wave of small, inde-
pendent and not-terribly-profitable res-
taurants in the UK and beyond?
Covid-19 has badly hurt the world’s
wine and spirits producers as well as the
hospitality industry. Many of them have
pivoted to selling directly to personal
clients but without making up for losses
in sales to pubs, restaurants, bars and
nightclubs.
Yet often these producers are part of
large regional or national organisations
that have huge budgets and plenty of
incentive to see that hospitality
flourishes worldwide. In short, restau-
rants need cash and these organisations
have it.
Quite how it should flow from one to
the other I am not yet clear. But if it did,
it would make a very happy 2021 for res-
taurateurs — and their customers.
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 11

Food&Drink
Vintage
cheek

Jancis Robinson
Wine

G
iven there is no
objective, precise way
of measuring wine
quality, it’s hardly
surprising that
producers and promoters can be
tempted to overstate their case. My
favourite sales pitch recently was
sent on behalf of “The Hérmes [sic]
of Wine, proprietor and visionary
Lawrence Fairchild [who] takes a
page from art and fashion to create
the centerpiece of wine cellars
(clients have literally designed
cellars around his bottles)…”
What followed was this cunning
suggestion: “Lawrence never sends
five-digit prices on bottles with
hardly any reputation at all. In my
four decades writing about wine, I
have seen most of these hopefuls
come and then go. It seems to me
that wines ought to earn ambitious
price tags. Yet there are also well-
established wines with equally
imposing price tags that I wouldn’t
dream of buying either — though
clearly someone must.
An obvious example is another
red bordeaux, Carruades de Lafite,
the second wine of first growth Ch
Lafite. The similarity of its label to
that of its posher cousin, as well as
Chinese wine buyers’ reverence for
tends to be pretty souped-up
already. They can have alcohol
levels way in excess of 15 per cent —
and be five times more expensive.
Too many exaggerate a certain
facet of the appellation rather than
present a balanced expression of
the many grape varieties and
terroirs that go into a fine
Châteauneuf such as that of Clos
des Papes. This estate eschews
special cuvées and simply makes
one great red and one great white
every year — each astonishingly
age-worthy.
Then there is Provençal rosé.
I have to take my hat off to Sacha

Hole in one
sample bottles and I know he would the name Lafite, means that Lichine and his team for
for you if you are establishing the
interested!” Whispering Angel brand,
The email went on: now blended from
“The coolest dressed multiple sources all over
wine alchemist in Napa, Provence, from scratch
Patricia Niven

Lawrence’s cult-following to world — or at least US

collectors of his eye- — domination. Yet with
catching designed bottles his top bottling Garrus
and unmatched wines he seems to have
(always rate 96-100 triggered a decidedly
straight to the bagel. It took us a while to points by Robert Parker), unhealthy competition
Cookery | Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich’s bagels appreciate what Louisa has clearly
always known: a story that ends with
are released for purchase
only five times a year, and
for who can make the
most expensive example
bagels is bound to be good. So we pro- sell out in minutes.” This of what began as a casual
are the perfect receptacle for festive leftovers pose to take a leaf out of her book and is intriguing since Robert holiday lubricant.
recommend you do the same. No matter Parker doesn’t seem to Let us pass lightly over
what sort of story was written for you have rated any wine for the Armand de Brignac
this year, it will improve immensely if it the past four years. Ace of Spades

L
ouisa has been working with
us for eight years now. She
started as an “office person” —
when our office was just a
plank of wood between the
deck oven and the freezer — and has
graduated to office manager and com-
pany director, adding lots of letters to
her title along the way: HR, IT, PR, CCO,
QC — the last one stands for quality con-
trol, especially of baked goods.
Jack of all trades, master of most, she
can handle blocked pipes, WiFi failures,
drunk chefs and tricky customers with
her killer combo of stern and sweet. In
summer, she knows what to do when the
fridges wilt. In December, she becomes
Recipe: bagels
To make 8 bagels
For the dough
500g strong flour
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
250ml-280ml water,
at room temperature
30g yeast
2 tbs sugar
3 tbs vegetable oil
For poaching the bagels
1.5l water
2 tbs date molasses, honey or caramel
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Possible coatings
Sprinkling of flaky sea salt; poppy
seeds, white or black sesame seeds or a
mix of any other seeds you fancy
Method
1. Place the flour, baking powder and
salt in a mixer fixed with a kneading
hook or get ready to work those
a supercharged elf and turns our (now
slightly larger) office into Santa’s grotto,
managing the packing and dispatch of
hampers and presents, an operation
that gets bigger every year.
Louisa is one of our favourite people
and a definite hoot but — and we say this
with so much love — she is also the
queen of the pointless story.
When Louisa sets off on telling a story,
we must prepare ourselves for a circui-
tous and perplexing journey through a
landscape where not much happens at
all, a journey that inevitably ends with
the words — “and then we had bagels”.
We joke about it now: when she
embarks on a yarn we ask if we can skip
muscles. The secret to a good bagel is a
long knead that really develops the
gluten in the dough.
2. Mix 250ml of water with the yeast
and sugar and stir to combine. Set
aside the additional water in case you
need to add it.
3. Start the machine on a slow speed
and pour the water and yeast mix in
from the sides so that it reaches all the
flour. Knead for two minutes, then add
the oil. The dough should come
together into a smooth ball. If it doesn’t,
add as much of the remaining water as
necessary and continue kneading for 10
minutes. The dough should be shiny,
supple and very slightly sticky.
4. Remove the hook and cover the
bowl. Set aside in a warm room to prove
for about an hour — it should almost
double in size.
5. As soon as it seems proved, set a
large flat saucepan or deep frying pan
on the stove with the rest of the
poaching ingredients and bring to a
boil. Set a cooling rack by the stove. Put
the dough on your workbench, ideally
ends with bagels. Fairchild’s wines are
Even if you mess them up a bit, the released in limited
bagels you bake at home will be far editions of handblown
superior to any you have ever bought. bottles. Only 350 bottles
Warm from the oven, chewy and crisp, of his Perrarus 2
they are the perfect receptacle for the Cabernet were made, for instance,
leftovers from your Christmas meal. priced between $3,500 and $8,500
Cold turkey or shredded duck, pâté or and sold by lottery. Limited to one
thinly sliced roast beef, Stilton and rel- per person, naturally.
ish or smoked salmon (with cream But these are bargains compared
cheese, of course) — basically every- with a new wine from Spain’s La
thing is nicer when encased in fresh Mancha, until recently regarded as
bagels. And years from now you can tell the country’s least glamorous wine
the story of 2020 in the manner of region. Hilario García is offering his
Louisa: it started OK, then there was 250 bottles of Aurum Oro red at
Covid-19 and that was weird — and then €25,000 each, proudly proclaiming
we had bagels! it the most expensive wine on the
planet. He claims it is made from
200-year-old vines and will never
spoil because he has treated them
with ozone.
Señor García clearly hasn’t heard
without adding any flour (unless your of Liber Pater, a 2015 red Bordeaux
dough is very sticky) and divide into launched last year at €30,000 a
eight pieces, each about 100g-110g. Roll bottle. Unusually, the vines were
into a tight ball and push your finger planted directly into the soil as
straight through the middle until you opposed to being grafted on to the
feel the workbench, then twiddle your phylloxera-resistant American
finger around in a circular motion to rootstocks that became de rigueur
create a hole of about 3cm in diameter throughout much of the wine world
(it will close up a little when it is boiled). in the wake of the phylloxera
6. Put three or four dough rings into plagues towards the end of the 19th
the water at a time, depending on the century. Even more unusual is that
size of your pan (they should be in one the wine is made from ancient
layer). Boil for one minute. Flip and boil grape varieties long disappeared
for a further minute. Using a slotted from Bordeaux vineyards
spoon or spatula, take them out and (although sometimes there are
put them on the cooling rack. good reasons why certain varieties
7. Continue boiling the poaching liquid are abandoned).
for a few more minutes to thicken a I’m not thrilled that prices for the
little and remove from the heat. Cool for established trophy wines of France,
10 minutes, then brush each bagel with Italy and California have
the reduced liquid and sprinkle skyrocketed in recent years, putting
generously with salt, seeds or anything them out of the reach of most wine
else you fancy. Set on a flat baking tray drinkers, but I understand why:
with a little space between each. they are in relatively short supply
8. Heat oven to 200C (fan assist) and and there are more and more
bake bagels for 10 minutes until dark billionaires in the world who need
golden. Remove and cool on the rack. billionaires’ drinks. But it does stick
in my craw to see four- and even
Illustration by Leon Edler
Carruades — even from the weak,
shortlived 2013 vintage — fetches
about £300 a bottle, which is four
times more than equally good and
sometimes better wines from
neighbouring vineyards without the
Lafite cachet.
Another example comes from
Krug. I am a huge admirer of Krug
Grande Cuvée, the multi-vintage
blend of champagne that so much
work goes into each year. The
single-vintage version can be
almost as good but tends to be
priced higher simply because the
tradition in other, lesser houses is
to sell their non-vintage blends at
lower prices than their vintage-
A Sauvignon Blanc
2014 at £6,180 a bottle?
Is this a bottle waiting
for a thirsty oligarch?
dated champagnes. These glorious
blends sell for between £100 and
£250 a bottle and I can just about
understand why. But I cannot
comprehend why Krug’s two single- of their rarity value. The whites of
vineyard champagnes, the all-
Chardonnay Clos du Mesnil and the Haut-Brion regularly sell for
all-Pinot Noir Clos d’Ambonnay,
cost many multiples of this — about more than their great and much
£800 and £1,500 a bottle
respectively. Krug is all about
blending, in my book.
Still in France, there is an
increasingly popular sort of
Châteauneuf-du-Pape known as
Cuvées Spéciales. Some seem to be
souped-up versions of a wine that,
with its exceptionally high alcohol,
champagne decorated
with Swarovski crystals
and cross the Atlantic to
California, where the
market still seems to be
able to bear prices most European
producers can only dream of. Yet
even in this inflated market there
are wines that stand out because
their prices are simply barmy.
I have never understood the cult
status of Sine Qua Non wines,
which strike this European palate
as way overdone. I call as chief
witness the Sauvignon Blanc white
wine made by the team responsible
for Cabernet Screaming Eagle, the
iconic red wine that regularly
breaks records at charity auctions.
Top-quality Cabernet Sauvignon
can continue to mature for decades
and often appears on the secondary
market. Sauvignon Blanc, on the
other hand, particularly one grown
somewhere as warm as Oakville in
the Napa Valley, is generally a
much simpler drink for early
consumption. Yet Hedonism in
London is currently listing
Screaming Eagle’s Sauvignon Blanc
2014 at £6,180 a bottle. A bottle
waiting for a thirsty oligarch?
Mind you, Bordeaux also has a
couple of wines with quite a dollop
of Sauvignon Blanc that are pretty
ridiculously priced, simply because
Chx Haut-Brion and La Mission
hundreds of pounds a bottle, even
longer-lived red stablemates.
And finally, a not-quite-wine
whose prices are also a reflection of
rarity rather than value: Tokaji
Essencia. This viscous grape juice
from Hungary is only just alcoholic
and only just thinkable in terms of
its price, which can be over £500 —
for a half-bottle.

