FT Weekend editor Janine Gibson. Picture: Financial Times
When Press Gazette suggested we take FT Weekend editor Janine Gibson to our local Wetherspoons for a “Lunch with the FT”-style interview – emphasising she could have free range on the menu – we were met with a polite counterproposal from the press office.
There are two rules for Lunch with the FT: the guest chooses the restaurant and the FT pays the bill. Perhaps, in the spirit of the now 30-year-old format, we might allow Gibson to choose the venue?
Her choice was The Quality Chop House, a charming, wood-panelled Victorian restaurant in Clerkenwell, north London.
“It used to be such a dump around here,” she says, recalling her days working at the old Guardian offices around the corner, but says the Chop House was always a bright spot. “It’s one of the few restaurants that, when it changes hands, it’s still a really nice thing.”
Lunch with the FT is published on the weekend, which makes it Gibson’s responsibility, and during her tenure the paper has carried lunch interviews with the likes of Elon Musk, Liz Truss and Anna Wintour.
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The waitress asks whether we’d like anything to drink. There is a pause.
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I’m cautious here: I have work to do after this, for one thing, but more importantly I don’t want to make an arse out of myself in front of someone with a Wikipedia page. I respectfully place the ball in Gibson’s court.
“I can’t say ‘no, you can’t drink’ because I always moan when people are too boring,” she says. “Our recurring beef is that people are too sensible now to have a glass of wine.”
We order a glass each of the second cheapest white wine on the menu: a bright, juicy 2020 Dominio de Punctum Lagasca Viognier.
“The business lunch is back,” Gibson pronounces. “People are starting to realise, in this highly automated age, that business lunches form bonds and relationships.
“Like, we’re pals now – it’d be very hard for us to just stitch one another up in print.”
Much of the most recent issue, she says, “is taken up with the rituals, benefits and terrible, terrible downsides of drinking at lunchtime.”
People don’t have to drink for Lunch with the FT, of course, but Gibson says “part of the charm and joy is those moments when people lose inhibition”.
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Gibson refers, as an example, to an infamously negroni-propelled lunch the FT had with the poet Gavin Ewart in 1995.
Ewart’s wife rang his FT interviewer Nigel Spivey the following day, telling him: “There are two things you need to know. The first is that Gavin came home yesterday happier than I have seen him in a long time. The second – and you are not to feel bad about this – is that he died this morning.”
Gibson says: “It’s obviously childish to think that’s cool and funny. Obviously very reprehensible and terrible. Awful!
“And yet it is kind of cool and funny.”
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How to write a Lunch with the FT
I ask Gibson whether she has any advice for me about conducting this lunch.
“Well obviously, in this situation, you don’t need to make much of an effort at all,” she says. “We’ll just have a lovely chat and you should just write some nice things about the FT.”
But she’s good enough to offer some specifics anyway. “It’s a good idea to have three check-ins through the piece about the restaurant”, for example, as well as another two about the food itself. “You must write about the food or the readers will kick off.”
Do not, however, “be mean about anyone that works here”.
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A perfect Lunch with the FT guest has had “three acts” to their career, Gibson says. Those very few people who have had two FT lunches – she mentions Henry Kissinger and Christine Lagarde – “had a whole other act” after their first encounter with the paper.
She says she’s “wary” of lunches with serving chief executives or senior politicians.
“If you have somebody that’s too powerful they’re so limited in what they can say. If they speak too often, it’s very hard to get something new out of them.”
The ideal, she says, “is somebody who has just left or is just about to leave a very significant job”.
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The waitress returns for our order. We both go for the set menu, which that week comprises a sweetcorn soup with bacon and maple syrup, Cotswold Gold chicken with chasseur sauce and a salted caramel brownie with clotted cream. We add bread to accompany the soup and, on Gibson’s recommendation, sides of cod roe and confit potatoes.
“I’d been very, very nervous. I read like three books about them” – although in the event, she says, “they were so kind!”
I have not, regrettably, read three books about Janine Gibson – although she comes up frequently in “Breaking News”, a half-autobiographical book that I have read by her former boss at The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger.
