Stay informed with free updates

Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.

It’s Lunch with the FT’s 30th birthday, and to celebrate, Henry Mance has been delving into our very colourful archives — indeed, we all have.

Here, FT readers and journalists guide you through their personal favourites. Any glaring omissions? Feel free to add your own in the comments below.

These comments have been edited for style and length

Money Marketing’s Weekly Must-Reads: Top 10 Stories

Stay ahead with our curated list of this week’s top 10 financial news stories.

Gain exclusive insights into pressing topics such as Tony Wickenden’s take on advising pre-emptive action to shield clients from CGT. Also, get the scoop on Sesame Bankhall’s latest hire to lead their adviser network.

Read more below:



Tony Wickenden: Should you advise pre-emptive action to save clients from CGT?

Tony Wickenden discussed the potential impact of rising capital gains tax (CGT) following Budget warnings. He noted the government’s reluctance to increase income tax, National Insurance, or VAT, leading to speculation about CGT increases. Wickenden suggested that if clients are already planning disposals, they should consider completing them sooner. He highlighted concerns that higher CGT rates might prompt wealthy individuals to defer gains. He also mentioned potential mid-year changes and the importance of balancing tax considerations with investment decisions.

Sesame Bankhall hires new director to lead adviser network

Phoenix Group scraps plans to sell protection business

Phoenix Group cancelled plans to sell its SunLife protection business, citing uncertainty in the protection market. Instead, the company will focus on enhancing SunLife’s value, as it remains a key asset serving the UK’s over-50s market. Phoenix had acquired SunLife from AXA in 2016. The decision was announced in Phoenix’s 2024 interim results. CEO Andy Curran highlighted growth in the Workplace business and the expansion of the Group’s retirement offerings, including a fixed-term annuity launched by Standard Life.

Close Brothers sells asset-management business

Steven Cameron: Is it time? What flat-rate pensions tax relief would look like

Steven Cameron explored potential pension tax reforms ahead of the 30 October Budget, speculating that Chancellor Rachel Reeves might introduce a flat-rate tax relief system. Currently, tax relief is given at an individual’s marginal rate, benefiting higher-rate taxpayers. A move to a 30% flat rate would favour basic-rate taxpayers but reduce relief for higher earners. Employer contributions could also face changes, possibly affecting defined benefit schemes. Cameron urged advisers to discuss possible changes with clients and consider making extra pension contributions before the Budget.

Andy Bell: Where will Labour find £22bn?

Andy Bell discussed how Labour might address the UK’s £22bn fiscal deficit without raising VAT, income tax, or National Insurance. He suggested potential reforms to capital gains tax (CGT), pension tax relief, inheritance tax (IHT), and the introduction of a wealth tax. Aligning CGT with income tax rates and introducing a flat-rate pension tax relief could raise revenue but may face backlash. A wealth tax and IHT adjustments also carry challenges, including political risks and administrative complexity. Bell stressed the need for balanced, fair policy design.

Brooks Macdonald to acquire Norwich-based financial advice firm

Brooks Macdonald announced the acquisition of Norwich-based Lucas Fettes Financial Planning, subject to regulatory approval by early 2025. Lucas Fettes manages £890m in assets across 1,600 personal clients and £300m from corporate clients. The acquisition aims to enhance Brooks Macdonald’s financial planning capabilities and expand its presence in East Anglia. Lucas Fettes, one of Brooks’ top introducers since 1996, will integrate into Brooks Macdonald’s direct wealth business, aligning with the group’s strategy to focus on UK investment management and financial planning.

Octopus Investments launches IHT and estate planning helpdesk

Octopus Investments launched ‘Ask Octopus,’ a helpdesk offering technical support on inheritance tax (IHT) and estate planning for financial advisers. The service, accessible via their website, provides answers to advisers’ queries and allows direct meetings with experts. It covers IHT rules, estate planning, wills, and probate. Octopus aims to assist advisers, particularly those without technical team support. This launch comes as IHT receipts have surged, prompting calls for reform ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ 30 October Budget.