Moses, the Muppets and masterpieces

Fantasy dinner | On a
snowy night at the Frick
Collection, Alice Fishburn’s
dream guests gather for a
gossipy Christmas feast
pieces included — as my Christmas
present, and the first two guests are
already hammering on the door.
Stories — and the ability to tell them —
are crucial to any dinner party but espe-
cially at Christmas, so I’ve asked some of
the best in the game. Edith Wharton,
author of The Age of Innocence, sweeps
into the room, totally at home amid the
to pick up Moses. Clearly every Christ-
mas dinner needs a bit of religion and
who has better tales to tell than this Old
Testament prophet? No one’s going to
beat “and then the bush caught on fire
and spoke to me” unless it’s being
handed the Ten Commandments. And
right now, we could all use some advice
about wandering in the wilderness —
grammes such as Grey’s Anatomy and
Scandal, who has given me so much joy-
ful escapism on screen. And the woman
I was named after but never lucky
enough to meet, Alice Roosevelt Long-
worth. The daughter of Teddy Roo-
sevelt — who famously said, “I can either
run the country or I can attend to Alice,
Edith Wharton sweeps into
down the end of the table; I hear
snatches of conversation — “and then
she threw me in the Nile”. Alice, the leg-
endary owner of a pillow embroidered
with the words “If you haven’t got any-
thing nice to say about anyone, come
and sit here by me,” is having a grand old
gossip with Rhimes and Wharton about
power, politics and the possibilities of an
sugared almonds, Bendicks
mints . . . but no Christmas pudding.
Instead I want a proper, decadent choco-
late bûche de Noël made by my mother-
in-law, with lavish gold dusting on top.
Muzzy with sugar — and the Negronis
that Bob Cratchit Kermit just brought
from the kitchen — we settle down for
some poetry and toasts. Longworth

I
f ever there were a Christmas to fan-
tasise about, it’s this one. The wish
list is so simple, yet so unachieva-
ble. No pandemic. All my family
together. Everyone healthy, happy,
talking over each other in the way that
we have since time immemorial. And
not a face mask in sight.
Still, if we can’t have that, then we’re
going to have to go big. Decadent. Luxu-
rious. Eat, drink and talk so much that
it’s good you only do it once a year. So
here we are at the candlelit Frick Collec-
tion on a snowy night in New York City.
My favourite gallery has been turned
back into a private residence — master-
trappings of gilded-age New York, given
she has made skewering them her life’s
work. She is in full flow with novelist
and critic James Baldwin, already plot-
ting her next flit to Paris and soliciting
his recommendations.
I know these two Europhile Ameri-
cans will have more than enough to chat
about so I direct them to the garden
court, where Dom Pérignon Oenothèque
1976 is circulating. The waiters are the
stars of The Muppet Christmas Carol — the
best of all festive creations — although
Rizzo has already dropped a tray.
The next knock at the door is a con-
fused cabbie who’s had the misfortune
though he’s still complaining about the
traffic on Fifth Avenue.
I manage to corral the lot of them into
the west gallery. There, under the gaze
of Rembrandts and Turners, we sit
down for the main event. The chef, as
ever, is my husband (sorry, love) and
he’s made beef Wellington, grilled Brus-
sels sprouts and the most melting of
dauphinoise potatoes. On the table glit-
ter decanters filled with the king of
wines: a Chateau Musar. Moses perks
right up.
In hurry my last two guests, deep in
conversation. Shonda Rhimes, the
powerhouse showrunner behind pro-
the room, totally at home
amid the trappings of
gilded-age New York
but I cannot possibly do both” — she is
the epitome of a rule-breaking, poetry-
loving bad-ass and is being brought up to
date on the election results by Rhimes.
The conversation surges as the wine
goes down — and the competitive story-
telling is soon at full throttle. Baldwin,
wryly amused, is humouring Moses
unsympathetic heroine.
We take a brief break while Gonzo
Charles Dickens clears dinner, heading
towards the melodious strains of one of
the world’s best voices. This is wafting
from the library, where Nina Simone is
in full swing, accompanied by Handel.
My very specific instructions about rec-
reating my family’s rowdy Chris-
mukkah singalong have been ignored in
favour of the classics — Handel’s eyes
are on stalks. He’s clearly rethinking his
next oratorio.
Soon we’re all piling back in for the
grand finale. The table is covered in
sweetmeats, satsumas, maple brazils,
requests verse after verse recited from
memory but Baldwin is a match for her.
Then, all too soon, the party is winding
down. Moses is asleep under the Whis-
tler portraits. Baldwin and his great
friend Simone are exchanging presents.
I reject the temptation to nick Holbein’s
scheming Thomas Cromwell, aware that
my lease on the gallery of dreams is
nearly up. It’s time for the last toast of
the night and all of us, united across the
centuries, know what this one should be.
To absent friends. Merry Christmas.
Alice Fishburn is editor of FT Weekend
Magazine and deputy editor of FT Weekend
12
The Hug
by Curtis Sittenfeld
In an exclusive short story written for the FT, a married couple’s
settled life under quarantine in virus-hit Missouri is disrupted by
the visit of a former boyfriend. Illustrations by David McConochie
About the author
Curtis Sittenfeld has
published six novels
and two collections of
short stories, and her work
has been translated into 30
languages. Her latest novel
Rodham, which was
published this year,
explores the
counterfactuals of what
might have happened had
Hillary Rodham not
married Bill Clinton.
Sittenfeld is the 2020
guest editor of The Best
American Short Stories
anthology, and her latest
collection of short stories,
titled Help Yourself, was
also published this year.
She was born in Cincinnati
in 1975, and is a graduate
of Stanford University and
the Iowa Writers’
Workshop.
★ FINANCIAL TIMES
I
t’s a Sunday afternoon in July and
they’re sitting in the backyard when
Daphne tells Rob that her long-ago
ex-boyfriend will be in town on
Wednesday. Rob is reading the
opinion section of the newspaper,
Daphne has just set down the arts sec-
tion, and she says it offhandedly, in a
way that initially gives Rob the impres-
sion that Theo happens to be passing
through St Louis.
“Obviously, he won’t come inside the
house,” she says. “I assume we’ll just
catch up out here.”
“If he’s here for dinner, I can grill.”
“We haven’t nailed down the timing
yet, but great. I was thinking about if
there’s anyone else from college to
invite, and I realised I’m the last one still
here from my friend group. Isn’t that
weird?”
“It’s a testament to your stability.”
Daphne laughs. “Or my boringness.
By the way, I think it’d be nice if I give
Theo a hug. I hope that’s okay with you.”
Rob, who is in a lounge chair across
the table from Daphne’s chair, squints at
her. “It would be nice?”
“He said he hasn’t touched another
person for four months. He’s clearly
having a hard time.”
“And that’s your responsibility?”
“Actually, yes,” Daphne says. “In the
sense that I’m a human being and he’s a
human being and we’re all part of the
brotherhood of man.”
“Hmm,” Rob says. “That’s an interest-
ing way to describe the guy you almost
married.”
Daphne’s expression is more per-
plexed than concerned. “Are you acting
like this because of jealousy or germs?”
They have been quarantining since
Saturday, March 14, when they dis-
cussed it all day and decided against
attending the 50th birthday potluck for
their friend Leah, and that’s the last date
on the calendar Rob can remember with
clarity. As a freelance web designer, Rob
has worked from home for more than a
decade; Daphne usually goes to an office
but has been able to do her job, which is
payroll and accounting for a non-profit,
remotely. At first, everyone they knew
was also quarantining — they live in the
racially diverse and left-leaning neigh-
bourhood of Tower Grove South — but
the protests in early June seemed to
break the seal and now they see their
neighbours hosting barbecues, or play-
dates where kids go in and out of each
other’s houses. And these are their fel-
low liberals, not the Missourians who
made news over Memorial day weekend
by cramming into seedy-looking resort
pools a few hours away. Meanwhile, Rob
and Daphne’s only child, Olivia, who is a
junior at the University of Minnesota,
has remained in the off-campus apart-
ment she shares with two friends, fin-
ishing her spring classes remotely and
volunteering at a canned good and dia-
per distribution centre and, in her down
time, cooking vegan meals that she texts
photos of to Daphne and Rob because
neither of them is on Instagram.
Rob has not yet answered Daphne’s
question when she adds, “Theo’s driving
if that makes you feel better. He’s not
getting on a plane.”
“He still lives in Montana?”
Daphne nods.
“And Bozeman must be, what, 30
hours by car.” Rob pulls out his phone,
checks, and when he sees that it’s closer
to 20 hours, does not correct himself.
“So he stops six or seven times, and I
assume he plans to stay overnight in a
hotel.”
“I’m not saying it’s risk-free, but I
know he’s being incredibly careful. He’s
actually kind of a hypochondriac.”
“Why is he travelling now anyway?”
Daphne shrugs. “He’s lonely.”
“Wait, he’s coming to see you?”
“He’s going on a road trip. Here first,
and on the way back he’ll stop in Denver
to visit his cousin.”
“Hell,” Rob says in a fakely high-
spirited tone, “in that case, why don’t we
join him? We could all rent an RV
together.”
“If this reassures you, we’ll wear
masks if we hug.”
“You’ve certainly given a lot of
thought to this long, soulful embrace.”
“There’s nothing romantic about the
situation. Theo is a person in pain.”
“Are you saying he’s suicidal?”
“If he was, would it make hugging him
okay? I don’t think he’s suicidal,
although I’m sure he’s clinically
depressed.”
“Everyone is clinically depressed right
now,” Rob says.
When Daphne stands, her irritation is
palpable. “I’m going to put the recycling
out,” she says. “Do I have your blessing
to do that?” He doesn’t respond, and she
adds, “I’m confident hugging Theo is
lower risk than a haircut.” The compari-
son is not a coincidence; Rob got his first
haircut of quarantine last week, at a
place that took his temperature before
he entered, maintained distance
between clients, and had so-called
enhanced cleaning protocols.
“Here’s the thing,” Rob says. “When
your father and stepmother came to
visit, you didn’t want to hug them.” This
was in June, on Father’s day, after they’d
driven from Jefferson City for an out-
door lunch.
“Of course I wanted to,” Daphne says.
“Well, you didn’t do it. The fact that
this is what you want to take a chance
on, after we’ve been so careful — that
Theo’s what you want to take a chance
on — forgive me if that raises some
questions.”
T
he truth is that Rob is not
clinically depressed. He’s
doing . . . better than
usual? Indeed, he’s lost
eight pounds since March.
In the past, he’d have a couple beers or a
glass or two of wine each night, and he
decided, as a pandemic experiment, to
restrict his drinking to weekends. He
started taking a pre-dinner walk, in lieu
of the pick-up basketball game of mid-
dle-aged men he used to erratically join.
For years, Daphne has been the one who
plans their social life, and though they
now occasionally have distanced drinks
(for him, sparkling water if it’s during
the week) in their yard or someone
else’s, it’s with one of two other couples
Thursday 24 December 2020
they’ve known forever. That the more
arbitrary get-togethers he used to find
himself part of have fallen by the way-
side — the first birthday of the child of
one of Daphne’s co-workers or the res-
taurant dinners with a group of six, half
of whose names he’d get to the end of the
night without having fully registered —
is such a relief that he understands he
never enjoyed them. He actively misses
Olivia in a way he hasn’t in the two years
since she left for college, wishes she
were around to accompany him on a
walk or to do a puzzle with. But the real-
ity is that she’s probably happier with
her peers.
In their Craftsman brick house, which
is neither large nor tiny, Rob and
Daphne have developed a routine that
prevents being in each other’s presence
all the time: she wakes before he does
‘When your father and
stepmother came to visit,
you didn’t want to hug
them,’ Rob says
and does yoga in the back yard; she is
finishing a smoothie when he enters the
kitchen, showered, to make coffee.
Early on, they ate lunch together, then,
and he’s pretty sure this was intentional,
they began staggering their lunches. He
eats a peanut butter sandwich and an
apple around noon, then she comes in a
few minutes after one — he’s long gone
by then — and eats a mug of sauerkraut
with a dollop of either sour cream or
Thousand Island dressing on top. He
finds this meal repulsive, akin to con-
suming a mug of nothing but relish or
jelly, though actually more disgusting
than either of those would be. In the
beginning, he couldn’t identify the
memory evoked by the smell of the sau-
erkraut, but eventually, with repeated
exposure, realised it was from Olivia’s
babyhood, when she’d awaken on some
mornings with diapers so soaked with
urine, so bulging and heavy and warm,
that they seemed almost sentient. The
first time Rob saw Daphne eating her
mug of sauerkraut, he said, “You’re hav-
ing that straight?” and she said some-
thing about probiotics, and he dropped
the subject.
Rob does not, in general, find Daphne
disgusting. After 22 years of marriage,
she looks much as she did when they
met, except now her hair is grey: a petite
woman with a pixie cut and piercing
blue eyes who favours flats, black slacks,
and short-sleeved pastel sweaters.
Every day, she wears small gold hoop
earrings given to her by her parents at
her college graduation; a thin gold neck-
lace with Olivia’s name carved into the
pendant; and her plain gold wedding
band. When Daphne’s hair began to turn
grey about 10 years ago, she asked once
if he wished she would dye it and he said
truthfully that he didn’t care. They still
have sex, which feels like either proof
that their marriage remains intact, the
reason their marriage remains intact, or
both. Just as they agreed without discus-
sion to a schedule of eating only dinner
together during quarantine, they have
for many years without discussing it had
intercourse after going to bed every Sat-
urday night — no more and no less.
When Rob hears that a couple they
know is divorcing, this habit is always
the first thing he thinks of, as a form of
reassurance. Then he thinks about a
conversation he had the night before
their wedding in 1998. As he and his
groomsmen were leaving the church to
Thursday 24 December 2020
go to the rehearsal dinner, his cousin
Nick, who was a few years younger,
grinned, leaned over and whispered to
Rob, “You’re really ready to swear off
getting laid by anyone else for the rest of
your life?”
Rob replied, “I’m just glad I’ll be get-
ting laid for the rest of my life.” He can
still remember Nick’s expression, which
turned from jocular to a little sheepish.
Rob thought, and still thinks, that he’d
accidentally said something perfect in
that moment, not because he was trying
to be clever but because it was true.
A
t dinner on Monday,
Daphne says, “I’ve listened
to your concerns, and five
or six days after Theo visits,
I’ll get tested. Until then, I’ll
sleep in Olivia’s room, and I’m happy to
wear a mask when you and I are
together in the house.”
“Jesus,” Rob says. “You really want to
hug this guy, huh?”
“The chances of getting Covid from
him are very low. I’d be taking the pre-
cautions for your peace of mind.”
“Or you could just not have your pas-
sionate embrace.”
Rob grilled chicken thighs and zuc-
chini, and as Daphne cuts into her
chicken, her nostrils flare in irritation.
But her voice is calm as she says, “Is it
possible that you don’t care if I hug Theo
‘Touch deprivation
is a real thing,’
Daphne says. ‘You
can Google it’
but you drew a line in the sand and now
you feel like you have to defend it?”
“Is it possible that you’re still carrying
a torch for your ex and trying to conceal
it by pretending to be worried about his
mental health?”
She looks at Rob directly, her blue
eyes intense. “I’m not still carrying a
torch for Theo,” she says, “but would
you like to discuss your fear that I am?”
After hesitating for only a split-
second — Daphne has been in therapy,
and Rob never has, and this feels like a
moment where that discrepancy is
manifesting itself in an annoying man-
ner — Rob says, “As a matter of fact, I
wouldn’t, although maybe it’s a discus-
sion you should have with yourself.”
Even to his own ear, however, he sounds
petulant. Plus, he has long suspected
that if Daphne nurses any private crush,
it’s on a co-worker named Mark, a man
who seems to Rob unremarkable physi-
cally and intellectually but in whose
presence, at retirement or holiday par-
ties, Daphne has always giggled atypi-
cally. Rob doesn’t think anything has
ever happened between Daphne and
Mark, more that Mark is not ridiculous
in the vague way that Theo is.
Daphne dated Theo when they were
undergraduates at Washington Univer-
sity and for a few years after. Before
moving away from St Louis, Theo was
the guitarist in a band that once played
at Blueberry Hill, and was supposed to
hit it big, but never did; perhaps not
unrelatedly, Theo is from a wealthy
family in Chicago, and, as far as Rob
knows, he’s barely held a real job in the
last three decades. When Daphne and
Theo were 24, she accidentally got preg-
nant, even though she was on the Pill,
and, although she’s pro-choice, she felt
ready to have a baby. She thought she
and Theo should get married and
become parents. Theo wanted her to
have an abortion — he was nice about it,
★ FINANCIAL TIMES
not bullying, Daphne emphasised in weddings around that time. Before
describing this time to Rob — but then, meeting Theo in 1999, Rob felt some
before they reached a resolution, she combination of nervous and mildly hos-
miscarried. Their subsequent breakup tile, but when Daphne introduced the
was mutual. The tenor of their relation- two men, Theo held out both of his
ship had changed, and though they pointer fingers and thumbs like revolv-
weren’t angry at each other, they’d both ers and said, “My rival!” Then he
learned things about the other that stepped forward and hugged Rob — the
made it impossible to stay together. irony of this gesture is not, in retrospect,
Daphne’s description to Rob of these lost on Rob — and said, “Only kidding,
events was matter-of-fact rather than man. I’ve heard a ton of good things
distraught, as if she were recounting a about you.” At some point later in the
breakup in which she had not been evening, on the dance floor, Theo pulled
directly involved. The year after the off his tie, shirt, and jacket to reveal a
miscarriage, Daphne and Rob met at an massive black octopus tattoo sprawled
Oktoberfest pub crawl organised by a across his back — this was before mas-
mutual friend. While Theo wasn’t sive tattoos were commonplace — and
invited to Rob and Daphne’s wedding, watching from the sidelines, Rob had to
he returned to St Louis for a few other admit, if only to himself, that there was
something goofily endearing about
Theo. As far as Rob knows, Daphne’s
contact with her ex over the last 20-plus
years has been infrequent, perhaps an
annual email or two and a Christmas
card. Theo himself didn’t marry until he
was in his forties and divorced just two
years later, but he always sent a Christ-
mas card, usually a photo of him in
some faraway location: in front of a tem-
ple in Bali or a pyramid outside Cairo,
feeding a koala bear at a sanctuary near
Melbourne. More than once, Rob was
compelled to mock these cards —
besides the ostentatious travel, wasn’t
the point of photo Christmas cards to
show friends what your children looked
like? — and Daphne would defend Theo
but not very vigorously. After Olivia was
13
Short story
born, Theo had sent them baby cowboy
boots (cowgirl boots?) that probably
would have fit Olivia for about a month,
well before she could walk, and that Rob
is certain she never wore.
But what if this interpretation of Theo
as a sweet, distant fool is a misread on
Rob’s part? Or what if it once was accu-
rate but, now that the world has been
turned upside down, what if a wealthy
fool from the past looks more enticing?
Carefully, Rob says, “I trust you. Of
course I trust you. But given that there’s
not much difference between hugging
him and not hugging him, how about
not doing it?”
From across the kitchen table,
Daphne furrows her brow. “If there’s not
much difference, why are you making
such a big deal of it?”
The anger he experiences in this
moment is surprisingly visceral, an
immediate heat in his face and neck.
“Then can’t you just not because I asked
you and I’m your husband?”
“Touch deprivation is a real thing,”
Daphne says. “You can Google it.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Rob says. “Let him
hire a prostitute.”
Daphne has just taken a bite of
chicken, which she chews and swallows.
When she speaks, her tone is pensive
rather than defiant. She says, “It’s inter-
esting, because before 2016, I think I
might have felt like I needed your per-
‘Trump made me see that so
many of the things I thought
people couldn’t do . . . are
just norms. They aren’t laws’
mission for this. I’d have preemptively
given you the power to tell me I couldn’t
do it, or maybe I’d have bought into
some idea that it wasn’t allowed in a
marriage. But, as despicable as Trump
is, he’s made me see that so many of the
things I thought people couldn’t do were
just things people usually don’t do.
They’re just norms. They aren’t laws.”
What’s Rob supposed to say to this?
Congratulations on your feminist awaken-
ing? Fuck you? What he says is “Compar-
ing me to Trump is a pretty low blow.”
“No,” she says calmly. “In this sce-
nario, I’m Trump.”
O
n Tuesday, they’re not not
talking, but they don’t talk
very much. At dinner, as if
by agreement, they both
avoid the topic of Theo,
whose visit, assuming it’s still happen-
ing, is less than 24 hours away. Instead,
they talk about the anti-racist book
Daphne is reading for her upcoming
Zoom book club, then about two restau-
rants that have just permanently closed
(one of them is where they ate a six-
course meal on their 20th wedding
anniversary), then about who Biden will
select as his vice-presidential candidate
and when. After dinner, they watch the
first two episodes of a show about a
female detective investigating the mur-
der of a 16-year-old girl in South Dakota,
a show Rob heard is good that Daphne
said she’s willing to start though she sus-
pects it’s probably too dark for her. As
the credits roll on the second episode,
and a haunting violin melody plays, she
says, “Yeah, I can’t do any more of that.”
She stands and, as usually happens, she
goes upstairs to use the bathroom while
he starts the dishwasher and switches
off the lights.
Their room is dark when he joins her
Continued on page 14
14 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

