Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
More than 100 people have been killed in Nigeria after they rushed to scoop up petrol from a tanker that overturned and then caught fire, police said on Wednesday, as the country’s citizens struggle with a surge in fuel prices.
The incident was the latest fatal tanker explosion in Nigeria, where petrol and other fuels are transported in lorries over long distances and often on poorly maintained roads.
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The accident took place late on Tuesday in the town of Majia in northern Jigawa state, nearly 600km from the capital Abuja. Lawal Shiisu Adam, the state’s police spokesperson, said the tanker had been ferrying fuel from Kano, the economic capital of northern Nigeria, to Yobe state via Jigawa when the driver “lost control” of the tanker.
Adam said police had cordoned off the area after the crash but were soon overwhelmed by a crowd who rushed to collect spilled fuel. Videos posted on social media showed a fiery inferno, which also left scores of people injured.
Fuel prices have increased nearly fivefold over the past year following the government’s decision to cut fuel subsidies and a slide in the naira currency, which has lost about 70 per cent of its value against the dollar since June.
Nigeria’s state-owned oil company last week increased petrol prices by more than 15 per cent, marking the second rise in less than a month and the formal end of a costly subsidy programme.
In the absence of an efficient rail network to move goods across the vast nation, fuel is usually transported in tankers over long distances by road. The country has an under-developed road network that is patchy in many areas and traffic rules are not strictly followed or enforced.
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Accidents involving fuel transportation in Africa’s most populous nation are frequent, with Nigerians often rushing to accident scenes to salvage fuel in buckets and other containers from the tankers.
Last month, almost 60 people died after a collision between a fuel tanker and a truck containing passengers and cattle in north-central Niger state. Nigeria’s road safety agency reported that more than 5,000 people were killed in road crashes last year, but the World Health Organization estimated the number at closer to 40,000, arguing that many accidents are not reported to authorities.
Africa accounts for 19 per cent of road traffic deaths despite having 15 per cent of the global population and only 3 per cent of the world’s vehicle fleet, according to WHO data.
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Sani Umar, a resident who escaped the fire, was quoted by the local Channels TV that the episode was “terrifying”.
Umar added: “People were running in all directions, screaming for help. The fire spread so quickly that many couldn’t escape.”
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
On October 26 1970, Muhammad Ali made his long-awaited comeback in Atlanta after a contentious three-year suspension over his refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam war. His victory was a professional landmark, a political statement — and only the second biggest story in the city that night.
Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist tells the tale of an Ali victory after-party that became the site of an audacious robbery of the country’s most powerful Black crime lords. Based on an eponymous 2020 podcast, the eight-part series is part-true crime saga, part-stylised throwback to 1970s Blaxploitation films complete with split-screens and funky basslines. A B-movie pastiche with an A-list ensemble — Samuel L Jackson, Don Cheadle and Taraji P Henson — the show blends a cool aesthetic and irreverent tone with a wider exploration of ambition and the realities of being Black in a post-segregation southern city.
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At the centre of the story is the “Chicken Man” (real name Gordon Williams); a small-time bookie with outsized ambitions of building his own “Black Vegas”. Chicken Man is played by comedian Kevin Hart, who proves himself more than capable of holding his own among the heavyweights in both scenes of caperish levity and thrillerish grit.
Farce and violence collide when the post-fight shindig hosted by Chicken to butter up New York boss Frank Moten (a scenery-devouring Jackson) ends up with the so-called “Black Godfather” being ambushed by armed thieves. And when suspicions spread that the bookie had orchestrated the stitch-up, Chicken knows that he’s well and truly cooked unless he can deliver the real mastermind to Moten.
To do so, Chicken finds himself improbably teaming up with the cop working on the case. He is detective JD Hudson (Cheadle, brilliantly understated). As Atlanta’s most senior African American officer, Hudson is both disrespected by racist colleagues and disparaged by other Black people — including Muhammad Ali (Dexter Darden), to whom he’s assigned while the boxer’s in town.
