Life and Art from FT Weekend
by Financial Times
Life and Art from FT Weekend is the twice-weekly culture podcast of the Financial Times. On Monday, we talk about life, and how to live a good one in one-on-one conversations. On Friday, we talk about ‘art’ – in a chat show. Three FT journalists come together to discuss a new cultural release across film, TV, music and books. Hosted by Lilah Raptopoulos, together with the FT’s award-winning writers and editors, and special guests.
Episodes
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Our final episode: thank you
This is it. Today we present you a massive special episode full of wisdom, which answers your final pressing questions. Listeners wrote in from around the world — from Perth to Virginia to Prague — asking about music, cooking, careers, home, fashion and how to live a good life. Lilah invites her...
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Cultural predictions for 2025: the year we accept the chaos
It’s a time-honored tradition: for the third year in a row, FT Weekend editor-at-large Matt Vella joins Lilah to reflect on this past year, and muse on the coming one. We’ve asked listeners to send their predictions and wishes for 2025, and today we’re talking through them! Will next year bring…
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The perfect winter survival guide
Today we are bringing you a winter survival guide, full of deceptively small tips that will make winter unmeasurably better. How do we best appreciate these cold, dark months? How do we stay stimulated, but also reject the grind? Our FT Weekend Magazine’s resident “winter goddesses” Griselda…
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Novelist Elif Shafak: ‘Writers are the memory keepers’
Elif Shafak’s new novel brings together four stories set in three different centuries: ancient Mesopotamia, 19th century London, a Yazidi village in 2014, and the present day. It connects them through the epic of Gilgamesh, and a single drop of fresh water. Making history come alive is one of...
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Books books books! Our top picks from 2024
The FT’s books of the year special is out, and today, our literary editor Fred Studemann and outgoing deputy books editor Laura Battle join us one last time to talk about their top picks of 2024. This year has seen some huge releases from authors including Sally Rooney, Miranda July, Alexei...
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The oldest cuisine in the world
Have you ever wondered about the oldest recipes in history? They were discovered on four clay tablets from about 1,700 BCE at the time of the Assyrian Empire. Did you know that about 5 million Assyrians still live around the world today? This year, a cookbook was published that is the first…
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Our massive holiday gift guide, and tips for a less stressful Christmas
December is here, and we’re here to help you sort your holiday shopping. Need to make a last-minute gift feel thoughtful? Searching for something for your dad? Want to give a cheap gift a glow-up? Hoping to also actually enjoy December? Lilah has invited two experts onto the show: HTSI’s deputy...
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Filmmaker Richard Linklater on Hit Man and whether people can change
Filmmaker Richard Linklater’s movies span blockbusters, such as School of Rock, cerebral indie classics like Boyhood, and a hard-to-define The Before Trilogy. His most recent film, Hit Man, is a thriller, but it picks up on many themes that Linklater has explored before, such as identity and...
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How Eli Zabar made America more gourmet
Eli Zabar is the youngest son of the Jewish grocery family behind the famed New York food emporium, Zabar’s. Fifty years ago, he left the family business to open his own shop, where he would pursue the “best”: the best breads, cheeses, jams. He was inspired by the markets of Europe and quickly...
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Culture chat: ‘Wicked’ hits the high notes
Today, we’re taking on the much-hyped film adaptation of the musical smash Wicked. Starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum, the story is a loose prequel to The Wizard of Oz, following its two star witches before they become Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West.…
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Best of: why men’s fashion is skimpier and more queer
You probably noticed by their clothes: this summer, men just wanted to have fun. Crop tops, short shorts and even kilts and skirts were in. Long sleeves, and long inseams, were out. Today, two FT men’s fashion experts, Robert Armstrong and Eric Platt, join us to discuss how and why this happened,...
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Culture chat: ‘Anora’, the unlikely film leading the Oscar race
Today we’re talking about Anora, the new critical darling about the whirlwind romance between a Brooklyn sex worker and the hell-raising son of a Russian oligarch. The film follows the couple’s chaotic week together, their impulsive marriage, and what happens when the oligarchs hear the news and...