Short story
Continued from page 13 house through the back door.
The first thing he notices is that she’s
in bed, and he can’t tell based on her not wearing a mask. Before Rob can
breathing if she’s awake or asleep. remark on this oversight, as per her sug-
Within a few minutes, her breathing gested protocol after seeing Theo, she
becomes louder and he realises she says, “I didn’t hug him.” Though it’s not
probably was awake before but is asleep that hot outside, she seems spacey,
now. She is lying on her stomach, her almost dazed.
face turned away from him, and, He’s genuinely surprised. After a few
beneath the covers, he reaches out, seconds, he says, “Well, I appreciate
pushes up the hem of her nightgown, that.”
then pushes down the waistband of her “I didn’t not hug him for you.”
underwear. He runs his palm back and He has the impulse to reply sarcasti-
forth over her bare backside. This is cally, though she didn’t speak in a sar-
never the way sex starts between them castic way. And she continues to sound
— also, it’s Tuesday night, not Saturday bewildered as she says, “It wasn’t
— and the sound she soon makes is one because I had second thoughts. I would
he has never heard, not in what must be have hugged him. But he obviously
well over a thousand couplings. She didn’t want to hug me. The really stupid
is . . . purring? Instead of flipping over part of this argument you and I have
and facing him, she rolls on to her left been having is that Theo and I had never
side and backs into him. Neither of discussed hugging. It wasn’t a plan we
them speaks for the entire encounter. Is came up with together ahead of time. I’d
this not impressively hot? Are they not just assumed that he’d want to because
keeping things exciting? he’s a touchy-feely person and because
But late the next morning, while he is he’d mentioned his lack of contact with
working in his basement office, she other people. And I thought it would
comes down and says, “I’ve decided to seem cavalier if I told you after the fact.
meet Theo in Forest Park, and I’m going It would be more respectful to give you a
to pick up sandwiches first from Fat- heads-up beforehand. And then it
tore’s. Do you want me to pick up some- turned into a whole thing this week. But
thing for you and drop it off here?” it was very clear that the idea of our hug-
In the brief amount of time it took for ging had never crossed Theo’s mind. He
her to start and finish those sentences, wanted us to be 10 feet apart instead of
he thought she was about to invite him six, and I’d taken those chairs we used to
to join her and Theo, and he planned to sit in at Olivia’s soccer games, but he
proudly decline. Realising this was not wouldn’t sit on one. He used a towel
the offer she was making, he hesitates from his car.”
for a second or two. Then he says, “I’ve Rob isn’t sure if he’s joking or not as he
tried to make it very clear what I want, says, “You could have told me it was
and it’s not a sandwich.” because you had second thoughts.”
She looks at him intently, focusing on
wich — and then it was his dispute with
his neighbour in Bozeman who uses
tons of lawn chemicals and then it was
his opinion about Trump and Biden and
Bernie and Pete Buttigieg and how Dem-
ocrats are as complicit as Republicans
and how we as Americans should take
our cue from Scandinavian countries
who are so much happier because they
embrace the outdoor lifestyle and just
on and on and on. I felt like I was a trash
can that he was dumping words into. It
was the opposite of feeling connected to
another person. If I met him today, if he
were the friend of a friend, I’d think he
was self-centred and boring and just
weird.”
In a ratio Rob is unsure of, though it’s
probably about 10 to one, this informa-
tion is gratifying and depressing. “I’m
sorry,” he says. After a pause, he adds,
“Would you like to talk to me about how
life is strange during the pandemic?”
Her laughter then is disturbingly
bitter.
“I wasn’t kidding,” he says.
Her expression is hard to read as she
says, “You know what I sometimes
wish? I wish that either I liked you too
much to eat sauerkraut around you or
you liked me too much to find it gross
that I do.”
He is both amused and mildly
insulted, and it’s in this spirit that he
says, “We don’t need to like each other.
We love each other.” It occurs to him
that he might have just uttered another
true and perfect rejoinder like the one
he made all those years ago to his cousin
Nick, but when he glances at her for con-
firmation, he realises he didn’t.
“Oh, Rob.” If she doesn’t sound angry,

