With regard to Alan Beattie’s insightful commentary “Trade policy cannot fix America’s inequality problem” (Opinion, FT.com, May 11), we need to add one major issue — education and training. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush, and former vice-president Al Gore, when promoting free trade, overlooked President Teddy Roosevelt’s belief that trade agreements should only

JML Stone highlights the “constant predatory (recruitment) activities of for-profit and non-profit US (healthcare) corporations in the UK” (Letters, May 9). Such “skimming off the top” of the NHS “inevitably means that excellent nurses and specialists are being sucked from the health service, but without any perceivable benefit to the indigenous population — in fact,

Mary Ziegler’s interesting article (“Conflict over dismantling US abortion rights poses a political challenge”, Opinion, May 10) might also have addressed some other relevant points. A right is not an obligation. Those who, out of religious beliefs and/or a sense of ethics, refuse to exercise their right to have an abortion or refuse to enable

Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has amassed a 7.6 per cent stake in online retail brokerage Robinhood, calling it an “attractive investment”. Bankman-Fried said in a securities filing he has no “intention of taking any action toward changing or influencing the control of [Robinhood]” and bought the stake purely as an

Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX chief executive, spoke to Peter Campbell, global motor industry correspondent, at FT Live’s Future of the Car conference in London on Tuesday May 10. This is an edited transcript of their interview, which covered everything from buying a mining company to lifting the Twitter ban on Donald Trump. Peter Campbell (PC):

China’s biggest stock market listing in a decade — China Mobile — has, in some ways, been an unexpected success story. Its public share offering, in January, was significant not only for the amount of cash raised, but also for accelerating investment flows between China and the rest of the world. However, in raising Rmb48.7bn

Law firms often deal with a range of matters for their business clients beyond legal-specific issues. That has inspired several of the legal professionals featured here to develop new, complementary services in addition to their firms’ core activities. Others are highlighted for their efforts in encouraging their firms to embrace technology — saving time that

Pink Floyd, known for hits such as “Money” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, could soon be $500mn richer, with Warner Music and KKR-backed BMG competing to buy the band’s entire back catalogue, according to people familiar with the matter. The British rock group is testing market appetite in a bid to follow stars such

Twitter has announced an immediate hiring freeze, cost-cutting measures and the departure of two of its senior leaders, as Elon Musk moves closer to completing his takeover of the social media company. Twitter, which last month agreed to sell itself to Musk for $44bn, will pause most hiring and backfills effective this week, according to

The number of graduates receiving top degrees in England has more than doubled in the past decade, prompting the university watchdog to threaten to clamp down on “unexplained” first-class honours. Figures released on Thursday by the Office for Students, the university sector regulator, showed 37.9 per cent of students were awarded first-class degrees, the highest

Warren East, the outgoing chief executive of Rolls-Royce, struck an upbeat tone about the engineering group’s prospects on Thursday, telling investors a gradual improvement in flying had helped trading this year. The FTSE 100 company, paid by customers according to hours flown by aircraft fitted with its engines, took a big financial hit from the

In the Rocky films, Sylvester Stallone often starred in a wordless montage of training scenes. It captures something of the thickset biopic Father Stu that the same device is recycled. In place of slog in the boxing gym, however, Mark Wahlberg’s hero Stuart Long preps with prayer. The movie is faith-based, drawn from a true

Come summer, tourists flock to Stow-on-the-Wold, swelling the population of the picturesque hillside market town situated in a corner of the Cotswolds by the coachload. Its souvenir shops do brisk business, the throng stocking up on Cotswolds-themed jams and keepsakes to take home. But Andrew and Jesse D’Ambrosi, owners of the town’s eponymous fine food store, have never been interested

The $1.3tn cryptocurrency industry was on Thursday hit by one of its toughest challenges when stablecoin Tether — a critical cog in the market — failed to maintain its link with the US dollar. Tether tumbled as low as 95.11 cents in European trading, far below the $1 peg that it seeks to maintain as

Vodafone’s “Together we Can” tagline celebrates collaboration. It must wish regulators could get the message. The UK telecoms company wants to combine its UK operations with its domestic rival Three UK, owned by Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison. This marks a big test for the post-Brexit telecoms regulatory regime. A deal makes sense. But cutting competition

Three things to start: Elon Musk made plenty of headlines in his interview with the FT this week. But let’s forget Twitter (and Trump) for a moment. Energy Source readers might be more interested to hear the billionaire’s thoughts on the storage debate: “If you want a means of energy storage, hydrogen is a bad

Green isn’t traditionally anyone’s first choice of eyeshadow. It’s the one in the palette that never gets used up. Which means you probably have one hiding in a drawer, just waiting to be rediscovered. And try it you should: because aside from being one of the biggest spring make-up trends, the right green can be an

Florence + The Machine opened their account in 2008 with a violent altercation. The London band’s debut single “Kiss with a Fist” was a rambunctious number in which Florence Welch sings about a couple having a physical fight. Plates are smashed over heads, the bed is torched, limbs are broken. Both sides give as good

Finland’s president and prime minister have vowed to join Nato, an announcement that will redraw Europe’s geopolitical map and push neighbouring Sweden to apply for membership in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin both said on Thursday that Finland “must apply” for Nato membership within days.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said his conglomerate was taking a “defensive” position and slowing down investments after its Vision Fund posted a historic investment loss of ¥3.5tn ($27bn) for the full year. Those falls plunged Son’s conglomerate as a whole into its biggest-ever quarterly net loss of ¥2.1tn. Shares in the group closed down 8