Skerritts buys Harrogate-based advice firm

Skerritts Group acquired Harrogate-based Ellis Bates Financial Advisers, adding over £1bn in assets under management and strengthening its presence in Northern England. The deal, backed by Sovereign Capital Partners, was set to complete in September 2024. Skerritts, aiming for national expansion, has made 11 acquisitions since Sovereign’s £55m investment in 2021. Skerritts CEO Paul Feeney praised the acquisition, while Ellis Bates’ managing director Michael Cope highlighted shared values and ambitions for growth within the partnership.

Advisers tweak processes in light of retirement income review

Following the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) thematic review of retirement income advice, most financial advisers adjusted their processes, according to Wesleyan. The FCA’s March 2024 review highlighted areas for improvement, including income withdrawal strategies and advice suitability. Wesleyan’s poll revealed that 91% of advisers familiar with the review reassessed their practices, with 66% already implementing changes. Common adjustments included advice file record-keeping and client screening. Over three-quarters of advisers agreed the review heightened the focus on providing better retirement advice.

Few people have experienced the boom in cricket quite like Rashid Khan. Since making his debut for his national side nine years ago, the 26-year-old Afghan spin bowler has played in professional leagues in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, England, South Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, the UAE, the US and in his home country.

Khan is just one beneficiary of a wave of start-up cricket tournaments around the world, from Australia’s Big Bash League to Major League Cricket in the US, all spurred by the soaring success of the Indian Premier League (IPL), now one of the richest contests in sport.

The IPL’s ascent, fuelled by India’s rapid economic growth and support from the Modi government, has cemented the country as the most dominant force in a sport that traces back to the villages of 16th-century England.

Its outsized revenue has helped fund the game in smaller countries through distributions from the International Cricket Council, the game’s global governing body, which, later this year, will be chaired by Jay Shah, the son of India’s powerful home minister Amit Shah. The IPL has also turned some non-Indian players into international superstars.

“It’s definitely lifting all boats,” says Nick Hockley, chief executive of governing body Cricket Australia, which runs the Big Bash League. “I think it’s in everyone’s interests that the game is growing globally.”

Organisers of copycat contests are now seeking to emulate the IPL’s approach of using a faster, condensed version of cricket to attract the broadest possible audience.

Corporate sponsors and broadcasters have been quick to sign on, while team owners in the various leagues range from the billionaire Ambani and Glazer families to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. 

One of the youngest tournaments, The Hundred, is seeking to test global investor appetite for cricket, by some metrics the second-most popular sport in the world after football.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which owns the competition, this month kicked off an auction process for stakes in eight-team franchises that the governing body hopes will raise as much as £500mn. The ECB and its rivals want to tap into growing interest in cricket, especially ahead of Los Angeles 2028 when the sport will feature at the Olympics for the first time since 1900. 

But while the proliferation of events has brought in new fans and been a boon for top players like Khan, the emergence of India as the rising superpower of the game has intensified a debate about its future.

Traditionalists believe the IPL and other short-form franchises siphon players, money and media attention from the original, longer “red ball” version of the game. More crucially, some argue that the growth in supply of cricket has now outpaced demand, and that not all of the current competitions will make it through a looming shakeout — and out of the shadow of the IPL.

“In cricket, there were 17 short-form franchise competitions last year,” says Richard Gould, chief executive of the ECB. “Whether all those things will survive, well, the answer is no. We need to make sure that we’re not engaged in an unsustainable arms race.”

The launch of the IPL in 2008 revolutionised cricket both on and off the field. The made-for-TV Twenty20 version of the sport, in which a typical game lasts about three to four hours instead of a full day, or up to five days in other formats, attracted new audiences with its combination of short, action-packed matches with the dazzle of cheerleaders, music and fireworks. 