B
ut actually, it’s also a sand-
wich? Or at least, a little
absurdly, her mention of Fat-
tore’s gave him a craving for
their corned beef, and a half
hour after he saw the wheels of Daphne’s
car recede through the basement win-
dow, he calls in to place an order of his
own. The temperature today is in the
high eighties — not bad for St Louis —
and after he’s procured the sandwich, he
eats it in the backyard, washing it down
with a beer from the refrigerator
because why not?
After he’s finished, he returns to the
basement. He’s creating a website for a
audio book seems too ambitious today
given his distracted state so he listens to
Bruce Springsteen — and when he’s fin-
ished, instead of heading home immedi-
ately, he sits on a bench off Magnolia
Avenue and texts Olivia. “Hi honey,” he
writes. “How’s everything going?”
Three minutes elapse before she texts
marketing etc.”
He texts back, “Have you cooked any-
thing interesting lately?”
The three dots of her imminent reply
appear, then disappear, then don’t reap-
pear. After a minute, he stands and
walks home.
‘I felt like I was a
trash can that he
was dumping words
into. If I met him
today I’d think he
was self-centred’
his face for the first time since she
entered the house. “You’d have pre-
ferred that I lie?”
“I’d have preferred that you did have
second thoughts.”
In the ensuing quiet, the sink drips
twice and a neighbour’s dog barks.
Then, reverting to that subdued, spacey
tone, she says, “I really don’t have
romantic feelings for Theo. I certainly
don’t wish I’d married him. He’s so flaky.
But the same thing that would have
made him terrible to be married to, his
neediness and his neuroses — there’s
something endearing about that in
small doses. And before seeing him, I
she also doesn’t sound amused. Possibly
but not definitely, she sounds sad. If he
were a different kind of husband, a dif-
ferent kind of person, he’d ask what’s
inside those two words. That he doesn’t
ask isn’t because he doesn’t care.
He says, “Come here.” But he is the
one who walks toward her. He slides his
arms around her ribs, below her arm-
pits, pulls her body into his, and
squeezes her torso. There are a few
seconds where she is simply standing
there, neither resisting nor responding.
Abruptly, he realises that they don’t
really embrace much apart from
sex. He’s pretty sure they used to, a long

new client, a real estate agent who left a
big company to work for herself and
who told him, contrary to what he’d
have imagined, that many people are
buying and selling houses during the
pandemic. But it’s difficult to concen-
trate, and he decides to take his after-
noon walk a few hours early. The loop
around Tower Grove Park typically
takes him about an hour — a podcast or
D
“R u OK dad?
Wondering if Daphne has mentioned
to their daughter the recent conflict, he
types, “Good overall. How are you?”
“But u never text me during day.”
Is he really such a creature of habit?
Another text from her arrives: “Did
mom tell u what I told her about dona-
tions? Local mutual aid societies way
better than big orgs that spend a lot on
aphne left for Fattore’s was thinking, well, he’s very in touch time ago.
around 11:30 and when he with his emotions. So we’ll have a con- Of course he cares. But he doesn’t
gets back to the house, three nection, we’ll reflect together on how think asking what she means by Oh, Rob
hours have passed and she strange life is during the pandemic. will lead them to a better place. Engag-
hasn’t returned. He goes Instead, he delivered this two-hour ing with a fleeting emotion doesn’t nec-
inside, uses the bathroom, drinks a glass monologue and asked me literally noth- essarily serve a purpose.
of water, and is setting the glass in the ing. I know he’s been on his own and I’m Several more seconds pass. The sink
dishwasher and trying to decide on his sympathetic to that, but first it was a continues dripping. Finally, she raises
next move — work work? Yard work? tirade about processed meat — after he’d both her arms and he feels them tighten
Shower? — when Daphne enters the texted me that he wanted a salami sand- around him. She hugs him back.

CHESS LEONARD BARDEN
The surprise winners of
Britain’s online 4NCL league
last week were ChessPlus
Kingston, who overcame the
favourites Wood Green in
the final. ChessPlus
organises instructional
courses for chess teachers,
with support from
the European Chess Union.
Fittingly in the time of The
Queen’s Gambit, CPK’s women
made decisive contributions.
In 1984 Pia Cramling
defeated Viktor Korchnoi at
the height of the legend’s
powers, her Beth Harmon
moment, and last week
she saved a lost rook ending.
Dana Reizniece-Ozola
scored CPK’s winning point.
There have been keen but
weak chess players, like
Andrew Bonar Law and
Fidel Castro, in positions
of political power, and
strong players, notably
Garry Kasparov, who never
achieved power. But Latvia’s
former finance minister has
beaten the world No 1
woman, and is still active in
Diversions
BRIDGE PAUL MENDELSON
8
attack decided the final, but For the surprise bonus 9 6 3 Dealer: South Game All from hand but, crucially, his
K J 6 3
7 IM Ravi Haria missed a Christmas Column, a grand KQ 2 North East South West two remaining hearts. Now,
draw at the end. A different slam. All you have to do is 8 7 5 — — 2C NB he can lead a third heart and
6
N 2D NB 3S NB
27th queen move would to make it. 84 5 2 6S NB 7S ruff it high. When East’s Q♥
5
have forced White to draw South opened a game- 8 7 W E Q 10 9 appears, not only does
4 by perpetual check or allow forcing 2C and then, by J 9 843 10 7 6 5 declarer know that the
KQ6 2 10 9 4 3
3 Black a winning counter. jumping to 3S, set the trump S trumps. The 2-2 break finesse would have failed,
2399 suit. North, feeling he was A K Q J 10 7 makes the hand more but he has succeeded in
2 A5 4 2
White mates in three moves far too strong to bid 4S, and A relaxing but, even if trumps establishing dummy’s J♥ as
1
(by Ellis Ridley, 1890). Just a with no ace to show, jumped AJ split 3-1, the same line a winner. Declarer can
A B C D E F G H
single line of play with all to 6S. South, merry with should be undertaken. access this by playing
both areas, scrutinising the moves on both sides forced festive spirit, irresponsibly the heart finesse will have to South must cash A♦ and carefully preserved 7♠ to 9♠
national budget on a and no checks before the bid one more. West led 4♠. be right in order to make the A♥ and then cross to on the table. On J♥, he
spreadsheet while playing final mate, yet some solving How should declarer tackle hand, but there is a better dummy’s K♥, before laying throws J♣ from hand and
her 4NCL semi-final. Her experts have found it hard. the hand? chance. South should win down both K♦ and Q♦ on claims his maximum
imaginative sacrificial Solution, back page At first sight, it looks as if and draw a second round of which he does not pitch J♣ contract.

