This weekend, we look at our culture through new lenses. First, we go to Mexico. Lilah speaks to James Beard Award-winning chef Pati Jinich about how diplomacy is sometimes better achieved through the language of food. Then, anthropologist and FT columnist Gillian Tett looks at social phenomena through the lens of anthropology – from crypto to how tastemakers decide what is 'cool'. Gillian has a PhD in social anthropology and recently published a book called ‘Anthro-Vision’. --------------...
Jan 22, 2022•35 min
This week, we’ve got two GOATs – that’s Greatests Of All Time. Legendary artist Tracey Emin is starting an art school and studio compound in Margate, England, the seaside town where she grew up. On the week of her winning the Whitechapel Art Icon Award, we speak to Emin about the legacy she’s building and examine the work that came before, from scandalous installations like “My Bed” to her more contemplative work. Then, the FT’s wine columnist Jancis Robinson teaches us about the world of wine. ...
Jan 15, 2022•29 min
Happy New Year! Our first episode of 2022 is dedicated to one of the world’s most powerful cultural forces: Disney. What happens when a company with that much influence just keeps growing? We visit Disneyland for a rare interview with CEO Bob Chapek, with FT reporters Chris Grimes and Anna Nicolaou. We explore where Disney Plus fits into the digital streaming wars. And Lilah speaks with a Disney expert, Sabrina Mittermeier, about how the company is reckoning with its prejudices 100 years into it...
Jan 08, 2022•26 min
It's our final episode of 2021, and we are marking the end of one unpredictable year and the start of another. What do you think will happen in 2022? Matt Vella, FT Weekend Magazine editor, joins Lilah to discuss listeners’ cultural predictions. A lot of them had an air of nostalgia: Will Britney make a documentary about her life? Will flip phones make a comeback? Then, our pop critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney teaches us the art of the perfect holiday playlist. -------------- If you want a gre...
Dec 18, 2021•28 min
This weekend, we’re going behind the scenes of the FT’s legendary Books of the Year roundup. Literary editor Frederick Studemann and deputy books editor Laura Battle take us into a secret room in the basement of the FT, where all the books sent in for review are kept behind lock and key. You’ll leave this episode with a lot on your reading list, including recommendations from editor Roula Khalaf, FT weekend editor Alec Russell, chief economics commentator Martin Wolf and more. -------------- If ...
Dec 11, 2021•24 min
Do we need another Princess Diana film? Maybe we do, actually. This weekend, we’re talking about new ways to see old things. Lilah speaks with director Pablo Larraín, who our film critic calls ‘one of the most consistently interesting directors in cinema today’. He explains the creative process behind his new film Spencer , starring Kristen Stewart as Diana. Then, we ask the question: what is up with the House of Lords? The FT’s political editor George Parker explains why one of the world’s most...
Dec 04, 2021•27 min•Ep. 14
What do you think of when you hear the words ‘British food’? This week, to celebrate the FT Weekend Magazine’s food and drink holiday special, we’re digging in. Food critic Tim Hayward praises modern British cuisine and challenges his compatriots to be proud of their food culture. Our team visits one of the last standing eel and pie shops in London to explore how culinary traditions survive. Then, Lilah learns a great holiday cocktail from one of Brooklyn’s best mixologists, Shannon Mustipher, a...
Nov 27, 2021•26 min
This weekend, we talk about conversation. Columnist Enuma Okoro explores what makes certain conversations feel good. Lilah and US Managing Editor Peter Spiegel chase the mystery of who actually wrote the US constitution along with esteemed historian William Ewald. And Ruby Wax, the iconic celebrity interviewer of the 90s, tells us how she got stars good and bad—from the members of the Spice Girls to Bill Cosby—to open up and show us who they really are. Links from the episode: — The FT’s b...
Nov 20, 2021•33 min
This weekend, we ask the question: what does it mean to defy death? Rock climber Leo Houlding tells us about his terrifying family holidays, scaling vertical cliff-faces with his two young kids. We also explore radical life extension with science writer Anjana Ahuja. How close are we scientifically to extending the human lifespan to 150 or 200? What are the implications when we get there? And do we really want to live forever? PLUS: inside the luxury life extension market, with How to Spend it w...
Nov 13, 2021•27 min
This weekend, we talk about food and home. Lilah has lunch with restaurateur Danny Meyer, chief executive of Union Square Hospitality Group, known for the likes of Gramercy Tavern and the $3bn Shake Shack empire. They eat at his favourite classic New York restaurant, Sparks Steakhouse, where Meyer found an unlikely mentor in his early years. What makes a restaurant an institution? We also visit the historic province of Shanxi, China, to learn about its legendary noodle arts. Listener Zhiwei Guo ...
