Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footer
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Open side navigation menuOpen search bar
Financial Times
SubscribeSign In
  • Home
  • World
    Sections
    • World Home
    • Israel-Hamas war
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • War in Ukraine
    • Americas
    • Middle East & North Africa
    Most Read
    • Donald Trump scores big win in South Carolina Republican primary
    • Global house prices rebound as economists predict turning point
    • Trump says he is a ‘dissident’ under siege from thugs in bleak speech
    • Malaysia’s prime minister decries ‘China-phobia’ among US and western allies
    • Trump pivots to race against Biden after crushing Haley in South Carolina
  • UK
    Sections
    • UK Home
    • UK Economy
    • UK Politics
    • UK Companies
    • Personal Finance
    Most Read
    • UK Conservatives battle to retain ‘true blue’ rural heartlands
    • Conservative party suspends Lee Anderson over Sadiq Khan comments
    • UK deputy PM declines to say if Lee Anderson comments over Sadiq Khan were racist
    • Birth rate drops to new low in England and Wales
    • ‘Macho’ all-male Rochdale by-election fuels political divisions over Gaza
  • Companies
    Sections
    • Companies Home
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
    Most Read
    • Jim Ratcliffe warns EU bureaucracy will drive away industry’s investments
    • Warren Buffett admits Berkshire Hathaway’s days of ‘eye-popping’ gains are over
    • Indonesia to wipe out global nickel rivals, warns French miner Eramet chief
    • Goldman insider-trading conviction shows UK watchdog sharpening its teeth
    • European football needs innovation and drama, says Real Madrid and FC Barcelona investor
  • Tech
  • Markets
    Sections
    • Markets Home
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Cryptofinance
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Wealth Management
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    Most Read
    • Indonesia to wipe out global nickel rivals, warns French miner Eramet chief
    • How Germany’s steelmakers plan to go green
    • Goldman insider-trading conviction shows UK watchdog sharpening its teeth
    • $100mn in crypto payments traced to Myanmar-based ‘scammers’
    • Public service pensions are the elephant in the room
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    Sections
    • Opinion Home
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
    Most Read
    • Why is Nikki Haley still running?
    • Western timidity has only emboldened Putin
    • The global trade system is in desperate need of an overhaul
    • The forgotten war
    • The metropolitan elite has ignored farmers for too long
  • Work & Careers
    Sections
    • Work & Careers Home
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
    • Working It
    Most Read
    • Fewer trips, fewer planes: business travellers rethink old habits
    • The menace of the overblown job title
    • ‘Every person slips at some point’: how businesses are managing the four-day week
    • ‘The one thing I’ve always had is deal flow’: RedBird’s Gerry Cardinale
    • Good news. We’ve got the contract for the worst idea in the world
  • Life & Arts
    Sections
    • Life & Arts Home
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
    Most Read
    • Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer: ‘I’m suspicious of people making Holocaust films’
    • Six cool California hotels to book now
    • Across ‘Saxon Switzerland’ in the footsteps of Caspar David Friedrich
    • Can a friendship app cure loneliness?
    • ‘They are among us’: Russia’s terrifyingly effective poisoning operation
  • HTSI
MenuSearch
  • Home
  • World
  • UK
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Markets
  • Climate
  • Opinion
  • Work & Careers
  • Life & Arts
  • HTSI
Financial Times
SubscribeSign In

Simon Kuper

Life & Arts Columnist

Simon Kuper joined the Financial Times in 1994. He wrote the daily currencies column, before leaving the FT in 1998. He returned in 2002 as a sports columnist and has been there ever since. Nowadays he writes a general column for the Weekend FT on all manner of topics from politics to books, and on cities including London, Paris, Johannesburg and Miami.

Email Simon Kuper @KuperSimon  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

Add to myFT Digest

Add this topic to your myFT Digest for news straight to your inbox

  • Thursday, 22 February, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The myth of the lone writer

    Collaboration is encouraged in most creative industries. Why is it taboo for writers?

  • Thursday, 15 February, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Trump’s awful truth: the US can go it alone

    He intuits something important about Americans. Their scariest enemies are within

  • Thursday, 8 February, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Time to tax billionaires

    How rich does anyone need to be?

  • Thursday, 1 February, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The surprising success of multi-ethnic cities

    War in Gaza reminds us of the fragility of any multi-ethnic space, where horror is never far beneath the surface

  • Friday, 26 January, 2024
    Instant InsightJürgen Klopp
    Jürgen Klopp’s departure holds lessons for leaders everywhere

    The Liverpool manager is a gifted motivator who knows how to delegate

    A man in a sports cap holds up a clenched fist to a stadium crowd
  • Thursday, 25 January, 2024
    FT MagazineUK Government
    How Britain’s political elite broke the development bargain

    The Conservative party believed voters would back them no matter how they behaved

  • Thursday, 18 January, 2024
    Electric vehicles
    Electric cars are not the future 

    In cities at least, e-bikes make more cultural and consumer sense 

  • Thursday, 11 January, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The war on migration is meant to be lost

    Politicians promise to cut immigration, while knowing their societies couldn’t function without it

  • Friday, 5 January, 2024
    InterviewLunch with the FT
    Writer Giuliano da Empoli: ‘Putin knows he made a mistake. But one rule of power is to never go back’

    The Italian political adviser turned bestselling novelist on using fiction to get inside the mind of the Kremlin

    An illustration of writer Giuliano da Empoli in front of a restaurant
  • Thursday, 21 December, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    What if Russia wins?

