Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footer

Cookies on FT Sites

We use cookies and other data for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to analyse how our Sites are used.

Accept cookies
Manage cookies
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Open side navigation menuOpen search bar
Financial Times
SubscribeSign InmyFT
  • 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
    • Israel-Hamas truce extended by 2 days as more hostages released
    • Israel tells Elon Musk Starlink can only operate in Gaza with its approval
    • Turkey’s exports of military-linked goods to Russia soar
    • UAE planned to use COP28 summit for oil deals, documents show
    • Commercial vessel and US destroyer attacked off Yemen, says US military
  • US
    Sections
    • US Home
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
    Most Read
    • Companies
      Sections
      • Companies Home
      • Energy
      • Financials
      • Health
      • Industrials
      • Media
      • Professional Services
      • Retail & Consumer
      • Tech Sector
      • Telecoms
      • Transport
      Most Read
      • Deloitte and KPMG ask staff to use burner phones for Hong Kong trips
      • Tesla wins interim decision against Swedish state over car number plates
      • Barclays explores plan to drop thousands of investment banking clients
      • Africa’s richest man under pressure as giant refinery nears production
      • Premium whisky prices slump as weak global economy hurts taste for luxury
    • Tech
    • Markets
      Sections
      • Markets Home
      • Alphaville
      • Markets Data
      • Cryptofinance
      • Capital Markets
      • Commodities
      • Currencies
      • Equities
      • Fund Management
      • Wealth Management
      • Trading
      • Moral Money
      • ETF Hub
      Most Read
      • News updates from November 27: Israel-Hamas truce extended by two days, Qatar says, Fast-fashion group Shein files confidential IPO paperwork in US
      • UAE planned to use COP28 summit for oil deals, documents show
      • Africa’s richest man under pressure as giant refinery nears production
      • Live news: Greek premier broke agreement over discussion of Elgin Marbles, Downing Street claims
      • Gold price hits six-month high as investors bet on rate cuts
    • Climate
    • Opinion
      Sections
      • Opinion Home
      • Columnists
      • The FT View
      • Lex
      • Obituaries
      • Letters
      Most Read
      • The far right is moving into Europe’s mainstream
      • Britain must look abroad to reform its pensions
      • Ukraine’s long war — and how to win it
      • Meloni, Tolkien and Italy’s fellowship of the ring
      • Why a Palestinian state is the best security guarantee for Israel
    • Work & Careers
      Sections
      • Work & Careers Home
      • Business School Rankings
      • Business Education
      • Entrepreneurship
      • Recruitment
      • Business Books
      • Business Travel
      • Working It
      Most Read
      • ‘Double dipping’: why managers worry that staff have a second job on the sly
      • Desks by the hour: why flexible offices are a hit with business
      • The people defending humanity from AI can’t even write a decent press release
      • Property boss David Sleath gives warehouses the hard sell
      • Business Books: What to read this month
    • Life & Arts
      Sections
      • Life & Arts Home
      • Arts
      • Books
      • Food & Drink
      • FT Magazine
      • House & Home
      • Style
      • Travel
      • FT Globetrotter
      Most Read
      • The best waterproof men’s boots for town and country
      • Russell Norman, restaurateur, 1965-2023
      • Napoleon and the mythmakers
      • Five ways to connect to your pets
      • Is having two Christmas trees ridiculous?
    • HTSI
    MenuSearch
    • Home
    • World
    • US
    • 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

    • 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
    • Thursday, 28 September, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      Democracies need to work quicker and smarter. Here’s what that might look like 

      Politicians often reach the right answer — but years too late

    • Thursday, 21 September, 2023
      FT MagazineWorking from home
      Bosses won’t like it but WFH is a happier way to work

      Homeworking is not just a corporate issue, it’s a chance to create a better society

    • Thursday, 14 September, 2023
      FT MagazineUK
      Britain’s dawning self-awareness

      The nation has realised what it is: a small country that needs immigrants, high taxes and European allies

    • Thursday, 7 September, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      We should pity (some of) the incels

      Beyond the dangerous misogynists there’s a growing group of unseen incels who live in harmless but frustrated misery

    • Thursday, 31 August, 2023
      FT MagazineUS presidential election 2024
      The biggest risk to US democracy? You’ve probably never heard of them

      The threat that a third party could swing the 2024 election is barely discussed

    • Monday, 28 August, 2023
      Football
      Now is football’s moment to change

      The scandal over a non-consensual kiss by Luis Rubiales needs to be an ‘enough’ moment

      Protesters demand the resignation of Luis Rubiales at a rally in Madrid. Female footballers’ voices are being heard — they don’t have to take it anymore
    • Friday, 18 August, 2023
      House & Home
      A laboratory of solar energy gives Lyon its moment in the sun

      A boom in residential panel installations is fuelling large-scale projects in French cities

      Illustration of house with solar panels on the roof receiving energy from the sun
    • Wednesday, 16 August, 2023
      ReviewBooks
      Answered Prayers — how England’s 1966 team delivered on Ramsey’s words

      Duncan Hamilton’s book, based on interviews with the footballers and their often prickly manager, aims to place the World Cup victory in a fresh light

    • Tuesday, 8 August, 2023
      Working It podcast16 min listen
      Shared workspaces are growing up

      Ping-pong tables and beer-on-tap are out. Privacy is in

    • Thursday, 3 August, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      Israel and the US are battling identity crises

      Could they both end with the dismantling of democracy?

    • Thursday, 27 July, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      The red-hot issue in the Spanish elections should be climate, not culture wars

      The results offered an insight into how voting changes once climate change becomes a ‘now’ problem: it doesn’t

    • Wednesday, 26 July, 2023
      Work & Careers
      Out of office: the rise of the ‘workcation’

      Companies including Google and American Express are allowing staff to work from their holiday locations

      A person in holiday clothing looks at a monitor, with a view of mountains behind it
    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

    PortfolioToday’s Newspaper (FT Digital Edition)Alerts HubBusiness School RankingsEnterprise ToolsNews feedNewslettersCurrency Converter

    Community & Events

    FT CommunityFT Live EventsFT ForumsFT Board DirectorBoard Director Programme

    More from the FT Group

    Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2023. 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

    International Edition

    Subscribe for full access
    • Switch to UK 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
    • US
      • US Economy
      • US Companies
      • US Politics & Policy
    • 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
      • Fund Management
      • Wealth Management
      • Trading
      • Moral Money
      • ETF Hub
    • Climate
    • Opinion
      • Columnists
      • The FT View
      • 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
    • Today’s Newspaper (FT Digital Edition)
    • Crossword
    • Our Apps
    • Help Centre
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In