Laura Battle

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

A “big discovery” declared Die Welt, an “artistic triumph” raved the Kölnische Rundschau, while The Sunday Times noted that “The finest singing of all came [from] . . . the magnificent ‘Black Venus’ of Grace Bumbry”. For opera fans in attendance, 24-year-old Bumbry’s performance as Venus in Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the 1961 Bayreuth Festival marked the moment a star was born. For so-called “Old Wagnerians” and neo-Nazis, however, her very appearance — Bumbry was the first black singer to perform…

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Today, we talk books. The FT’s books team recently published our annual books of the year special, and they join us to share their personal recommendations. They also answer listener questions: what books will get you out of ‘reader’s block’? What’s a good gift for a family member who loves history, or a friend who’s anxious about the world? What book could you pair with a candle and some socks? Lilah speaks with literary editor Fred Studemann and deputy books editor Laura Battle. ------- We l…

“Normally I don’t drink during lunch, but today I’m relaxed,” Gustavo Dudamel says, as he orders us two glasses of a Navarra Chardonnay on the sommelier’s recommendation and we settle into the verdant surroundings of the Jardín del Alma at the Hotel Alma in springtime Barcelona. Before now, I hadn’t considered the possibility that Dudamel — the 43-year-old superstar conductor and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra — and The Dude, as he is widely known, might be two distinc…

Was it fate or some algorithmic force beyond our comprehension that meant Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf both converged on London this week? The confusion of these two polarising figures — the former a radical writer and social and political activist, the latter a contrarian academic turned conspiracy theorist — on social media platforms in recent years was the inspiration for Klein’s 2023 book Doppelganger. So it was somehow fitting that as Klein arrived to see Doppelganger awarded the inaugural Wo…

Laura Battle selects her must-read titles