This momentum triggered a financial boom, with the value of the IPL’s media rights soaring to a record $6.2bn for the 2023 to 2027 seasons following a bidding war between Disney and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. This made the IPL the world’s second-most valuable sports league on a per-game basis behind the US’s National Football League (NFL), while global investors such as private equity firm CVC have invested in franchises.

“The unique selling point of IPL is the quality of cricket we get to see,” says Arun Singh Dhumal, the league’s chair. “The IPL features some of the best cricketers from around the world. This mix of international stars and emerging Indian talent makes the league highly competitive and appealing to fans globally.”

The riches from the IPL have spread through the game. The ICC reported event revenue of $839mn last year thanks to the World Cup in India, up from $603mn four years earlier when the tournament was staged in England and Wales. In 2007, the year before the IPL was launched, the World Cup in the West Indies helped generate ICC event revenue of $286mn.

The Dubai-based ICC distributes its financial surplus to members across the world. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) takes nearly 40 per cent of those earnings, a reflection of its heft in the global game, compared with about 6 per cent each for Australia and England.

“The IPL is like no other sport in no other country. You go to India, you look at the billboards, it’s either a politician or it’s a cricketer there,” says the ECB’s Gould. “Cricket is India and India is cricket.”

The IPL is like no other sport in no other country. You go to India, you look at the billboards, it’s either a politician or it’s a cricketer there

IPL team owners, including Indian conglomerates Reliance and steelmaker JSW, now own franchises in similar leagues around the world, and are expected to compete for stakes in The Hundred teams over the coming months. 

This overseas expansion has allowed owners of IPL teams to start building global brands and effectively retain players year round, a model that analysts say is transforming cricket — traditionally built around international series — into a predominantly club sport like football. West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell, for example, has played for the Kolkata Knight Riders and their franchises in Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles.

“Having multiple franchises allows us to increase the year-round engagement of our fans, scout and develop local cricketing talent, and also provide international development opportunities for our support staff and management teams”, says Manoj Badale, owner of the Rajasthan Royals IPL team, the Paarl Royals in South Africa and the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League.

English cricket’s answer to the IPL, The Hundred, made its debut in 2021. The ECB, which owns the competition, opted not to use the Twenty20 format, instead creating an even shorter set-up in which each team tries to score as many runs as possible off 100 balls, a change that squeezed matches into under three hours.

The competition’s architects saw this as a more attractive proposition for broadcasters. Men’s and women’s games are played back to back, part of its plan to attract a new, younger and more diverse audience. About a third of attendees at The Hundred matches are women, compared with less than 10 per cent for a typical men’s international, the ECB says.

505mnNumber of viewers who watched IPL in 2023

12mnNumber of viewers who watched The Hundred in 2023

However, The Hundred has faced some pushback from long-standing cricket fans, many of whom see the tournament as a gimmick aimed at children rather than a serious rival to the IPL or test cricket, the longest version of the game. During The Hundred, which lasts for a month during the height of the summer cricket season, England’s county championship is put on hold, although one-day cup matches continue.

Soon investors will give their verdict on The Hundred, which at 12mn viewers in 2023 is dwarfed by the IPL at 505mn. A pitch deck put together with US investment bank Raine Group and Deloitte has been sent out to more than 100 interested parties, detailing bullish projections for future revenues from TV rights and sponsorship. 

Those running the process believe that some of the features that The Hundred shares with big US sports — such as the closed league with a small number of teams and salary caps — will help justify high valuations in a league that this year generated just £47mn in revenue. Even the rosiest projections of future growth put total income at £156mn a year by 2032, compared with the $1.1bn the IPL currently brings in from TV alone.

Yet executives across the game in England hope the auction will bring a wave of money from investors in India, the US and elsewhere, including private equity and sovereign wealth funds. They are betting that luring IPL owners to The Hundred could also push up media values overseas by attracting Indian viewers keen to follow their domestic team’s English equivalent.