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Gibson edited The Guardian in the US as it reported its Pulitzer-winning stories about whistlebower Edward Snowden and surveillance by the NSA, an episode that figures prominently in Rusbridger’s book.
“I haven’t read that,” she says. “I think it’s really bad manners to read your former boss’s book, because all you do is go ‘that’s not what happened’ and then there would be dispute. It’s his story, let him write it!”
The Snowden affair, she says, was “enough attention for a lifetime”.
I ask if Gibson would ever write a book and get a flat, repeated no.
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“Honestly, my main goal is to get out of journalism without causing any further scandal.”
Gibson says the best Lunches with the FT feel “like a real conversation”.
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“I really love it when the readers say ‘I felt like I was there.’
“I don’t mind when they say: ‘Why on Earth have you had lunch with this one?’, because I take that as a compliment that they think it’s such an honour to bestow.”
The readers “feel a lot of ownership” over Lunch with the FT, Gibson says, but “I never think ‘how dare you’ – I always think ‘how lovely that you care’”. Some readers, particularly those who get FT Weekend in print, tell her they spend a week with the interview.
“One of them cost the FT a fortune and the other one – Henry is so clearly very drunk…
“I think if you read those two carefully, you can see everything that you need to know about how to do a Lunch with the FT. They are” – she mimes doing a chef’s kiss.
Scott Thomas, she says, “so obviously terrifies” Mance, while she enjoyed the Wintour interview “because Anna was so on brand that she managed to take a format which has only two rules and ignore both of them”. (Wintour procured the table for the interview, at London’s Ritz hotel, and ate nothing, opting instead for a bottle of San Pellegrino.)
Often, Gibson says, they come up with interviewees by asking FT staff to identify “the most interesting person on their patch”.
“That’s how you get the right mix of politically relevant [and] culturally fun.”
The whole Lunches archive is yet to surface: Gibson says they are “quite hard to find” in the old clippings. The Lunch that saw off poet Ewart in 1995, for example, does not appear to be available online.
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‘You can’t say it’s all very good. What do you think of the combination of flavours?’
The soup arrives, along with the still-warm bread and cod roe. Gibson instructs that I need to “put in a bit of colour about the food” and I ramble a note for later toward the dictaphone, mentioning that it’s “all very good”.
“You can’t say it’s all very good, Bron. What do you think of the combination of flavours?”
(Surprising: I’ve not had a sweetcorn soup before, let alone a soup that features maple syrup, but the sweetness is punctuated nicely by the bacon lardons.)
“Yes, and you notice that I’ve eaten all of mine very quickly.”
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I ask who the FT is still chasing for lunch. They’ve had a few US presidents, she says, but not Obama yet. She’d like to do Rupert Murdoch – or indeed any Murdoch: “I just really think that he would like to talk with us and we’re available at any time.”
She adds that “personally – for me, just for me, as a little treat before I die – I want to do Jeremy Clarkson.
“He’s fascinating and incredibly talented and misunderstood and also very well-understood. I find the body of work extraordinary and almost unique and, I think, under-appreciated. That’s my most controversial opinion.”
There are others she wants to do, Gibson adds, but “I’m not going to tell because of the number of imitations – pallid imitations! – that there are out there”.
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Around the time the chicken lands the waitress asks if we would like more wine. We again stare at each other in silence. This time I take the initiative: yes, we will. The chicken is accompanied by the crisp confit potatoes which, true to Gibson’s recommendation, steal the bird’s scene somewhat.
‘I think print will outlast me and you’
The print version of the FT has come up several times over this lunch, and I ask whether Gibson believes in the longevity of the medium – and indeed whether a long-form interview format like Lunch with the FT will survive the consumption changes heralded by the likes of Tiktok and Instagram. FT Weekend sells around 60,000 copies per week at £5.10 each and the Financial Times in general boasts more than one million paying digital subscribers.
“I think print will outlast me and you,” she says. “If you look at your Enders Analysis or whatever they’ll tell you the same thing.”
She says weekly print products, specifically, have room to run.