    A counterfactual view of the conflict in Ukraine

  • Thursday, 14 December, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Can India’s Silicon Valley make it as a megacity?

    Dizzying dynamic, Bengaluru has reached a fork in the road that will determine its future

  • Thursday, 7 December, 2023
    FT MagazineParis
    Paris, city of the future

    There’s a decidedly optimistic air in the French capital

  • Monday, 27 November, 2023
    Flexible working
    Desks by the hour: why flexible offices are a hit with business

    New form of co-working offers companies ability to expand or shrink space when needed

    Nancy Hey
  • Thursday, 23 November, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    How to tackle your inner climate denier

    Like many others, my instinctive response is to change the subject, but collectively that has to change

  • Friday, 17 November, 2023
    FT SeriesBest books of the year 2023
    Best books of 2023 — Sport

    Simon Kuper selects his must-read titles

    Montage of book covers
  • Thursday, 16 November, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The Dutch are piloting a saner European right

    Post-Thatcherite, post-Trumpian, next week’s elections are tapping into a mood for dry moderation

  • Thursday, 16 November, 2023
    Special ReportDiversity Leaders
    Lise Klaveness fights the lonely fight to change world football

    European standard bearer contests male officialdom view that ‘patience’ is the way forward

    Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian Football Association (NFF), poses for a portrait
  • Thursday, 9 November, 2023
    FT MagazineIsrael-Hamas war
    What George Orwell could teach us about Israel and Palestine

    Orwell and Nelson Mandela are reliable models for truth-seeking in a time of tragedy

  • Thursday, 2 November, 2023
    FT MagazineLithuania
    How Lithuanians are preparing to stop Putin

    Peaceful prosperity is an anomaly in Lithuanian history. Russian invasions are the norm

    Illustration showing a silhouetted side profile of a bear’s head, with a red star as its eye and the colors of the flag of Lithuania in its mouth
  • Saturday, 28 October, 2023
    The Weekend Essay
    From Putin to Musk: the making of a modern-day oligarch

    Today’s super-rich govern countries, set agendas — and thrive in times of turmoil. Simon Kuper on how oligarchs diversified

    A Reservoir Dogs-style illustration of seven men in black suits with red ties, their faces including those of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg
  • Thursday, 26 October, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The west appeased Putin once. They’ll do it again

    Each country had its own incentive to misread the Russian president. Where do they stand now?

  • Tuesday, 24 October, 2023
    FT Globetrotter
    Parlez-vous Parisian? How to speak like a local in the French capital

    A crash course in an ever-shifting dialect that expresses the city’s cosmopolitan cool. Wesh!

    Cartoon of people speaking French words
  • Thursday, 19 October, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Skimming, scanning, scrolling — the age of deep reading is over

    Reading longer texts fostered our empathy for others. How will we cope without it?

  • Thursday, 12 October, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The Disneyfication of the national brand

    From Ikea’s Sweden to Swiss watchmakers, today’s companies are remaking the images of entire populations

  • Thursday, 5 October, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The case against HS2

    Even in countries bigger than England, high-speed rail is often a vanity project that escapes public scrutiny

    Illustration of a white elephant behind a blue train
Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

Useful links

Support

View Site TipsHelp CentreContact UsAbout UsAccessibilitymyFT TourCareers

Legal & Privacy

Terms & ConditionsPrivacy PolicyCookie PolicyManage CookiesCopyrightSlavery Statement & Policies

Services

Share News Tips SecurelyIndividual SubscriptionsProfessional SubscriptionsRepublishingExecutive Job SearchAdvertise with the FTFollow the FT on XFT ChannelsFT Schools

Tools

PortfolioFT AppFT Digital EditionFT EditAlerts HubBusiness School RankingsEnterprise ToolsNews feedNewslettersCurrency Converter

Community & Events

FT CommunityFT Live EventsFT ForumsFT Board NetworkBoard Director Programme

More from the FT Group

Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2024. FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.
Financial Times

UK Edition

Subscribe for full access
  • Switch to International Edition

Top sections

  • Home
  • World
    • Israel-Hamas war
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • War in Ukraine
    • Americas
    • Middle East & North Africa
  • UK
    • UK Economy
    • UK Politics
    • UK Companies
    • Personal Finance
  • Companies
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
  • Tech
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Semiconductors
    • Cyber Security
    • Social Media
  • Markets
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Cryptofinance
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Wealth Management
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
  • Work & Careers
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
    • Working It
  • Life & Arts
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
  • Personal Finance
    • Property & Mortgages
    • Investments
    • Pensions
    • Tax
    • Banking & Savings
    • Advice & Comment
    • Next Act
  • HTSI
  • Special Reports

FT recommends

  • Lex
  • Alphaville
  • Lunch with the FT
  • FT Globetrotter
  • #techAsia
  • Moral Money
  • Visual and data journalism
  • Newsletters
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • News feed
  • FT Live Events
  • FT Forums
  • Board Director Programme
  • myFT
  • Portfolio
  • FT Digital Edition
  • Crossword
  • Our Apps
  • Help Centre
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In