While the Life and Art team takes a break for Thanksgiving, we’re sharing an episode of Working It, the FT’s workplace podcast hosted by Isabel Berwick. Here’s what it’s about: Do you ever find yourself lost for words? Or maybe you have too much to say? This week’s episode features a masterclass in chit-chat from Matt Abrahams, a lecturer in communications at Stanford University, podcast host and author of the book 'Think Faster, Talk Smarter'. Good conversation is an essential tool of sel...
Nov 24, 2023•22 min
Robin Lane Fox is one of the foremost gardening experts in the world. He’s been the FT’s gardening columnist for 53 years. And he joins us today to talk about what to do with your plants in winter. As it gets colder and darker, what should we do to keep our plants happy, indoors and out? The conversation is a delight. We’ve shared all of his recommendations below. ------- We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap . You can email her at [email protected]. ------- Robin’s re...
Nov 20, 2023•17 min
This Friday, we’re talking about the deification of Dolly Parton, or, as we like to call her, Saint Dolly. Her new release Rockstar comes out today – a 30-track rock album that features duets with artists such as Paul McCartney, Sting, Elton John and Stevie Nicks on cover versions of their classic songs. The album feels a bit like a karaoke album, but we had a lot of fun listening to it – partially because Parton is so easy to love. So how did Parton become such a cultural icon? What does s...
Nov 17, 2023•22 min
This week, as it gets colder and darker, we discuss cosy, warming winter recipes that don’t rely on a big hunk of meat. Bestselling cookbook author Hetty McKinnon joins us to talk plant-based winter cooking, from ways to use kale and broccoli, to layering flavour, to her favourite spices and herbs. Hetty’s newest cookbook, Tenderheart , came out this spring. ------- We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram and X @lilahrap . You can email her at [email protected] . ------- Lin...
Nov 13, 2023•17 min
For our first Friday culture chat, we talk about the new cringe-drama-comedy show The Curse , which dropped on Paramount Plus today. Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone play a couple who are making a problematic reality TV show, Flipanthropy , whose goal is to “ethically gentrify” an American neighbourhood. When they’re cursed by a child, their lives are turned upside down. Lilah’s joined by FT columnist Stephen Bush and assistant arts editor Rebecca Watson to talk about the show and how prestige TV i...
Nov 10, 2023•25 min
In our inaugural episode of Life and Art from FT Weekend, we go to Athens. The FT’s Greece and Cyprus correspondent Eleni Varvitsioti is a lifelong Athenian, and for the past 16 years she has lived in the centre of town, in the shadow of the Acropolis. But as Athens has become more popular with tourists, the centre has become less and less livable. This week, Eleni tells us what exactly is causing the congestion, and what should be done about it. She and Lilah also suggest alternate Greek itiner...
Nov 06, 2023•16 min
Starting Monday we will be bringing you a whole new show! It’s called Life and Art, from FT Weekend . Join host Lilah Raptopoulos for two new episodes each week right here in this feed. On Mondays, we’ll talk about life and how to live a good one. We’ll chat about food, creativity, travel and more. On Fridays, Lilah will host a roundtable that will dive deep into a piece of culture that’s in the air right now. Every week, we’ll invite two colleagues from around the FT for the convers...
Nov 03, 2023•1 min
We’re entering Halloween weekend, so today we’re bringing you a special episode about why we like to be scared, and what scares us! We are dissecting the 1978 horror classic Halloween, by John Carpenter. This week marks its 45th anniversary. The film follows a masked serial killer, Michael Myers, as he returns to his hometown on a killing spree, and is 19-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis’ debut. It’s become one of the most popular horror franchises in history. But how does it hold up now? We’re joined ...
Oct 27, 2023•23 min
This week, we’re talking about the show, and pop star, of the century: Taylor Swift just released the film version of her Eras concert in theatres, and it’s already breaking records. Lilah hosts a roundtable on both the film and the Taylor phenomenon with HTSI Editor Jo Ellison and US media correspondent Anna Nicolaou. How did we all get wrapped up in the hype? Is there anywhere else for Swift to go? Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or at http://ft.com/ftweekendpodcast . ------- We love he...
Oct 20, 2023•22 min
This week, we bring you a conversation about food memoirs from the recent FT Weekend Festival. Cooking and eating are two of the most sensory and universal experiences we have, which makes food an excellent vehicle for stories. And food memoirs have become an extremely popular genre. Lilah speaks about it with three food-based storytellers: chef and FT columnist Ravinder Bhogal; 19-year-old baker and Instagram star Kitty Tait, who wrote a book about how baking bread saved her life; and Angela Hu...