“Ten, 15 years ago, people would say all the time: ‘Oh, I worry so much for access to quality information in the digital era and all the good stuff will be behind expensive journals at The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times or whatever.
“But actually new things pop up all the time. That’s the way the communications industry is – if everything gets too closed up, then something new will pop up for the young people, like Buzzfeed or Vice or whatever in their heyday.” This point is perhaps somewhat undermined by the sign of the cross Gibson makes following her mention of Buzzfeed: she was editor of Buzzfeed News in the UK from 2015 to 2019, helping it win a clutch of awards before it closed in 2023.
The real threat to Lunch with the FT, she says, “is this thorny question of drinking at lunchtime”.
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‘This interview is a disaster’
As I just about see away the generously-portioned brownie dessert it comes time to pay.
The FT press office had suggested the bill be split down the middle – Gibson, however, is having none of that and springs for the reader with her company card. The rule is, to be fair, that the FT pays, but I am nonetheless presently in contact with the PRs about Monzo-ing them £60.
The waitress leaves us two cubes of fudge as a parting treat: I eat mine, Gibson leaves hers.
Gibson mentions in an off-hand comment that, after five years there, she is “relatively new to the FT”.
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Is that not quite a long time?
“I think we’re a cradle-to-grave employer.”
Asked whether she would stay at the FT until the end of her career, she laughs that “it’s very indelicate to refer to a lady’s age, Bron”.
She will remain at the FT, she says, “as long as they will have me. It’s a wonderful publication and a real privilege to have a bit of time at it.
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“I genuinely think I have the best job in journalism. I try to keep it very quiet – this interview is a disaster.”
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our “Letters Page” blog
A LUXURY train company that offers day trips across the UK has been named the best train journey in the world.
The British Pullman is a fully restored 1920s train that was designed over a century ago to accommodate passengers accustomed to comfort and opulence.
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The British Pullman A Belmond Train was crowned best train journey in the world in the Conde Nast Traveller awardsCredit: www.belmond.com/trains/europe/uk/belmond-british-pullman
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Each carriage is decorated differently, with antique upholstery and vintage lightingCredit: Belmond British Pullman
And the train still oozes decadence today.
Its 11 carriages feature art deco-style interiors, antique upholstery, and vintage lighting.
Intricate artwork can be seen throughout the train, including magnificent mosaics on the bathroom floors.
Fine dining experiences are served up to guests and there’s a strict dress code to maintain its elegant atmosphere.
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While enjoying delicious food and admiring the train’s beautiful interior, passengers can enjoy views of the English countryside and coast.
The awards recognise all areas of the travel industry, from hotels and resorts to airlines, airports, cruises, cities and more.
Based in the South East of England, The British Pullman regularly departs from London Victoria and travels year-round to a wide variety of destinations, including Kent, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey.
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Passengers are welcomed onboard by a uniformed train steward and seated at tables adorned with crisp white linen and sparkling tableware.
They can then enjoy a variety of meals, including brunch, champagne afternoon tea, or a gourmet dinner.
All Aboard the Scenic Express: Discovering UK’s Most Picturesque Train Routes
The train’s chef John Freeman has been part of the British Pullman team nearly two decades.
Having fallen in love with the challenges and fun of cooking onboard a moving train, John serves up food using British produce sourced from the very farms and fields by which the train passes.
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Vegan and vegetarian options are also available.
Destinations include Bath and Oxford, but there are also trips solely focused on afternoon tea and Sunday lunch.
Prices start from £400 per passenger on a table for two.
A British hotel was also a winner in the Conde Nast Traveller awards.
Sun Travel’s favourite train journeys in the world
Sun Travel’s journalists have taken their fare share of train journeys on their travels and here they share their most memorable rail experiences.