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Jancis Robinson on how to start collecting wine
If you are someone who has or wants to have wine at your house, this episode is for you. Whether you’re looking to buy a few bottles you’ll drink in the next few months, or you’d like to start collecting and ageing wine for years to come, we’ve got you covered. FT wine editor Jancis Robinson,...
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Our critics’ best advice for how to discover new music
Today, we explore how to discover new music. Despite having access to more music than ever before, many of us are still falling back on the same old stuff. The algorithms may be pushing us toward uniformity, but how do we break out of the echo chamber? FT pop critic Ludo Hunter-Tilney and music…
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What is the future of photography?
Critics have been warning about the death of photography as an art form for years. Smartphones were going to lead to its demise by making everyone a photographer. Then came warnings about AI, which can create photographic images without a human actually being present at a given time and place.…
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Culture Chat: the bonkbuster world of ‘Rivals’
Today we head to Rutshire, to take a crack at the frothy, riotous TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1980s romance novel, Rivals. The eight-episode series follows a cluster of posh English country-dwellers – including TV executive Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) and local heartthrob Rupert...
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Historian Simon Schama wants to make truth sexy again
Historian Sir Simon Schama is one of the most influential public intellectuals of our time. So when he replied to our invitation to come on the show ahead of the US presidential election by saying he wanted to talk about “the unprecedented collapse of truth”, we immediately said yes. It’s been a...
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Halloween Chat: ‘Beetlejuice’ and the lost art of soft horror
Today we are pulling on our striped demon ghost suits for a special Halloween episode: a deep-dive on Tim Burton’s 1988 classic, Beetlejuice. It persists in our cultural memory, remade as an animated series, a theme park ride, a musical, and as of last month, a legacy sequel, Beetlejuice...
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Chef Victoria Blamey is giving the tasting menu new life
In recent years, critics and jaded diners have deemed the multi-course tasting menu dead. It’s gotten repetitive, the argument goes, with chefs serving luxury courses like caviar at the expense of any point of view. But recently, our host Lilah Raptopoulos had a meal that felt extremely alive, at...
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Culture Chat: The FT takes on ‘Industry’ season 3
This week, we’re talking about the HBO finance drama Industry, which follows the lives of London bankers as they navigate frantic careers and make chaotic life choices. The third season is out, and snidely pokes at greenwashing and how the corporate world pretends to do good. What is this show...
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Fashion loves Ozempic. Should we talk about it?
Before she was the editor of our luxury magazine HTSI, Jo Ellison was features editor at British Vogue, which means that throughout her career she’s had a front-row view of the fashion industry’s love of thinness. In recent years, fashion began to embrace more diversity in body shapes and sizes....
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Culture Chat: why is everyone so mad at Katy Perry?
Today we’re sexy, confident, intelligent, heaven-sent – and taking on Katy Perry’s disastrous new album, 143. Featuring the lead single ‘Woman’s World’, this album has gone viral for all the wrong reasons: a muddled feminist message, a slew of publicity gaffes and even a government investigation....
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In the age of AI, what counts as art?
The FT’s innovation editor John Thornhill writes a lot about the dangers of artificial intelligence, but when he recently saw a movie about the musician Brian Eno, created with the help of an algorithm, he liked it. Or, better put, he liked the version he saw: the documentary has 52 quintillion...
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Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is a mess worth seeing
Today, we are stopping time to discuss Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola's controversial passion project, which took him 40 years to make. The film was entirely self-financed for $120mn and has an all-star cast, including Adam Driver, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, but it has fiercely divided...
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‘My Old Ass’ director Megan Park on advice to our younger selves
In Megan Park’s new film ‘My Old Ass,’ a teenager named Elliott (Maisy Stella) meets her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) on a mushroom trip. The experience gives young Elliott perspective: her “old ass” tells her to wear her retainer, and be nice to her family before leaving for college. But it’s...