POLYMATH 1,106 SET BY GOZO CHRISTMAS CROSSWORD SET BY GOZO

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We hope you continue to enjoy completing them until
normal newsroom services resume.
Thursday 24 December 2020
2020 | Jan Dalley looks back at the
world of the arts in an unprecedented
pandemic climate — the problems,
the responses, the ups and downs
T
his time last year, as the
decade turned and the cen-
tury’s teenage years ended,
I looked back on a 10-year
span of conscience-search-
ing in the arts. That Guilty Decade was
riven by four distinct faultlines: growing
concern about climate change, injustice
and diversity, the #MeToo movement,
concerns over funding and philan-
thropy. The arts world had been rocked
by the waves that flowed from Harvey
Weinstein’s disgrace and the Sackler-
OxyContin scandal; in every sphere
growing angst about diversity and envi-
ronment influenced performers, artists,
writers, creators, institutions.
A year on, these issues are no less
urgent and important. But all that soul-
searching was set against an extraordi-
narily rich and confident cultural
scene, burgeoning beyond the tradi-
tional western centres into countries
and continents that, at the start of the
century, had had few outlets for the arts
and almost no cultural production. If
the cultural world was having a collec-
tive and much-needed attack of con-
science as 2020 opened, it was in a con-
text of abundance, even excess: ever
increasing amounts of money being
spent on lavish events, unrestricted
travel, the easy expectation of philan-
thropic funding, a still unshaken belief
that things would obviously go on
getting bigger and better.
Which just goes to show that we can’t
recognise a golden age until it comes to
an end. And come to an end it did, of
course, early in 2020: in fact it came to a
screeching halt. The closure of muse-
ums, theatres and concert halls, the can-
cellation of tours, festivals and art
events, the resulting unemployment
and hardship: the unprecedented
effects of the pandemic on the arts sec-
tor are now too well documented to
need repeating. All over the world what
we normally call “the arts” has been,
this year, a shadow of its former self — a
slimmed-down, contingent version, if it
has existed at all, that only emphasises
the richness of what went before.
The creative industries responded to
closures quickly, vigorously and — well
— creatively. Suddenly, everything that
wasn’t already went digital. Online
projects and aspirations that had been
in slow development were speeded up
and put into action, and completely new
ones conjured up. As one theatre direc-
tor put it, “In about five weeks we made
what would otherwise have been about
five years’ progress.” Big galleries and
museums put their works online; plays
were specially written to be performed
via Zoom; pop stars and opera singers
sang from their bedrooms.
There were some unexpected reper-
cussions from this abruptly digitised
cultural scene. Although it looked like
an impoverishment for those used to
wandering through galleries or going to
the theatre or cinema at will, buying
concert tickets or checking out some
breakdancing, for a huge number of
other people, especially outside city
Strong albums but mixed fortunes for pop
Music | The Covid year has
been healthy for albums,
streaming and vinyl but
catastrophic for live events.
By Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
B
elief in music’s healing prop-
erties stretches back at least
as far as Apollo, god of song
and medicine. Yet music has
also been seen to cause ill-
ness. Jazz was thought to trigger neuras-
thenia in jittery listeners in the 1920s. A
psychiatrist writing in the New York
Times in 1956 diagnosed rock-and-roll
as a “communicable disease”. Mean-
while, pop music’s language of “viral
hits” and “infectious” hooks makes a
virtue of contagion. Wanting things to
be catchy is where songwriters and
epidemiologists part company.
In keeping with this close but contra-
dictory association, the present pan-
demic has opened up a schism in pop
music. One branch of activity continued
much as usual, while the other suffered
a deep, possibly lasting injury. Recorded
2020 — the year
of living digitally
music is in good health. Live music
and clubbing, however, are endangered.
Coronavirus didn’t impede the
weekly arrival of new albums. Release
dates were shifted around, but, unlike
Hollywood films, high-profile albums
weren’t held back indefinitely. Global
lockdowns intensified the dwindling
sales of CDs, although vinyl is on its way
to having its best year in the UK since
1990. Streaming growth stuttered in the
early stages of the pandemic before
rebounding strongly.
It was business as usual for the most
commercially successful performer of
the 2010s. Released in May, Drake’s
mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes was a
typical exercise in imperial self-absorp-
tion, untouched by the havoc being
wreaked by Covid-19. It demonstrated
the troubling remoteness of the celeb-
rity mindset, but also its allure: the rap-
per was Spotify’s second most streamed
artist in 2020.
Drake’s Canadian compatriot The
Weeknd provided a sharper view of
fame and its discontents with his
album After Hours. It took the singer’s
familiar persona of the jaded libertine to
a new level of dramatic cohesion,
★ FINANCIAL TIMES
Clockwise from main: the
Stuttgart Philharmonic in
inflatable bubbles; Lady
Gaga on One World at the
BBC; The Rolling Stones on
One World; Jon Batiste at
the Virtual Opening Night
Gala 2020 at Carnegie Hall,
New York; a rehearsal of
the Don Quichotte ballet at
Theatre de l’Opera, Nice
Florian Mehnert; Retna, Avalon.red; Getty
Images; Reuters
Bob Dylan released his 39th album
a glittering study in claustrophobic
entrapment. His single “Blinding
Lights” spent a record-breaking 41 con-
secutive weeks in the US top 10 — a feat
that made the Grammy Awards’ failure
to nominate the singer for any prizes in
next month’s ceremony all the odder.
The Weeknd’s snub has triggered
accusations of racial bias in US music’s
annual showcase. It caps a year in which
the issue of racism has resonated espe-
cially loudly in popular culture. Black
Lives Matter demonstrations against
racialised police killings prompted pro-
test songs such as Atlanta rapper
centres, the digital offerings came as an
outpouring of riches. When London’s
National Theatre first streamed its free
At Home evenings in April and May,
they were gathering online audiences of
up to 600,000 for a single performance.
New York’s Metropolitan Opera was
offering nightly showings of its magnifi-
cent back catalogue: it too has reported
enormous viewing figures. Far, far more
people than would or could ever experi-
ence such events in the flesh.
So has digitisation spelt democratisa-
tion in the arts in 2020? That seems
Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture”. Country
acts The Dixie Chicks and Lady Antebel-
lum excised Confederate history from
their names to become The Chicks and
Lady A. “It hurts, I’m being torn apart,”
Mavis Staples sang in a guest appear-
ance on agit-rap duo Run the Jewels’
album RTJ4. For this celebrated voice
from the 1950s civil rights movement,
the song remains the same. History is
tragedy repeated as tragedy.
Reggaeton singer Bad Bunny was
Spotify’s most popular act in 2020,
notching up 8.3bn streams on that plat-
form alone. The Puerto Rican released
two albums during the year, the second
of which, El Último Tour Del Mundo,
came out while he was recovering from
Covid. “At times I felt like writing songs
that had to do with everything that was
happening,” he said when it came out,
“but at the same time I told myself ‘No’
because I want people to forget reality
when they listen to my music. But real-
ity always touches your music . . . ”
Taylor Swift recorded two albums,
Folklore and Evermore. Both were made
in secret and released without warning.
Their mood was introspective and
muted, a marked contrast to the out­-
beyond doubt, as the figures show the
reach of cultural events usually
restricted by location (and, often, price)
vastly increased. Their international
stretch, too: events such as online books
festivals, cultural webinars, live­-
streamed music and others have found
viewers in dozens of countries. Art and
dance classes, some of them given by
leading practitioners, have been a hit on
television or Instagram.
And so it has continued. While we all
immerse ourselves in the cascade of out-
put from big TV providers and stream-
ing services, it seems many of us also
like getting a more varied cultural fix:
highbrow, lowbrow or anywhere in
between, through the small screen. As
the months have passed performers and
creators have become more skilled,
more inventive, and the quality is
increasing all the time. Even the need
As the months have
passed, performers and
creators have become more
skilled, more inventive
going year she had planned to have. The
singer was supposed to have spent 2020
touring last year’s album Lover at festi-
vals, including a headline appearance at
what would have been Glastonbury
50th anniversary.
It has been a catastrophic year for live
events and nightclubs. Shut venues and
cancelled festivals have caused
immense damage to the sector. Trade
group UK Music estimates that almost
£3bn will be lost from the UK music
industry alone in 2020, with tens of
thousands of jobs at risk. Internet-
Dua Lipa performs onstage, 2020
15
for a little ceremony is looked after:
some companies are now offering one-
off performances that feel more “spe-
cial”, or a weekly date that invites more
care and planning in the viewer than the
casual click-in. Just about wherever we
look online, there are extraordinary
artistic offerings available: this has to be
one of the triumphs of 2020.
There is, however, an obvious snag at
the heart of this rosy picture. In the
spring, as artists and institutions rushed
to put their work online in the first panic
and excitement of lockdown, almost
everything was made available for free.
At the same time, the crisis of unem-
ployment across the sector quickly
began to bite: actors, musicians, per-
formers, directors, designers, stage
crew, make-up artists . . . the list of
skilled professionals (almost all free-
lancers) abruptly out of work goes on
and on. So it was clearly not unreason­-
able to expect online viewers to pay for
“tickets”, and generate a little income
for performers and institutions alike.
But would they, and will they, do so?
The subscription model for digital
events is much better established in the
US than in Europe; in Britain it was in its
early infancy, and hasn’t grown up
much during the past 10 months. As the
pandemic conditions grind drearily on,
it’s an unresolved question.
Even though this year of living digit-
ally has certainly produced some suc-
cesses, some highlights, reached a
mighty array of people and probably
introduced many to art forms they
barely knew before, the longing for live
performance isn’t assuaged. Venues,
theatres and concert halls have put in
giant efforts to make themselves safe
enough, rearranging seating, changing
entrances and exits, employing armies
of cleaners and much else.
Often, they have come up with
inspired new solutions. Just a couple of
my favourites: ENO’s drive-in opera,
staged in a car park: La Bohème was per-
formed in front of you (and projected
onto screens) as you sat in the safety of
your car, the orchestra on the top level
of a huge layered stage with the conduc-
tor 30ft up on a mechanical hoist, the
music playing through a special fre-
quency on your car radio. And the Stutt-
gart Philharmonic, which has taken the
term “bubbling” quite literally, creating
human-sized inflatable transparent
individual bubbles for each orchestra
member. The musicians inhabit them,
of course, in full evening dress.
And finally: what about the actual
creative effects of the pandemic year?
Where are the plays, the books, the
music, the works of art born of
Covid-19? There have been quite a
number of rapid-response films, exhibi-
tions and performances, but for the
most durable and incisive work — the
work that does what art does, make
sense of our reality — we might have to
wait a little longer. Daniel Defoe’s A Jour-
nal of the Plague Year was published in
1722. It was an account of London’s
Great Plague — but the year in question
was 1665. True art can’t be rushed.
streamed gigs attempted to fill the vac-
uum: 5m people watched Dua Lipa’s
spectacular livestream in support of her
album Future Nostalgia. But her show
cost $1.5m to stage, a budget beyond the
reach of all but the biggest stars.
Bob Dylan was forced off the road for
the first time since his Never Ending
Tour of concerts started in 1988. Com-
pensation came in the form of a spell-
binding album Rough and Rowdy Ways,
an unexpected windfall of new songs. A
different windfall came later in the year
when he sold his back catalogue to Uni-
versal Music for an estimated $300m.
Dylan’s payday underlined the boom-
ing value of recorded music. Yet the
recording studio represents only one
aspect of his artistry. The stage is the
other. Evergreen in the former, ban-
ished from the latter — possibly for
good: he turns 80 next year — Dylan
epitomised the strange mood of gain
and loss in pop music this year. The
reluctant “voice of a generation” from
the 1960s is a symbol for the ambivalent
musical outcomes of 2020.
Ludovic Hunter-Tilney’s Top 10 albums
of 2020 are online at ft.com/music
16 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

Arts
that foundered in the wake of Harry Pot-
Television | Starring Gemma ter. In recent years, perhaps only the
team behind 2018’s Picnic at Hanging
Rock have shown comparable nerve to
Arterton and the late Diana Macdonald and co in taking on a simi-
larly beloved film adaptation: its slow-
burn dread and deeper plotting made
Rigg, can the new TV version for a different, if not necessarily supe-
rior experience to Peter Weir’s sinister,
sexually charged 1975 original.
both honour and ‘update’ the The new Black Narcissus makes crucial
breaks with its predecessor. Coe’s story-
1947 classic? By Gabriel Tate telling is a little less ripe and melodra-
matic, pacing the drama over three
hours and giving more time to support-
ing characters neglected or cut alto-

E
ven in a body of work as gether by the film. Even more signifi-
revered as that of producer cantly, it adopts a more authentic
team Michael Powell and approach to casting: the pivotal role of
Emeric Pressburger, Black village girl Kanchi is played by British-
Narcissus stands apart. Nepali newcomer Dipika Kunwar, rather
Adapted from Rumer Godden’s novel, than Jean Simmons in blackface.
the 1947 film follows a mission of the Godden, who grew up in India, might
Order of St Faith, led by the young but also have been pleased by the results of a
redoubtable Sister Clodagh (played by week’s filming in the Himalayas. “It’s the
Deborah Kerr), in a doomed attempt to most beautiful place I’ve ever been,” says
set up a convent school in the Hima- Arterton. “That beauty is a huge part of
layan Palace of Mopu. The locals are why the nuns unravel — the untameable
indifferent and the palace is haunted by godliness of the place makes them start
indiscretions and tragedies from its past to question God. When we came back to
as a harem, while the nuns — in partic- shoot at Pinewood, it was invaluable to
ular the fragile Sister Ruth, caught in a
lust triangle between Clodagh and cyni-
cal expat planter Mr Dean — find their
‘The story’s concerns are
faith and sanity tested to the limit. omnipresent now. Nuns
A heady brew of the earthly and the
spiritual, of repressed love and religious
losing it in isolation? We
guilt, of transgression and denial, it won all relate to that this year’

