British singer-songwriter Dua Lipa arrives for the 2025 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 5, 2025. ANGELA WEISS / AFP It’s the first Monday in May, which means the stars are hitting the red carpet for the Met Gala, the extravagant Manhattan charity ball that this year … Read more
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Vietnam’s top leader has hailed the country’s “victory of justice” and its rapid development, as the south-east Asian nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of the war with the US. At a grand … Read more
Not many people celebrate their birthday by burning a fiery arc through the atmosphere, pulling 4.4gs in freefall back to planet Earth, thudding into the ground, and emptying their stomach on the steppes of Kazakhstan. No one has ever done it on their 70th birthday. Perhaps this is appropriate because NASA astronaut Don Pettit is … Read more
6 years ago I pledged to minimise conference travel and, basically, not to fly. This prompted a productive debate at the time but it quickly petered out. I tended to get the occasional raised eyebrow (or, less frequently, a thumbs up) when I declined invitations for in-person participation and asked to join online. Initially, not … Read more
Life in the late-1800s, by today’s standards, was dismal for the vast majority of the population. The average life expectancy at birth was just 45 years. Most homes had no bathrooms and no one had electricity just yet. There was no such thing as a radio, telephone, motion pictures or professional sports. Robert Gordon estimates … Read more