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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Henry Mance
chief features writer
Top tip for making the most of your day:
I think the basic challenge at the festival is to combine frenetically saying hello to people with sitting still and listening to the sessions. Last year I failed at the latter bit, so had to watch the sessions on catch-up instead. This year I am going to get some sessions under my belt in the morning. I have high hopes that the new kids tent (yes!!) will make this possible.
My one unmissable highlight:
Craig Brown is one of my favourite writers — funny and inventive (I did an interview with him in 2020) — so I’m definitely going to see him speak at 2pm in the Literature & Life tent.
Harriet Fitch-Little
food & drink editor
Top tip for making the most of your day:
If you’ve circled Jancis Robinson’s wine tasting on your schedule, make sure you get to the tent in time to queue. I’d suggest arriving 20-30 minutes before kick-off to be sure of a seat. I suspect the same will be true for Alice Lascelles’ two new tastings — non-alcoholic drinks on the Food & Drink stage at 3pm, and martinis on the HTSI stage at 4pm.
My one unmissable highlight:
I’ll be hovering around the Food & Drink stage most of the day (if you see me please say hi, I’m the sort of person who will waylay FT Weekend readers any time I see them in the wild) but I’ll make my excuses around the time of the cryptic crossword solve-along at 11am in the House & Home tent. I’m particularly interested in the chat they’re planning about how cryptic crosswords should approach modernisation, because I’m fed up of being regularly scuppered by my scant knowledge of cricket terminology, Ancient Greek and military ranks. FWIW, IMO, it’s time for internet slang to become part of the cryptic vernacular.
Tom Robbins
Travel editor
Top tip for making the most of your day:
Hampstead Heath station is a mile and a half walk through woods and grassland from the festival site — walking there as the sun sets is a wonderfully peaceful end to a busy day.
My one unmissable highlight:
As a parent who is constantly shouting “Be careful!” at the kids, I’m looking forward to Leo Houlding’s talk, anticipating a mix of admiration and terror, at 11am in the Travel tent. One of the world’s leading climbers, in recent years he’s taken his boundary-pushing approach and applied it to family holidays, climbing, sailing and trekking far from the beaten track.
Jancis Robinson
wine critic
Top tip for making the most of your day:
As a veteran of FTWeekend festivals in both London and Washington, I hugely favour London for its open-sided marquees (as opposed to closed-door lecture halls) as it allows you to enjoy more than one session per time slot.
My one unmissable highlight:
”A field to fork revolution” at 4pm in the Food & Drink tent seems unmissable to me, even if it rather worryingly seems to be aiming to cover two massively important subjects (how to fix farming and how to eat more veg) in a mere 45 minutes. And anything with Henry Mance in it is a draw as far as I’m concerned.
Pilita Clark
columnist and associate editor
Top tip for making the most of your day:
Treat the festival like a day at the races. Study the programme as if it were a form guide. Get into position well before starting time. Prepare for all weather conditions and do not even think about wearing high heels.
My one unmissable highlight:
I am obviously looking forward to hearing Anne Applebaum, Wes Streeting, Simon Russell Beale and all the other big names but this year I intend to get to the one FT festival event that I’ve consistently failed to see in the past: the live cryptic crossword solve-along at 11am in the House & Home tent, where I hope to hear life-changing advice from star FT cruciverbalists including James Brydon, the FT’s crossword-setter.
John Burn-Murdoch
columnist and chief data reporter
Top tip for making the most of your day:
It’s a British September. There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
My one unmissable highlight:
The AI revolution has been overhyped, and superhuman intelligence is not just around the corner. But large language models’ ability to mimic the average human means that one use-case it almost certainly is ideally suited for is being an engaging conversation partner for those in need of company. For this reason, “Can AI solve loneliness?” with Renate Nyborg and Madhumita Murgia at 3pm in the Tech tent promises to be a fascinating discussion.
Rebecca Rose
FT Globetrotter editor and Festival organiser
Top tip for making the most of your day:
This is now the ninth festival that I have co-programmed and yet I have only just learnt to remember to bring a sun hat. There definitely will be a couple of hours where you will want to lounge on the grass or on a deckchair outside the Big Ideas tent, catching talks on the big screen and basking in September sunshine. And out of nine years, eight have been sunny! Don’t worry if you forget — many attendees have found that the Weekend FT itself makes for excellent sun protection.
My one unmissable highlight:
This year, I will be joining the queue to hear FTWeekend editor Janine Gibson chat to the American actor John Lithgow at 1pm in the Big Ideas tent. From playing Churchill in The Crown to his unforgettable roles in The World According to Garp and Footloose, he is bringing a proper sprinkling of Hollywood stardust to proceedings.
Katie Martin
markets columnist
Top tip for making the most of your day:
Go to at least one random thing. You will need a plan for the sessions you really want to see (arrive early for those!) but if you have a gap, wander in to any tent and see what’s going on — you are very likely to be pleasantly surprised.
My one unmissable highlight:
Several sessions I really want to see clash with my own, which strikes me as a serious first-world problem. (Hooray for on-demand vids.) One I really want to catch is the cryptic crossword solve-along at 11am. I am truly bad at cryptic crosswords, which makes me feel like an idiot — maybe this is my solution.
