FEBRUARY 11/12 2023

Thebrutal
finalhours
ofthebiggest
cryptoflop
inhistory
ByJoshuaOliver
 February 11/12 2023

FEATURES
16.
Crash
The dithering, delay and denial
that led to the end of crypto
giant FTX. By Joshua Oliver

24.
▶
Hostage exchange
Inside the deal to resolve an
age-old cultural battle.
By George Parker, Eleni Varvitsioti
and James Pickford

28.
Looking
Artist Chantal Joffe explores
the American painter
Alice Neel’s portraiture
MICHAEL COLLINS

Marble statue from the

Parthenon of Iris, the winged
messenger goddess

INTELLECT APPETITES WIT& WISDOM

7 Tim Harford 12 Simon Kuper 37 Tim Hayward 44 Robert Shrimsley

For chatbots, talk is cheap Building cities for people, Where Heathcliff Time for a new anthem
8 Worklife not cars meets Gabriel Oak 45 Games
Cartoon by Amy Hwang 14 Gillian Tett 38 Rowley Leigh recipe 46 The Questionnaire
10 Gallery What not to read in Prune, amaretti and apple tart Tara Fitzgerald, actor
Craig Easton in Blackpool the land of the free 41 Jancis Robinson
Burgundy’s best kept secret
43 Ingredient
Dried mint

Issue number 1,009 • Online ft.com/magazine • FT Weekend Magazine is printed by the Walstead Group in the UK and ON THE COVER
published by The Financial Times Ltd, Bracken House, 1 Friday Street, London EC4M 9BT © The Financial Times Ltd 2023
No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without the prior express permission of the publisher
Illustration by Guillem Casasús
Publishing: Daphne Kovacs, head of advertising, FT Weekend Magazine – daphne.kovacs@ft.com
Marginalia by
Production: Mark Frisby, advertising production – mark.frisby@ft.com or magscopy@ft.com Nadine Redlich @FTMag

FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023 3

 Letters
After hours with 10 Foot, London’s
most notorious graffiti writer
by Miles Ellingham
Really? Eight pages of exposure
for this talentless egotistical
vandal 10 Foot? He adds nothing
to the shared enjoyment of civic
life and has zero regard for the
cost of cleaning up his childish
scrawl. He clearly seems to see
himself as some kind of heroic anti-
establishment vigilante, bravely
facing various dangers to pursue
his obsession. He’s simply an idiot
with a spray can who encourages
other idiots to do the same. You’ve
given him the oxygen of publicity.
What a waste of newsprint.
Gavin Aldred, London
Excellently written article. Some
people are upset, I don’t know why.
The article did nothing to glorify
crime, just presented a world which
most of us know absolutely nothing
about. It was extremely interesting.
The_dude via FT.com
Graffiti disproportionately impacts
those at the bottom of the social
hierarchy, in postcodes that FT
readers may rarely visit. It degrades
environments and contributes to
crime. Nothing to admire in this guy.
Gresham’sright via FT.com
I don’t love graffiti, but I think
the people here who are piously
condemning it are missing the
point. It’s about alienation and
a desire to make an impression,
be heard, be seen.
10 Foot’s comments about
boringification also show he’s quite
an acute critic of the urban space.
But the problem is that no one with
power (I mean property developers
as well as politicians, in fact more
the former) is at all interested in
what the people who live in London
4 FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
want from their housing or the
wider environment. So why not
paint meaningless tags on it?
sueiskra via FT.com
WWII’s unlikeliest musical
by Anna Gross and Danny Gross
An excellent piece, with real
humanity. Thank you.
NiZnaio via FT.com
I have never been moved to tears
by a piece in the FT before. Arthur
Paunzen was only 50 when he died.
Granulator via FT.com
Meet the man quietly
revolutionising publishing
▶
by Enuma Okoro
A fascinating profile. I’m attracted
by Chris Jackson’s broad conception
of anti-racism. Have missed
Enuma’s FT Weekend column this
month. Glad to read this one!
Mujuku via FT.com
How to fix the British economy
by Tim Harford
Getting better at anything requires
a true view of current reality.
A drumbeat from politicians
and press that Britain is much
better than others, and creating
environments where British people
and companies mostly experience
and compare themselves with each
other is part of the problem. As an
island nation, Britain needs to work
harder than most to benchmark
itself, and be motivated with
humility and curiosity to do so.
Old flame via FT.com
Retiring at 62? The French have
it absolutely right
by Simon Kuper
Let me guess, Simon, 62 doesn’t feel
as far away as it used to, does it? You
fancy a nice little bit of freeloading
yourself, don’t you? The essential
Did you know FT Weekend has a podcast? We explore today’s
culture, big ideas, nuanced questions and what it means to
live a good life. Join us for inspiring conversations, in-depth
storytelling, a bit of escapism and a lot of fun. Search
‘FT Weekend’ where you listen, or ft.com/ftweekendpodcast
FEBRUARY 3/4
10 Foot’s night moves
TO CONTRIBUTE
You can comment on our articles online
or email magazineletters@ft.com.
Please include a daytime telephone
number and full address (not for
publication). Letters may be edited.
flaw is that if life expectancy is
83, then 172 trimesters is barely
half your life. It is arithmetically
impossible to support yourself for
40 years with only 43 of work, so
this system is expecting others to
support you more than you support
yourself, hence the need to “force”
rich people to hand over their
stuff. This is wrong on every level:
economic, spiritual, societal. You
should be ashamed for promoting
such self-indulgence.
La Valse via FT.com
So tired of the puritanical view
of the world where you only
have worth if you are working.
How come we have so much
more automation and tools,
yet still need to work harder
and longer? I suspect because
of those who share your views,
and believe that unless you
are rich you should work till
you drop. Many of the richest
people inherited their wealth.
Who decides that it is “theirs”,
other than those who want to
keep power to themselves?
Lear via FT.com
Soho’s authentic Japanese eaterie
by Tim Hayward
Dammit. That’s another coveted
secret down the drain.
PastelSunrise via FT.com
Fantasy dinner party
by Jessie Cave
Strong guestlist. And I’m not
entirely sure why but this story
really made me laugh.
88H via FT.com
Memo to staff: dress fabulously
by Robert Shrimsley
What has my life come to that I am
looking to the FT for fashion advice?
xerxes via FT.com
Stevie Nicks + Wonder Woman = Stevie Wonder
Picture quiz
Wonderland” 9. CS Lewis 10. Andy Carroll
6. Charisma Carpenter 7. Looking glass 8. “Boogie
Caterpillar 4. The Duchess of Kent 5. Dormouse
1. Mock Turtle 2. Boston tea party 3. The Very Hungry
The link was the Alice books
Quiz answers
 Inside: Why American pupils are learning the First Amendment in reverse p14

Intellect
Undercover Economist
TIM HARFORD
BS on a whole newscale

M
uchhaschangedsince1986,whenthePrince-
ton philosopher Harry Frankfurt published
an essay in an obscure journal, Raritan,
titled “On Bullshit”. Yet the essay, later
republished as a slim bestseller, remains
unnervingly relevant.
Frankfurt’s brilliant insight was that bullshit lies outside the
realm of truth and lies. A liar cares about the truth and wishes to
obscure it. A bullshitter is indifferent to whether his statements
aretrue:“Hejustpicksthemout,ormakesthemup,tosuithispur-
pose.” Typically for a 20th-century writer, Frankfurt described
the bullshitter as “he” rather than “she” or “they”. But now it’s
2023, we may have to refer to the bullshitter as “it” – because a
new generation of chatbots are poised to generate bullshit on an
undreamt-of scale.
Consider what happened when David Smerdon, an econo-
mist at the University of Queensland, asked the leading chatbot
ChatGPT: “What is the most cited economics paper of all time?”
ChatGPT said that it was “A Theory of Economic History” by
Douglass North and Robert Thomas, published in the Journal
of Economic History in 1969 and cited more than 30,000 times
since. It added that the article is “considered a classic in the field
of economic history”. A good answer, in some ways. In other ways,
not a good answer, because the paper does not exist.

FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023 ILLUSTRATION BY GUILLEM CASASÚS 7

 Intellect
Why did ChatGPT invent this article? Smerdon
speculates as follows: the most cited economics
papersoftenhave“theory”and“economic”inthem;
if an article starts “a theory of economic…” then
“…history”isalikelycontinuation.DouglassNorth,
Nobel laureate, is a heavily cited economic histo-
rian, and he wrote a book with Robert Thomas. In
other words, the citation is magnificently plausible.
WhatChatGPTdealsinisnottruth;itisplausibility.
Andhowcoulditbeotherwise?ChatGPTdoesn’t
have a model of the world. Instead, it has a model of
the kinds of things that people tend to write. This
explains why it sounds so astonishingly believ-
able. It also explains why the chatbot can find it
challenging to deliver true answers to some fairly
straightforward questions.
It’s not just ChatGPT. Meta’s short-lived “Galac-
tica” bot was infamous for inventing citations. And
it’s not just economics papers. I recently heard
from the author Julie Lythcott-Haims, newly
elected to Palo Alto’s city council. ChatGPT wrote
a story about her victory. “It got so much right and
was well written,” she told me. But Lythcott-Haims
is black, and ChatGPT gushed about how she was
the first black woman to be elected to the city coun-
cil. Perfectly plausible, completely untrue.
Gary Marcus, author of Rebooting AI, explained
on Ezra Klein’s podcast: “Everything it produces
soundsplausiblebecauseit’sallderivedfromthings
that humans have said. But it doesn’t always know
the connections between the things that it’s putting
together.”WhichpromptedKlein’squestion,“What
does it mean to drive the cost of bullshit to zero”?
WORKLIFE
By
AMY HWANG
8 FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
Experts disagree over how serious the confabu- After Trump was challenged on Fox News about
lation problem is. ChatGPT has made remarkable retweeting some false claim, he replied, “Hey, Bill,
progress in a very short space of time. Perhaps the Bill, am I gonna check every statistic?” ChatGPT
next generation, in a year or two, will not suffer might say the same.
from the problem. Marcus thinks otherwise. He Ifyoucareaboutbeingright,thenyes,youshould
arguesthatthepseudo-factswon’tgoawaywithout check. But if you care about being noticed or being
a fundamental rethink of the way these artificial admired or being believed, then truth is incidental.
intelligence systems are built. ChatGPT says a lot of true things, but it says them
I’m not qualified to speculate on that question, only as a by-product of learning to seem believable.
but one thing is clear enough: there is plenty of Chatbots have made huge leaps forward in the
demand for bullshit in the world past couple of years, but even the
and, if it’s cheap enough, it will crude chatbots of the 20th century
be supplied in enormous quanti- There’splentyof were perfectly capable of absorbing
ties. Think about how assiduously demandforbullshit– human attention. MGonz passed
we now need to defend ourselves ifit’scheapenough, the Turing test in 1989 by firing a
against spam, noise and empty itwillbesuppliedin stream of insults at an unwitting
virality. And think about how enormousquantities human,whofiredastreamofinsults
much harder it will be when the back.ELIZA,themostfamousearly
online world is filled with inter- chatbot, would fascinate humans
esting text that nobody ever wrote, or fascinating by appearing to listen to their troubles. “Tell me
photographs of people and places that do not exist. more,” it would say. “Why do you feel that way?”
Consider the famous “fake news” problem, These simple chatbots did enough to drag the
which originally referred to a group of Macedonian humans down to their conversational level. That
teenagers who made up sensational stories for the should be a warning not to let the chatbots choose
clicks and thus the advertising revenue. Decep- the rules of engagement. Harry Frankfurt cau-
tion was not their goal; their goal was attention. tioned that the bullshitter does not oppose the
The Macedonian teens and ChatGPT demonstrate truth, but “pays no attention to it at all. By virtue
the same point. It’s a lot easier to generate inter- of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than
esting stories if you’re unconstrained by respect lies are.” Be warned: when it comes to bullshit,
for the truth. quantity has a quality of its own.
I wrote about the bullshit problem in early 2016,
before the Brexit referendum and the election of Tim Harford’s new book for children, “The Truth
Donald Trump. It was bad then; it’s worse now. Detective” (Wren & Rook), is out on March 15
 Intellect

‘Blackpool, 1992’

GALLERY
Photograph by
CRAIG EASTON

Craig Easton made this picture
of Kirsti Williams (standing)
and her siblings in 1992, at
a hostel for families experiencing
homelessness in Blackpool. Like
many, the Williamses were caught
in a cycle of unemployment and
homelessness, unable to get a job
without a permanent address, or a
permanent address without a job.
It was a time when those living
in poverty often felt demonised
by politicians. In a speech at the
Conservative party conference that
year, Tory social security minister
Peter Lilley had riffed off Gilbert
& Sullivan’s opera The Mikado,
citing a “little list” of “scroungers”
who “never would be missed”,
and vowing to “close down a
something-for-nothing society”.
“The pictures I made with [the
family] early in my career had
a deep effect on me,” Easton says.
“It was 1992 and it looked like the
1930s.” In the following years, he
tried to track down the Williamses
until finally, in 2016, he found them
on social media. “Sadly, I was not
surprised to see that most of [the
children] were in much the same
boat as their parents had been,
struggling to make ends meet.”
He began making new photographs
with the Williams children, now
parents themselves. “The glaring
difference of course,” he says, “was
that [this generation] were now in
working households – had worked
all their lives – but were unable to
break free of their past.”
Words by Josh Lustig. “Thatcher’s
Children” by Craig Easton is
published by GOST. “Is Anybody
Listening?” is at Open Eye Gallery,
Liverpool, until February 26,
then touring the UK