The heist plays out across two clammy episodes and is grippingly realised. But Fight Night is at its most compelling when it goes beyond the titular event to explore the conflicts that arise both within the community and individual characters. Where Black lives are sometimes portrayed as homogenous, here there is a breadth and depth, complexity and contradiction in the cop who interrogates his own identity and the gangster who speaks eloquently of empowerment; in the man they call “The Greatest” and the one known as Chicken.
GREGGS is set to launch a champagne bar inside a popular department store before Christmas.
The beloved bakery chain is set to open the posh drinks spot inside Fenwick’s Newcastle store from October 24.
Visitors can indulge in some festive cheer, paired with Greggs’ famous bakes.
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Customers can sip on a selection of top-tier Champagnes, with glasses starting at just £10 for a taste of Ca’ di Alte Prosecco, or go all out with a luxurious £75 glass of Louis Roederer Cristal.
Those looking for a fancy treat can splash out on a whole bottle of Cristal for a whopping £425.
This concept follows the success of last year’s Greggs Bistro at Fenwick, which attracted more than 8,000 visitors in just one month.
Diners enjoyed a unique twist on festive fare, featuring the popular festive bake alongside duck fat roasties, smoked pancetta, chestnuts, and sprouts.
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This year’s menu, which runs until the end of December, has been crafted by Fenwick’s executive head chef Mark Reid in collaboration with Greggs.
The exclusive menu will only be available at the Fenwick’s Newcastle champagne bar and not chain stores.
Highlights include a steak bake served with a peppercorn aioli for just £4.95, and of course a hearty sausage, bean, and cheese melt with bloody Mary ketchup for £4.50.
Plus, the classic sausage roll has been revamped with a spicy hot honey chilli sauce—perfect for those who like a kick and under a fiver, selling at £4.
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I’m a Greggs superfan and I’m visiting 190 stores in just eight days in my campervan…I’m only eating bakes from chain
And for those with a sweet tooth, the Champagne bar won’t disappoint.
Guests can enjoy signature cocktails inspired by Greggs’ treats.
The bar is also stocked with non-alcoholic options like the refreshing peach Melba cocktail for £7.
The stylish Art Nouveau-style bar will seat just 16 guests at a time, who can summon top-ups by ringing vintage crystal bells.
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Reservations are required, and the bar will be open from 11.30AM until the store closes at 7pm.
Hannah Squirrell, Greggs’ customer director said: “While Champagne and Greggs might not be the most immediate food and drink pairing, we’re thrilled to launch the Greggs Champagne Bar at Fenwick.
“We hope everyone who visited us last year—and many more—will enjoy this fun and unique experience, discovering that a chilled glass of Champagne alongside a sausage roll is the hottest ticket in Toon for 2024.”
Leo Fenwick, strategic partnerships director at Fenwick, added: “After the phenomenal success of last year’s Bistro Greggs at Fenwick, we’re proud to partner with Greggs once again to launch the Champagne Bar.
I am just back from a whistle-stop trip to the US West Coast with the Working It video team 📹. We filmed interviews with tech executives who are implementing innovative ideas that might become the future of work for all of us. (We even whizzed round San Francisco between filming gigs in a driverless taxi.)
Someone then pointed out to me on LinkedIn that businesses in other sectors are leading on this, too. Coolness does not automatically lead to innovation 😎. Fair enough, but innovation, and specifically AI, is in the air on the West Coast. A new gold rush is under way — how will this one turn out?
Read on for a heads-up about a UK legal change that puts the onus on employers to prevent sexual harassment of staff. Plus, we welcome back careers expert Jonathan Black 😌, with a question from a 30-something in a rut. We’ll be alternating “Dear Jonathan” questions on career development with Office Therapy workplace dilemmas.
If you have an idea for a story — or for making this newsletter better — do email: isabel.berwick@ft.com. Or collar me at an event: I’m at Oxford university tomorrow evening [Thursday — a free talk for the university’s students, staff and alumni, do register if that includes you] and next week in Amsterdam at Reshaping Work 💬.
