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Simon Kuper

Life & Arts Columnist

Simon Kuper joined the Financial Times in 1994. He wrote the daily currencies column, before leaving the FT in 1998. He returned in 2002 as a sports columnist and has been there ever since. Nowadays he writes a general column for the Weekend FT on all manner of topics from politics to books, and on cities including London, Paris, Johannesburg and Miami.

Email Simon Kuper @KuperSimon  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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  • Saturday, 3 June, 2023
    The Weekend Essay
    Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi: who was the greatest footballer?

    As their ‘beautiful rivalry’ comes to an end, which of these sporting superstars emerges the winner?

  • Thursday, 1 June, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The feeling when your passion is also your job

    Generalists often do much better in life. But there’s still something beautiful about finding your vocation

  • Thursday, 25 May, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    There are only two global superpowers left

    Outside the local neighbourhood, it’s every country for itself

  • Wednesday, 24 May, 2023
    Gardens
    Community gardens: ‘We all come here to heal’

    They can help with conditions from obesity to loneliness. No wonder more health professionals are ‘green prescribing’

  • Thursday, 18 May, 2023
    FT MagazineFootball
    What Man Utd’s new owner really wants

    For thrill-seeking plutocrats, nothing offers an ego trip like football

  • Thursday, 11 May, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    How to negotiate with someone more powerful

    Whether on the world stage or at home, it’s complicated. Here’s how to do it

  • Thursday, 4 May, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Cities are back. Here’s how to make them work better

    London and Paris have never been bigger. But there are endless ways to optimise urban space

  • Thursday, 27 April, 2023
    FT MagazinePolitical espionage
    Why are so many soldiers drawn to the far right?

    The penetration of armies and spy services worldwide by extremists is a genuine threat to democracy

  • Thursday, 20 April, 2023
    FT MagazineBrexit
    How Brexiters live their truth (badly)

    You can only lie to yourself and the rest of the country so long

  • Thursday, 13 April, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    What the mainstream media gets right

    The Fox News trial reveals some uncomfortable truths

  • Thursday, 6 April, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    After 25 years working alone, I tried WeWork

    It’s exhausting to be ceaselessly seen and to have your focus broken every time someone starts to chat

  • Thursday, 30 March, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    It’s morally repugnant, but isolationism on Ukraine makes some sense

    Giving in to Putin would have horrific consequences, but the US would prosper regardless

  • Friday, 24 March, 2023
    The Weekend Essay
    Is France on the road to a Sixth Republic?

    As rage over pension reform spills out on to the streets, it may be time for the country to rethink its all-powerful presidency

  • Thursday, 23 March, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    We should regulate SUVs out of existence

    They’re not only awful for the climate, they’re also killing pedestrians, including children in driveways

  • Friday, 17 March, 2023
    InterviewLeadership
    Football’s first female super-agent Rafaela Pimenta on dealmaking and discrimination

    After the death of her business partner Mino Raiola, the former lawyer had to fight off rivals trying to poach her clients

  • Thursday, 16 March, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Why the higher paid should work longer than the rest

    If everyone worked 43 years, the garbage collector might retire at 60 and the lawyer at 67

  • Thursday, 9 March, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Covid-19 turned us into health-obsessed societies. That needn’t be all bad

    It’s time to emphasise prevention over cure. We’re currently scrimping on parks and pools to spend more on diabetes

  • Friday, 3 March, 2023
    The Oscars 2023: all you need to know
    Michelle Yeoh: ‘Finally we are being seen’

    The ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ star on what an Oscar would mean to Asian actors — and why she really, really wants to bring that statue home

  • Thursday, 2 March, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    France is becoming the new Britain

    Brexit and the French ruling class’s superior survival skills are helping it trounce its rival on the world stage

  • Sunday, 26 February, 2023
    ObituaryJohn Motson
    John Motson, football commentator, 1945-2023

    Over a career spanning a half of a century, he became the bard of English football

  • Thursday, 23 February, 2023
    FT MagazineMarina Ovsyannikova
    The Russian state TV journalist who dared challenge the war

    Marina Ovsyannikova was a cog in Putin’s propaganda machine. Now she’s a refugee

  • Thursday, 16 February, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    The one per cent are not as clever as they think

    The brainiest people and the biggest-earners are two largely separate groups says new research

  • Thursday, 9 February, 2023
    FT MagazineUrban planning
    The urban ideal is a 19th-century city with 21st-century enhancements

    We now realise that cars, concrete and commuting ruined cities in the 20th century

  • Thursday, 2 February, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Retiring at 62? The French have it absolutely right

    I used to take the standard Anglo-Saxon view that the French should get with reality. I’ve changed

  • Thursday, 26 January, 2023
    FT MagazineLife & Arts
    Why the world can benefit from contact theory

    A fear of the ‘other’ can usually be cured by actual contact with them

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