Nov 06, 2021•27 min
This weekend, we’re talking about books. The prestigious Booker Prize is about to announce its 2021 winner, and we hear what it’s like to be a judge—and read a book a day!—with two colleagues, Horatia Harrod and Jan Dalley. We explore how the literary world has changed, from boozy lunches to viral Twitter campaigns, with columnist Simon Kuper and agent Jonny Geller. And ahead of the UN climate summit, join us on a journey with Moral Money editor Simon Mundy, who just traveled to 26 countries to ...
Oct 30, 2021•32 min
It’s easy for our identities to look like checkboxes: white and black, woman and man, young and old. How do we speak about the communities we belong to without the weight of entirely representing them? Lilah speaks with Jason Mott, author of the National Book Award shortlisted novel Hell of a Book, about race, identity, masculinity and more. Plus, we go sneaker shopping with style columnist Rob Armstrong to dissect the unspoken rules of men’s fashion. Links from the episode: Robert’s style guide...
Oct 23, 2021•30 min
This week, rock legend Alice Cooper tells us about selling the multi-million dollar artwork he found rolled up in his garage — a story that involves Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí and Dennis Hopper. We also explore the backstabbing families that have inspired HBO’s Succession with chief feature writer Henry Mance, ahead of its season three premiere. And finally: thank you for sharing your recommendations, they’re excellent. We’ve compiled them, alongside our colleagues’, for your listening pleasure....
Oct 16, 2021•30 min
As we watch the climate shift before our eyes, this weekend we focus on the awesomeness of nature and how it humbles us. Travel writer Mark Stratton brings us to a live erupting volcano in La Palma, where “the lava flows like honey on a plate”. Columnist Nilanjana Roy introduces us to the prescient books that warned us of a climate crisis 50 years ago. Plus, 1970s interior design is back, baby! Subeditor Cherish Rufus defines the aesthetic, and defends its revival. Listeners: this is your last c...
Oct 09, 2021•27 min
How has the music industry changed over the past decade? The FT’s business and media reporters tell the dramatic tale, and introduce us to the most powerful exec in the business: Universal Chief Sir Lucian Grainge. Then, ethical philosopher Julian Baggini questions what our bookshelves say about us, and Work & Careers editor Isabel Berwick, a Duolingo master, makes the case for learning a new language from scratch. This weekend, we explore the forces that shape our cultural habits: how we li...
Oct 02, 2021•25 min
This episode, we explore the question of how we’ve changed. Lilah talks to the writer Imogen West-Knights about the phenomenon of treat brain: how the pandemic spurred our desire to excessively indulge. Then, columnist Janan Ganesh describes why lockdown decidedly did not change him — and why he’s worried if it changed you. Plus: Maria Shollenbarger sweeps us away on the world’s most glamorous train. Links from the episode: —Imogen West-Knights describes Treat Brain: https://www.ft.com/content/3...
Sep 25, 2021•27 min
Life & Arts columnist Enuma Okoro explores what our cities tell us about ourselves. Then, Lilah speaks with Elif Shafak—the most widely read woman novelist in Turkey—about writing in countries without freedom of speech, and her new book, The Island of Missing Trees. Plus: our prolific Undercover Economist Tim Harford makes a case for letting go of your to-do list. Links from the episode: —Enuma Okoro’s love letter to New York City: https://www.ft.com/content/e2507d84-9a12-4755-a9c7-41c9ea116...
Sep 18, 2021•29 min
Twenty years after the Twin Towers were brought down, host Lilah Raptopoulos explores where 9/11 sits in our memories. The FT’s New York correspondent Joshua Chaffin introduces us to billionaire developer Larry Silverstein, who bought the World Trade Center in July of 2001 and had to rebuild on the site of a tragedy. How do spaces change in meaning over time? The FT’s former Kabul correspondent Jon Boone introduces us to the “New Afghanistan” generation, what they were promised, and what was los...
Sep 11, 2021•27 min
In this first-ever episode of the FT Weekend podcast, host Lilah Raptopoulos talks to Eleven Madison Park’s Daniel Humm and Chez Panisse’s legendary Alice Waters to discover how the world’s top chefs are finding purpose beyond their restaurants. Humm created a buzz in May when he announced that his world-famous restaurant would be going entirely plant-based. Has that risk paid off? And what does it mean to do good as a chef? Plus: the FT’s design critic Edwin Heathcote gives us a tour of the wor...