Back to Black Narcissus

Oscars for Jack Cardiff’s unforgettably
vivid Technicolor cinematography and
Alfred Junge’s superb art direction. Its
influence has been felt everywhere from
Disney’s Frozen (whose art director
credited its look to Black Narcissus) to
the work of Powell devotee Martin
Scorsese. Who would dare tread on such
consecrated ground?
The answer comes with a new three-
part adaptation by Amanda Coe (Life In
Squares) for the BBC, FX and DNA Films.
Charlotte Bruus Christensen directs a
fine cast led by Gemma Arterton
(Clodagh), Aisling Franciosi (Ruth),
Alessandro Nivola (Mr Dean) and, in her
final screen role, Diana Rigg (as the
stern, sceptical Mother Dorothea). For
DNA films and Christensen, it is not the
first time approaching a novel previously
adapted to great acclaim, having worked
on 2015’sFar from the Madding Crowd.
“The lesson we learnt from Hardy
is that if you have good source material,
you can do it again and again,” says
Andre Macdonald, one of the executive
producers. “I hadn’t thought about
Black Narcissus until the idea came up in
a meeting with the BBC. I told them
nobody else could do it!”
Macdonald had good reason for this
sense of destiny: he is Pressburger’s
grandson. (In a further example of
dynastic serendipity, one of the series’
assistant directors is Godden’s great-
granddaughter.) The 1947 film was,
Macdonald notes, Powell and Press-
burger’s first adaptation. “My grand-
mother had been given the book and
impressed upon them how interesting it
was, especially in terms of the female
Above: a scene
from the new tant from the beginning that our writer
TV version of and director [this time] were women.”
‘Black Narcissus’ The film has only grown in stature,
thanks in no small part to the efforts of
Below: Gemma Scorsese and his longtime editor (and
Arterton as Powell’s widow) Thelma Schoonmaker
Sister Clodagh in in ensuring their restoration and careful
the new version; distribution. There was considerable
the vertiginous consternation at the prospect of a
bell-tower scene remake and, says Macdonald, some
in the 1947 film “quite tricky” conversations were had.
starring “The principle objection was: why are
Deborah Kerr you doing this when it was done so well?
FX Productions/Alamy
But the conclusion was that whatever
happens, it will draw attention to the
original. So you can’t lose, really.”
Godden’s estate required little persua-
sion; the author had been dismayed by
the artifice of the Himalayan backdrops
shot at Pinewood Studios, and her family
was keen for her book to be rediscov-
ered. Yet screenwriter Coe was circum-
spect. “My initial response was: the film’s
a masterpiece — why create that prob-
lem for yourself? Once I’d read the book,
I could see there was a case for making it.
Brilliant as the film is, it was made at a
different time and there’s a lot in the
book that still feels fresh.”
Powell and Pressburger cast a long
shadow at Pinewood; Macdonald is talk-
ing in a boardroom just down the corri-
dor from a framed photo of David Niven
in A Matter of Life and Death. A floor
below stand the series’ superbly
detailed interiors. The palace doubles as
a symbol of spiritual confusion, its bath-
house converted to a laundry, erotic
frescoes covered by muslin sheets and
the faded gold leaf a jarring contrast to
the nuns’ rope beds.
“We’re here because Pinewood read
that we were making it and said we
couldn’t make it anywhere else,”
explains Allon Reich, another executive
producer. “It’s incredibly difficult to get
stage space in the UK, but they’re rightly
proud of the film and keen to preserve
continuity.”
Black Narcissus is far from being the
first TV series to follow a cinematic
adaptation of a well-loved book, quite
apart from countless screen versions of
the familiar period classics. A Harold
Pinter-scripted 1990 adaptation of The
Handmaid’s Tale largely lacked the inge-
nuity and simmering anger of Margaret
Atwood’s novel, while the Hulu TV ver-
sion has been a cultural phenomenon.
HBO’s superb Watchmen at least had the
advantage of following a film of Alan
Moore’s epochal graphic novel that was
largely reviled (not least by the author
himself), while His Dark Materials came
a decade after a would-be film franchise
have that in mind.”
For all that it goes back to the source,
there are homages to the film, from
exact replicas of the 1947 nuns’ cruci-
fixes to a new version of the famous bell-
tower sequence. “We talked about that a
lot,” adds Coe. “My instinct was to make
a completely different version, but as I
got more comfortable with the material,
I realised you have to deliver on certain
things, or it’s like seeing Hamlett where
he doesn’t do ‘To be or not to be.’”
The TV version also allows for period
context missing from the film but still
apposite for a contemporary audience.
The psychological impact of the first
world war, for example, explains Mr
Dean’s suspicion of the crumbling colo-
nial project and its condescending, ulti-
mately doomed imposition of western
values on people living harmoniously
without them. Clodagh, meanwhile,
wrestles with taking the lead in an
essentially patriarchal institution.
“A really good story is always rele-
vant,” says Coe. “The book and adapta-
tion are parables about the dangers of
‘othering’, of making oneself exalted at
the expense of cultures outside, even the
notion of one’s own history. The book is
a compressed, powerful expression of
that, rendered as psychological horror.
Those concerns are omnipresent now.
And nuns losing it in isolation together?
We can all relate to that this year.”
On BBC1 in the UK, December 27-29
at 9pm, and on FX in the US
Read our review: Critics’ choice, page 19

home from a gig and you are wide
THE LIFE OF awake,” recalls Monte A Melnick, the
A SONG band’s former tour manager and co-
author of On the Road with The
Ramones, a book that documents the
I WANNA BE band’s most productive years of
SEDATED touring, which was republished in an
extended edition this year.
And London hospitality in the 1970s
was bleak, as Johnny recalled in the
Below: The soundtrack to Times Square, a long-
Ramones forgotten US film about teenage Review
perform at the
Old Waldorf
runaways. It is not The Ramones’ best-
known song (that is “Blitzkrieg Bop”, pective stepfather, Ryuji, for lanky Noburo is both
Nightclub in according to Spotify). Neither is it their OPERA abandoning his life at sea to trapped and furious. Vera-
1978 in San biggest hit (“Baby, I Love You”). And it marry their friend’s widowed Lotte Boecker is a fragile,
Francisco — Richard
McCaffrey/Michael Ochs
is certainly not their most festive
(“Merry Christmas [I Don’t Want to
Der Verratene Meer mother — the “betrayal” of
the work’s title.
doomed Fusako; Bo Skovhus
makes a worldly-wise Ryuji,
Archive/Getty Images Vienna State Opera
Fight Tonight]”). But it was Joey’s AAAAA Henze casts 13-year-old an earthy giant in a world of
favourite. Noburo and his violent little malignant fairies, never

C
hristmas 1977 saw The
Ramones holed up in a
London hotel, with nothing
to do and nowhere to go.
Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and
Tommy were dazed and disoriented
after 11 consecutive months spent
slogging through 144 concerts, touring
the US, Europe, Canada, around the US
again, then back to Europe.
In their home town of New York,
they were still largely ignored and
gigging mostly at CBGB. But in Britain,
the hard work was paying off. The
band’s blaring punk-pop urgency was
boosted by radio play and an
enthusiastic music press. That year had
brought two UK chart hits. On New
Year’s Eve, The Ramones would
headline a showcase at the Rainbow
Theatre, one of the capital’s biggest
venues, supported by crowd-pleasers
The Rezillos and Generation X.
Johnny said later that the gig was their
greatest moment.
But until December 31, they were
caught in the festive limbo days, when
the UK capital closed down. “It was
great and it was rough,” the group’s
singer, Joey, said in an interview years
later, as he recalled the circumstances
behind his most nihilistic lyric. “Me
and Dee Dee were sharing a room and
we were watching The Guns of Navarone.
Here we are in London . . . finally . . .
and what are we doing? We’re watching
American movies.”
“I Wanna Be Sedated” was written by
Joey in those hours. Always fragile, by
some accounts he was recovering from
a scalding accident a few months
earlier, and still in pain.
“He was also coping with the jet lag
and time change, when you’re up in the
middle of the night. When you come
book: “I hated everything, from the It has also been covered extensively, friends as adults, height- understanding his own
dumpy hotels to the communication often employed as an energetic closing At a time when theatres are ening the boy’s Oedipal destructive power.
problem . . . None of the number in live sets. Californian closed and public gatherings obsession with his mother. Simone Young, free from
conveniences.” punkettes and Ramones forbidden, it seems more Directors Jossi Wieler and the balance constraints of a
With its punk-brat sentiment and contemporaries The Go-Go’s lent it a than strange to be attending Sergio Morabito have paid conventional performance,
“bam-bam-bambam, bambam-bam- sweetness — and notched up the tempo the premiere of Henze’s Das scrupulous attention to both unleashes the full force of
bambam” hook, this straightforward — for a live performance in Central Verratene Meer (The Betrayed score and libretto, crafting a her formidable orchestra,
six-chord tune (which would have been Park during a 2001 reunion. Kirsty Sea) at the Vienna State detailed, painfully dark the violence of its outbursts
three without the key change)
ange) was the MacColl was anoth another enthusiastic Opera. But this is a question world of subtle under- all the more powerful for the
ultimate anthem to desen nsitisation, adopter at livee gigs. of priorities and possibilities. currents and not-so-subtle tautness of its control. Her
clocking in at two minutees and But it beelongs to The Despite a cluster of tensions for the stage. focus is ferocious, and she
29 seconds. It is the song tthat Ramonees, not least because infections in an associated The two are once again never lets the players
crystallises Joey’s clever- it reprresents the band at music school production in working with designer Anna slacken for an instant.
moronic lyrical style. And d theirr most cartoonish. September, the house has Viebrock, whose grimly And still, the singers are
for British audiences, it Theey would later try to maintained its own bubble, eloquent sets have defined carried, never drowned out,
resonated with the spirit dittch that trope. After with a rigorous testing their best work for more always allowed to breathe.
of the age — the strikes coontinuing to tour schedule and tight restrict- than two decades. She has The four “boys” of Noburo’s
and rampant inflation soolidly in 1978 and ions on how participants can created a canny kind of pier- gang are treated with equal
of the so-called winter 19979, and in a state of live between events. In warehouse-storefront, sensitivity, and all of the cast
of discontent of 1978 exxhaustion, they effect, this is one giant where hard surfaces are perform with utter
would arrive just as the sw
witched tack, family in its own home. wheeled in and out to bring assurance and commitment.
song was released on purrsuing commercial And what a loud, clever bedroom, ship, restaurant, Because of the streaming,
Road to Ruin, the band’s succcess and recruiting family it is. The orchestra is waterfront, and all of the applause is forbidden, and
fourth studio album. Phil Spector
S to produce the chief protagonist of libretto’s dizzying range of the curtain calls take place
Joey had employed a sim milar their neext album, End of the Henze’s much-revised 1989 settings into one portentous in silence. It is an unnerving
lyrical trick in 1976 with ““Now I Century, y inn 1980 — more opera, a pared-back account space. Between the grimy end to a disturbing perform-
Wanna Sniff Some Glue”, sophisticated,, less nihilistic. of Yukio Mishima’s 1963 concrete walls, Josh Lovell’s ance. This iteration of
and would again with “I Tooday, all the original novel The Sailor Who Fell Henze’s seldom-performed
Just Want to Have members of the band are
mem
m from Grace with the Sea. masterpiece has Hitchcock-
Something to Do” ggone. Joey died of cancer Think Britten’s Peter Grimes, ian polish, to devastating
(another Road to Ruin in
n 2001, as did Johnny only 10 times nastier. effect. The full house and
refrain). That repetitive three years later and
th Henze’s revisions included thunderous applause it
nihilism, as Melnick Tommy in 2014. Dee Dee
T the addition of scene-change deserves would afford some
points out, was most ooverdosed in 2002. interludes, where the catharsis. Instead, we are
effective when played But 43 years after it was orchestra describes left with the blackness.
live: “Audiences always written, “I Wanna Be
w maritime landscapes that In all, this is an extra-
sang along,” he says. SSedated” has taken on a are rough and frighteningly ordinary feat for abnormal
Rolling Stone readers new significance. “Just get
n effective. times. It feels both intoxic-
voted “I Wanna Be me to the airport, put me
m The same adjectives could ating and wrong. Streaming
Sedated” the best oon a plane” — the perfect apply to the childish gang of is a wonderful stop-gap
Ramones track in 2013. Christmas sentiment for
C bad boys with whom Noboru, measure, but opera needs its
But it was never a 22020. Especially in London. the opera’s central figure, audience. May the vaccine
conventional hit Helen Barrett spends his free time. It is Vera-Lotte Boecker plays a come soon, so we can be
single. It would appear For more in the series: ft.com/
F they who will exact terrible fragile Fusako in ‘Das unnerved together again.
as a UK B-side, and later in 1980 0 on the lififeofasong revenge on Noboru’s pros- Verratene Meer’ — Michael Poehn Shirley Apthorp
Thursday 24 December 2020 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 17

