An ode to the Financial Times

posted by David Brownlie-Marshall | January 7, 2011 | In Blog

I’ve recently come to appreciate the merits of the Financial Times. I used to think of it as a stuffy. gigantic, pink newspaper, aimed at anonymous workers in multinational corporations or investment banking. As it turns out, it actually aoffers a concise and incredibly well written summary of national and international news with an emphasis on business. No celebrity puff, no 2 page features written by pseudo ‘experts’, and no emotive headlines calling upon ‘our loyal readers to react now’. Just news in an incredibly pleasant and sensible format. I actually feel as if I’m learning something.

I first discovered the FT over the Christmas break, while at the Balmoral Hotel gym in Edinburgh. I would read a complimentary copy while lounging by the pool, the novelty being that it is the one newspaper not freely available at my work. After just two days of this, I was converted. I now feel a little dirty if I read another paper, as if I’m stooping to a lower level of journalism and intellectual analysis.

This evening, after choir practice, I handed over the £2 cover price without regret, and spent a couple of hours poring over the issue from cover to cover. Maybe it’s just the new year, and the idea that one should incorporate some positive things into one’s life (I now juice and gym daily), but this feels like a good habit, and my brain thanks me for it.