Sep 04, 2021•25 min
Welcome to our new show: FT Weekend. Every Saturday, from September 4, join host Lilah Raptopoulos for inspiring conversations, in-depth storytelling, a bit of escapism and a lot of fun. Brought to you by the award-winning Life & Arts journalists at the Financial Times. We love hearing from you. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod , and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap . Email us at [email protected]. Sound design and mixing is by Breen Turner, with original music by Metaphor Mus...
Aug 28, 2021•4 min
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Aug 25, 2021•1 min
Welcome to our Season 3 finale! To wrap up the year, Lilah is joined by the artist Shantell Martin. Shantell draws big, bold lines. Everywhere. She makes a strong case for taking out a pen. We discuss how to teach art to the next generation, what it means to 'sell out' in the art world, British versus American racism, and an urgent question for this time: who are you? Afterwards, co-host Griselda Murray Brown stops in during maternity leave to talk about motherhood and this season's themes. Than...
Dec 18, 2020•56 min
Maaza Mengiste is one of the FT's Women of the Year, and author of the epic historical novel The Shadow King. Her book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, is about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia at the start of WWII. It asks massive questions about how history is remembered, recorded and retold. Maaza and Lilah talk about collective memory, women warriors, decolonising the archives and who will tell the stories of 2020. It's full of wisdom. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll t...
Dec 04, 2020•49 min
Simon is one of the world’s premier historians and art historians, and also a colleague! After a tumultuous election, we've invited him on to help connect the dots and give us much-needed historical context. Plus: Neil Munshi, our west Africa correspondent joins us from Lagos to reflect on our conversation and discuss his recent piece on how companies are facing their brutal colonial histories. Two people with global and historical lenses through which to ...
Nov 20, 2020•44 min
“I feel like America was an experiment that right now is yielding really hideous, ugly results". In the days after the US election, Lilah explores how divided the US is with artist and activist iO Tillett Wright. iO created the hit true-crime podcast The Ballad of Billy Balls. He just finished a ten-year project travelling to all 50 states to photograph 10,000 queer Americans and has a unique lens on America. They discuss the election, how Americans were taught to hate, the dangers of ...
Nov 06, 2020•45 min
After a summer defined by protest, we invite on Ai Weiwei, one of the most influential artists and activists of our time, to discuss whether we've changed. Weiwei describes how to protest creatively and powerfully ("you only see your power from your enemy's eye"), the symbolic meaning of this pandemic, and his view on the state of humanity. Plus: FT arts editor Jan Dalley joins Lilah to unpack the conversation and consider where art is going. Links from the episode: —Circa 2020 on Instagram . Th...
Oct 23, 2020•43 min
In this bonus episode, we bring you a conversation between Lilah and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former US Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey. In her recent memoir, Memorial Drive , Natasha shares the painful story of her mother's murder at the hands of her stepfather when Natasha was 19. Natasha was born to a black mother and white father in the Deep South during the civil rights movement. When she was an infant, the KKK burned a cross in her family's front yard. In this interview she speaks t...
Oct 16, 2020•35 min
Miranda July is an artist ahead of her time: a prolific filmmaker, writer, musician, actor and more. Her work deliberately leads us into discomfort – and then hugs us from behind. Her third feature film, Kajillionaire, now on US and UK general release, is an exploration of loneliness and love that feels especially prescient now. Miranda and Lilah discuss what it’s like to release a film during a pandemic, how to make art when we don’t know what we’ll want in the future, and how a weirder world h...
Oct 09, 2020•53 min
The season kicks off on Friday, October 9! With co-host Griselda Murray Brown on maternity leave, Lilah Raptopoulos presents a new series of conversations with creators and thinkers about our radically transformed cultural landscape. We are living through history. The pandemic has exposed deep cracks in our systems, giving us an unprecedented chance to reexamine and upend. This six-episode season is based around the following question: what’s possible now? Join Lilah, star guests and the t...
Oct 02, 2020•2 min
The world has changed. In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, Gris speaks to Tyler Mitchell, a 25-year-old photographer, filmmaker and political artist who shot to fame when he photographed Beyonce for the September issue of American Vogue in 2018. In his work, Tyler explores what freedom means for black Americans, and all the ways in which it is denied. Gris first spoke to Tyler in early May - three weeks before police killed George Floyd - and they talked again just before this episo...
Jun 16, 2020•1 hr