Some of the money raised by the ECB has been earmarked to help tackle the simmering financial troubles facing English domestic cricket, where some county club teams — the traditional backbone of the game — are grappling with falling revenues and mounting debts. 

“Everybody has seen the success of the IPL. It has been extraordinary, the broadcast deals in particular,” says Daniel Gidney, chief executive of Lancashire Cricket Club, which runs the league’s Manchester Originals. “This is a unique opportunity for US and Indian investors to invest into a heritage cricket asset. Demand already has been off the scale.”

Yet many in the sport are highly sceptical of what they see as a growing financial bubble as new competitions battle to replicate the IPL’s success.

The popularity of the IPL is built on a series of unique factors, including the enormity of India’s 1.4bn cricket-loving population, a buoyant economy and a lack of popular interest in other sports.

“The IPL is an 800lb gorilla,” says Joy Bhattacharjya, a former Knight Riders team director. “It’s a freak.

“If you look around and ask where are franchises making money elsewhere in the world, you’ll have to ask yourself some serious questions,” he adds. “None of these leagues at this point in time make any financial sense.”

The proliferation of short-form contests has driven up player salaries, as rival contests seek to outbid each other for talent. The ECB believes The Hundred needs private team owners to bankroll an increase in the competition’s combined salary cap for a men’s and women’s team to £2.6mn in 2025, up from £1.3mn last year — a long way off the IPL’s own spending limit of £10.6mn.

“The players win from franchise leagues,” says Andrew Umbers, managing partner at Oakwell Sports Advisory. “They are what drive commercial revenues, broadcast value.” 

Top male players earned up to £125,000 in this year’s edition of The Hundred, compared with £2.3mn in the IPL, and £400,000 in rival leagues in South Africa and the UAE. Top female players this year earned up to £50,000, up from £15,000 in 2021.

The ECB also wants to increase the pay of the top men players in the month-long tournament to £300,000.

To attract and retain the world’s best men and women players, they need to paid properly, says Gould. “Outside of the IPL, we need to make sure we’re the top payers in the global player market,” he adds.

There are other challenges. The rapid expansion of leagues has also led to a packed calendar of international and club cricket, with some executives worried viewer interest is becoming saturated.

If you look at most people who’ve bought a franchise, they love cricket. They get an emotional return

Places like England, Pakistan and Australia are large enough markets to build up some local momentum, and it is hoped that the benefits of bringing more people into cricket will be felt over the long term, some insiders say.

However, they warn that leagues elsewhere are likely to struggle unless they can find an audience in India.

Indian players are currently barred from joining overseas leagues by BCCI rules, a policy that analysts say helps protect the value of the IPL by ensuring it is the only league where audiences can see top stars such as Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. Industry executives dismiss the idea of a relaxation in the BCCI’s rules. 

Matthew Wheeler, a former professional cricketer and now chief executive of boutique investment firm A&W Capital, foresees a future for cricket where two or three of the current crop of short-form tournaments build a big enough audience to continue attracting international talent, while the rest will have to rely on domestic players and a local audience if they are to keep going.

“If you look at most people who’ve bought a franchise, they love cricket. They get an emotional return. Outside the IPL, how many franchises are wanted by pure investors? I suspect not many,” he says.

The IPL meanwhile is also trying to grow its own international audiences — something that could leave even less space for rival domestic leagues.

Dhumal, the IPL chair, says the league is working on strategies including creating video games and TV shows aimed at drawing in new viewers from around the world, with a view to drumming up interest ahead of the next Olympics.

“Now that cricket is going to be part of [the] 2028 Olympics, we have a responsibility to take the IPL to other shores and get its reach [to] even wider audiences,” he says.

Some fear that India’s growing stranglehold on cricket, including its influence over the ICC, risks becoming detrimental to the game. The country has, for example, refused to play a bilateral series with Pakistan for over a decade due to geopolitical tensions, costing its smaller neighbour a crucial source of revenue. Pakistani players are also in effect blacklisted from the IPL.