10 FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023

 Intellect
World View
SIMON
KUPER
Living in the past is
no bad thing for cities
P
aris is known as “the capital of the
19th century”, and day to day, it feels
likeit.Iliveona19th-centuryHauss-
mannian street. I travel around on a
late19th-centuryinvention,abicycle
with two equally sized wheels, when
I’mnotusingtheprehistorictechnologyofwalking.
Living here has helped me realise: the 20th century
was rubbish for cities. All over Europe, in particu-
lar, cities are now peeling off the century’s imprint
like a bad wallpapering job in ways that go beyond
pushing out cars. The post-pandemic urban ideal is
a cleaned-up version of the 19th-century city with
21st-century enhancements.
Early last century, cities made some fateful
bad choices. Offered two new rival vehicles, they
chose the gasoline-powered car over the clean,
cheap and compact safety bicycle. Then in 1903
the first reinforced concrete skyscraper went up
in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Concrete helps answer the vexed question
of why modern cities are ugly. Before the 20th
century, local, low-carbon, organic building mate-
rials, such as Parisian limestone, helped houses
blend with the landscape. And before developers
acquired the technology to build high, buildings
were on a human scale, small enough for a pedes-
trian to take in: think of Haussmann’s six storeys,
often with fine individual details. But the 20th
century brought concrete and glass towers with
undifferentiated flat surfaces. A woman I know
who grew up in an English new town says she real-
ised only later that living amid ugliness had made
her childhood unhappier.
Cars and subway systems allowed cities to
sprawl, so commuting was invented. Especially
12
in the US, zoning laws sanctified the separation of 19th century, as trains displace planes. More inter-
home, work and entertainment. City centres stood national high-speed train routes are scheduled to
empty at night and on weekends. open around Europe, most spectacularly, one from
Now, we’re ditching bad modernity for Paris to Berlin, though sadly, new passport controls
18th-century homeworking. In the US, about arereducingLondontothestatusofbranchstation.
30 per cent of paid full days are currently worked The new carless urban ideal should work best
from home, and even more in high-tech cities. As in European cities, which were built before the car
commutes decline, banning cars becomes easier. and have few of the New York-style office towers
Even the private electric car won’t be welcome that are now becoming redundant. Most cities
in many European cities because it takes up too outside Europe remain stuck in 20th-century
much space, and its production creates too much mode, only even more car-ridden. A decade ago,
CO2. Driverless cars are probably at the peak of Brazil’s boom, I
a long way off. However, cities asked a civic leader in São Paulo:
should soon have driverless buses Offeredtwonewrival surely rising wealth had improved
programmed to ride set routes, vehicles,citieschose city life? No, he said. It simply
says Ross Douglas, founder of thegasoline-powered meant more traffic jams, pollu-
Autonomy, which stages urban caroverthecleanand tion and children not being able to
sustainable mobility trade shows. cheapsafetybicycle play outside.
Subway use was falling in I spent the football World Cup
booming London, Paris and in Qatar, which has just finished
Washington even before the pandemic. Subways building a 20th-century-style city of motorways
remain useful for moving people from suburbs to and office towers. I reckon that even Qatar’s
downtown. But these systems were built under- royal palaces are less beautiful than my perfectly
ground because the dogma of last century was ordinary Haussmannian building.
that streets were for cars – and nobody likes trav- When done well, the 21st century enhances
elling underground. When it comes to moving cities. WiFi has turned cafés, parks, even beaches
people within a city centre, subways are now into workspaces. Tinder and LinkedIn introduce
being outcompeted by bikes, which let riders you to people, and Google Maps helps you find
enjoy today’s ever more liveable, and lived-in, them.Butthebestphysicalbitsoftoday’sbestcities
city centres. The current €36bn extension to the were built by our ancestors. Some 19th-century
Paris metro may be the western world’s last ever working-class neighbourhoods are now coveted
great subway project. The next city will just give by multimillionaires. Modernity often just makes
everyone an e-bike. cities worse. That should be a humbling thought
In the two regions with the most advanced for innovators.
transport infrastructure, western Europe and
China, even intercity travel is returning to the simon.kuper@ft.com @KuperSimon
ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY HAYSOM FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
 Intellect
American Experiment
GILLIAN
TETT
Reading or not, in
the land of the free
I
n Boston last week, I happened to spot
the lanky figure of veteran human rights
campaigner Kenneth Roth on the campus
of Harvard University. Nothing odd about
that, you might think. Roth ran the Human
Rights Watch advocacy group for many
years, to great acclaim, and seems a pretty natural
fit for the hallowed halls of Harvard Kennedy
School (HKS) of government.
Last month, however, his proposed fellow-
ship at HKS was controversially refused, a move
that Roth blamed on “donor-driven censorship”
resulting from the fact that he previously criticised
human rights abuses by Israel. This was denied by
Harvard, but that didn’t prevent an outcry over
the incident. In the ensuing fallout, the dean of
HKS reversed the decision and apologised, saying
that “the decision inadvertently cast doubt on
the mission of the school and our commitment
to open debate”.
All sides now appear keen to move on. But the
incident symbolises a bigger trend: the degree
to which American education is tying itself up
in knots about free speech. This is now so wide-
spread it is not easily downplayed. And it’s become
a touchstone for a vociferous minority on both the
left and right of politics.
Last month, a different furore erupted at
Stanford, after two students were spotted reading
Mein Kampf, and it briefly looked as though they
might be punished for it. Another protest blew up
after a professor was fired at Hamline University,
in Minnesota, for displaying a picture of the
Prophet Muhammad during a class on Islamic art.
Meanwhile Ron DeSantis, the governor of
Florida and a likely Republican presidential
14
candidate, is apparently so convinced that free expression of faith. (Moreover, kids wanting to
speech is being repressed that he has launched read these books can still buy them online.)
an attempt to take over one small liberal arts col- What is remarkable is the degree to which
lege in the state as part of his “war on woke”. “It’s a these bans are proliferating and becoming almost
tinder box,” says one professor at Yale, which has normalised, given that the US constitution is
witnessed protests and counter-protests about supposed to uphold the concept of free speech.
free speech. “As an advocate [of free speech] who has cham-
All very depressing. But if you want to feel pioned stalwart US leadership on free speech
even more alarmed, consider what is happening issues worldwide, I barely recognise my own
less visibly, earlier in the educational pipeline, country,” Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America,
in US schools. According to PEN America, the recently told Congress.
literary free speech advocate, With figures such as DeSantis
during the 2021-22 academic year throwing their support behind
there were more than 2,500 book AccordingtoPEN book bans, the trend seems
bans in different US school dis- America,therewere likely to intensify. Is there a solu-
tricts and libraries, dramatically morethan2,500book tion? Since 2016, the University
more than previously recorded. bansinschoolsand of Chicago has championed free
The 138 school districts were librariesin2021-22 expression, telling students that
located in 32 states and cov- it will not endorse intellectual
ered about four million pupils, “safe spaces”. (The university
but the heaviest concentration was in the has a rich tradition of conservative philosophi-
Republican strongholds of Texas and Flor- cal and legal scholarship.) Sadly, few others have
ida. The books targeted were, PEN found, copied this approach, which, in my view, is the
overwhelmingly “by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ correct one.
authors, by women…[or] about racism, sexuality, Nossel, meanwhile, says that while PEN used to
gender, history”. focus primarily on places like China and Russia,
Some are household names: The Bluest Eye by “we find ourselves devoting more and more energy
Toni Morrison, TheKiteRunner by Khaled Hosseini to defending free speech in America too”.
and Looking for Alaska by John Green, whose The battle for intellectual freedom has
The Fault in Our Stars is one of the highest-selling delivered some successes, as with Roth. But it
books ever. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World also underlines how fragile free expression is in an
made the list. increasingly tribal, polarised political landscape.
An optimist might note that these local That is alarming, particularly with an election
restrictions reflect the glory of America’s fed- looming in which DeSantis seems set to run.
eral structure, which gives parents a lot of power
over the education of their children and free gillian.tett@ft.com @gilliantett
ILLUSTRATION BY CRISTIANA COUCEIRO FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
 Sam?
Youthere?
OnMonday,SamBankman-Friedwasa
billionairepresidingoveracryptoempire
worth$40bn.ByFriday,hiscompanies
wereasteamingpileoffinancialtoxicwaste.
Thebrutalfinalhoursofaboyking’s reign
ByJoshuaOliver
IllustrationsbyGuillemCasasús
 InJanuary,Iwalkedupthe
frontstepsofasingle-storey,
grey-shingledhouseina
neighbourhoodonthe
fringeofStanfordUniversity.
The moment I pressed the video doorbell, I heard
Sam Bankman-Fried’s voice calling from inside.
“I’ll get it!” His father got to the door first. Bank-
manandBarbaraFried,bothprofessors,welcomed
me with the courtesy and mild indifference of par-
ents greeting a teenager coming over to hang out
with their son after school.
The family’s placid suburban house and garden,
where hummingbirds buzzed over a small foun-
tain, were overshadowed by the legal catastrophe
bearing down on the 30-year-old who resides in
the sitting room. Bankman-Fried, widely known as
SBF, faces US criminal and civil charges, including
money laundering, campaign finance violations
andconspiracytocommitwirefraud.Heisaccused
of absconding with billions of dollars from clients
of his companies, Alameda Research and FTX.
Two of his lieutenants have pleaded guilty to fraud
and are expected to testify against him. Bankman-
Fried maintains his innocence.
The reasons for SBF’s notoriety are plentiful.
Since 2019, when he founded FTX, an exchange
enabling customers to trade digital and physical
currencies, the young man with the hobbit-like
appearance has cut an unusual figure among the
global financial and political elite. Bankman-Fried
was wincingly earnest when he spoke in public
about effective altruism, Silicon Valley’s faddish
philosophy of philanthropy, or about FTX’s plans
to legitimise the world of crypto, or, as his company
grew, acquiring Goldman Sachs. He wholeheart-
edly embraced his image as a shambolic boy genius
and, worth more than $20bn at his peak, he cheer-
ily vowed to give it all away.
Instead, he watched his companies disintegrate
into a steaming pile of financial toxic waste. It took
a little less than a week. What follows is the most
detailed account yet of FTX’s final days. It is based
on interviews with people with first-hand knowl-
edge of events, as well as court documents and
extensive internal messages and emails, which
have been minimally edited for length and clarity.
They show how a tiny group of millennial million-
aires and life-long friends panicked and despaired
as they ran a $40bn company into the ground.
Numerous FTX employees spoke to me
on condition of anonymity, for fear of legal
repercussions, except for Bankman-Fried. “Just,
everyone left,” Bankman-Fried told me. “I couldn’t
do it alone. And, if I’m alone, then maybe I’m
wrong. I am pretty impervious to pressure, but at
some point I started to feel like maybe I’m the one
who’s wrong here.”
I.Sell,sell,sell
On Monday, Bankman-Fried issued new orders
to traders at Alameda, his crypto trading firm.
A small group of savants, hunched behind nine-
screen workstations, were told to start selling off as
much of the company’s eclectic investment portfo-
lio as they could, as fast as possible.
NOVEMBER 7
Trader
Close everything down to generate
capital, maximally aggressive…
liquidate all positions?
SBF
There is definitely a fair bit of urgency
SBF
ETA on getting at least $2b of USD?
Bankman-Fried needed cash because clients of
his other company, FTX, were in a panic. News of
leaked documents showing a dangerous depend-
ence on its digital currency known as FTT had been
bad enough. But then, one of Bankman-Fried’s
rivals threatened to dump some $500mn of FTT
on to the market and tank its value. Now, FTX was
being overrun by withdrawals, with billions flow-
ing out the door by the hour.
Bankman-Fried’s inner circle was mostly gath-
ered at the Albany, a 600-acre luxury compound in
Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. The CEO lived
with a rotating cast of colleagues in a five-bedroom
penthousewithviewsoftheyachtsinthemarina.It
was one of several Albany properties the company
bought when it moved to the island the previ-
ous year. Most FTX staff had done little to settle
into their new homes, creating a bizarre contrast
between the glitzy real estate and the barren apart-
ments.“Itwasalotmoreofa‘verynicedorm-room’
style than you would expect,” said someone who
spent time there.
Bankman-Fried was one of the elders. Gary
Wang, FTX’s taciturn and solitary technology
chief, was a friend from high-school maths camp
and MIT. Nishad Singh, the number two coder,
was a friend of Bankman-Fried’s younger brother
and had been recruited from Facebook. Singh was
friendly and outgoing, popular with staff. Both
Wang and Singh were dating fellow employees.
Caroline Ellison was Alameda’s 28-year-old
chiefexecutive.AHarryPottersuperfan,shewrote
a blog with voluminous entries about everything
from her favourite books to the merits of kayaks
(“clearly one of the best ways for humans to get
around water”). She’d met Bankman-Fried during
his brief stint at the Wall Street trading firm Jane
Street in 2013.
At Alameda, she was a low-key boss. “Caroline
didn’t have a lot of gravitas,” said one staffer. “The
firsttimeImetherIthoughtshewasanintern.”Elli-
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
 son, who was in Hong Kong on a long-planned trip
whenthecrisishit,hadbeenromanticallyinvolved
with Bankman-Fried the year before. Since their
relationship ended, communication between the
two had been inconsistent and, at times, awkward.
Lawyers for Wang and Singh declined to com-
ment.Ellison’sattorneydidnotrespondtorequests
for comment.
Bankman-Fried minimised the crisis FTX was
facing as a “liquidity” issue, meaning the company
didn’t have enough cash on hand to meet with-
drawals. It was a big problem, but a fixable one.
He brushed off the idea of filing for bankruptcy
protection, which would, in effect, be conceding
there were profound issues at the core of the busi-
ness. Convinced he could fundraise his way out of
trouble, Bankman-Fried ignored concerns that
bringing in more money from investors would be
perpetuating an alleged fraud to cover losses.
When senior executives outside Bankman-
Fried’s circle pored over spreadsheets, they
reached a different conclusion. “It’s not liquidity.
It’s fucking solvency. It’s a big, gaping hole in cus-
tomer assets,” said one top executive, describing
the realisation that money FTX promised to safe-
guard was missing. “It was such an unbelievable
shock to the system,” said another former senior
executive. As word spread, the leadership frac-
tured into two opposing camps. The “Bahamas
team” gathered around Bankman-Fried on the
Caribbean island, as he frantically hit the phones,
seeking investors. In New York, an opposing group
began planning for the worst. Former employees
called them “the adults.”
II.Twohurricanes
A hurricane was barrelling towards headquarters,
but FTX employees in Nassau woke up on Tues-
day to sunny skies. Many headed into the office,
a crowded string of low terracotta-coloured build-
ings in a waterfront office park, despite the storm
warning. When they learnt withdrawals from the
exchange were halted, many employees realised
their personal savings were trapped too. “No one
had rushed to take out their own money,” said
