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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)
  • Thursday, 9 January, 2025
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Thirty years after my first day at the FT, what’s changed?

    Looking at old newspapers, I realise there are no new stories, just new reporters

    An infinity-shaped loop made of printed text and images, resembling a continuous strip of newspaper
  • Thursday, 2 January, 2025
    FT MagazineClimate change
    Why goats are replacing cows in southern Africa

    A drought-hit province provides glimpses of the planet’s next phase 

    An hourglass against a blue background, with the top half containing a miniature savannah scene featuring elephants and trees, while sand flows into the bottom half
  • Thursday, 19 December, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The writer who gave us the bigger picture

    Reciprocal gift-giving is the basis for all society . . . the ritual that allows us to live in harmony

  • Thursday, 12 December, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Trump is a test for the ‘Great Man theory’

    Modern historians are wary of ascribing change to individuals. Could that be about to change?

  • Thursday, 28 November, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Europe’s fear of the outsider

    Surrounded by an unfriendly Russia, China and Trump-led US, how should Europeans respond? 

  • Thursday, 28 November, 2024
    FT Globetrotter
    Bureau zone: how to navigate French workplace culture

    Contrary to our fantasy, it is not all 35-hour weeks, long holidays and leisurely lunches (well, maybe the latter)

  • Tuesday, 26 November, 2024
    FT SeriesThe best books of the year 2024
    Best books of 2024: from our own stable

    Books by FT journalists and editors

  • Thursday, 21 November, 2024
    FT MagazineEnergy sector
    Will China win the clean-energy era?

    Trump loves fossil fuels but his sidekick Musk wants a piece of the action

  • Tuesday, 19 November, 2024
    FT SeriesThe best books of the year 2024
    Best books of 2024: Sport, Health and Wellness

    Simon Kuper and Anjana Ahuja select their must-read titles

  • Thursday, 14 November, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Lamentations of a lost liberal

    Liberals have learnt pessimism since 2016. This time, we are neither baffled nor energised by Trump’s win

    Cartoon of a person staring out a window, appearing thoughtful or concerned, with an American flag and crowd seen outside in a dimly lit setting
  • Thursday, 7 November, 2024
    FT MagazineGenomics
    We are a bit Neanderthal

    What modern genetics has taught us about human history

  • Thursday, 31 October, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    How the media is failing us

    I include myself in the under-reporting of the most consequential global stories

  • Thursday, 24 October, 2024
    FT MagazineEU defence
    Trump II: the military threat to Europe

    Nato without the US is a hypothetical, but it could happen as early as next year

  • Thursday, 17 October, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Taboos take a back seat in a new Europe

    Fewer voters are put off by the roots of some far-right parties

  • Thursday, 10 October, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Political freebies matter immensely

    Britain needs what it has never had: serious rules curtailing money in politics

  • Thursday, 3 October, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Why I stopped making election forecasts

    The shocks of recent times have shown the rational voter is a myth

    Illustration showing two contrasting voting booths: one minimalist and grey, the other bright and adorned with American flag colours and stars, with a hand casting a ballot
  • Thursday, 26 September, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    After the strongman

    What happens when a personalist regime inevitably falls

  • Thursday, 19 September, 2024
    Life & Arts
    Musk, Thiel and the shadow of apartheid South Africa

    The parallels between South Africa then and the US today are striking

    Illustration of a red bench labelled ‘MAGA ONLY’ on a green background
  • Thursday, 12 September, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Serious Starmer leads a Roundhead revival

    Categorising him as left or right ignores the prime minister’s distinctively puritan streak

    An illustration depicting Keir Starmer dressed as a Roundhead, against a pale-green background
  • Thursday, 5 September, 2024
    FT MagazineParis Olympics
    How the Olympics changed Paris 

    The city’s mood has shifted from disaster mitigation to opportunity

  • Thursday, 15 August, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    How taking a holiday went global

    More people have acquired the means to experience the life-altering effects of a vacation

  • Friday, 9 August, 2024
    The Weekend Essay
    How to read a riot

    Violence on British streets has reopened an age-old debate about what drives disorder — and what can be done about it

    A group of men are gathered on a grassy area, holding planks and sticks. Some are draped in England flags, one waves a union jack and many are filming with phones
  • Thursday, 8 August, 2024
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    What the Olympic medal table really tells us

    The list of winning countries is much more than just a guide to sporting achievement

  • Saturday, 3 August, 2024
    InterviewFT Magazine
    How Roger Federer rode the ‘beautiful wave’ of tennis for 24 years

    The court legend on rivalry, reinvention and regret

  • Thursday, 25 July, 2024
    FT MagazinePolitics
    A tale of three very different elections

    We’ve got a rare opportunity to compare the UK, US and French systems. What have we learnt?

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