“India is so powerful in terms of its clout that it can basically get away with whatever decision it wants to take,” says Najam Sethi, a former chair of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

He adds that the Pakistani players are now increasingly inclined to try and play for T20 leagues where they hope to make more money than playing for their country. “Their commitment to Pakistan cricket is being diluted because they get a lot more money from these leagues,” Sethi says.

There are also signs that even the IPL bonanza is peaking. D&P Advisory, a valuation firm, recently estimated that the value of the league has fallen for the first time outside the pandemic, from $11.2bn to $9.9bn this year, due to an expected drop in future media rights.

India is so powerful in terms of its clout that it can basically get away with whatever decision it wants to take

A recent merger between Disney’s Indian business and Reliance, whose competition helped push up the value of the last tranche of rights, “has essentially created monopolistic control over television and digital broadcasting”, D&P says.

Analysts said this leaves little prospect of similarly frenzied demand to push up media values in the near future, a cooling down that could add to the sense of uncertainty hanging over the game globally.

As for the question of whether the explosion of short-form cricket will ultimately spell the end of the five-day game, most executives insist that test cricket will remain the pinnacle of the sport for the foreseeable future.

“There is a lot of change happening now in cricket. What the sport is trying to do is find the right balance,” says A&W Capital’s Wheeler. “But aren’t we fortunate to have that choice?”

Additional reporting by Samuel Agini in London

Data visualisation by Alan Smith

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The writer is the former UK ambassador to Lebanon and foreign policy adviser to three prime ministers. His latest novel is ‘The Assassin’

Civilians across the Middle East are braced once again against the increasing possibility of a full-scale conflict between Israel and Hizbollah, the Iran-backed militant group. After the devastation in Gaza, they anxiously watch the reckless high-stakes poker of hardliners who want to keep the region on the brink of war in order to keep themselves in power.  

As every intelligence service is privately acknowledging, turning pagers and radios into lethal explosives was an audacious piece of tradecraft from Mossad, Israel’s spy agency. It hit Hizbollah’s command chain, communications and confidence. It is one of those moments in the Middle East that resonates beyond the immediate: it will be spoken about in hushed tones for years, perhaps decades. Social media makes the psychological impact even greater. Hizbollah is in shock, and seething. Its rank and file feel insecure.

The key question on the Hizbollah side is whether it absorbs this humiliating blow or hits back. It is probably a case of when, not if, it chooses to do so, alongside its threats of revenge for the assassinations of its leadership.

The key question on the Israeli side is whether this was a prelude to a serious land offensive, or just a psychological operation to degrade Hizbollah? I hear both explanations from the Israeli military, many of whom think it is only a question of when, not if, they launch a land invasion aimed at removing Hizbollah from the south of Lebanon and establishing some mirage of a “buffer zone”.

Faced with this moment of peril, the international community must focus on two urgent challenges.  

First, civilian protection. The reality is that hundreds of thousands of civilians — in Lebanon and Israel — are on the brink of a devastating escalation of this conflict if the hardliners get their way. Many are already displaced, injured and killed. They must be our central concern.  

Second, upholding international law, including legal constraints on the conduct of war. As we have seen with cyber and lethal autonomous weapons, the speed of technological change means that the systems designed to contain the ingenuity of humans to find new ways to kill each other struggle to keep up. But the basic rules are not complicated, whether the weapon is a pager or a rocket: don’t kill civilians.  

Now, sadly, it appears that neither of those challenges is a major priority for the current leaders in Iran and Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s increasingly hardline government is focused on tactical wins. The Iranian regime is content to let others fight its battles. So we must also focus on preventing disastrous escalation. 

There is space for diplomacy. It can build the off-ramps for both sides, for when leaders emerge with the wisdom to take them. UK foreign secretary David Lammy and others are working the phones to regional leaders. Wise voices and cool heads can prevail. The challenge is that both Israel and Lebanon are in political crisis — in Beirut, there is a caretaker government and no president, while in Israel, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition is fracturing.

