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    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)

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    • Thursday, 8 June, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      ‘Woke’ and other bogus political terms, decoded

      A brief guide to today’s most nonsensical words and phrases

    • Saturday, 3 June, 2023
      The Weekend Essay
      Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: who was the greatest footballer?

      As their ‘beautiful rivalry’ comes to an end, which of these sporting superstars emerges the winner?

    • Thursday, 1 June, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      The feeling when your passion is also your job

      Generalists often do much better in life. But there’s still something beautiful about finding your vocation

    • Thursday, 25 May, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      There are only two global superpowers left

      Outside the local neighbourhood, it’s every country for itself

    • Wednesday, 24 May, 2023
      Gardens
      Community gardens: ‘We all come here to heal’

      They can help with conditions from obesity to loneliness. No wonder more health professionals are ‘green prescribing’

    • Thursday, 18 May, 2023
      FT MagazineFootball
      What Man Utd’s new owner really wants

      For thrill-seeking plutocrats, nothing offers an ego trip like football

    • Thursday, 11 May, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      How to negotiate with someone more powerful

      Whether on the world stage or at home, it’s complicated. Here’s how to do it

    • Thursday, 4 May, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      Cities are back. Here’s how to make them work better

      London and Paris have never been bigger. But there are endless ways to optimise urban space

    • Thursday, 27 April, 2023
      FT MagazinePolitical espionage
      Why are so many soldiers drawn to the far right?

      The penetration of armies and spy services worldwide by extremists is a genuine threat to democracy

    • Thursday, 20 April, 2023
      FT MagazineBrexit
      How Brexiters live their truth (badly)

      You can only lie to yourself and the rest of the country so long

    • Thursday, 13 April, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      What the mainstream media gets right

      The Fox News trial reveals some uncomfortable truths

    • Thursday, 6 April, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      After 25 years working alone, I tried WeWork

      It’s exhausting to be ceaselessly seen and to have your focus broken every time someone starts to chat

    • Thursday, 30 March, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      It’s morally repugnant, but isolationism on Ukraine makes some sense

      Giving in to Putin would have horrific consequences, but the US would prosper regardless

    • Friday, 24 March, 2023
      The Weekend Essay
      Is France on the road to a Sixth Republic?

      As rage over pension reform spills out on to the streets, it may be time for the country to rethink its all-powerful presidency

    • Thursday, 23 March, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      We should regulate SUVs out of existence

      They’re not only awful for the climate, they’re also killing pedestrians, including children in driveways

    • Friday, 17 March, 2023
      InterviewLeadership
      Football’s first female super-agent Rafaela Pimenta on dealmaking and discrimination

      After the death of her business partner Mino Raiola, the former lawyer had to fight off rivals trying to poach her clients

    • Thursday, 16 March, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      Why the higher paid should work longer than the rest

      If everyone worked 43 years, the garbage collector might retire at 60 and the lawyer at 67

    • Thursday, 9 March, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      Covid-19 turned us into health-obsessed societies. That needn’t be all bad

      It’s time to emphasise prevention over cure. We’re currently scrimping on parks and pools to spend more on diabetes

    • Friday, 3 March, 2023
      The Oscars 2023: all you need to know
      Michelle Yeoh: ‘Finally we are being seen’

      The ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ star on what an Oscar would mean to Asian actors — and why she really, really wants to bring that statue home

    • Thursday, 2 March, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      France is becoming the new Britain

      Brexit and the French ruling class’s superior survival skills are helping it trounce its rival on the world stage

    • Sunday, 26 February, 2023
      ObituaryJohn Motson
      John Motson, football commentator, 1945-2023

      Over a career spanning a half of a century, he became the bard of English football

    • Thursday, 23 February, 2023
      FT MagazineMarina Ovsyannikova
      The Russian state TV journalist who dared challenge the war

      Marina Ovsyannikova was a cog in Putin’s propaganda machine. Now she’s a refugee

    • Thursday, 16 February, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      The one per cent are not as clever as they think

      The brainiest people and the biggest-earners are two largely separate groups says new research

    • Thursday, 9 February, 2023
      FT MagazineUrban planning
      The urban ideal is a 19th-century city with 21st-century enhancements

      We now realise that cars, concrete and commuting ruined cities in the 20th century

    • Thursday, 2 February, 2023
      FT MagazineLife & Arts
      Retiring at 62? The French have it absolutely right

      I used to take the standard Anglo-Saxon view that the French should get with reality. I’ve changed

    Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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