It’s snowdrop season. Here’s where to get your fix
Thank galanthus! It’s time to celebrate the tiny winter bulb
Odds are stacked against Andy Burnham in No 10
Selection seems unlikely and there’s no guarantee that Greater Manchester mayor would appeal more than Keir Starmer
Is Langen’s Lightspeed the ultimate British bike?
The made-to-order motorcycle is giving Ducati a run for its money
Trump sends US armada towards Iran ‘just in case’
Naval forces dispatched to stop Tehran restarting nuclear programme or executing protesters, US president says
Shares in Czech ammunition group surge 24% on stock market debut
Performance of Czechoslovak Group underlines strong investor demand for defence companies
FTAV’s further reading
Market inefficiencies; Egan-Jones; VTB; all the US things that keep happening; Uber driving; robo-taxiing; and acaderping
Bank of Japan delivers hawkish hold in January
Dissent and forecast upgrades suggest next tightening might come soon
Ukraine must give up territory for war to end, Russia insists ahead of talks
Comments come before potential first three-way meeting with US officials since full-scale invasion in 2022
Babcock chief Lockwood to retire after defence turnaround
Restructuring made group a star performer in FTSE 100 last year
UK retail sales rebound in December as online jewellery spending jumps
Volumes rose unexpectedly in December, beating forecasts as demand for gold and silver strengthened
Donald Trump withdraws Mark Carney’s invitation to join ‘Board of Peace’
Move comes after Canadian prime minister took aim at US president in Davos speech
Transcript: The economy in 2026 — What risks lie ahead? With Gita Gopinath
Martin Wolf talks to Gita Gopinath
The Japanese yield panic
And the signal from staples
The (not-so) big Burnham bonds beef
Britain’s ‘King in the North’ rattles markets a very tiny little bit
EU picks up pieces of transatlantic relationship after Trump rollercoaster
Also in the newsletter: How Bulgaria’s president tendered his resignation to enter the political fray
US regulator steps up bid to serve summons to Indian billionaire Adani
SEC tries to move bribery case forward after India’s government refused to formally notify tycoon of charges
FirstFT: Trump’s tariff ‘shock regime’ tests Wall Street’s mettle
Also in today’s newsletter: Trump sues JPMorgan, and Ledger plots $4bn US listing
Six films to watch this week
‘No Other Choice’ is a biting black comedy from South Korea’s Park Chan-wook; Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor play same-sex lovers in ‘The History of Sound’; Irish football farce ‘Saipan’ pits Steve Coogan’s team manager against his own captain; Timur Bekmambetov’s ‘Mercy’ posits a near-future of tria
Trump and Fink take over Davos
The annual meeting themed ‘a spirit of dialogue’ was dominated by the US president’s attendance
Trump’s tariff ‘shock regime’ tests Wall Street’s mettle
US president backed off his threat of new duties on European economies after market tumult
‘Waiting for the king’: how Trump dominated Davos
Elite business forum draws record attendance but US president’s foreign policy fuels tension and walkouts
Revolut scraps US merger plans in favour of push for standalone licence
UK-headquartered fintech had hoped to secure a banking charter through buying an American lender
Do your retirement goals suffer from money illusion? Mine did
Focusing on the number doesn’t take inflation into account
Is liberal democracy in terminal decline?
The old system worked under a set of conditions that are no longer present