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New law, new obligations for employers
On October 26, the new Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 will come into effect. It requires employers to take “proactive and reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of staff during their employment 🛑. The previous government launched a consultation on these changes in 2019, so this has been a long time in the making.
It sounds reassuring and helpful, but what, I wondered does it actually mean for employers? Naeema Choudry, partner at law firm Eversheds Sutherlands, suggests what best practice will involve: “Vital steps to take will include conducting risk assessments, reviewing and updating policies, planning and conducting training sessions, which will need to be adapted to the needs of those being trained. A one size fits all approach will not work. Also, establishing clear and efficient reporting mechanisms and, importantly, ensuring senior leadership are engaged.”
There may be serious consequences if businesses don’t act to protect staff. Naeema says: “Whilst breach of the new duty does not entitle employees to bring a freestanding claim in the employment tribunal claim, if they do bring a tribunal claim arising out of any sexual harassment, and that claim is successful, then the tribunal must consider whether the employer has taken reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. If the tribunal finds that reasonable steps have not been taken, then it can increase any compensation by up to 25 per cent. In addition, the EHRC [Equality and Human Rights Commission] can take enforcement action against the employer.”
What do managers need to do right now? The first priority is to read, and act on, EHRC guidance on the subject. “This guidance includes advice on actions employers can take to prevent and respond to workplace harassment. Additionally, the EHRC has updated its employer 8-step guide to preventing sexual harassment in the workplace to reflect the new preventive duty.”
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The new law applies not only to harassment taking place in the physical workplace, but also at training events and social events. And while the act doesn’t specifically cover harassment by third parties — such as customers or suppliers — the EHRC guidance does include this requirement, Naeema says: “This is especially important in industries like retail, where you can’t always control customer behaviour. However, businesses can make it clear to their customers, clients and suppliers that harassment of their employees won’t be tolerated and that appropriate action will be taken against any third party who sexually harasses them.
“It’s also crucial to support your employees by providing them with the training and skills to challenge inappropriate behaviour and escalate issues.”
There’s a lot to take in. What effect is this change going to have? Is it enough? There are, as we know, “tick-box” cultures in some workplaces ✅ and power imbalances are built in at any organisation. Mel Rodrigues is CEO of Creative Access, a social enterprise focused on improving diversity, equity and inclusion across the creative industries. She has had a long career in TV, and welcomes the change in the law: “My hope is that it will mean no one has to endure the physical or verbal harassment I previously experienced, often dismissed as ‘banter’ by bosses.”
There is a “but”, of course: “However, companies risk falling short without clear guidance on what ‘reasonable steps’ truly means, and what’s needed to prevent harassment, by addressing the power imbalances and cultural factors that allow it to persist.”
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As so often, it’s not the rules and regulations that will make work better, but the intent and effectiveness of the people who implement them 👩🏽💻.
Consider this your heads up on this big change: the FT will be covering the topic in more detail next week.
Further reading: The CIPD professional body for HRs has some good, easy-to-read material.
Does your organisation offer useful free resources on the new Worker Protection Act? (I hear ‘active bystander training’ is going to be important.) Let me know and I’ll share thoughts here: isabel.berwick@ft.com.
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This week on the Working It podcast
Bankers and lawyers are in “greedy jobs” — they may work 80, 90 or 100-hour weeks and are paid handsomely — but have very little time for the rest of their lives 😰. What are they doing that takes up all this time? And have things changed since the pandemic introduced hybrid and flexible working patterns? In this week’s episode, my colleague Bethan Staton hosts a wide-ranging (and eye-opening 👀) discussion with Suzi Ring, the FT’s legal correspondent, and Craig Coben, a former senior investment banker at Bank of America and now an FT Alphaville contributing writer.