Oct 13, 2023•24 min
This week, we talk to harpist Mary Lattimore. Mary is known for her earthy, experimental music and has collaborated with musicians like Kurt Vile and Kesha. As she releases her new album, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada , she tells guest host Lulu Smyth about what it's like to compose and perform in a whole new way on the 47-string instrument. ------- We love hearing from you. You can email us at [email protected]. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod , and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap . --...
Oct 06, 2023•17 min
This week, we talk about morality with the author Andrew Lipstein. Andrew's novel The Vegan is a satire about a hedge fund manager, Herschel, who decides to go vegan after accidentally poisoning one of his dinner party guests. Andrew talks about the novel, the state of ethics today, and why our actions don't always match our intentions. ------- We love hearing from you. You can email us at [email protected]. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod , and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap ....
Sep 29, 2023•17 min
This week, Lilah is talking to the FT's food and drink editor, Harriet Fitch Little, about how to host the perfect dinner party. And by "perfect" Harriet means one that you as the host will actually enjoy! Harriet shares practical tips and tricks for putting together a spread and an ambiance, but most importantly she wants you to be yourself – even if that means foregoing homemade everything. ------- We love hearing from you. You can email us at [email protected]. We’re on Twitter @ftweeke...
Sep 22, 2023•22 min
This week, we talk to country-pop sensation Shania Twain, one of the best-selling female artists of all time. Shania is touring in the UK this month and has just released an extended edition of her iconic 90s album Come on Over , which features her greatest hits. After more than a decade of battling Lyme disease, she tells us how it feels to be back on stage. ------- We love hearing from you. You can email us at [email protected]. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod , and Lilah is on Inst...
Sep 15, 2023•20 min
Subscribe now to the FT's Tech Tonic podcast: Some scientists believe that rapid advances in artificial intelligence may also hold the key to decoding animal sounds, allowing us to ‘translate’ them into human language. In a new season of Tech Tonic, FT innovation editor John Thornhill and series producer Persis Love explore how the same technology that powers ChatGPT is being applied to research in animal communication. Could we one day learn to ‘speak whale’ or even chat with bats? And if so, c...
Sep 13, 2023•1 min
The announcement last winter that the world’s top restaurant, Noma, will close in 2024, has spawned dozens of think pieces asking whether this is the end of fine dining. So this weekend, we went to the FT’s renowned food critic Tim Hayward to learn about the state of the industry. Running a restaurant has never been more expensive in cities such as New York and London. And now, in the middle of a cost of living crisis, Tim says a bloodbath is coming: in order to stay afloat restauranteurs must d...
Sep 08, 2023•25 min
This week, we explore Chinese cuisine with cook and food writer Fuchsia Dunlop. In the west, misconceptions and prejudices surround Chinese food: that it’s unhealthy, or oily, or simple. In reality, it’s a cuisine with ancient roots, that Fuchsia strongly believes is “endlessly thrilling”, and among the best and most sophisticated in the world. Fuchsia is the author of six books on Chinese food, including her newest, Invitation to a Banquet . She tells Lilah there’s a lot the west can learn from...
Sep 01, 2023•19 min
This week, we go to one of the world’s largest museums, so a former guard can teach us new ways to appreciate art. Patrick Bringley was a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a decade. He recently wrote a memoir about his time there titled All the Beauty in the World . He takes Lilah on a tour of the museum, and they explore how to appreciate the nuances of the space: everything from how lighting changes how loud people talk in a gallery, to why it is important to visit museums alone. How...
Aug 25, 2023•22 min
This week, we're talking about the politics of Italian food. Earlier this year, the FT's Marianna Giusti wrote a viral article called "Why everything I, an Italian, thought about Italian food was wrong", which looked at the origins of classic Italian dishes like pizza and pasta carbonara. In response she got dozens of furious emails and was condemned by some of Italy's top politicians. Today Mari is on with the man whose research she profiled, historian Alberto Grandi, to discuss how Italy's rig...
Aug 18, 2023•21 min
Who is Sergei Leontiev? To the US asylum system, he’s an exiled Russian banker who was persecuted by the state and forced to flee. To Russia, he’s said to be responsible for massive fraud. On The Russian Banker, a new series from the Financial Times, reporters Courtney Weaver and Stefania Palma try to uncover the truth, and find a story that tells us about Russia today and how people in the west build stories about who’s good and who’s bad. The Russian Banker is a special series that w...