one. “We had extreme faith in the company and
Sam himself.”
As rank-and-file staff waited for an update,
FTX’s leadership tried to get a handle on the crisis.
A “war room” had been set up in Bankman-Fried’s
penthouseandmuchofthetechteam,afraidtotalk
openly about the company’s distress, moved there.
Bankman-Fried’s right-hand in his fundraising
drive was Constance Wang, FTX’s chief operat-
ing officer. In her late-twenties, she had spent two
years as a Credit Suisse analyst and had two short
stints at other crypto businesses before landing the
high-profile role at FTX. She’d overseen much of
the company’s star-studded marketing and hosted
almost-weekly parties at her Nassau villa.
It was 2am in Hong Kong when Lennix Lai’s
phone buzzed. A top executive at rival crypto
exchange OKX, Lai picked up to find Bankman-
Fried on the other end of the line. Market panic
had created a cash crunch, and FTX might need
“a little bit of help,” he told Lai calmly. Customers
were withdrawing money at an unsustainable rate.
Lai ended the call open to lending a hand.
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
Around 7am, he woke up to another call from
Nassau. The numbers Bankman-Fried threw out
were stunning: FTX needed “a couple billion”
dollars immediately to avoid “very serious con-
sequences”. Delay would cause the hole to grow to
between $4bn and $8bn.
Bankman-Fried once boasted to a reporter that
he was “one of the world’s greatest fundraisers.” He
had raised $1.8bn since 2019, despite sometimes
appearing not to try very hard. In one successful
pitch meeting with top venture capitalists that
became part of his legend, he’d played video games
throughout. Now, his hot streak ended. He was
turned down first by a handful of private equity
firms, then by his largest competitors, includ-
ing Coinbase, Huobi and OKX. VCs wouldn’t bite
either. Lai was just one of many who was not pre-
pared to write a cheque. But before he hung up, he
gaveBankman-Friedsomeadvice:“Whynotspeak
to CZ?”
“CZ” is Changpeng Zhao, crypto’s greatest
tycoon. The 45-year-old Canadian-Chinese CEO of
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, is in
many ways Bankman-Fried’s opposite. CZ’s large,
round head of buzzed hair and small, bespectacled
eyes give him an air of intense focus. At the peak
of the crypto market in 2021, he was said to be the
richest man in the world. But those estimates are
hazy because CZ’s wealth, and Binance’s owner-
shipstructure,areobscuredbyajumbleofoffshore
companies. CZ was an early investor in FTX, but
he and Bankman-Fried fell out over their different
approaches to regulation. The two companies’ staff
had come to view each other with enmity.
Eventually, Bankman-Fried had no choice but to
heed Lai’s advice. He sent a string of “increasingly
desperate” messages to his arch-rival. “When he
reachedouttome,Ithoughthewasgoingtoaskfora
[private] deal to buy the FTT tokens… But when he
calledme,heveryquicklyalludedthatthey’reinbig
trouble, and they’re looking for a buyout,” CZ later
said, at a conference. “I knew he was desperate.”
The rush to raise money seemed outrageous to
some executives. Dan Friedberg, FTX’s top lawyer
since2020,thoughtattemptingtofundraiselooked
like an extension of a likely fraud, he later claimed,
according to court documents. Other executives
felt the same. “I had the concern that… raising
money was fraudulent if we didn’t tell people what
was really going on,” said one.
The flurry of activity was unknown to most of
FTX’sstaff.“Therealityisthatatthetimetherewas
no communication from the executive team to the
employees, and I really did not understand it,” said
an employee. “People were getting panicked inter-
nally,” said another. “I kept sending Sam messages
on Signal. He was not even reading my messages.”
When Bankman-Fried finally broke his silence,
it was to announce that Binance had agreed to
buy FTX. But it was little more than a handshake.
There had been no time to hammer out terms, and
CZ reserved the right to walk away after looking
over his competitor’s books. There wasn’t even a
valueforthetransaction.Still,itseemedtovalidate
Bankman-FriedandtheBahamasteam’sbeliefthat
the company could survive.
Bankman-Fried shared the news on Twitter
an hour before FTX’s weekly all-hands meet-
ing. He also posted a Slack message to his few
hundred employees.
NOVEMBER 8 2022 New
SBF
I’m sorry that I haven’t been very
communicative in the last few days
— we’ve been figuring out what to do
in real time… You might have
completely reasonable questions for
me, like “what exactly is the
transaction”, and “what entities would
it include”. Unfortunately I don’t yet
have a definitive answer for you.
Staff clustered around the big screen in the corner
of the Nassau office to watch. Employees were used
to hearing about the company’s latest progress and
quizzing their normally loquacious boss. “[But]
that was the first time that Sam refused to take
questions,” said one employee. Many interpreted
this as a bad sign. “The message was: ‘We’re fucked.
I fucked up,’” another said.
The announcement of the sale to Binance broke
many staffers’ spirits. FTX billed itself as pro-reg-
ulation, a righteous force in the sometimes shady
crypto world. Binance was seen as the opposite,
having refused to even name a location for its head-
quarters to avoid oversight. To FTX staff, it was
like Luke Skywalker joining Darth Vader. “That
moment created panic,” said an employee. “No one
expected it.”
Many of them started quitting. Soon, news of
FTX’s troubles was spreading beyond headquar-
ters. Rental car agencies in Nassau demanded their
vehicles back. Hotels and landlords turned out
FTXemployees,someofwhommovedintoproper-
ties owned by the company. Many workers rushed
to book tickets off the island. “If you could get a
flight out tomorrow, you would go,” one recalled.
When rumours spread that FTX staff were being
searched at the airport, colleagues started throw-
ing out any article of clothing imprinted with the
company’s logo. “It was this combination of a real,
physical hurricane and a psychological hurricane,”
saidoneemployee.“Itwasthemostcrazy,hectic24
hours of my life. I felt like my worldview was falling
apart. FTX was not just a job for me and for other
people. FTX was my life.”
III.Callthelawyers.Allthelawyers
The thought of legal risk weighed heavily on Ryne
Miller, FTX US’s 40-year-old general counsel in
New York. A huge bear of a man with a grizzled
beard, Miller had not followed the usual gold-
plated road from Ivy League law school to Wall
Street. Miller, who corrected colleagues who pro-
nounced his name “Ryan” (it’s more like “Rhine”),
studied law in Oklahoma and worked at a regional
firm before working his way up to a job at the Com-
modity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the
US regulator. In mid-2021, Miller left a partner-
ship at Sullivan & Cromwell, a top Wall Street firm
known as S&C, to join FTX.
Some in the Bahamas were suspicious of Miller,
seeing him more as a creature of the US legal world
than a crypto diehard. But even employees who
disliked him respected his skills. “Ryne is a sharp
fucking lawyer,” said one. Now, Miller quickly
became the Bahamas team’s main antagonist.
“I think Ryne, as a lawyer, was like ‘holy shit,’”
19
 said a former colleague. “If you realise that
some horrible crime just took place, you don’t
keep some part of the business running.” Miller
declined to comment.
On Tuesday morning, Miller and Can Sun, FTX
International’s general counsel, called an urgent
video meeting with Andy Dietderich, a partner at
S&C. Dietderich’s soft-spoken manner belied his
reputation as an aggressive lawyer. As soon as he
clicked the Zoom link, he could tell something was
wrong, according to an account he gave a court.
Sun and Miller were visibly upset. They told him
FTX didn’t have the money to pay back customers.
Dietderich was stunned to learn his client needed
to think about bankruptcy.
Dietderich, 53, is a veteran of what restructur-
ing pros call “free-fall” bankruptcies, in which
companies plunge into bankruptcy without a
restructuring plan in place. Still, he was stag-
gered by the job in front of him. Bankman-Fried’s
empire was hyper-complex, and it was unravelling
at frightening speed. Within hours, Dietderich had
marshalled dozens of S&C lawyers in London, New
York and Hong Kong to prepare options for how
to unwind more than 100 global corporate entities
that comprised FTX and Alameda. They also drew
up a list of four restructuring experts who could
take control.
Miller wanted to know if the problems at
FTX International extended to its US arm, which
was supposed to operate separately under Amer-
ican regulation. He began demanding answers
from Bankman-Fried’s confidantes: was FTX US
truly separate?
NOVEMBER 8
Ryne Miller
I need to know the fucking truth
about FTX US right now.
Nishad Singh
yes FTXUS should be totally separate
Miller was increasingly frustrated by the lack
of communication from the Bahamas, as he
demanded proof the US division was solvent.
NOVEMBER 8 22:33
Ryne Miller
I need to wire SullCrom $4m to make
sure we are all represented through
this. And we preserve any value that
is left. Tomorrow… Who can do it? I’m
in charge now.
Theopposingcampsbecamemoreentrenched:the
New York group struggled to prepare for what it
came to see as an inevitable bankruptcy, while the
one in the Bahamas tried to come to grips with the
scenario in which FTX would, in the end, be swal-
lowed by Binance.
The last time FTX staff gathered in any strength
of numbers was Tuesday night at Bankman-Fried’s
penthouse, where several dozen employees sat in
small groups, some in tears. Rain was starting to
sweepinoffthesea,splashingontothewidebalcony
bathed in blue spotlights. Singh’s two labradoodles
20
wandered through the apartment, nuzzling up to
the downcast 20-somethings. “We were in total
shock,” one employee said. “It finally hit me that
we lost tremendously. I cried my eyes out.”
Many of them wore FTX-branded clothes and
joked about needing to embroider “powered by
Binance” under the old logo. The catering staff,
more accustomed to seeing the gang of crypto
nerds either working or celebrating, were taken
aback. “It felt like being at the collapse of Rome,”
one attendee said. Someone quietly asked a server
to take an uneaten dessert away. The chocolate
pudding topped with gold flakes seemed likesome-
thing from a previous era.
IV.Waytoomanyissues
Rumours of the Binance deal quickly drew inquir-
ies from Bahamian officials worried about the fate
ofoneofthecountry’smostfamousemployers.The
Caribbean nation had developed bespoke regula-
tionforcryptoandwelcomedBankman-Friedwith
open arms. His company had good relations with
Ryan Pinder, the attorney-general, as well as Chris-
tina Rolle, the top financial regulator. Now, both
needed answers.
Nov 8, 11:37
From: Christina Rolle
To: Sam Bankman-Fried
Good morning... Please advise your availability
to meet with the Securities Commission of The
Bahamas to discuss recent press regarding
liquidity issues as well as the potential
acquisition of FTX by Binance…
Nov 8, 14:48
From: Sam Bankman-Fried
To: Christina Rolle
Hey! I’m pretty pressed for time but will make
sure that we talk to you ASAP; I’ll briefly say that,
as of now, no sale has happened or been
finalized although there are active talks. We’ll
keep you updated about those
Nov 8, 11:29
From: Ryan Pinder
To: Sam Bankman-Fried
Good morning, I know it must be a hectic time.
Is there more information you can share with us
regarding the purported [agreement] between
FTX and Binance? Ryan
Tuesday, 16:58
From: Daniel Friedberg
To: Ryan Pinder
Hi Ryan – sorry for the delay. [Can Sun, FTX
International’s general counsel] is on island and
will coordinate.
Dan Friedberg opposed a US bankruptcy. The
company had already turned off the tap for client
withdrawals; other crypto exchanges had frozen
funds for weeks and survived. If it came to it, FTX
should file for insolvency overseas. Bankruptcy
in the US brought the risks of regulatory scrutiny
and the interference of lawyers inexperienced in
crypto. “You have a bunch of people coming in who
don’t know the business at all,” said one executive
of that scenario. “It’s just going to be a shitshow.”
ButbylateTuesday,bothFriedbergandSunhad
resigned. Sun emailed colleagues to say he quit.
Friedberg seemed to “disappear,” according to col-
leagues. Sun declined to comment. Friedberg did
not reply to requests for comment.
The resignations left Miller as the senior lawyer
for FTX US and Tim Wilson, who had also worked
at S&C earlier in his career, as the remaining attor-
ney for FTX International. “Ryne saw the FTX
situation as similar to the Merrill Lynch situation
or Lehman in 2009,” said a former colleague. Mill-
er’s former firm had handled Lehman, the largest
bankruptcy in US history. Wilson did not respond
to requests for comment.
NOVEMBER 9 10:38
Ryne Miller
We need to bring in a professional
manager who will begin making real
decisions (supported by input from
this group) towards wind down
(SullCrom will identify and bring in
this person). Binance understands
that process needs to start, and in
fact it will give them a proper point
of contact as wind down proceeds
and the “deal” between them and
FTX begins to take shape…
Zach Dexter, one of the company’s top US exec-
utives, pasted a link to a news story many had
already read. It claimed that Binance was going
to walk away from the deal because its first look
at FTX’s books allegedly showed misappropria-
tion of customer funds. The ensuing message and
email exchanges, parts of which were previously
reported by the New York Times, show the divi-
sionsabouthowtoproceed.Dexterdidnotrespond
to requests for comment.
Ryne Miller
Spoke to Binance legal this morning
as a diligence kick-off. Was very
high-level and they said they would
follow-up. I do not have a direct
contact there beyond that call.
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
 SBF (reply to Dexter)
they hadn’t reached out to us about that,
haven’t heard anything from them
directly, reaching out
SBF (reply to Miller)
on a call, sec
Caroline Ellison
Right now I’m thinking of
[communicating to employees] a
vibe of ‘Alameda is probably going
to wind down, if you don’t want to
stay or want to take some time off
no pressure, if you do want to help
with stuff like making sure our
lenders get repaid it’s super
appreciated’
Caroline Ellison
Did this… though now I’m kinda
worried that everyone is gonna
quit/take time off and I’m going to
end up trying to unwind all our
positions myself
Somebody in the group chat chimed in to ask, “Can
we offer some bonus for people to work through
this? I know there’s not a ton of $ but maybe some-
thing?” Miller replied:
Ryne Miller
No. We should continue to make
payroll as fast as that’s possible.
Other expenditures sharply curtailed.
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried tried to get answers
out of CZ. A person who saw the messages read
them to me over the phone:
NOVEMBER 9
SBF
Hey, we are still extremely excited to work
on this with you guys. We are obviously
seeing a lot of public pieces coming out
claiming leaks, but we obviously don’t know
if that’s real. We would love to get clarity
from you guys on this, and we are willing to
do anything to make this work
CZ
Sam, we won’t be able to
continue this deal. Way too
many issues. CZ
The collapse of the Binance deal strengthened the
case for bankruptcy. Desperate for a legal second
opinion to counter Miller and Wilson’s appeals,
Bankman-Fried turned to his father, Stanford pro-
fessor Joe Bankman, a specialist in tax law who had
served as an adviser to his son before and had flown
from California to join him in the Bahamas. As the
crisis deepened on Wednesday, some FTX execu-
tives were blowing the whistle to regulators.
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
Ryne Miller (reply to Ellison)
Based on what we are learning...
and based on advice of Sullivan &
Cromwell, our recommendation
and instruction (I am GC of FTX
NOVEMBER
US so saying9 16:04
what I can) is to turn
off trading and halt activity on
both FTX US and FTX.com. And
then identify a control/decision
person to work with outside
counsel on next steps. For US
purposes, we will be informing
the CFTC, SEC, and Department of
Justice that this recommendation
has been made.
Bankman-Fried acknowledged the message and
relayed a company-wide note he’d just shared.
SBF
sent this just now, ack on the above: — Hey
all, We obviously just saw Binance’s
statement; they relayed that first to the
media, not to us, and had not previously
informed us or expressed those
reservations. I’m working, as quickly as I
can, on next steps here. I wish I could give
you all more clarity than I can. I completely
understand if you want to step away, and
don’t blame you at all for it. My goals here
are: protecting customers, doing what I
can for employees and investors. I’ll keep
fighting for those, as best I can, as long as
it’s correct for me to. I’m exploring all the