International mediation on Israel and Lebanon needs to deal not only with the short-term cessation of hostilities, but land-border demarcation, a permanent peace (not just a ceasefire) and the return of state authority to south Lebanon. The Lebanese army has to be supported to provide security on the border, as we have helped it to do on the border with Syria.

From my discussions with the Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati, and others, it has become clear that ultimately the key to regional de-escalation lies in Gaza ceasefire talks and hostage releases. There are still fundamental differences to overcome — how to manage the Rafah crossing, prisoner releases and the future of the so-called Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt. But with the right collective pressure and political will these obstacles are surmountable.  

Ultimately, the prize remains a big, bold agreement between Israel and the Arab world that includes the normalisation of relations; the creation of the long-promised Palestinian state; and the isolation of the Iranian regime. There is no way out of a wider crisis without hope that both Palestinians and Israelis have the right to security, justice and opportunity in lands they can call their own. This will require genuine partners for peace on both sides of the table.  

So Britain and its allies should take the parameters for a two-state solution to the UN Security Council. Sometimes the immediacy of the danger can create space and urgency for negotiations. 

Hamas, Hizbollah and Israeli hardliners want to bury a two-state solution, displace the other side and destroy the prospect of coexistence. The stakes are too high to let them do so.

Proponents of the latest changes are betting that easing the hurdles for companies, even in ways investors dislike, will pay off

Team GB should be proud of its haul of 65 medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics – more than any country besides China and the US.

However, with 14 of those 65 medals being gold, GB may well feel like it took the runner-up prizes a few more times than it would have liked.

Unfortunately, there are parallels here with the British capital markets, currently lamenting a dearth of new and exciting IPOs – a field in which we’re also trailing the US.

It is widely agreed radical changes are needed. That’s just what is happening. Yet still not everyone is excited.

New proposals in July to amend rules governing disclosures and investor access to capital raisings were announced as part of the government’s ongoing plans to rehydrate the country’s capital markets.

The key proposal, if enacted, would eliminate the need for companies to issue a new prospectus in most circumstances other than for initial listings on public markets. The proposals also outline measures to increase retail participation in both public and private market investments.

These proposals are intended to complement the recently introduced UK Listing Rules, which came into effect last month. The rules aim to remove the barriers on the road to UK investment recovery by relaxing restrictions on dual class share structures, which allow managers and founders to exercise control over companies in which they may only hold a minority stake.

They also remove requirements to seek shareholder approval for a number of significant corporate transactions, or those with related parties.

Pedalling ahead

Although measures to encourage a broader base of investment are a largely welcome boost to UK companies in need of an edge, several of these moves are perceived to come at the expense of investor protections valued by UK shareholders.

On balance, this proposed regulation looks like a bold gamble, which hinges on the idea the UK can build a more competitive capital market by streamlining the requirements for listed companies, even if that means introducing features their investors largely dislike.

Pushing forward market features that many of the largest investors oppose will require a careful eye on the detail if we are to attain the leading capital market everyone seeks.

Whether reducing investor protections and required disclosures is the right route to go down will depend on the UK’s ability to attract high-performing and well-governed companies. Any perception that the new rules represent a race to the bottom – in which investors place their capital in lower quality businesses, subject to weaker transparency and greater management control – will need to be fought against.

Overall, while not everyone is happy with the changes, investors and companies appear to have accepted the current regulatory direction of travel is not about to alter, having just been confirmed as one of the first acts of the new Labour government.

So, the strategy has been set and the big call has been made. Let’s hope that when the figurative tyres are changed, it turns out to be a stroke of genius which puts UK companies on a winning streak rather than setting up investors for a fall.

Lindsey Stewart is director of stewardship research and policy for Morningstar Sustainalytics