Aug 17, 2023•2 min
This week, musician Jenny Lewis joins Lilah to break down how she writes a song. Lewis’s music has paved the way for many famous pop stars and singer-songwriters today. She brings us through her trajectory: from child actor supporting her family, to lead singer of the beloved indie band Rilo Kiley, to solo artist who just, at 47, came out with her fifth solo album, Joy’All. Lilah asks her what she had for breakfast, she says “one weed gummy”, and they’re off. – Read Lilah’s profile of Lewis at h...
Aug 11, 2023•24 min
Shanna Swan is a scientist who has spent decades chasing a mystery: why global sperm counts have seemingly dropped significantly since the 1930s. At its heart, this story is simply a brilliant yarn. It has got all the elements of a Hollywood movie: this heroic dog-with-a-bone scientist, recalcitrant big business in the role of the baddie, and the looming threat of a global fertility crisis caused by harmful chemicals in everyday plastics such as baby bottles, garden hoses, and that Tupperwa...
Aug 09, 2023•30 min
This week, musician David Byrne joins Lilah in the FT’s New York newsroom to talk about how he makes creative choices. Byrne has been an enduring cultural figure for more than four decades, known for always doing something new. His current project is Here Lies Love , a disco musical on Broadway about Imelda Marcos, a former politician and first lady in the Philippines. He’s also revisiting his days with Talking Heads, as a remastered version of their seminal concert documentary Stop Making Sense...
Aug 04, 2023•25 min
For the next few weeks, we will be bringing you some of our most popular articles from the FT Edit app. Elemental, the new movie from Pixar studios, recently disappointed at the box office. On this episode, Chris Grimes, the FT’s Los Angeles correspondent, takes us inside Disney, the owner of Pixar, and asks whether it can regain its creative crown after a few years of concentrating on lucrative sequels to its existing franchises and on its streaming business, Disney+. It has been a lo...
Aug 03, 2023•8 min
This week, as wildfires rage across Greece, Italy and Algeria, we talk about why fires have become so much bigger, wilder and more dangerous. The FT's chief features writer Henry Mance takes us to a wildfire training camp in Poland, where experts from around the world are struggling with how to handle these new megafires. Because of climate change, they behave differently than old fires: they burn quicker and longer, they leap across trees and rivers, and they defy most traditional rules of fire...
Jul 28, 2023•19 min
For the next few weeks, we will be bringing you some of our most popular articles from the FT Edit app. This week, it’s a story about one of the world’s most loved foods: pizza. Every year, the top 700 or so pizza chefs gather in Parma, in the north of Italy, for the Pizza World Championship. And this year, an English chef from Norfolk named Danny Child is hoping to win. But can a self-trained chef beat Italy's finest pizza masters? You can also find this story in FT Edit, an iPhone app tha...
Jul 26, 2023•20 min
This week, author Lorrie Moore is on the show. Lorrie is one of the most celebrated living writers in the United States, drawing comparisons with Chekhov and Alice Munro. And she just released her novel, I Am Homeless if This is Not My Home . It's her first in 14 years, and it is hard to describe. Let's call it a magical realist love story, in which a man takes a road trip with the corpse of his dead ex-lover. Lorrie talks to Lilah about her writing process, and how she treads the line between h...
Jul 21, 2023•20 min
This week, we explore the question of what it means to privatise justice. The FT's Kadhim Shubber explains how, in the UK, private companies are hired to file and prosecute legal cases — even when the police think those same cases shouldn't be tried. Kadhim and Lilah discuss how private prosecutions work, why they exist, and what it could mean for the future of the justice system. Correction: This episode has been updated to remove suggestions that private prosecution does not exist in the Unite...
Jul 20, 2023•22 min
Note: We want to be clear that this episode does include material that has been generated by Financial Times journalists using AI tools...we've done it to illustrate just how much AI is influencing the music industry. ------- AI has arrived in the music world, and the industry is being forced to wrangle with it. The technology is now sophisticated enough to create entirely new deepfake songs. This year, millions of fake covers, and songs that clone the voices of musical artists, have a...
Jul 18, 2023•22 min
The US economy remains confusing. Markets continue to predict a slowdown but unemployment remains low. Today on the show, we try to figure out what job numbers, manufacturing and credit can tell us about a possible recession and an end to rate rises. Also, we are long the bros at Three Arrows Capital (sort of), and the US stock market. Subscribe to the Unhedged newsletter Follow Ethan Wu ( @ethanywu ) and Katie Martin ( @katie_m...
Jul 10, 2023•14 min