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Culture chat: ‘Intermezzo’ and the Sally Rooney phenomenon
Today, we discuss the author Sally Rooney. Her new novel Intermezzo was published this week – causing queues outside bookstores, launch parties everywhere and a flurry of praise from critics. Does Intermezzo live up to the hype? Why has Rooney become the voice of the millennial generation? Lilah…
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Our arts editor is retiring after 20 years. Here’s what she learned
Today, we bring you a special conversation with Jan Dalley, who has just retired as the FT’s arts editor after almost 20 years. When Jan stepped into her job, terrestrial TV ruled, podcasts didn’t exist and the art world wasn’t quite so luxe. And video games? Newspapers didn’t review video games....
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Culture Chat: Is ‘Slow Horses’ losing speed?
The Apple TV+ show Slow Horses is a critical darling; it has received rave reviews since it first came out in 2022, and with season four in full swing, some critics are begging you to watch. But does this season deserve the hype? Or has the show’s premise run its course? The series, an anti-James...
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Asma Khan, the chef calling out restaurants’ bad behaviour
Asma Khan breaks a lot of fine dining’s unspoken rules. She is the chef and owner of London’s beloved Darjeeling Express, an Indian restaurant whose entire kitchen is staffed by women. Her kitchen has no hierarchy, and her chefs were trained as home cooks. Asma’s advocacy for women has won her a...
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Culture chat: the Oasis reunion explained
After 15 years of feuding, the most famous rock band of 1990s Britain recently announced that it will be reuniting for a stadium tour. Fans went wild, and the first day of ticket sales nearly broke Ticketmaster. Why do we still care about Oasis? Do the Gallagher brothers deserve the fanfare? And...
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Arabic pop is going mainstream, and we love it
There’s an Arabic pop music wave that’s about to hit your world. Or maybe it already has! Last year, the Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna became the first artist to do an Arabic-language set at the Coachella music festival, and she’s a sign of the times. Other artists such as Wegz, Marwan…
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Culture Chat: The Greek myths are sacred. Did ‘Kaos’ desecrate them?
Put on your laurel wreath. Today we’re joining the gods and taking on Kaos, Netflix's new black comedy series that reimagines the Greek myths. The show follows Zeus (played by Jeff Goldblum) as he struggles to rule over Earth and The Underworld from a gaudy mansion on Mount Olympus. You’ll...
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Best of: Why our fashion editor buys almost nothing new
Today, we’re bringing you one of our favourite past episodes. Last year, the FT’s fashion editor Lauren Indvik made a pledge that surprised us. She vowed to buy just five new items of clothing and shoes all year long. The number comes from a study that says in order to stick to the Paris...
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Culture chat: Watching ‘Emily in Paris’ despite ourselves
Today, Lilah’s back and we’re talking about Emily in Paris! The extraordinarily popular Netflix sitcom, which millions of people across the globe love to hate-watch, just dropped half of its fourth season. It’s about an American 20-something who moves to Paris to live out our Francophile…
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How ‘The Body Next Door’ gets true crime storytelling right
A new true crime series on Sky is getting rave reviews — and that’s big news in a genre riddled with criticism. It’s called The Body Next Door, and today we’re talking with its director, Gareth Johnson. After learning about an unidentified body found in a village in Wales, Gareth followed the…
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Culture chat: ‘Alien: Romulus’ is all horror, no guts
This week, we discuss Alien: Romulus, the latest instalment of the space-epic franchise. The film stars Cailee Spaeny, who, along with a group of friends climbs aboard an abandoned spacecraft only to find some very familiar murderous aliens. Is this new entry an evolution of the series or does it...
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‘The menswear guy’ on why clothing matters
Derek Guy has become ubiquitous on X as ‘the menswear guy’. With more than a million followers, he is the go-to advice giver for men trying to find their style or figure out what to wear to a wedding. Derek also writes a blog called Die, Workwear! And today, he joins FT men’s style columnist Rob...
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Culture chat: 'Love is Blind: UK'
This week, we discuss the TV show 'Love is Blind: UK'. It’s one of Netflix’s most popular reality series. The show follows singles as they flirt through a wall and fall in love without seeing each other first. They are only allowed to meet face-to-face once they are engaged. What does the show's...