options. I am deeply sorry that we got into
this place, and for my role in it. That’s on
me, and me alone, and it sucks, and I’m
sorry, not that that makes it any better. @
Zach Dexter and @Ryne Miller are good
people to contact about FTX us
Ryne Miller
Thank you @SBF @Nishad Singh
@Gary Wang. Who can turn off
the websites? And who can
identify, on chain, what exact
assets we have for US?
Constance Wang
Hi Ryne, I love you but I don’t want to
stop trying yet. I appreciate you letting
me try everything I can and manage
the situation to provide clarities and
assurance to our users too. If nothing
works I’d be happy to work with you on
a proper wind down
Ryne Miller
I understand your perspective,
thank you. I am not making public
statements. I will report to our US
regulators consistent with our
obligations.
That afternoon, Miller joined Ryan Salame, chair
of the FTX’s Bahamas corporate entity, on a video
meeting with the head of the island’s securities
regulator, Christina Rolle. According to Rolle’s
sworn account, Salame told the authorities that
FTX client assets had been transferred to Alameda
without their knowledge or consent. This looked to
Rolle like a possible crime. She ended the call and
phoned the police.
Nov 9, 8:03
From: Ryan Pinder
To: Sam Bankman-Fried
The Government of The Bahamas would like to
ask some questions, and get an update on the
current situation. I will be briefing the Prime
Minister later today. Can you please assist with a
briefing update as well as addressing the
following questions…What is the ongoing
commitment to The Bahamas? Thank you, Ryan
Nov 9, 16:16
From: Sam Bankman-Fried
To: Ryan Pinder
Sorry giving updates as I can. Things moving
quickly. I can’t give as confident answers as I’d
like to all of those [questions]. My current only
priority is doing right by customers, and doing
whatever I can for that; right now that means
prioritising, above everything else, getting
funding to fill the liquidity gap so that all
customers can be made liquid. cc’ing Joe/
Constance/Ryan who can give more details.
Sam Bankman-Fried
Nov 9, 18:00
From: Ryan Pinder
To: Sam Bankman-Fried
Thank you Sam. Joe, Constance, Ryan - please
provide me with a brief and answers to the
questions below so I can provide the Prime
Minister an update. Ryan
Nov 9, 21:27
From: Sam Bankman-Fried
To: Ryan Pinder
Hi all, I’m really sorry about the delayed
responses here – it’s been a hectic week but
that’s on me. Myself, and Joe (cc’ed), will be
responsive going forward. And I’m also deeply
sorry for ending up in this position in the first
place… Right now we are focused on one thing:
making customers whole. We are focusing
exclusively on doing that this week… As you saw,
Binance did not end up following through on
their transaction. However, we are in the middle
of a separate process to make users whole; we
will know within a week if that comes through…
We are deeply grateful for what The Bahamas
has done for us, and deeply committed to it…”
Then, Bankman-Fried made the government
an astonishing offer. He suggested FTX would
be “more than happy” to open withdrawals for
Bahamas customers. “If we don’t hear back from
you,” he wrote, “we are going to go ahead and do it
tomorrow.” It was an act of desperation by Bank-
man-Fried’s camp, according to one ally. They
were panicked by rumours they were about to be
arrested and trying to guess which moves might
placate authorities.
Shortly after sending his late-night appeal to
the attorney-general, another email dropped into
Bankman-Fried’s inbox. Dietderich, at S&C, was
suggesting John Ray to tackle the crisis at FTX. Ray
21
 is something of a legend in the restructuring world.
A 40-year-veteran of insolvency, with military-
style short grey hair, Ray has the air of a three-star
general, rather than an attorney. He cut his teeth as
general counsel of Fruit of the Loom when it went
bellyupinthe1990sandmadehisnameastheman
who oversaw the unwinding of Enron, the corpo-
rate fraud of the century. He would soon displace
Bankman-Fried as CEO.
V. Nightmare scenarios
Until Thursday, Bankman-Fried would not enter-
tain the idea of bankruptcy. What brought him
to the table for talks with Miller and S&C was the
forced liquidation of FTX’s Nassau company by
Bahamas regulators. That looked like the begin-
ning of what the company’s US lawyers saw as a
nightmare scenario: if each of FTX’s hundreds of
companies from Turkey to Japan was separately
pushed into bankruptcy, they would be left with
an unmanageable mess. Filing in the US was the
only way to keep the process even remotely close
to controlled.
The Bahamas team’s war room moved to a
nearby villa, where Constance Wang lived. The
“Conch Shack”, a 9,000-square-foot mansion with
a palm-fringed pool in its courtyard, was more
privatethanthepenthouse.Therelocationwasalso
intendedtofinallyallowteammemberstogetsome
sleep. Many had been up for three days straight.
Bankman-Fried’s inner circle was starting to
fray. Two of his closest lieutenants, Singh and
Ramnik Arora, who led much of FTX’s past fun-
draising, cracked under the pressure. “Nobody
had gone through a disaster before, so people were
breaking psychologically,” said someone close
to them. “It was never more apparent to me how
young all of them were than in the 72-hour period
before bankruptcy.” Arora declined to comment.
Ellison weighed in over chat from Hong Kong
but seemed disengaged. Alameda had gambled
hugely and been badly affected by the collapse of
digital assets in 2022. Ellison told a colleague she
was “relieved” that she wouldn’t have to carry the
burden of running Alameda any more. “She felt a
littletrapped,”thecolleaguesaid.“Itwasover,even
if it was a bad ‘over.’”
People in the war room began to notice top
executives disappearing. They hoped they were
finally sleeping. In fact, some were starting to pack
up and leave.
In the afternoon, Bankman-Fried met with Diet-
derich,theS&Cbankruptcypartner,onavideocall.
To Dietderich’s surprise, the founder sat next to his
father.DavidMills,anotherStanfordLawprofessor
andawhite-collarexpert,wasalsoonthecall,along
with a criminal defence expert and restructuring
specialist from the law firm Paul, Weiss. All were
acting for Bankman-Fried personally. Dietderich
bristled. S&C was working for the company, he said
according to court records, and Bankman-Fried
was a corporate officer with a fiduciary duty. The
presence of the personal lawyers suggested to Diet-
derich that Bankman-Fried was thinking about his
personal legal exposure. After the call, Dietderich
told colleagues that a Chapter 11 filing was immi-
nent and called in criminal law colleagues from the
firm. Mills declined to comment.
22
Around 8pm, S&C sent Bankman-Fried the
draft of a document giving John Ray full control
of FTX. As the hours ticked by, with dozens of law-
yers and consultants waiting, Bankman-Fried
refused to sign.
Nov 10, 21:20
From: Ryne Miller
To: Sam Bankman-Fried
Sam need this signed ASAP. Let me know.
Nov 10, 22:36
From: Zach Dexter
To: Sam Bankman-Fried
Sam this is an excellent pick and I
wholeheartedly hope you sign this tonight. The
faster John is in place, the faster the company
can resolve issues that require urgent progress.
Those of us remaining can help you significantly
if you sign tonight.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers haggled over the choice
of Ray and the selection of new directors for the
company in bankruptcy. They questioned whether
filing for bankruptcy in the US would expose Bank-
man-Fried to more scrutiny from American law
enforcement, Dietderich later said in court filings.
He said he told Bankman-Fried’s counsel that the
worries about his own interest were “inappropri-
ate.” Meanwhile, Miller continued to press.
NOVEMBER 10 21:48
Ryne Miller to SBF
Hello sir – I sent you the doc
as DocuSign. I would super
appreciate your signing it.
Thank you again for getting
this piece done.
Ryne Miller to Sam Bankman-Fried
MISSED CALL 22:14
22:36
Ryne Miller to SBF
Hi there - a gentle ping to
see if you could sign the
DocuSign I sent. Happy to
discuss it with you if helpful.
Thanks again.
NOVEMBER 11 00:21
SBF
Hey sorry looking it over!
00:33
Ryne Miller
We need this one. It lets the
organization start to be put
in place to move forward,
and allows the people trying
to help begin to actually
help... Folks really need to
start the next phase. Thank
you in advance for your
consideration of that
perspective.
In the early hours of Friday, FTX’s Australian sub-
sidiary was forced into insolvency. The unravelling
envisioned by the lawyers had begun. But Bank-
man-Fried still wouldn’t sign. His phone buzzed
incessantly with messages and calls from an army
of lawyers and staff.
NOVEMBER 11 01:44
Tim Wilson
Sam, we just got placed in
“voluntary” bankruptcy in Australia
by the board
SBF
understood
Tim Wilson
Sorry – but this is now getting even
more urgent
Tim Wilson
Sam…I want to help get you
comfortable here, but it needs to
happen asap.
Miller pasted a screenshot and email from Dietder-
ich in the chat:
Nov 11, 02:03
From: Andy Dietderich
To: Sam Bankman-Fried
Can we please have an update? We have many
people in NY and Delaware waiting to proceed.
We have done the work we can without Sam’s
signature. If Sam is not going to sign the
instruction appointing Ray tonight, we will send
people home and regroup in the morning.
Australia has commenced voluntary
proceedings and we can expect more shortly. If
Sam is signing relatively promptly, we can stay
around. Please let us know promptly if we should
continue to wait. Andy
NOVEMBER 11 02:50
Ryne Miller
@SBF fresh doc sent, per instructions from
your counsel. Thanks. Let me know
The FTX founder was nothing if not convinced
that he was smarter than everyone else. He had
held out for days against the advice of the compa-
ny’s lawyers, then its outside counsel and finally
his own attorneys. But what changed his mind was
mass desertion, first of his staff and then of the
long-time friends around him. By Thursday night,
only a half dozen loyalists, including Constance
and Gary, remained.
Bankman-Fried was a general without an army.
The single-page legal document in front of him
gave Ray total control over FTX and its linked
companies, with power to file them for bank-
ruptcy. Just after 4am on Friday morning, he
clicked the DocuSign link.
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
 NOVEMBER 11 07:37
Ryne Miller
The bankruptcy filings for Alameda and FTX.
com will begin to start this a.m. Understand
that @Gary Wang did amazing work last
night to get many aspects of the site in
better shape. The entire FTX ecosystem
looks forward to being able to rely on folks
here to provide similar information and
consulting help in coming days.
Bankman-Fried remained at the Albany. On
Sunday November 13, he and Wang were locked
out of FTX’s systems by Ray’s team. Bankman-
Fried privately fumed about what he considered
“the adults’” broken promises, namely, to con-
sult on fundraising efforts and the appointment of
directors. Over email, Bankman-Fried appealed to
Ray for a role in the company’s unwinding.
November 13
From: Sam Bankman-Fried
To: John Ray
Hey John, I’d be super happy to chat — here,
phone, etc.! Sam
November 14
From: Sam Bankman-Fried
To: John Ray
I’d actually love to talk to you, John, and don’t
need my counsel to talk first—I’m ready/
prepared to talk, and think it would be very
constructive and helpful for coordination
between offices and entities for us to have a
productive communicative relationship—or at
last to explore having one. Sam
November 15
From: Sam Bankman-Fried
To: John Ray
Hey John, I’d really love to talk. We’ve been
having a lot of trouble responding to the
Bahamian provisional liquidators’ questions
because we keep getting locked out of our
systems, and we’re not getting much of a
response on that. We’d really love to access to
our 1password accounts, and GCP, and AWS. I’d
also just love to talk with you and synch up so
hopefully we can work constructively together…
Please reach out anytime. Sam
December 12
From: Sam Bankman-Fried
To: John Ray
Hi Mr Ray, I have potentially pertinent
information concerning future opportunities and
financing for FTX and its creditors. I also believe
GETTY IMAGES; BLOOMBERG
that I have relevant financial information about
FTX US, and further that I have potentially
relevant regulatory information concerning FTX.
I would love to talk to you, whether it’s via email
or phone, and to work constructively with you
and the Chapter 11 team to do what’s best for
customers… Sam.
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
argument that S&C conspired to force him into
January 2
bankruptcy, appoint its hand-picked new CEO
From: Sam Bankman-Fried
and pocket millions in legal fees. (S&C, Miller and
Ray have rejected his claims.) “He still thinks that
To: John Ray
if bankruptcy had never been filed, everything
Mr Ray, I know things haven’t gotten off on the would have been ok,” says someone who knows
right foot, but I really do want to be helpful…As Bankman-Fried well.
I’m guessing you’ve heard, I’m in NYC for the Bankman-Fried admitted he has been dwelling
next day. I’d love to meet up while I’m here—
even if just to say hi… Sam on what will happen if he’s found guilty of charges
that carry a potential life sentence. Next to the
chess sets is a stack of printed legal documents.
Thinking back to the final days of FTX, he said it
Ray never replied. appeared to him that his friends and advisers were
warped by pressure. “It felt to me like everyone
around me had lost their minds all at once. And
VI.PrisonerinPaloAlto everyone is behaving bizarrely poorly,” he said. “I
did feel sort of like there were no adults left in the
In December 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested room, like everyone is a child now.”
in the Bahamas and charged with orchestrating Bankman-Fried’s defence is that he screwed
“one of the biggest financial frauds in American up. But he still sounds like a kid expecting to be
history.” After nine nights in custody in Nassau, he slapped on the wrist. Outside his sanctuary in Palo
was extradited to the US, granted bail and confined Alto, most of the world has concluded that he is an
to his parents’ house. Caroline Ellison and Gary adult and that he is at fault, leaving only the tiny
Wang have turned cooperating witnesses against oasisofhisparents’homewheretheoppositemight
him. Singh may be next. On January 3, the day still be true.
after Bankman-Fried told Ray he was “available”
to meet in NYC, he appeared in a Manhattan court Joshua Oliver is the FT’s asset management reporter.
to plead not guilty. Additional reporting by William Langley and
Before meeting him in Palo Alto, the last I spoke Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong, Sujeet Indap in
to Bankman-Fried in person was at the height of New York and Nikou Asgari and Kadhim Shubber
his wealth and power, on the balcony of a beach- in London
front restaurant at the Albany. Sitting in his
parents’ house, he seemed remarkably similar. He
is still a ball of nervous energy, earnest, awkward
and apparently eager to please. As we chatted,
he tapped urgently on his laptop, checking base-
ball news and playing Storybook Brawl, a computer
game. He said he had no hard feelings towards
friends who fled or turned against him as FTX
crumbled. “It was an incredibly tough situation
and it’s not what people signed up for. And I don’t
begrudge people not wanting to stick through it.”
Since moving home, Bankman-Fried has occu-
pied a book-lined room where he has parked a
desk with two huge monitors in the middle of
the floor. To one side, there is a sofa where he fre-
quently sleeps, even though his bedroom is down
the hall. When he shifts to sit cross-legged in his
swivel chair, a characteristic pose, he has to adjust
the chunky black ankle monitor he wears as a con-
dition of his confinement.
He complains of too much down time and the
opportunity to stew. In his den, there is a marble
slab table with two chess sets set up side by side.
Whodoesheplaywith?“Rightnow,noone.Itissort
ofthereprospectivelyasmuchasanythingelse,”he
said. He spends his days on calls with lawyers and
journalists, or writing long and rambling reflec-
tions on what happened. So far, he has produced
over a thousand pages, he told me.
By speaking to the press, Bankman-Fried has
shreddedtheplaybookforcriminaldefendants.He
has increasingly fixated on the bankruptcy filing
as the pivotal error. On Twitter and in his writing
and interviews, he rails against Miller and S&C for
pushing FTX into bankruptcy, blaming them for
shutting off the rescue routes that he insists would
have let him pay back customers. Bankman-Fried
claims he had no idea about Wilson’s or Ray’s long
history with S&C and claims this strengthens his
23
 ACROPOLIS NOW
A resolution to one of Britain’s bitterest cultural battles finally comes into sight
BY GEORGE PARKER, ELENI VARVITSIOTI AND JAMES PICKFORD. PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL COLLINS