Dear Jonathan 📩
The question: I seem to be stuck in a “progression rut”. I work as a communications manager in a small team, but I don’t have direct responsibility for anyone. If I want to progress to a role with more responsibility, “line manager experience” is listed as an essential requirement, however I don’t have any. Is there anything I can do to address this? Female, 30s
Jonathan Black’s advice: Making the step into line management can appear to be an insurmountable barrier because of the risk-aversion of employers, who only seek applicants who are already doing the particular role they seek to fill.
That leaves people like you wondering how to get ahead. Even if there is a vacancy at your own organisation, it can be difficult for internal candidates to achieve that step up. That’s partly because management recognise you’re doing a great job and would quite like that to continue, and also because it is difficult for the people who hired you for your current role to see you in a managerial position 🙄.
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The only option may be to move to a new organisation. How can you demonstrate previous line management experience, or its equivalent? An answer may lie with internal projects or external activities. Have you managed any short-term freelancers on specific projects? It may be a videographer who came in for a day, an external podcaster/newspaper coming in to interview senior staff, or when you co-ordinated colleagues with external PR — all of these could be used to describe managing people.
Externally, are you involved in managing volunteers at a charity, chairing a school committee, or organising an event for an activity or hobby group? Any of these demonstrate line management skills and experience, and help you answer interview questions such as, “Tell us about a time you line managed a team and . . . happened.”
If you don’t have any of these experiences, or would like to add more, then volunteer for extra assignments, both inside and outside work. You could, for example, seek out and offer to manage a student project 💡 — many universities seek to engage students on voluntary short projects to gain meaningful experience in the business world. This benefits the students, would benefit you if you managed the project, and should yield some useful information for the organisation — all at no financial cost.
Got a career question for Jonathan Black? Email dear.jonathan@ft.com. We anonymise all contributions.
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Five top stories from the world of work
Wall St banks tackle workloads of junior staff: Long hours are nothing new in investment banking, but some of the banks are asking staff to log their hours or are capping them at 80 hours a week. Joshua Franklin, Suzi Ring and Ortenca Aliaj cover the ongoing debate about whether this is helpful or not. Lots of interesting comments, too.
The difficult work conversation AI helped me with: Lots of tips here from Emma Jacobs on how AI can help unblock our procrastination and uncertainty, especially when it comes to the emails we are putting off.
My search for the perfect work soundtrack: Jo Ellison tries — and fails — to come up with the perfect blend of background noise and productivity-enhancing easy listening. Lots of great suggestions from readers in the comments.
Hard Graft at the Wellcome Collection: I reviewed this big (free) exhibition at London’s Wellcome Collection. It’s all about the physical and emotional labour of the jobs that too often go unseen — and financially unrewarded. Well worth a visit if you are nearby.
One more thing . . . .
Lots of people on my LinkedIn feed this week shared the same amazing animated data visualisation from James Eagle on how people met their partners, 1930 -2024. As you might expect, family, school and friends feature at the top of the charts in the 20th century, but the changes after internet dating was introduced . . . will surprise you, even on the fourth or fifth viewing🌹.
This week’s giveaway
Five Generations at Work by Rebecca Robins and Patrick Dunne is the book we all need to navigate a multigenerational workplace. I talked to Rebecca about the subject for this newsletter a few weeks ago, ahead of publication. We now have 10 copies to give away. Enter on this form by 5pm UK time on Monday October 21 and we will pick winners at random from all eligible entrants. [To clarify, our book giveaways are global 🌎— the publishers will post to you!]
And finally . . . calling HR professionals 🙋🏽♂️
The FT is running an in-person session of its HR Forum with a breakfast-time panel at Bracken House, our HQ in the City of London, on the subject of “Building a Multigenerational Workforce”. It’s on Wednesday November 20, at 8.30am to 11am. Speakers include Louise Ballard of Atheni and author Rebecca Robins (see the book giveaway above).
If you’re interested in coming along, register your interest on this form and the organisers will be in touch.
CANOODLING couples can skip the cinema’s back row and instead cuddle up and watch the silver screen in front row beds.
And they can even bring a friend, as the extra-wide loungers fit three people.
Cinema chain Odeon has installed its VIP beds at eight of its cinemas so far — with a ninth location by the end of the year.