Arts
of the message of unity enacted by

Let the light

Chagall the Jewish survivor working for
the church in a country where anti-
Semitism is an increasing problem.
Once international travel eases next
year, Metz is high on the list.
Meanwhile, an English sequel to
explore. When Chagall’s Metz designs

shine in
were exhibited in a popular exhibition
at the Louvre in 1960, Walter Hussey,
dean of Chichester, was an entranced
visitor. A lover of painting and music,
Hussey was obsessed by fears that “the
arts had become largely divorced from
the church”. Chichester under his watch
acquired an altarpiece by Graham Suth-
erland and a tapestry by John Piper, but
Marc Chagall | The artist’s rapturous response they were English-speaking Anglicans.
Hussey, who did not speak French,
mused on how to approach Chagall.
to life beyond ‘potato-coloured’ Russia is captured He was encouraged in 1967, when the
artist completed a commission for the
d’Avigdor-Goldsmids, a Jewish-Chris-
in masterly stained glass, writes Jackie Wullschläger tian couple, to design a window for the
tiny parish church at Tudeley, Kent, in
memory of their daughter who had
drowned in a sailing accident. On a radi-

J
e cherche un grand mur”, 71-
year- old Marc Chagall declared
rather publicly in 1958. France,
his adopted home, answered
immediately with a monumen-
tal commission: three stained-glass
windows for the bomb-damaged St
Stephen’s Cathedral in Metz. Israel simi-
larly offered the windows of a Jerusalem
hospital synagogue. Chagall’s windows,
which he described as “the transparent
partition between my heart and the
heart of the world” were the high point
of his late career. They are a superb,
Clockwise from under-explored, optimistic subject for
top left: St an exhibition.
Stephen’s Chagall: The Emissary of Light — now
Cathedral in due to launch in January at the Pompi-
Metz, north dou-Metz to mark the museum’s 10th
transept, west birthday and the cathedral’s 800th —
side (1963-64); brings together for the first time models
‘The Tribe of and sketches for Metz, Jerusalem, sub-
Naphtali’ (1959- sequent windows at Reims Cathedral
60); ‘Red and and Sarrebourg’s Chapelle des Corde-
Black World’ liers, and paintings which influenced
(1951); Chagall them. These include illustrations to the
at work on a Bible made in the 1930s amid the rise of
stained-glass European fascism, the harrowed “Yel-
window in low Crucifixion” produced during exile
Reims, 1961 in America in 1943, and an elongated
Christian Legay; Ewald
Graber; Izis Bidermanas “King David” (1950) in gleaming scarlet
cloak, playing a golden harp, conjuring ant blue background suggesting both
Chagall’s Russian-Jewish past — a bride sea and sky, Chagall shows the girl
segueing into a sheet of white flame, a engulfed in the water, then carried on
shtetl violinist, a gloomy prophet. her favourite horse past a crucifixion, as
Metz’s Pompidou, housed beneath a if to heaven: faith giving meaning to
signature wildly curving white fibre- tragedy. Chagall came for the inaugura-
glass roof, looks straight out on to the tion, and burst out “it’s magnificent, I
great Gothic cathedral, nicknamed will do them all”. Tudeley remains the
“God’s lantern” for its huge expanse of only church in the world with every one
stained glass and extremely high nave.
Chagall’s windows in this magnificent
space are in effect the climax of the
show. He dedicated three lancets to
long, narrow, fluid portraits of the
prophets Moses, David and Jeremiah.
Above, a round window, the shining
blue of hope, shows Jesus, arms out-
stretched as on the cross, encircled by
the Chagallian lexicon of flying goat,
candelabra, crescent moon. The west
window, topped by droplet and heart
shapes, like glowing jewels, has an array
of figures, curving and looping among
great washes of yellow, narrating the
creation of Adam and Eve and the Gar-
den of Eden in what Chagall perceived
as the heavenly colour of revelation.
Within this very public art is intimate
memory, especially reiterations of Cha-
gall’s dead wife Bella as a beloved young
woman. Metz, at a moment of creative
impasse, gave Chagall the chance to look
back in biblical imagery to his orthodox The exhibition traces these processes, of its windows (12 in all) by Chagall — an
Jewish childhood and young married culminating in displays of the integra- immersive experience.
life in St Petersburg and Vitebsk, but tion of the glass into the architecture, The large window Hussey eventually
forward formally to postwar abstract and telling the story of a 25-year collabo- won for Chichester, after nearly a
treatment of colour and light. Picasso, ration between painter and glassmaker. decade of negotiations, is Chagall’s most
who was then Chagall’s neighbour on This lasted until Chagall was 97 and purely celebratory. Unusually, the base
the Côte d’Azur, noted that there was completed his final window, for St hue is red; Hussey insisted on “rich and
nobody “since Renoir who has the feel- Stephen’s Mainz. Here angels and other lustrous colours”, and proposed as a
ing for light that Chagall has”. A raptur- biblical characters move ethereally in theme he called “the great enthusiasm
ous response to Mediterranean light by bright blue light, descendants of the of my life”, “the arts to the glory of
the artist who grew up in “potato- ecstatic figures flying over Vitebsk’s God”: “I can imagine a window showing
coloured” Russia infuses the windows. domes and snow-capped houses in his a variety of . . . artistic activities all
If ever-changing light is the real earliest paintings. caught up in a great act of worship —
medium, representing transcendence So many themes harmonised or came Psalm 150 . . . ” Chagall’s songs of praise
itself, “something mystical which passes full circle in Chagall’s cathedral win- centre on David with his harp riding a
through the window” as Chagall said, it dows: Jewish and Christian, modernism goat, surrounded by trumpeter, violin-
was worked with consummate crafts- and tradition, figuration and abstrac- ist, an ebullient figure who may be a jug-
manship. Beginning with small draw- tion, the impetus of the sacred in a secu- gler but seems to clash the cymbals, all
ings, then coloured sketches, and finally lar society craving public art as postwar set within surging, darting coloured
detailed gouache designs, Chagall healing — for which Chagall distilled the panels — reminiscent of the abstract,
worked with Charles Marq, a devout spiritual in fresh, instantly recognisable Suprematist forms of Chagall’s old
Catholic glassmaker in Reims. Together images. He wanted, he said, to reinvig- Russian rival Malevich.
they developed a technique where the orate “exhausted humanity, during a Hussey had retired by the time this
lead enhances rhythm and expression: time when the old religious or other ide- fantastical, sonorous composition was
although joining the panels of coloured als were withering” and “to catch a installed in 1978, and Chagall was 91:
glass, it does not have a traditional glimpse of a ray of light which would old men explorers who made the medie-
cloisonné effect but is arranged in illuminate a new meaning of life”. val cathedral — with the excellent Pal-
free arching lines, with several colour The power of Metz’s windows is lant House gallery close by — a modern
modulations within each pane. undimmed, as is the importance today art destination.

The stop-start year in art collecting

The Art Market | Imaginative solutions have helped the market survive the unforeseeable events of 2020, writes Melanie Gerlis

I
’ve never worked so hard without
moving.” So says Lucie Kitchener,
chief executive of London’s
Masterpiece fair, summing up the
art market in 2020. Covid-19 and
its shutdown of mass events for most of
the year meant that Kitchener was one
of dozens of art fair organisers forced to
move their longstanding editions
online. The industry was shocked when
Art Basel Hong Kong became the first
fair to migrate in March but such
dramatic decisions soon became
inevitable outcomes. Gallery shows,
auctions, sale previews and talks
programmes all turned virtual too.
End-of-year numbers have yet to be
finalised, but data from Pi-eX show that
for the top three auction houses —
Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips —
public sale totals were down 31 per cent
in the year to December 9, having
already fallen 17 per cent for the same
period last year. The decline looked to
be much worse earlier in the year
though and the 2020 total of $6.9bn is
slightly ahead of where it was during
the last deep-recession year of 2009.
“The 2020 crisis in the art market
has very much been an operational
crisis — how do you sell art with limited
ability to showcase it live ahead of a
sale? It is clear that without the
internet, the whole auction business
would have come to a standstill,” says
Christine Bourron, chief executive
of Pi-eX. Analysts expect galleries to
have fared worse, predicting revenue
falls somewhere nearer 40 per cent
as the loss of art fairs dented business. arguably make for a healthier future.
In their place came the “OVRs”, or Lapada, the Association of Art and
online viewing rooms, which now, with Antiques Dealers, began to teach its
their increasing frequency, can inspire generally older members how to use
feelings of dread. Scrolling through social media while contemporary
sometimes hundreds of gallery pages galleries, mostly more au fait with
with dozens of works on each has digital delivery, started to remove some
proved to have limited appeal, though of the barriers to entry that had been
dealers are grateful to have some sort of preserved for too long. Dealers are now
sales platform for their works. Artists in the minority if they don’t post at least
too have at least had a reason to keep a price range for their work on an online
going, notes the industry podcast editor fair, something that would have been
Charlotte Burns, as most of their other unthinkable just a year ago.
viewing channels — including the Collaborations that would also have
coveted museum shows — have been been unimaginable — such as auction
stop-start. The Italian dealer Massimo houses offering their digital platforms
De Carlo described OVRs as “almost and physical spaces to art fairs — also
crucial to survival” this year. began to emerge this year.
Survival is not to be sniffed at. The Outside of full lockdowns, a hybrid
conservative art market suddenly had model of online exhibitions
to embrace the internet and worked complemented by real-life shows has
hard to produce alternatives that injected some life back into the
Auction sales fell less dramatically than Online auctions began
they did in the last crisis to make a significant
Revenue from auctions at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and impact this year
Phillips, by location ($bn)* Yearly results at top three
US UK China France Switzerland auction houses by auction
Other format ($bn)*
12 2020
2019
10 Online
8 0.2 0.9
6 prompt tangible beginnings of a more
Day 4.3 3.0
4 just and diverse art world.
2 Supply was understandably down
0 5.7
Evening 3.1
2007 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020
Revenue for public auctions only, excluding private sales
Source: Pi‐eX Ltd proprietary database of auction results *2020 data from Jan 1 to Dec 9 FT graphic
individual galleries. “We didn’t want to
cancel — we’re not a mass physical
event in one venue — it was a question
of how to adapt,” says the gallerist
Stephen Ongpin, chairman of London
Art Week, one of the first events to test
a clicks-and-bricks event in July.
In the meantime, the high costs of
operating at dozens of temporary
events around the world disappeared
completely, while those in the market
with an environmental conscience have
been able to rest easier. Awareness of
the world outside has also changed
market behaviour with movements
such as Black Lives Matter helping to
this year as would-be sellers waited for
a better time. But demand for art, while
suffering a blip as the pandemic’s
realities hit hard in late March, initially
A Sotheby’s
livestream
auction: the
conservative
art market has
had to adapt
returned with a vengeance. During the
lockdowns in the first half of the year,
sellers noted a trend that the wealthy —
unable to spend on lavish meals or
holidays — instead redecorated their
homes, including with art.
The impact was felt at all levels: Lyon
& Turnbull, an auction house in
Edinburgh, recorded nearly 1,400
bidders at a decorative arts and design
auction in April, double those
registered at its equivalent in-person
sale six months previously. At the
highest end, bidders and all-important
sellers responded well to the new and
sparkly live-streamed evening sales at
the big-name auction houses.
In late June, Sotheby’s tested its slick
technology first and sold $363.2m of art
in a few hours. Christie’s followed suit a
couple of weeks later, with a clunkier
system but an even better result of
$420.9m. Individual hits included
$84.6m for a Francis Bacon triptych at
Sotheby’s — the highest public price of
this year. Paul Donovan, chief
economist of UBS global wealth
management, compared the pent-up
demand with April’s reopening of the
Guangzhou branch of the luxury chain
Hermès, which reportedly registered
$2.7m of sales in just one day.
Such momentum didn’t last all year,
not least because the summer’s
optimism that the worst of the
pandemic was over proved misplaced.
By mid-December, with a slimmed-
down staff, the auction houses’ greatest
hits proved more at the “easier to access
day sale price points” of between
$200,000 and $1.2m, said Alex Rotter,
Christie’s chairman of postwar and
contemporary art. Consequently, the
auction houses have fed the market
more frequently — with wares ranging
from designer sneakers to prime
paintings from struggling museums —
and have stemmed some of the flow. A
high proportion of guarantees has also
helped keep the public appearance of
top-value works on the market, while
private sales, we are told, have been
gung-ho.
The pandemic hasn’t gone away and
the art market’s eventual shape will
probably involve more bloodletting in
the coming months. But, for now, its
participants — many of whom found
imaginative solutions when forced to
follow unforeseeable extrinsic events —
can allow themselves a festive pat on
the back for getting through so far.
18 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Thursday 24 December 2020