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Why museums should keep their mummies and shrunken heads
As a kid, FT associate editor Stephen Bush loved seeing ghoulish things: mummies, shrunken heads, supposedly magical severed hands. He credits these items with teaching him curiosity and a love for museums. So when he hears the argument that human remains do not belong on display, his answer is,...
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Dinner SOS: What should I cook this summer?
If you like our food episodes, you may also like the Dinner SOS podcast from Bon Appétit. Host Chris Morocco is joined by senior test kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic, and the two share their hot takes on cooking in the heat (AC required, obviously) – plus what produce is overrated and what's...
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How to feel confident in your martini, shaken or stirred
What is it about the martini that makes it so intimidating? Even the FT’s food and drink editor Harriet Fitch Little isn’t sure if she’s allowed to order one that has both an olive and a lemon twist. On today’s episode, Harriet speaks with FT contributor Alice Lascelles, whose new book Martini…
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Culture Chat: The glory and controversy of the Olympics
Today, we’re catching Olympics fever. Paris bureau chief Leila Abboud and US sports business correspondent Sara Germano join us from the Games to talk about atmosphere, politics and sports. Was the opening ceremony truly that controversial? Will the Paris Games change the way the Olympics are...
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How to stop worrying about the ‘right’ way to travel
Author Shahnaz Habib has lived all over the world from Kerala, India to New York City, and being at home and a visitor in so many places made her wonder: what’s the difference between a traveller and a tourist? And where did we get our ideas about the right way to travel, anyway? In her new book,...
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Culture chat: How ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ broke the romance lit taboo
Romance is fiction’s top-selling genre. And ‘romantasy’, where romance meets fantasy, has become a literary phenomenon. That’s thanks to the novel we’re discussing today, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and its writer, Sarah J Maas. Also known as ACOTAR, this is the first novel in Maas’ five-book...
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Writer Anne Lamott on how to tap into your creativity
When it comes to writing, Anne Lamott’s philosophy is to take things one step at a time, keep moving, and give yourself permission to be who you are. She expressed it most famously 30 years ago in her seminal book on writing and life, Bird by Bird. But it also appears across her many non-fiction...
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Culture Chat: ‘Sunny’ has its circuits crossed
‘Sunny’, a new robot-comedy series, came out on Apple TV+ last week. It stars Rashida Jones as an American expat in Japan, who enlists the help of a cute robot to find out what happened to her late husband. What questions does the show raise about our relationship with tech? And what do we want…
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Why men’s fashion is skimpier and more queer
You have probably noticed by their clothes: this summer, men just want to have fun. Crop tops, short shorts and even kilts and skirts are in. Long sleeves, and long inseams, are out. Today, two of the FT’s men’s fashion experts, Robert Armstrong and Eric Platt, join us to discuss how and why this...
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Culture chat: Chappell Roan, Brat and pop girl summer
Today, we’re talking about the “femininomenon” that is pop girl summer. This season's music scene has been dominated by unfiltered female sensations, including Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter. How did these artists become so popular? How does this scene compare with that of the…
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Best of: Why everyone is talking about polyamory
Today, we’re bringing you an episode from our archives: Molly Roden Winter was a frustrated mom of two in Brooklyn when she and her husband decided that they should open up their marriage. What followed was a 10-year journey of self-exploration that took her not only into some seedy hotel rooms…
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Culture Chat: Does 'The Bear' still cook?
Season three of FX’s “The Bear” is here, and today we discuss it with our top food writers! The Financial Times’s food and drink editor Harriet Fitch Little and restaurant critic Tim Hayward, who also owns a cafe in Cambridge, join Lilah to share their takes. How well does the show reflect the...
About this show
Life and Art from FT Weekend is the twice-weekly culture podcast of the Financial Times. On Monday, we talk about life, and how to live a good one in one-on-one conversations. On Friday, we talk about ‘art’ – in a chat show. Three FT journalists come together to discuss a new cultural release across film, TV, music and books. Hosted by Lilah Raptopoulos, together with the FT’s award-winning writers and editors, and special guests.
Hosted by
Financial Times