24 FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023

 I
n a Knightsbridge hotel suite furnished
with an Italian marble bathroom, indi-
vidually selected artworks and “touch
me fabrics”, two fiftysomething men
who agreed to meet on the condition of
total secrecy were wondering: “Can we
make history?”
Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos
Mitsotakis had invited George Osborne, former
Conservative politician and current chair of
the British Museum, to explore a deal to end one
of the world’s bitterest political and cultural dis-
putes: the row over the fate of the 2,500-year-old
Parthenon Sculptures.
Two centuries after they were hauled from
the ruins of the Parthenon temple in Athens by a
British nobleman, the treasures, also known as the
Elgin Marbles, are among the greatest in the British
Museum. Housed in a dedicated room, the sculp-
tures of Olympian gods and goddesses, centaurs
and warriors, are unmatched examples of the art-
istry and ambition of fifth century BCE Athens.
The showstopper is the Frieze, the marble
relief decorated with men and women in a stately
procession, which ran round the 160m-long inner
colonnade of the Parthenon. Lord Elgin brought
75m of it to London, the largest surviving portion.
Greece wants it back. “It’s my passion,” Mitsotakis
told the Financial Times, as he reflected on that
first meeting with Osborne at the Berkeley Hotel in
November 2021. “I wanted it very much from the
first time I saw the Frieze when I was about 18 years
old and visited the British Museum. What shocked
and infuriated me was that the monument was
broken. It’s like you’ve taken the Mona Lisa and
cut it in half.”
Osborne listened intently as Mitsotakis set out
his case. He had barely given any thought to the
Parthenon Sculptures during his career in British
politics. He’s best known for his role as the coun-
try’s“austeritychancellor”aftertheglobalfinancial
crash. But recently installed as chair of the world’s
oldest public museum, Osborne saw a chance to
showheisrunninganenlightenedinstitutionready
to engage in the debate about the repatriation of
artefacts. He also saw a man across the table with
whom he could do business. “Nobody has tried,
well, forever,” Osborne has told colleagues.
Lord Ed Vaizey, a Tory peer and former UK
culture secretary who is heading a campaign to
return the Parthenon Sculptures to the Acropolis,
says of Osborne’s plan: “I think the climate is better
than it has been for 200 years to resolve this.” At
a time western countries are grappling with their
colonialpasts,negotiationsthatstemmedfromthat
first meeting are guaranteed to attract attention.
“The Greek PM turns up in his motorcade and it’s
all too exciting – George is back on the stage,” said
one senior figure in the British arts, when asked
why they thought Osborne was doing it.
It’s also, the person adds, a major strategic
challenge for the British Museum. The world will
be watching.
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
There are few things that Kyriakos Mitsotakis
speaks about with visible passion. After three and a
half years at the helm of his country, he is known for
hisefficiency,organisationalskillsandpro-business
reforms. The Harvard-educated, former McKinsey
consultantisthescionofapoliticalfamily.Hisfather
Konstantinos served as Greece’s prime minister in
the early 1990s.
Despite spending a lot of time with Greek poli-
ticians during the decade when Europe anxiously
contemplated economic crises in Athens, Osborne
hardly knew Mitsotakis before their meeting. But
the two hit it off. Mitsotakis told colleagues after-
wards that there was “trust and respect”, while
OsbornesawtheGreekpremierasaneffectivetech-
nocrat, joking to colleagues that Mitsotakis, an
Anglophile, was “Greece’s Rishi Sunak”.
Osborne has declined to speak publicly about
his talks with Mitsotakis, fearing that anything he
says could be used against the prime minister, who
is facing an election in the coming months. But col-
leaguessaidheimmediatelybelievedadealcouldbe
struck. “Essentially, you had two rational people in
a room without any of the baggage or history,” said
one British Museum insider. “You should be able to
come up with an arrangement where some of the
marbles at any one time are in London and some of
them are in Athens.”
Rational it may be, but Greece believes the mar-
bleswerestolenbyElgin,belongtotheGreekpeople
and should be returned immediately to the magnif-
icent new Acropolis Museum in Athens. Osborne,
meanwhile, is constrained by a 1963 Act of Parlia-
ment,whichstopstheBritishMuseumpermanently
handing back the Parthenon Sculptures. The UK
government is not about to change the law, despite
callstodosobyaUnescocommitteein2021.Failure
to find a deal is a very real possibility.
Osborne’s proposal employs a number of strate-
gies to bridge the gap between the sides, including
the cultural version of a hostage swap. According to
people briefed on the plan, it would see a series of
loandealsinvolvingthemarbles,whichwouldgrad-
ually build up trust. Greece would not renounce its
claim – it would be a big problem for Mitsotakis to
accept a “loan” of what he regards as Greek prop-
erty – but the British Museum would agree to ship
to Athens potentially one-third or more of the mar-
bles for a set time period, such as 10 years. There is a
precedent. One of the marbles – the river god Ilissos
– was loaned out before, to Vladimir Putin, for dis-
play at St Petersburg’s Hermitage museum in 2014.
One obvious problem is whether the Greeks
would return them at the end of the loan period.
Richard Lambert, Osborne’s predecessor as British
Museum chair and a former editor of the FT, says:
“My assumption was that once loaned, they would
not come back.” A British Museum insider admits:
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law in terms of
fairly large marble sculptures.”
Part of Osborne’s answer is that in exchange for
some of the Parthenon Sculptures, Athens would
loan Greek treasures to London as “collateral”.
25
 The spectacular frescoes of Santorini, dating back
to 1700 BCE, have been mentioned in Athens
as among potential candidates for such a swap.
The second element of the Osborne plan would
be that, when the loan expired, the marbles would
be returned to London, but a bigger portion would
be simultaneously sent to Athens as an incentive,
making Greece a permanent home for the sculp-
tures at any given time.
As confidence in the deal increased over time, a
“ratchet” would be introduced so that more would
be sent gradually. Some trustees at the British
MuseumenvisageasituationwherehalftheParthe-
non Sculptures could be in London and the other
halfinAthensatanyonetime.Talksarealsounder-
way on a legal agreement whereby Greece entering
into a contract with the British Museum would not
force Athens to accept the museum’s ownership of
the marbles on principle.
In a statement, the British Museum echoed
recent public comments made by Osborne, insist-
ing it operates within the law and would not be
dismantling its collection. “We are, however, look-
ing at long-term partnerships, which would enable
some of our greatest objects to be shared with audi-
ences around the world,” it added. “Discussions
with Greece about a Parthenon Partnership are
ongoing and constructive.”
For now it is a firm “no deal” from Mitsotakis.
In a second meeting at the hotel in late 2022, he
told Osborne that he wants the Frieze back perma-
nently,notonloanandnothandedoverinportions.
But both still believe a deal is possible. Mitsotakis
said in January he hoped to repatriate the marbles
soon: “If the Greek people trust us again, I believe
T
we could achieve this target after the elections.”
he flurry of cultural diplomacy has
refocused attention on the highly
charged arguments surround-
ing the Parthenon Sculptures, how
they came to Britain and what case
thereisforkeepingtheminLondon.
But at the British Museum there is little evidence of
the decades-old call for the works to be sent back.
A museum assistant said pamphlets dealing with
thedisputewereusuallyputoutinthemainviewing
hall, but when the FT visited in late January none
were available. Following enquiries at an informa-
tion desk in the Central Court, some were found
stored in a cupboard.
The call for repatriation and the dispute of legal
title is mentioned, as well as the construction of the
Acropolis Museum, but the remainder of the text
offers a full-throated defence of the British Muse-
um’spolicy,includingthedisputedclaimthatElgin,
who was Britain’s ambassador to the Ottoman
empire, removed statues from the ground and the
building “acting with the full knowledge and per-
mission” of local authorities.
ThesubjectissimilarlyglossedoverattheAcrop-
olis Museum, which opened in 2009. There, two
kinds of sculptures are displayed on the third floor
overlooking the Parthenon: originals and plas-
ter copies of those that are missing. Placed next to
each other, they create a stark contrast. Other than
a discreet mark indicating that the original piece is
in London there are no further explanatory signs,
besides a video for visitors depicting their loss.
Elsewhere, curators display the marble chunks
sawn off and discarded by Lord Elgin’s team as they
looked to save weight for the journey to England.
26
NikosStambolidis,director-generaloftheAcropolis
Museum and a professor of archaeology, argues no
museumoutsideAthenscouldprovidevisitorswith
the experience of seeing the sculptures in the place
in which they were created. “You won’t be able to
feel them under the Athenian light or see how the
changing seasons affect them,” he said.
“ThekeypersonintheremovaloftheParthenon
Sculptures is the Italian painter Giovanni Battista
Lusieri,” according to Tatiana Poulou, an archae-
ologist based in Athens. Elgin hired Lusieri as his
chief artist with the idea that he would make Greek
architecture known widely not only through draw-
ings but by creating mouldings and exact models
that could be brought back to Britain.
Poulou has read Elgin’s archives in his Broom-
hall House near Edinburgh, poring over more than
500 letters he exchanged while ambassador. She
says she often had goosebumps as she read them. In
one dated September 1801, she says, “Lusieri asked
for 12 saws from Lord Elgin to cut the sculptures
from the temple and reduce their weight.” In Jan-
uary 1802 he wrote to Elgin again. “My Lord, I’m
pleased to announce that I’m in possession of the
eight metopes, the one where the centaurs carry
a woman. The piece has caused much trouble in
many ways, and I was forced to be a little barbaric.”
The first boat Lusieri chartered left Athens that
year filled with 16 boxes of antiquities, but it sank
off the island of Kythira. At lavish expense, Elgin
hired the best divers available – fishermen from the
island of Kalymnos – who worked for three years to
recover the stones. Though the treasures made it to
Britain, he ended up ruined financially. The whole
undertaking cost him £74,000, about £5.5mn
today. In 1816, the British Museum bought them
from him for less than half that.
Elgin became a hate figure for some in Brit- WHAT SHOCKED AND
ain, notably the great Romantic poet Lord Byron,
who eventually died in the cause of Greek free-
INFURIATED ME IS THAT
dom. “Dull is the eye that will not weep to see/Thy THE FRIEZE IS BROKEN.
walls defac’d, thy mouldering shrines removed/By
Britishhands,”hewrotein“ChildeHarold’sPilgrim-
IT’S LIKE YOU’VE TAKEN
age”. “Greece has had the better spin doctors ever THE MONA LISA AND
since,” says Richard Lambert.
Today, the person providing PR advice for the CUT IT IN HALF
Greek prime minister is Ed Williams, boss of Edel- KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, GREEK PM
man in Europe. After his election in the summer of
2019, Mitsotakis decided to look again at the mar-
bles question, which had been frozen for years.
Realising that there was no obvious legal route to
regaining them, he started working to influence
British public opinion, making the Greek case in
the UK media. The wind seems to be in his favour:
a YouGov poll from 2021 showed 59 per cent of
Britons believe the marbles belong in Greece,
against 18 per cent for the UK.
Raging since the 1800s, the debate now finds
itself front and centre in 21st-century questions
aboutwhetherwesternmuseums–includinggiants PREVIOUS PAGE: (L-R) STATUES OF
like the British Museum and the Louvre – should be FEMALE FIGURES FROM THE EAST
returning artefacts to their country of origin. In the PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON,
THOUGHT TO BE HESTIA (LEFT), DIONE
most recent reversal of long-standing policies on AND HER DAUGHTER APHRODITE,
restitution,museumsaroundtheworldhavebegun GODDESS OF LOVE
returning the celebrated Benin Bronzes, looted by
British troops in the 19th century, to Nigeria. The ABOVE: STATUE OF A TORSO FROM
THE WEST PEDIMENT, THOUGHT TO
British Museum, which holds more than 900 of REPRESENT HERMES
these artefacts, has yet to announce returns but
said it “actively engages” with Nigerian institutions
The photographs were made by
as one of several museums in the so-called Benin Michael Collins in 2015 while working as an
Dialogue Group. These are helping to establish artist in residence at the British Museum
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
 new museums in Benin City, in which objects
from their collections would eventually go on
permanent display.
Those who question the movement to return
objects say there is a need for institutions where the
sweep of cultural history can be viewed and expe-
rienced in one place. “The argument for keeping
the sculptures here is that you can see them in the
context of the whole of humanity,” says the former
British Museum chair Lambert.
The problem, says Mary Beard, a classical his-
torian and British Museum trustee, is that the
marbles fulfil two roles which are in conflict. Not
only are they a very powerful symbol of the Greek
nation, she says, “They’re also active symbols and
representatives of the idea of Hellenic and Greek
and classical culture the world over… They have a
national and an international role.”
With eight million objects in its storehouses,
could the British Museum find other ways of telling
this story? Vaizey thinks so, dismissing as “bol-
locks” the claim that the marbles had to stay in
London as part of a holistic global culture experi-
ence. “The British Museum is full of Greek artefacts
which could perfectly well act as substitutes for
Hellenic sculpture to the Parthenon Sculptures.”
The argument that a resolution of the Parthe-
non dispute would put the British Museum on
a “slippery slope” to wholesale returns also gets
short shrift from many museum experts. Alexan-
der Herman, director of the Institute of Art & Law,
says the marbles are “close to unique” in terms of
theinterestthedisputehasgeneratedandtheinten-
sity of feeling on the claimant’s side.
Beard says the view of the museum’s trustees
as “crusty old bastards” trying to stop the marbles
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
returning to Greece, could not be further from the
truth. Trustees have, she says, “obligations to the
future of the museum and one of the aspects… that
willmakethemuseumthriveisifwecouldgetsome
sort of beginning of a resolution of this.”
Her view is that the British Museum should be
seen as a kind of “lending library”. She would love
millions of people to see the marbles not just in
London and Athens but in cities like Mumbai. She
adds: “We have a universal world city in London.
It needs a global museum.” The question is what an
O
18th-century museum should look like today.
sborne’s answer to this broader
question is the £1bn Rosetta
Project,thebiggestmuseumrede-
velopment ever seen in Britain.
Its aim is to overhaul an ageing
building and reinvent the
museum, making it less “Mediterranean-centric”
and showcasing more art from Asia, Africa and the
Americas. Details of the project will be announced
in the spring.
He has spoken to colleagues about how this
new-look museum would address the old question
of the Parthenon Sculptures, saying that it should
embrace the issue and use it to explain how they
were now part of a “great agreement with Athens.”
If the British Museum’s trustees were seeking
cover for a policy of inertia, the political environ-
ment in the UK could scarcely be more favourable,
given the Tory government’s disdain for “woke
culture”. Its reaction to protests over contested
public sculptures, for instance, was to change
the law in 2021 to require planning permission
for their removal.
Greek politicians believe, however, it will be
hardertoraisethe£1bnforOsborne’smuseumrefit
in the current climate unless he resolves the mar-
bles dispute. “For donors, especially in the US, they
will be happy to see this,” says one. Osborne insists
to colleagues that his proposals for loaning the
marbles to Athens are not about money or wooing
billionaires, but clearly it might help.
If there is to be a deal on the marbles, it is not
expected until after Greek elections, which Mitso-
takis is favourite to win. He is not about to embrace
anythingwhicheffectivelyseestheBritishMuseum
loaning “stolen” goods back to the country from
which they were supposedly looted. But both sides
expect talks to resume and believe there has never
been a better chance of a deal, despite the political
rhetoric around the dispute.
Osborne does not need British political sup-
port to loan the marbles to Greece – they belong to
the museum – but believes privately that Sunak’s
government will support the idea anyway. Vaizey
agrees: “I don’t think George would do a loan
without the British government being squared
beforehand. There would be a clamour for the gov-
ernmenttointervene,butIdon’tthinktheywould.”
“There’s a high chance this doesn’t work,”
Osborne has told friends. “But there’s also a high
chance that it does. There’s a reason why this hasn’t
beensolved–it’snoteasy.”Beardishopeful.“Ithink
the politics has changed,” she says. “Do I think that
in 50 or perhaps 20 years all the marbles are going
to be in the same place? No.”
George Parker is the FT’s political editor.
Eleni Varvitsioti is Greece and Cyprus correspondent.
James Pickford is art news correspondent
27
 CHANTAL
JOFFE
ON
ALICE
NEELThe late American painter described herself as ‘a collector of
souls’. On the eve of her largest UK exhibition, English artist
Chantal Joffe explores some of her most compelling portraits