Davos to Geneva, Switzerland
“After a ski holiday in Davos, I took the scenic train back to Geneva Airport. The snow-covered mountains and tiny alpine villages that we passed were so beautiful that it felt like a moving picture was playing beyond the glass.” – Caroline McGuire
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Tokyo to Kyoto by Shinkansen
“Nothing quite beats the Shinkansen bullet train, one of the fastest in the world. It hardly feels like you’re whizzing along at speed until you look outside and see the trees a green blur. Make sure to book seat D or E too – as you’ll have the best view of Mount Fuji along the way.” Kara Godfrey
London to Paris by Eurostar
“Those who have never travelled on the Eurostar may wonder what’s so special about a seemingly ordinary train that takes you across the channel. You won’t have to waste a moment and can tick off all the top attractions from the Louvre to the Champs-Élysées which are both less than five kilometres from the Gare du Nord.” – Sophie Swietochowski
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Glasgow to Fort William by Scotrail
“From mountain landscapes and serene lochs to the wistful moors, I spent my three-hour journey from Glasgow to Fort William gazing out the window. Sit on the left-hand side of the train for the best views overlooking Loch Lomond.” – Hope Brotherton
Beijing to Ulaanbatar
“The Trans-Mongolian Express is truly a train journey like no other. It starts amid the chaos of central Beijing before the city’s high-rises give way to crumbling ancient villages and eventually the vast vacant plains of Mongolia, via the Gobi desert. The deep orange sunset seen in the middle of the desert is among the best I’ve witnessed anywhere.” – Ryan Gray
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The train specialises in day trips to Kent, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and SurreyCredit: Alamy
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Passengers can enjoy a variety of meals while on board, including brunch, a champagne afternoon tea, or a gourmet dinnerCredit: www.belmond.com/trains/europe/uk/belmond-british-pullman
More than 453,000 UK pensioners living abroad in retirement get £7,200 less than those who remain in the UK, new calculations have revealed.
This group of retirees, who are known as “frozen pensioners”, receive just under £3,000 in state pension payments a year on average, according to interactive investor.
However, those in the UK receive £10,099, on average, a difference of £7,200.
The discrepancy is in part because those with frozen pensions do not have their payments covered by the triple lock pledge, something that often means that pensioners are living abroad in poverty.
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The triple-lock arrangement ensures the state pension increases each year by the highest of three measures: 2.5 per cent, CPI inflation, or average wage growth. Next April, it will increase by 4 per cent in line with wage growth, an increase of about £460 a year.
But British citizens who choose to retire outside the UK in countries such as Thailand and Canada, may find their state pension payments are “frozen”, meaning their payments remain at the same rate as when they first started receiving them in the country they moved to.
Whether a British citizen’s state pension is frozen depends on the country they move to.
British citizens who move to a country in the European Economic Area, Gibraltar, Switzerland, and countries that have a social security agreement with the UK (apart from Canada or New Zealand) will continue to receive annual increases in their state pension.
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From April 2025, the UK state pension is expected to increase by £460 per year, it emerged last month.
Retirees like Thomas Daley, who moved to Thailand in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, is one of the many frozen pensioners “furious” that he won’t see any of this uplift.
The 69-year-old receives cash from two pensions – his state pension and a Merchant Navy pension.
Each week, his Merchant Navy pension – a defined benefit pension scheme – gives him £471.50 a week.
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But his UK state pension, which was frozen when he moved to Ban Nong Weung, in the Chaiyaphum Province, four years ago, gives him just £111.60 a week.
Mr Daley told i: “I never left the UK in a deliberate manner, until Covid made it difficult to travel between Europe and Asia, and now I’m being punished for it.
“I retired in 2015, aged 59. My pension was frozen in 2021 when I received my first payment living in Thailand. It was frozen at £139.65 but after 20 per cent tax deducted, I receive £111.60 every week.
“The lawmakers will look after themselves, but no one thinks about us frozen pensioners, who have retired abroad and paid more than their fair share in income tax, national insurance (NI), VAT, council tax and the rest.”
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Mr Daley used to live in Newbury, Berkshire. He now has a house in Hungerford, Berkshire, which his son and his wife live in, as well as his place in Thailand.
Although he is coping financially, thanks to the dog sanctuary he runs, he said an unfrozen UK state pension would “help us out greatly”.
Calculations from interactive investor, based on data by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) accurate to May 2023, show that those living overseas with a frozen state pension receive £2,300 less on average than those retirees abroad who continue to receive annual increases to their payments.