Last of the urban

SNAPSHOT conservatives
‘Season’s
greetings’
(1984) by Janan Ganesh
Bruce McLean
Citizen of nowhere
On what has become known as

F
the very first Christmas card, eeling overdressed in the bar
sent by Henry Cole in 1843, the of the Versace mansion
civil servant’s extended (and (which is to say that I am
rather boozy) family portrait is dressed) I repair to the
surrounded by illustrations of dowdier innards of Miami
charity. While gatherings this Beach. These include a Herzog & de
year may be smaller than Cole’s, Meuron car park in the shape of a
his message of generosity and house of cards whose entire seventh
togetherness still holds true. floor is a private residence. I reach the
A suitably seasonal display Basel firm’s creation via a café with the
at Pallant House Gallery looks unSwiss name of Bacon Bitch and an
back at more than 100 designs Erotic Art Museum that is tamer than
from British artists including everything outside it.
Ben Nicholson, Enid Marx and Across the bay, the W Hotel sits on
John Craxton. These range from dozens of Easter Island heads crafted
the religious to the whimsical by Philippe Starck. An Uber driver
and impressionistic, including gives me a book about Vedic scripture
this red-and-green design by as breezily as another might a
Scottish artist Bruce McLean. complimentary Evian. Outside a
Just like Cole’s first card, friend’s house in the southern suburbs,
though, all speak to an enduring I savour the precious interlude of
tradition of festive giving. normality. I then see a peacock
Chris Allnutt crossing the road.
The raw jumble of Miami, a place
‘Christmas Greetings by Modern that should not hang together but
British Artists’, Pallant House mostly does, is made for the liberal or
Gallery, Chichester, to January 6 even nihilist soul. And yet few cities
contain more members of that
endangered species: the urban
conservative. The geographic sorting of
the left into cities, and the right into
the heartland, is quantifiably rampant.
But it is bucked here. Donald Trump
vastly increased his vote in Miami-
Dade county last month, losing it by
just seven points. It was not the Gulf
Dreaming of a coast alone that delivered Florida to
the Republicans.
mistrust of the left among escapees
from Latin America’s red republics
(not just Cuba). Then there is the city’s
homing beacon to libertarians of all
races: like Texas, Florida has no
personal income tax. The blend of frail
infrastructure and awesomely
militarised police suggests the
Nightwatchman State of Nozickian
doctrine.
It should be impossible for
somewhere so unpreachy to have
“lessons” for us. And still one stands
out: there is nothing inherently
leftwing about cities. And the cause of
urbanism will suffer if it becomes too
entwined with progressive politics.
Miami bucks the
geographic sorting of the
left into cities and the right
into the heartland
If the metropolis is drained of
conservatives, that is a huge stock of
voters who thereafter have little stake
in its vitality. And without their
diluting presence, the liberalism they
leave behind grows ever purer, riling
the heartlands yet further in a Möbius
loop of cultural estrangement.
At that point, cities are reliant on a
tacit bargain to stave off provincial
anger. We subsidise the unproductive
regions in return for their consent to
It is just that 2016 and its populist
shocks exposed the limits of even this
contract. Voters who knew they had
much to lose from a weaker London
(or Bay Area) willed it anyway.
Cultural animus got in the way of
prudence. As the sorting becomes
more absolute with time, these raids on
the metropolis are liable to recur. To
secure their futures, cities cannot just
buy off conservative-minded people
from a distance. They will have to
encompass more of them.
If that sounds fanciful, it is our
recency bias at work. Cities that are
now liberal fortresses were competitive
within my lifetime. Before that, LA’s
surrounding counties threw up the New
Right. Between Robert Moses and Rudy
Giuliani, much of New York is the fruit
of Republicanism. Samuel Johnson was
a Tory. There is no conceptual oddity
here. The prime force in a city is
commerce: immigration is a byproduct
of it, culture often subsidised by it. This
is why urbanism can be such an
ambiguous creed, for free markets but
protected spaces, for loose borders,
public transit and vigilance to crime. It
is not just in the boondocks that
defunding police polls direly.
Pointing at Arquitectonica’s Atlantis
condominium, my friend tells me with
the weariness of a local that Miami
goes through periodic bursts of city-of-
the-future hype. Its built environment
suggests a changing world loudly
enough. Its demography, also. Only the

wild Christmas Accounting for Miami’s

exceptionalism is simple enough. Some
of it is the old people: if the south of
France is where the English go to die,
Americans have Florida. Some of it is
our funny ways and outsize influence.
No one kills the goose that lays the
golden eggs, after all, however
heterodoxy of its politics marks it out
as the last of an urban model, and not
the next one.
provocative its strut, however showy
its feathers. janan.ganesh@ft.com

Susie Boyt
Trending

H
ow to be sane about
Christmas? Search me.
I still believe total
capitulation is the best
approach. After the balm
Christmas brought me in childhood
when its annual flashes of joy made me
an optimist, I will always love it and
tend to it assiduously. The stockings
I pack are pairs of tights. (Double the
gifts.) There are permanent marks on
the ceiling from the trees.
In my mind Christmas has long been
twinned with havoc but not a bad
variety: it is a bracing mayhem, a kind
of electric stage fright that excites as
much as it unnerves. I like the
extremes of Christmas, the way bursts
of fury dovetail with unreserved
apology. The 11-hour cook-ins; the
endless consoling; the small-hours
computer shopping for charming and
recherché goods — hello German
advent calendar that plays 24 two-inch
discs on Santa’s little red turntable.
Excesses pass for normal during
advent, when cherry red and emerald
green view themselves as neutral
shades. Quality Street on toast from
some angles looks reasonable. There’s
a three-week window in December,
when everyone’s feelings lie at the
visceral end of things. You have to
respect it. It’s maximum life. And then
there are the waves of sorrow for all
those who are gone, the cauterising
rounds of musical chairs . . .
Such is my fidelity to Christmas that
people who talk it down hurt my pride.
Last year a taxi driver told me he’d got
his wife an electric potato masher.
“Does she like mash then?”
“I love it!”
I had to ask him to pull over at
the lights.
In an ordinary year, I can’t help
feeling Christmas is a bit criminal.
How can it put me through it all again?
It pops round so fast, this season I
adore and can barely shoulder. When
will I learn? I sometimes think of
Christmas coming at me like a
glamorous gangster, reeling me in to
mad acts of collusion, offering its
“protection”, forcing wild promises
I know I cannot keep. Then it just slips
off into the darkness, leaving me on my
knees. Christmas has felt like a Kray
twin now and then. Gunshots, ransom
notes, sleek lapels. I need its approval
and it’s never satisfied.
Ah well, at least it loves its Mum.
This year, though, it’s all change.
Instead of holding all the cards,
Christmas needs me. The sadness and
the dislocation of 2020 have made
everything uncertain. Health and
safety must trump comfort and joy.
The brightness and colour and sounds
of the season have been necessarily
turned down. There won’t be three
Finally there’s an escape
route from the mayhem, an
ejector seat, a parachute.
But it all feels wrong
generations and two babies and 32
people with six decades between them,
this end. There will be a cast of four.
Christmas itself feels vulnerable.
There’s talk of going mad at Easter
instead when we might be vaccinated,
or a spree over the summer break. But
will Christmas ever return to its former
glory after this year’s precedent of
separating out? This winter I see
Christmas as an ancient film star,
brittle-hearted, tremulous, unsteady
on her feet, waving from the upper
floors of her pale mansion, wondering
why she’s been forsaken. Or it’s like
the heroine of Louis MacNeice’s
poem “Death of an Actress” (not one
of his best):
. . . she waddled into the lights,
Old and huge and painted, in velvet
and tiara,
Her voice gone but around her head
an aura
Of all her vanilla-sweet forgotten
vaudeville nights.
A modest day, temperate, calm and
quiet awaits. A thin Christmas not
quite with straw and sawdust but
almost. Soothing rather than merry
possibly. Finally there’s a no shame,
no blame get-out clause, an escape
route from the mayhem, an ejector
seat, a parachute. But it all feels wrong.
When the first lockdown began I
thought of the night before Prohibition
when people plonked their babies on
the kitchen table and ran down
Broadway filling their prams with
bottles of gin. Where was that
lockdown? I’d love a bit of speakeasy
spirit to my yuletide this year. Instead
it’s one friend in the street for a mince
pie if you’re lucky. How can you whip
that into shimmering carnival frenzy?
I keep singing, “Make it another old-
fashioned please,” with Ethel Merman’s
caustic vibrato, but I’m not sure it’s
helping. I have eight dozen glasses
in a cupboard downstairs and I looked
at them last night and murmured,
“Sorry guys.”
How will the millions of people
divided from loved ones cope? First
and last Christmases are going to go
unwitnessed. You need a morale of
steel to spend Christmas Day alone,
heart intact. Courage itself requires
courage, of course, and I’m not sure
anybody has much left.
I don’t know how to do a mild and
soft-edged Christmas, that doesn’t
warrant all guns blazing and heroics
and at least six days of recovery time.
But I’m willing to give it everything
I’ve got.
‘Loved and Missed’ by Susie Boyt will be
published in August by Virago

2020 Quiz answers

and the Philosopher’s Stone
plants; 29. D - Oasis; 30 A - Harry Potter
Air Force to go into combat; 28. A - Potted
27. D - The first female pilot in the Indian
25. C - Plastic crown; 26. B - Reading Prison;
23. B - Tahrir Square; 24. C - Spirited Away;
John; 22. A - Published a novel;
virtual show; 21 C - George, Paul, Ringo,
19. D - Abolish slavery; 20. D - It was a 3D
17. C - Kourtney Kardashian; 18. B - Ingres;
glass goes opaque; 16. B - Samuel Beckett;
14. C - Mary Wollstonecraft; 15. B - The
12. A - Van Gogh; 13. C - French nuns;
A knight; 11. A - For the cost of the frame;
7. A - Delhi; 8. C - Ditzy; 9. B - Utah; 10 D -
a Path; 5. A - Manchester; 6. D - Little Pimp;
gallery; 4. B - A Dog Pissing at the Edge of
1. A - Flute; 2. B - Thomas Piketty; 3. B - Art

Chess solution 2399 1 Bc3! h2 2 Ba5! Kxa7 3 Bc7 mate.