28
‘SELF-PORTRAIT’
1980
Alice is 80 when she makes
this self-portrait. Compare it to
Lucian Freud’s late self-portrait
in which he’s standing naked,
brandishing a brush, looking
almost like a boxer, all ego. And
then there’s little Alice sitting on
her chair, her feet twisted a bit,
her flesh hanging off her arms.
Yet she also has her brush and her
rag, so she is like a fighter too, in
a different way. There is no vanity
here, no flattery, but as a painter
she finds a real beauty in her thick
white hair and bright pink cheeks.
She’s sitting down, but she’s totally
active in the act of painting. She
has almost left her body behind,
and she’s observing it with
detachment. She’s enjoying the line
of her navel and her puffy ankles.
She conveys the age-spotted
softness of her skin in just a few
lines. The economy of her painting
is extraordinary.

29
 ‘ANDY WARHOL’
1970
Is it Alice’s cosy motherliness – she
is 70 when she paints this portrait
– that allows Warhol to be so
vulnerable with her? He lets her
paint him without his shirt, his
chest exposed, his eyes closed as if
unable to bear her scrutiny. She
doesn’t flinch from painting what’s
right there: the tenderness of those
scars and the line of his breasts, his
long brown shoes and strange old
man’s trousers. It’s so far from how
Warhol presented himself, all
hidden with wigs and make-up
and polo necks.
30
I know how it feels, as a painter,
to sit with someone and see their
vulnerabilities. Alice never tries to
make things pretty. Her gaze is full
of love and compassion and
honesty. That’s a hard thing to do.
The moment when you turn the
painting around and your sitter
sees it – people flinch. That can be
hard, because as a painter you fall
in love with everybody you paint.
Nobody has painted Warhol like
that or seen Warhol like that. It’s not
a cruel painting, but for Warhol it
must have been a hard painting.
‘LINDA NOCHLIN
AND DAISY’
1973
I love that even when Alice paints
influential art-world people she
cannot betray her own honesty as a
painter. Linda Nochlin is an
amazing feminist art historian, but
here she also looks a bit like a
school mum. You know this woman.
She’s trying to look glamorous, but
she’s got this wriggly little kid with
her. Her hand is gripping the child,
trying to keep her on the sofa. It’s
touching – we are so exposed by
our relationships to our children.
By this point Alice has lived
the truth of that, trying to be a
person and a painter and a mum,
and Linda is sitting there trying
to hold it all together somehow. I
think Alice is the first painter who
shows us that from the inside. In a
mother and child scene by Renoir,
say, it’s a very different view we’re
looking from.
There’s a fierce intelligence
about Linda. It’s like she’s
challenging Alice. She’s saying, “I’m
a critic, I’m a writer. Make this a
great painting.” I’m really in awe of
Alice Neel’s ability to hold all of that
in play.

31
 ‘JOHN PERREAULT’
1972
I’m a shy painter. Alice was never
shy. She looks hard and paints
the art critic with great precision
from his eyebrows to his toes. His
body, all the hair, the warmth. The
marks of his tan. His maleness
and his vulnerability. She sees all
of him, and we experience both
his vanity and her appraisal of
him. He’s full of confidence, and
that makes him more vulnerable
than the vulnerable people she
paints. She’s loving his beauty,
but she’s gently laughing at him
as well. She’s taking the piss a bit.
32
People who feel themselves to be
beautiful, you can paint them with
a kind of impunity with which
you can’t paint people who are
more insecure.
It’s strange to think of this
encounter. Alice is 72 when she
paints him, and he is young, lying
on that bed like a big ginger cat.
His penis is so utterly real in this
painting, the weight of his balls.
The sweet old lady never flinches.
People underestimated Alice, and
that allowed her to make some
extraordinary paintings.
‘WELLESLEY
GIRLS’ 1967
Alice very much defines the
contrasting characters of these
two girls, the forward-leaning
one and the shyer, more prim one
sitting upright, her hands clasped
in her lap. Also it’s a very specific
age of girl; she shows you the
gusset of her tights without quite
meaning to.
I like that Alice shows us the
individuals within the larger picture
of privileged college girls in the
1960s. She conjures the time
brilliantly. It’s like a scene from
The Graduate. I grew up in the
1970s and these are people I would
have looked at. The clothes are so
telling, they’re as important as in a
Goya or a Rembrandt.

33
 ‘MARGARET EVANS
PREGNANT’ 1978
I suspect this is Margaret Evans’s
first child. She has that look of fear
and excitement, of shimmering
innocence. She has no idea what’s
to come, because experience is the
only way you can understand some
things in life. Alice paints her with
both compassion and detachment:
she knows exactly what lies ahead
for Margaret Evans. The reflection
in the mirror behind her has a
darkness to it, as if she is slightly
older there and Alice is foreseeing
the future when she’s actually had
the baby – the exhaustion.
It’s exciting to see a pregnant
woman painted by someone who’s
34
been pregnant, who knows how
it feels to be in that body. The last
time I painted someone pregnant,
at the end of last year, I saw the
baby’s elbow go by across her
tummy. Suddenly, I remembered
that feeling of being inhabited.
But there is something secretive
about Margaret too. Pregnant
women are so self-contained in
their relationship to the infant; they
have a secret none of the rest of us
have. Painting somebody is very
much the meeting of two people, a
confrontation in some ways. And I
get that with this portrait. Margaret
is poised, she is holding her own.
© THE ESTATE OF ALICE NEEL. COURTESY THE ESTATE OF ALICE NEEL.
‘CARMEN AND
JUDY’ 1972
The baby looks at her mother’s face
while Carmen looks out at us, one
hand holding the baby’s hand,
guarding her body. Hands are
always really telling in Alice’s
paintings. The bright pattern dress
is emblematic of the 1970s,
contrasting with the pathos of the
scene: the unwell baby, the
mother’s sorrow and bravery and
weariness. It’s a funny expression
on her face, she is allowing us to
look but at the same time she’s
saying, “Don’t feel sorry for me,
I’m OK.”
This child is so vulnerable, and
Alice’s own story is everywhere. To
my mind, the child is also her own
baby daughter, Santillana, when
she was losing her to diphtheria.
Making this painting is forcing Alice
to go back in time: it’s the 1970s
and Santillana died in 1927. Alice is
inhabiting Carmen as much as she
is looking at her. Painting is like a
truth serum for the artist as well;
your own feelings always come out.

‘Alice Neel: Hot Off the Griddle’

is at the Barbican, London,
from February 16 to May 21.
The accompanying book
‘Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle’
is published by Prestel

35
 Inside: The haunting of the river Styx p46
Appetites
The Gastronome The second time you go to Fallow in St James’s
Tim
and, believe me, there will be a second time, you
can book yourself a table with a bunch of friends.
But the first time, try to get the seat on the corner of
Hayward the Chef’s Counter. Sit, watch, eat and take notes.
I always like to get as close as possible to where
the work’s being done, but here, there’s something
The future of modern more important going on. The restaurant was
founded by two chefs, Jack Croft and Will Murray,
British cuisine has arrived alumni of Heston Blumenthal’s Dinner, and is
backedbyhospitalityentrepreneur,JamesRobson.
It opened after a string of establishing residencies.
Fallow is an expensively appointed space that
looks like it’s being at least partially “leveraged”
by the developers of the “quarter” around it, an
exercise in urban placemaking. All initial commu-
nication with the restaurant occurs via booking
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY
MARCH 19/20
11/12
2022
2023 ILLUSTRATION BY SIMON BAILLY
app Resy, which is now absolutely standard proce-
dure and about as much fun as trying to book your
terminal appointment at Dignitas through a voice-
operated digital call centre in a third language.
Because of this spectacularly inhuman process,
I could book, fail to confirm by text, attempt to
cancel,receivebyemailacomputer-generatedtell-
ing off, be charged a cancellation fee and rebook,
withoutevercomingintocontactwithanyonefrom
the restaurant itself. It’s utterly crap, but it is also
a hole the industry has dug itself into and nobody
seems to want to climb out of it.
All this, though, is standard. In fact, you find
yourself thinking after a while, jeez, this place
really is the absolute functional definition of a
central London modern British – and I mean that
in a really good way.
37
 Appetites