The payment gaps widen with age as the impact of the freeze compounds over time. Those in their 90s with a frozen state pension receive only £1,896 each year, compared with £4,803 for those living abroad whose pension is uprated yearly, and £6,006 less than a pensioner living in Britain.
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The gulf between the average state pension paid to UK citizens who live abroad and their counterparts who remain in the UK suggests that many in the former group are also impacted by lower NI contributions due to living abroad during their working life. As a result, their state pension entitlement is lower.
More than 40 per cent, or 453,481, of the 1.12m pensioners living overseas are affected by frozen state pensions, according to DWP data.
This equates to just under 4 per cent of the 12.7m people receiving state pension payments.
“However, it is crucial to keep an eye on the finer details, particularly when it comes to your state pension.
“If you’re planning to retire in a country where the UK state pension is frozen, it means you won’t benefit from the annual increases that help keep up with inflation, and as such, your payments will decline in real terms throughout your retirement.
“This could significantly impact your financial comfort in later years, leaving some facing poverty in old age.”
The price of oil has jumped 5% after US President Joe Biden said the US was discussing possible strikes by Israel on Iran’s oil industry.
Asked on a visit if he would support Israel striking Iran’s oil facilities, Biden said: “We’re discussing that.”
Iran is the seventh largest oil producer in the world, exporting around half its production abroad, mainly to China.
Since Iran’s missile attack on Israel on Monday, the price of benchmark Brent crude oil has risen 10% to $77 a barrel, although this remains below levels seen earlier this year.
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Any extended rise in energy prices raises the possibility of higher petrol prices and increased gas and electricity bills, pushing up the rate of inflation.
So far this year, weaker demand from China and ample supply from Saudi Arabia have acted to hold down oil prices.
The reaction in oil markets has, so far, been far more muted than, for example, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But the escalation of violence in the Middle East and threat of further action is now stalking the markets.
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Of particular concern is whether any escalation could block the Straits of Hormuz, through which a third of oil tanker traffic and a fifth of LNG frozen gas has to pass.
Since Russia’s war with Ukraine began, the world has become more dependent on shipped frozen gas in LNG tankers.
Even if it is Asia that is most physically dependent on the flow of oil and gas out of the Persian Gulf, the immediate price impact of such developments would be significant.
All this could come at the very moment the world’s central bankers declared a quiet victory over the three-year inflation shock from the pandemic and Ukraine war.
It may help explain why G7 leaders are trying to moderate the expected response from Israel to Iran’s attack.
Other members immediately reacted. “This is what I was looking for,” cried one woman, who said she hadn’t been able to find them.
“I paid £1.99 last week,” said another.
A third poster simply added “Wow!”
Read more on finding bargains
The vase set was originally on sale in Aldi’s middle aisle for £4.99 and available in neutral shades grey and beige, as well as cream, to suit all styles of decor.
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According to Aldi they are “perfect for filling with flowers or pampas grass” and tap into the trend for more organic forms in home decoration, emphasised by their textured finish.
We announced their arrival back in June so this is the retailer clearing stock for new lines, but at a tenth of their original price, they’re worth getting your hands on before they disappear for good.
Bear in mind availability will vary between stores – you can find Aldi’s store locator on its website.
B&M has an almost identical three-vase set on its website for £6, or this Bubble Paper Mache version selling for £5 and this Circular Sculpture for £6.
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What are Aldi Specialbuys?
H&M, too, has a similar set in light beige, but these mini stoneware vases will set you back £12.99.
Tesco launched its new homewares range last month and you can find a cute recycled heart vase for just £3 and an apothecary-style bud vase for only £1.50.
To get the most for your money always shop around, comparing prices between retailers.
Use platforms such as Google Shopping and apps such Latest Deals or Trolley to check the best prices on particular products.
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Check out discount code websites and sign up to cashback sites, including Quidco and TopCashback to earn money while you spend.
Facebook groups like Extreme Couponing and Bargains UK are a great way to discover what’s on offer in a wealth of stores, while following your favourite brands on social media and signing up to their newsletters mean you’ll be first to hear about new deals and discounts.