They have already proved so popular for couples’ date nights they are being rolled out in every new cinema.
Bosses have made sure the headrest is tilted just right, to avoid painful necks when gazing up at the screen as viewers stretch out.
But cinema staff, concerned about an influx of fumbling teenagers, said the beds are “perfect for young families to cosy up in the best seat and immerse themselves in film”.
Tickets are priced between £22 and £42 for three people, depending on location and times.
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Odeon has been upgrading its cinemas to boost the experience for visitors and encourage them to stop streaming and get off their sofa.
It plans to open a string of its upmarket Luxe cinemas later this year amid hopes this winter’s schedule of blockbusters will lead to a film-going revival.
Bumper bookings are expected for upcoming releases including Wicked, Gladiator II, Paddington in Peru and Moana 2.
Martin Lewis Money Show – How to bag FIVE Odeon cinema tickets for just £25 – but you’ll have to be quick
Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
The UK government is set to consult on a scheme that would allow AI companies to scrape content from publishers and artists unless they “opt out”, in a move that would anger the creative industry.
The decision follows months of lobbying from both sides over whether online content should be automatically included in material that AI firms can use to train their algorithms.
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Big tech companies including Google owner Alphabet have argued that they should be able to mine the internet freely to train their algorithms, with companies and creators being given the opportunity to “opt out” of such arrangements.
But publishers and creatives have argued that it is unfair and impracticable to ask them to opt out of these arrangements, as it is not always possible to know which companies are trying to mine their content.
They fear such a system would create a huge administrative burden, particularly on smaller companies, and have argued instead that they should have to actively opt in for AI systems to use their content. This would allow them to formulate licensing agreements and get reimbursed for their intellectual property, they argued.
However, ministers are planning to unveil a consultation on pursuing an “opt-out” model in the coming weeks, according to two people briefed on the plans. One added that the “opt out” model was the government’s “preferred outcome”.
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The timing could slip, given that publication of the government’s much-touted “AI Action Plan” is on hold until after the October 30 budget. Others said that a growing backlash from the industry over the move might still derail the plans.
The EU has adopted a similar “opt-out” model through its AI Act, giving companies permission to mine internet content so long as the owner of the copyright and related rights has not expressly denied permission.
But media executives in the UK are deeply opposed to the proposals, arguing that it will lead to the widespread theft of their copyrighted material without remuneration.
They are concerned that the government is being too easily swayed by the arguments of deep-pocketed tech companies, with one pointing to the involvement of former and current Google executives at this week’s investment summit in London.
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In a lobbying document in September, Google said that “to ensure the UK can be a competitive place to develop and train AI models in the future, [the government] should enable [text and data mining] for both commercial and research purposes”.
Media executives also warn that there is no way to verify whether an AI company has scraped their sites unless given access to their training data, something made more difficult because some AI companies scrape archives of content before coming to market, while others offer different conditions for search rather than AI-generated summaries.
Last year, the Intellectual Property Office, the UK government’s agency overseeing copyright laws, consulted with AI companies and rights holders to produce guidance on text and data mining.
However, the group of industry executives convened by the IPO — which came from various arts and news organisations, including the BBC, the British Library and the Financial Times, as well as tech companies Microsoft, DeepMind and Stability — were ultimately unable to agree on a voluntary code of practice, handing responsibility back to the government to find a workable solution.
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Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, minister for online safety, said this week that the government needed to “protect the rights holders”, adding that “we are trying to find a way through that is acceptable to all sides”.
She said that she thought that the answer will be “somewhere down the middle in terms of some form of partnership and understanding”.
Chris Bryant, minister for data protection and telecoms, hosted a round table with various executives to discuss the issue last week.
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A government spokesperson said: “This is an area which requires thoughtful engagement, and as part of that we are determined to hear a broad range of views to help inform our approach.
“We continue to work closely with a range of stakeholders including holding recent roundtables with AI developers and representatives of the creative industries and will set out next steps as soon as possible.”
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