The menu is… how to put this? Rigorously intellectually con-

sistent. These are British ingredients – crab, cod, cauliflower,
mushrooms, cabbage, pork – treated in ways we’ve grown good
at: smoked, slow cooked, fermented, seasoned in ways that
have been relearnt from the Nordic countries or inspired where
appropriate by Japan and Korea, but better.
There are a couple of starters that sum it up. Stuffing flat-
bread is a brioche-like dough, topped with something creamy:
caramelised onions, crispy pork, deep-fried sage leaves and driz-
zled cranberry syrup. A mushroom parfait is so comprehensively
wrought that it tastes like smooth chicken liver and is served on
grilled bread with sprinklings of smoked shiitake and shredded
lion’s mane. These are lovely deep, sophisticated flavours, well-
settled together, that feel like they could only come out of this
country and at precisely this time. Caramelised cauliflower cro-
quetas, black garlic mayonnaise and Bermondsey cheese are so
close to satire of our national obsessions and enthusiasms that
you can feel them working themselves into a canon.
The main is an insane set-piece involving half a cod’s head.
This isatriumphofsustainabilityinthatit’seffectivelywaste fish
in the UK, where our fishmongers are focused on the production
of clean, boneless fillets. The skull, bisected, is about the same
size and shape as a wolf’s. It’s got a baleful eyeball, bared teeth
and a look of appalled shock. But applying the tip of your knife
causes slick nuggets of fish to pop out everywhere. You know
the oysters on a chicken, those two wonderfully greasy self-
contained morsels that lurk near the hip joint? Imagine about 30
of them, but made of fish. The sauce is a fluorescent emulsion of
butter and sriracha which transforms everything into – well, you
just can’t stop eating. This remarkable, vast, utterly ’grammable
mound of fish-joy will cost you £22. Gratifyingly cheap for what
FALLOW
will deservedly get called a “signature”.
52 Haymarket
The chef during my visit was Anna Williams. While she set up
London SW1Y 4RP
thefood,therewasnoshoutingortensioninthekitchen.Ayoung fallowrestaurant.com
crew moved in calm choreography, calling the chef by her first
name as she worked or paused, occasionally, to coach someone Small plates: £10-£22
else on the long bar in their own preparations. This feels like the Mains: £18-£38
future for kitchens: a quiet, skilled team, gender diverse, calm
and supportive. I asked about the menu, which seems to have
evolved alongside the team to represent the restaurant rather
than individual egos and to be deliverable with any of the chefs
on point. It’s refreshingly modern and democratic.
Having watched the preparation of a meal in a very contem-
porary kind of kitchen, from a very modern crew – a menu that
could only really have emerged from the past decades of British
cooking and from the minds of a particular cohort of chefs – I’m
very happy to believe this is the vanguard of restaurants: low-
key luxury, sustainable, informal, respectful of ingredients – a
mature national cuisine.
If I’m being completely honest, seeing it presented this
way also gives me pause. If this is it, then we accept that we’re
gravitating towards a lot of brown stuff, fermentation, long-
slow cooking, very pronounced concentration of flavours and,
possibly, a higher level of umami throughout than the Japanese
everconsideredpossible.There’slittledetectableBlumenthalian
influence at Fallow, save perhaps for a general dark and brooding
muscularity. I’ve been trying to find a way of describing the
prevailing aesthetic. This is not the England of Cecil Beaton and
tea parties on the lawn, it’s Heathcliff and Gabriel Oak, oiled and
wrestling in a gale. It’s the type of “British” where a dark, clubby
luxury meets polite Goth, strained through the sexy-interesting
bits of medieval. Without the buboes.
I think this is my only possible reservation in an otherwise
amazing place. Self-definition makes me nervous. With it comes
recognition, and then, if you don’t want to end up with Down-
ton, Game of Thrones or Harry bloody Potter, a ceaseless battle to
maintain nuance.

@timhayward; timhayward

38 FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023


FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
Recipe
Rowley
Leigh
Prune, amaretti
and apple tart
When I started taking my career
as a chef seriously – some time at
the end of the 1970s – I bought five
Filofax folders in which to collect
and organise my recipes. The
books were colour coded, just like
the chopping boards that became
standard issue in commercial
kitchens a few years later: green
for vegetables, blue for fish, red for
meat and so on.
Back then, my yellow Filofax
was dedicated, rather obviously
in my view, to the world of cream,
eggs and butter, the building blocks
of the patissier’s art. I so filled
that little yellow book that it had
to be replaced with a larger, more
capacious volume and, solecisms of
solecisms, it was red. I have it still.
The other volumes, written
neatly but indecipherably in a
variant of recipe shorthand, sit
unregarded on my shelves. But
pastry is different. No matter how
many times I may have made these
things, I still need my recipe when I
come to make a frangipane for a tart
or the sponge for a cake. Some are a
little dated. I rarely make a Bavarois
these days, a mixture of fruit puree,
custard, whipped cream and gelatin
that seemed the base of many of the
desserts of the time. But I still like to
make a tart.
The king of modern pastry was
and perhaps still is Yves Thuries,
who, back then, was just starting
out on his monumental 12 volumes
of pastry recipes, Le livre de recettes
d’un Compagnon du Tour de France.
Tarts featured strongly in the
first volume: most of the recipes
are somewhat complicated but
this relatively simple offering
caught my eye all those years ago
and merits reviving.
More columns at ft.com/leigh
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDY SEWELL
SERVES EIGHT
The prunes will benefit
from being prepared the
day before. They are very
good for breakfast.
For the pastry
• 125g unsalted butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 200g flour
For the filling
• 200g stoned prunes
• 2 breakfast tea bags
• 4 large apples,
Cox’s for preference
• 30g butter
• 30g sugar
• 50g amaretti
biscuits (optional)
• 4 eggs
• 200g sugar
• 100g melted butter
1. Cream the butter and
sugar really well until light
and fluffy. Break in the egg
and incorporate
thoroughly before adding
the flour with a pinch of
salt. Knead this mixture
until it forms a thick paste
and turn out on to a
floured sheet of
greaseproof paper.
Form into a thick disc.
Chill for 30 minutes.
2. Rinse the prunes, put in
a bowl with the tea bags,
pour over a full kettle of
boiling water and leave to
swell. Peel the apples and
cut into six segments,
removing the core. Heat
the two tablespoons of
butter in a frying pan and
add the apples and two
tablespoons of sugar.
Cook over a high heat so
that the apples caramelise
and are just cooked before
turning out on to a plate
to cool.
3. Roll out the pastry on
its greaseproof paper,
turning once or twice to
form an even disc of 30cm
diameter. Using a 24cm
tart tin with a removable
base, place the base over
the centre of the disc and,
with the greaseproof
paper still attached, invert
the pastry into the tart tin.
Fill the cavity with baking
beans and bake in a
moderately hot oven
(190C) for 20 minutes.
4. Remove the beans and
gently pull off the
greaseproof paper and
put back in the oven to
cook the base. Remove
and turn the oven up to a
high heat (240˚C).
5. Arrange the drained
prunes and apples
alternately in circles over
the base of the tart. Crush
the amaretti with a rolling
pin to a powder. Whisk the
eggs and sugar until white
and fluffy before adding
the butter in a thin stream.
Add the crushed amaretti
and pour over the apples
and prunes. Bake one
more time until golden
brown (10-15 minutes) and
allow to cool.
Wine
The vibrant acidity of a
very sweet Vouvray would
be perfect with this heavy
dose of sugar. The older
the better.
39
 Appetites

Wine

Jancis
Robinson
Burgundy’s best
kept secret

T
hisistheyeartostarttaking
white burgundies from the
Mâconnais seriously.
As the 2021 white bur-
gundies come on to the market, the
prices of those from the smartest
appellations on the Côte d’Or, the
likes of Meursault and the Montra-
chets, are, frankly, risible. The crop
was so small and global demand
so apparently inexhaustible that
even village wines shown during
last month’s burgundy tastings in
London were frequently offered at
morethan£300,andsometimesover
£400,foracaseofsixbottlesinbond.
That means that by the time they
have been stored until they reach
maturity and duty and VAT have
been paid, burgundy lovers could be
effectively paying almost £100 for a
bottleofvillagePuligny-Montrachet,
and for the premiers crus and grands
crus, of course, even more.
As I tasted my way round the
UK merchants’ offerings of 2021s,
I became increasingly aware of just
how good the white 2021s from the
Mâconnais are. They’re made from
the same grape, Chardonnay, but
grown well south of the Côte d’Or, Thevalueonofferin with the north wind and heat of as Les Quarts set to be given Premier
just north of Beaujolais country. southernBurgundy late August, has concentrated Cru status in 2024.
In the past, wines from Mâconnais the acidity and the flavours they Berry Bros & Rudd’s Burgundy
appellations such as St-Véran, Viré- seemsnottohavebeen eventually produced. buyer Adam Bruntlett points out
Clessé, the Pouillys and the many noticedbymanybuyers This may have increased prices that, “Mâconnais wines generally
variations on the word Mâcon have for the 2021s a little, but the price are less popular at en primeur time.”
often tasted a bit fat for me, with- gap between wines of the Côte d’Or He notes that “pricing certainly
out the zip and savour that a fine and Mâconnais has widened yet fur- isn’t keeping pace with the Côte de
Côte d’Or can usually offer. But, in ther. Despite this, the value on offer Beaune. Even Premier Cru Pouillys
general, the 2021 Mâconnais wines in southern Burgundy seems not to are about half the price of a village
have admirable tension, as well as have been noticed by many buyers. wine from the big three” (Meursault,
the pure, ripe Chardonnay fruit that Virtually all of the merchants who Puligny-Montrachetand Chassagne-
has always characterised them. participated in Burgundy Week last Montrachet). Jason Haynes of Flint
I’m not sure why, but it may be month have stocks of these lovely and Stannary Wine also admits that
because the Mâconnais was badly wines left. The only ones for which among his customers Mâconnais
affected by the frosts of early April there has apparently been some wines are “often slightly neglected”.
2021. Some producers have hardly noticeable demand are the recently Iurgeyoutotakeadvantageofthis
been able to make any 2021 at all created Premiers Crus, specified situation while stocks last. The wines
and virtually all of them have seen superiorvineyardsinPouilly-Fuissé, will generally continue to improve
their vines bear far fewer grapes and the best of the wines from over the next five, sometimes many
than usual. Perhaps this, together vineyards in Pouilly-Vinzelles such more, years. The more expensive

FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023 ILLUSTRATION BY LEON EDLER 41

 Appetites
the wine, the longer it will usually be
worth keeping, with the best Pouilly-
Fuisséshavingjustasmuchlongevity
as a village Côte d’Or wine.
Below are some of the Mâcon-
nais 2021s that I think offer great
value, with in-bond prices. Some are
offered in cases of 12, some in sixes.
Master of Wine David Roberts
of Goedhuis, who is especially good
at sniffing out Burgundy value, is
understandably keen on the Mâcon-
nais wines of Domaine Jean-Marc
Boillot of Pommard, which has
acquired considerable holdings
in the Mâconnais, following in the
footsteps of Dominique Lafon of
Meursault and the late Anne-Claude
MORE TASTING NOTES
Tasting notes and
scores on Purple Pages
of JancisRobinson.com.
Some international
retailers on
Wine-searcher.com.
42
Leflaive of Puligny-Montrachet,
the two big Côte d’Or names who
invested in Mâconnais vineyards
around the turn of the millennium.
My note on Jean-Marc Boillot’s
excellent Mâcon-Chardonnay, Les
Busserettes (£245 for 12 Goedhuis)
is simply, “This tastes like a Côte
d’Or white so why not go for it?!”
followed by the “GV” that we at
JancisRobinson.com include in
tasting notes on wines we think are
particularly good value. I wrote this
before reading in the latest edition of
Jasper Morris’s Inside Burgundy that
at Boillot they make all their whites,
both Côte d’Or and Mâconnais, in
exactly the same way. Both their
regular Mâcon-Chardonnay and
Mâcon-Chardonnay, Le Berceau are
also great buys at £198 and £245 for
12, respectively.
Unaccountably, not all of the
Mâconnais wines of Heritiers du
Comte Lafon have been snapped up.
These wines have long been obvious
bargains. Our man in Burgundy,
Matthew Hayes, tasted the 2021s
with the new generation of Lafons in
Meursault when he toured cellars at
theendoflastyear.Hewasespecially
impressed by the Viré-Clessé, which
is £250 for 12 from Justerini &
Brooks, but Berry Bros & Rudd also
have several of Heritiers du Comte
Lafon’s superior bottlings left.
Lafon’s Mâcon Milly-Lamartine is
£180 for 12 and Clos du Four is £228
for 12 chez Berry.
Therearestillwinesavailablefrom
the super-talented, low-sulphur Bret
Brothers at La Soufriandère from
both Berry Bros and Stannary Wine,
the retail arm of importers Flint. Not
the especially stunning Les Quarts
bottling, about which I wrote at Ber-
ry’s tasting, “Probably difficult to
put in the Mâconnais if served blind.
Almost painful acidity!”, but the reg-
ular Pouilly-Vinzelles (£288 for 12,
also available in useful magnums),
St-Véran, La Combe Desroches
(£240 for 12, also in magnum) and
Mâcon-Vinzelles, Clos de Grand Père
(£240 for 12) are all still on offer
from Berry Bros. Stannary are offer-
ing three of their wines in sixes, from
£144 to £180.
At Flint/Stannary’s tasting, I was
alsoextremelytakenbyClosdesRocs’
Pouilly-Fuissé, Les Pierrotes, a steal
at£240for12.OwnerOlivierGiroux,
wholosthalfhiscropin2021,toldme
hestillpreferredthischallengingvin-
tage to hotter ones “when the vines
have lost their leaves by August”.
Another exceptional Pouilly-Fuissé
isSaumaize-Michelin’sAuxCharmes
(£243 for 12 Stone, Vine & Sun).
Both Lea & Sandeman and
Howard Ripley are offering Daniel
andJulienBarraud’sAllianceVieilles
Vignes bottling of Pouilly Fuissé for
£105 and £108 for six respectively.
Jean-Marie Guffens could be said
to wear the Mâconnais crown. The
only 2021 of his I have tasted is from
his Verget negociant, whose pro-
duction in 2021 was only a quarter
of normal, the beautifully precise
Mâcon-Pierreclos, Lieu Secret (£170
for 12 Farr Vintners, who have a wide
range of its stablemates).
It’s too soon to say whether the
Mâconnais whites will be as exciting
in 2022 as in 2021, but I’m sure they
won’t be cheaper.
More columns at
ft.com/jancis-robinson
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023