For other ways to save at Aldi keep an eye on their regular special buys, check for price reductions in store and on the website, and watch out for red stickers while you’re doing your grocery shop.
Speaking of groceries, Aldi’s Super Six is another great way to save money on your shopping, with six fruit and vegetables on special offer every fortnight.
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Signing up to the Aldi newsletter will also bring you special offers from time to time and look out for money-off vouchers in newspapers.
When’s the best time to shop at Aldi?
WHEN it comes to shopping at Aldi, the best time to do so depends on what you want to buy.
For reduced items – when shops open
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Red sticker items are rare at Aldi’s 830 UK stores, but the supermarket says that none of its food goes to waste so there are some to be found – if you’re quick.
A spokesman for the supermarket said: “All items are reduced to 50 per cent of the recommend sales price before stores open on their best before or use by dates.”
That means you have the best chance of finding reduced food items if you go into stores as soon as it opens.
Opening times vary by shop but a majority open from 7am or 8am. You can find your nearest store’s times by using the supermarket’s online shop finder tool.
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For Specialbuys – Thursdays and Sundays
Specialbuys are Aldi’s weekly collection of items that it doesn’t normally sell, which can range from pizza ovens to power tools.
New stock comes into stores every Thursday and Sunday, so naturally, these are the best days to visit for the best one-off special deals.
For an even better chance of bagging the best items, head there for your local store’s opening time.
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Remember: once they’re gone, they’re gone, so if there’s something you really want, visit as early as possible
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Brussels is suing Viktor Orbán’s government over a new security law that the bloc says is in breach of citizens’ fundamental rights, the latest escalation in long-running tensions with Budapest.
The European Commission said on Thursday the Hungarian “sovereignty law” that entered into force in February violated EU rules on privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of association. People and organisations deemed a threat to national sovereignty in Hungary — a loosely defined concept — and who are accused of using foreign funding to influence political processes are facing fines and prison terms.
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“The law violates several fundamental freedoms of the internal market,” the commission said. Brussels had already requested changes this year but “most of the grievances” remain unaddressed.
During his 14 years in office, Prime Minister Orbán has repeatedly locked horns with Brussels over the gradual erosion of civil rights and the rule of law. His self-styled illiberal regime is often cited as a model by right-wing politicians including US presidential contender Donald Trump.
The EU will refer the case to the European Court of Justice and request “that the case is dealt with swiftly, including if appropriate through an expedited procedure”, according to commission spokeswoman Jördis Ferroli.
Dániel Hegedűs, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a US think-tank based in Berlin, said: “The government has increased room to crack down on dissent, they created this tool precisely to use it. There will be more surveillance of regime critics and more of a media campaign against them, but it remains to be seen whether there will be criminal cases too.”
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Orbán’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyás said the commission’s move was politically motivated, arguing that the dedicated agency enforcing the Hungarian law had “no power of a state authority so it could not possibly breach fundamental laws”.
The decision comes alongside several other legal steps Brussels is taking against Hungary on other issues. The commission has called out Orbán’s government over a law adopted last year that penalises convicted human traffickers very lightly, making it harder for the bloc to fight illegal migration.
“Such shortened sanctions applicable to persons sentenced for migrant smuggling offences are neither effective nor dissuasive,” the commission said.
The law on traffickers was adopted despite Orbán’s declared desire for “ethnic homogeneity” and his incendiary rhetoric against migrants, which he calls a fundamental challenge to the social and cultural make-up of Europe.
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A recent ECJ ruling has also ordered Budapest to pay €200mn and daily €1mn fines for failing to comply with a judgment on the protection of asylum seekers.
Brussels is also pursuing Hungary over a special tax regime that allegedly imposes unfair increased costs on foreign companies in breach of EU law.
The move comes after a complaint by Austrian supermarket chain Spar earlier in the year claiming that a special tax introduced in 2022 was discriminatory, including a 4.5 per cent tax targeting revenues of foreign-owned retailers and an obligation to lower prices on specific products.
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