This aromatic herb is a star ingredient,
“Because sometimes dried is better than fresh,”
says the website for the Peckham food shop Perse-
polis, next to a listing for dried mint. In Iranian
cuisine, as in so much of the Middle East and Med-
iterranean, dried mint is an essential ingredient,
especially in the colder months. As Margaret
Shaida wrote in The Legendary Cuisine of Persia
(1992), “Dried mint and hot oil are poured over
a number of winter soups to give a musky hint of
summer fragrance.”
To make dried mint oil, fry half a tablespoon
of dried mint in half a tablespoon of olive oil for a
minute, maybe less, until the fragrance blooms.
This is used in Persian cooking as a last-minute
brightener for aubergine or yoghurt dips, as well
as soups. It brings something nutty and deeply
herbal that is quite unlike the perky mojito scent
of fresh mint.
For years, I did not understand dried mint and
never had it in my kitchen. I regarded it as an
unconvincing, dull imitation of the fresh herb. My
mother only used dried mint to make a vinegary
mint sauce for roast lamb, which gave it no chance
to shine.
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY
MARCH 19/20
11/12
2022
2023
The Ingredient
Dried mint
not a substitute
By Bee Wilson
It was only when I started to taste more of the
food of Greece, Turkey and Lebanon that I kept
noticing an ethereal minty note that I could not
quite place. It was not the spearmint of chewing
gum or the garden mint of a pea and mint soup,
but something subtler and earthier. This curious
minty aroma wafted through all
kinds of dishes: it was there in spin-
ach pies and stuffed vegetables; in Aliberalsprinkling
moussakas and stewed aubergines; ofdriedmintadded
in yoghurt dishes and pilafs. One alayerofflavourthat
day, I realised that the mysterious nootherherbcould
flavour was dried mint and that haveprovided
I loved it – not as a substitute for
fresh mint, but as its own thing and
a very pleasing one too.
In spring 2020, my last trip out of the UK before
the pandemic took hold was to Istanbul. Because of
the lockdown that followed, everything I ate there
became heightened in my memory. I found myself
fixating on a simple yoghurt and chickpea soup at
the restaurant Çiya Sofrası. How could something
so plain be so moreish? Maybe it was the yoghurt.
(Turkish yoghurt is amazing.) But what lifted the
PHOTOGRAPH BY FLORENT TANET
Appetites
whole thing was a liberal sprinkling of dried mint,
which added a layer of flavour that no other herb
could have provided.
Dried mint is a warning not to judge a book by
its cover (or a herb by its looks). This drab khaki
powder may not be as pretty as a verdant sprig of
fresh mint, but what it lacks in colour it more than
makes up for in depth of flavour. Consider hal-
loumi cheese, with its little sprinkling of dried mint
around the edges, which for many of us is the first
gateway into its charms. It’s far cheaper and easier
to use a sprinkle of dried mint from a jar than to
washandstripfreshleaves,particularlyatthistime
of year when garden herbs are sparse. Which is not
to say that dried mint is a compromise. Mediterra-
nean cooks regularly use it in preference to fresh,
especiallyinconjunctionwithdairy,forwhichithas
an affinity.
In Greece and Cyprus, dried mint is often com-
bined with a little cinnamon, particularly when
used to season meatballs or aubergines or stuffed
vine leaves. The green woodiness of the mint does
something magic to the cinnamon, transforming
it from a sweet spice to a savoury one. Cinnamon
plus dried mint instantly signals that you are in the
eastern Mediterranean, at least in culinary terms.
In Taverna, a book of recipes from Cyprus by
the British-Cypriot food writer Georgina Hayden,
dried mint plays a starring role. Hayden’s moth-
er’s recipe for tzatziki is made with salted grated
cucumber, thick yoghurt, grated garlic and dried
mint, with more dried mint added at the end along
with some oil. It’s the easiest and best tzatziki I’ve
ever tried. Inspired by Hayden, I’ve now taken to
adding dried mint, garlic and yoghurt to simple
chopped salads of celery and radish or cucumber
and tomato.
Dried mint is not hard to come by in the shops
but it can be satisfying to dry your own. For garden-
ers, this is a chance to experiment
with various types of mint. The tra-
ditional way is to tie a sprig of mint
with string and hang it upside down
in a well-ventilated space for up to
a week or until the leaves feel brit-
tle. A much quicker method, which
I learnt from the excellent book
Herbs and Spices by Jill Norman, is
in the microwave. Put a handful or two of washed
mint leaves on a double layer of kitchen paper and
microwave on high for two and a half minutes. This
isagoodwaytopreservefreshmintifyou’vebought
too much. Or you might want to dry some mint for
its own sake, just to taste for yourself how surpris-
ingly different it is from fresh.
Bee Wilson is the author of “The Way We Eat Now”
43
 The Humourist
Robert
Shrimsley
Why, why, why
can’t I sing ‘Delilah’?
Wit & Wisdom
Even before we get into the moral
arguments, there was a good reason
for the Welsh Rugby Union to
dispense with live performances
of Tom Jones’ “Delilah” before
international matches. It’s an
absolutely terrible song, not merely
an unpardonable ode to domestic
violence but an all-round crime
against good taste.
For those unfamiliar with the
controversy, Welsh fans have long
sung this overblown, late-’60s
number beloved for its inane “my
my my, why why why” chorus.
But in recent years, there has
been a campaign to ditch it on the
reasonable grounds that it is about
a man who murders his lover, sung
from the point of view of the killer,
with a nifty sideline in victim-
blaming. “She stood there laughing,
I felt the knife in my hand and she
laughed no more.”
This year, the authorities told
choirs to knock the reprehensible
44 ILLUSTRATION BY LUCAS VARELA
schlock off their prematch playlists. Freedom fighters
Cue squeals of rage about woke never allow for
warriors, thought-police and
political correctness gone mad. They
the freedom of
have a point. What is society coming organisations to
to if rugby fans can’t enjoy a lusty old make decisions
singalong-a-stabbing? Then again, it they dislike
is striking that the freedom fighters
who rage against this decision
never allow for the freedom of
organisations to make decisions they
dislike. Fans responded, of course,
by singing it through the last match.
I do not subscribe to the notion
that rugby fans will return from
the match, encouraged by singing
“Delilah”, with a fresh tolerance
for domestic abuse any more than I
return from watching Top Gun with a
determination to fly F-16s.
Supporters will argue that it is
a song, not a call to violence. But
a counterargument is that values
change and so can our anthems.
One might choose to justify the song
on the grounds that the arts have
FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 11/12 2023
 always used dark subject matter Games 1 2 3 4 5 6
as source material. But that’s not a A ROUND ON THE LINKS
reason to use it as what is essentially by James Walton 7 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 8
a national tune. “Delilah” is not vital
9 10
to the character of the day.
All the answers here are linked
This clearly was the view of the 00 00 00
in some way. Once you’ve
chief constable of Dyfed-Powys
spotted the connection, any
police, Richard Lewis, who tweeted 11 12
you didn’t know the first time
his support for the decision,
around should become easier. 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
pointing out that about two women
a week are murdered by partners or 1. For which soup did Jane Austen’s 13 14 15 16 17
ex-partners, so perhaps it was “time friend Martha Lloyd write a recipe
to sing something else”. I sympathise beginning, “Take a large calf’s 00 00 00 00 00 00

with his view, though I’m not sure we head. Scald off the hair…”?
need a police-approved songbook 18 19
2. What name is given to the
for sporting events. 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
protest carried out by the
England fans sing “Swing Low,
American Sons of Liberty on
Sweet Chariot” – adopted, according 20 21 22 23 24
December 16 1773?
to one explanation, in tribute to the
former player Martin Offiah whose 3. Which fictional character’s first 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

nickname was Chariots (Chariots food was an apple on Monday?

25 26
Offiah, geddit). Some object to this
4. In 2001 Venus Williams was the
too, given the song’s history as a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
last person to be presented with
slave spiritual. For now, the singing
a Wimbledon trophy by whom?
continues, at least until we get a 27
ruling from the new commissioner 5. Which hibernating rodent is
of the Met Police. thought to take its name from the The Across clues are straightforward, while the Down clues are cryptic.
But to return to my main point, French for “sleep”?
“Delilah” is a really bad song, a stain
on the reputation of any nation that
6. Who played Cordelia Chase in THE CROSSWORD
enjoys singing it. It has pretensions
Buffy the Vampire Slayer? No 626. Set by Aldhelm
to an operatic narrative but without 7. According to Nancy Mitford,
any of the sense of tragedy in its what is the upper-class (U) term ACROSS DOWN 8 With the ultimate
jaunty melody and moronic lyrics. for what the non-upper classes 1 Variety of fauna 1 Abundant energy in style, kids strolled
I’m also not aware of any libretto in (non-U) call a mirror? and flora (12) taken from nut around wearing
the canon in which the killer stands 9 Circular (5) biofuel that’s very attractive
8. Which disco classic is credited
there singing “my, my, my”. The 10 One who disagrees, processed (9) clothes (7, 2, 4)
to “Earth, Wind & Fire with The
phrase is ideal for forgetting to turn nonconformist (9) 2 Religious 14 She reels
Emotions”?
off the iron, spotting a new florist 11 Fleet of cars (9) group hiding in drunkenly after a
in the high street or noting that it 9. Whose books include The Silver 12 Newspapers and borderlands (5) sip of cocktail –
has turned out nice again. But it’s Chair and Prince Caspian? magazines (5) 3 Popular leaders of that’s not fun (9)
somewhat deficient when standing 13 Faulty (9) democracy implicate 15 One remarkably
10. Who was transferred from
over the bleeding corpse of your 16 Prod (5) authoritarian sentient part
Newcastle to Liverpool in 2011
faithless lover. 18 Mark over a letter, country (5) of the body (9)
for £35mn – a then record fee for
The only purpose of “my, my, eg in señor (5) 4 Seasonal gift, 17 Debauchery’s
a British footballer?
my Delilah” is to rhyme with “why, 19 Tricky for example, includes extremes include
why, why Delilah?” (You see, it really position (5, 4) flower, say (6, 3) nasty private
was her fault; she drove him to it, 20 Long-snouted 5 Give timely perversion (9)
poor guy.) And it is this mindless South American consideration to 21 Picture of pub’s
monosyllabic couplet that makes mammal (5) corrupt elites taking too confused (5)
it such a classic. Neil Diamond’s 22 Trivial power on (5, 2, 2) 23 Partly applaud –
“Sweet Caroline” has the same chitchat (5, 4) 6 Heading for it I observe sound (5)
unchallenging stadium formula of 25 In full agreement and let out (5) 24 Tailless parasite
up-tempotuneandrepetitivechorus (2, 3, 4) 7 Parking’s to eats the top of
with the added bonus of allowing the 26 Court case (5) remain disorganised this flower (5)
crowd to sing “da da daah” between Solution to Crossword No 625 27 Raucously, without correct
lines. But at least it is cheery and M I S F I T A E S P R E S S O vigorously (12) planning (13)
involves no acts of violence. A S A I A R A N A A E A C A N
No doubt the Welsh are proud of T O U G H E S T A S P R I N T
Tom Jones, but he had other hits. A L A U A E A E A A L A M A H
THE PICTURE ROUND
G A R R I S O N A F A M I N E
So here’s my suggestion. Switch A T A I A T A T A A C A T A W by James Walton
to “Green, Green Grass of Home”. A E A N A U S E A T E A A A A
It’s also a dreadful song, but at E D G E A M A C A H A A R M Y
Who or
least it’s an ode to a land you love S A E A O P P O N E N T A U A
C A M A U A A R A G A L A T A what do
and doesn’t involve domestic vio-
lence. I’m sure the chief constable
would approve.
A
P
S
A
S
T
E
A
T
L
S
A
A
A
D
I
R
A
A
M
M
A
A
N
T
A
I
N
C
A
these
pictures + =
GETTY IMAGES

I R O N I C A A M B I T I O N
S A N A E A A L A I A I A U A
add up to?
robert.shrimsley@ft.com T H E O R I S E A A C C E S S

@robertshrimsley
ANSWERS ON PAGE 4

FT.COM/MAGAZINE FEBRUARY
MARCH 19/20
11/12
2022
2023 45
 Wit & Wisdom
The Questionnaire
Tara
Fitzgerald
Actor
Interview by Hester Lacey
1. What is your earliest memory?
I was in the Bahamas with my
mum, in the front seat of the car.
I had this multicoloured chewing
gum; every stick was a different
colour – amazing. My sister was
in the back, and “Do You Know
the Way to San Jose” was playing.
That song has always made me
feel happy.
2. Who was or still is your mentor?
Lots of people along the way. People
come and go. I’m in my fifties.
At this age, if I can listen to my gut
as a guide, as a mentor, that is my
best friend, my best adviser.
3. How fit are you?
I’m lucky: both sides of my family
are pretty strong in different ways.
I’m naturally quite wiry and
muscular. I love running. It’s so
good for your mental health, your
confidence, everything. On stage,
you hit things in a particular way.
Walking is like walking to the power
of 20, it’s very strange. In one play
46
years ago, they had to reheel my
shoes three times over a couple
of months.
4. Tell me about an animal you
have loved.
There have been a few, dogs and
cats especially. Donovan, my
last dog, passed away last year.
He was an extraordinary little chap.
He was tiny and white, but a real
hands-on-hips character. Our first
cat, Emily, was beautiful – a fluffy
tortoiseshell. I remember taking
her to bed with me, I was four, five,
six, and squeezing her. That poor
cat. She was so patient, somehow
realising I was a child.
5. Risk or caution, which has
defined your life more?
Both. Sometimes so much risk that
I snap back into caution, even if I’ve
not necessarily got my fingers burnt
– though sometimes one does.
6. What trait do you find most
irritating in others?
Disingenuousness.
ILLUSTRATION BY LAUREN CROW
7. What trait do you find most
irritating in yourself?
I can be a bit of a know-all. That’s
been a defence since I was young.
I often say: “Oh yes, I know, I know”,
when I really don’t know. I can
sound like I have strong opinions,
often when I have the least clue.
8. What drives you on?
Curiosity. I’m fascinated by people
and by life, even the difficult bits.
My desire to be surprised.
9. Do you believe in an afterlife?
Yes. I think it’s far more exciting
to believe. Why not?
10. Which is more puzzling,
the existence of suffering or its
frequent absence?
What’s hard to accept is the idea
that bad things happen to good
people. I can’t get my head around
how some people suffer so much,
or are given such a hard life.
11. Name your favourite river.
The Po. I love the name; it’s always
made me laugh. It doesn’t seem
to belong to Italy. It somehow
sounds as though it should
be Asian. It has some magical
appeal to me. And the Styx.
I’m very interested in myths:
as a young person I was
intoxicated by the river Styx.
I often thought about what it
might be like to cross it and am
haunted by the idea that you
can’t get back. It’s so rich with
symbolism and imagination.
12. What would you have
done differently?
We all make mistakes, and I love
the notion that it’s the mistakes
that are the good bit. Mistakes is
the wrong word, they’re the
educators, the moments of
illumination, the juicy bits. So I
don’t want to change anything.
This is the way it is.
Tara Fitzgerald stars in “Duet For
One” at the Orange Tree Theatre until
March 18; orangetreetheatre.co.uk
FT.COM/MAGAZINE
FT.COM/MAGAZINEFEBRUARY 11/12 2023
MARCH 19/20 2022