Financial Times Magazine - January 11, 2020 PDF
Financial Times Magazine - January 11, 2020 PDF
Financial Times Magazine - January 11, 2020 PDF
THE
PUTIN
What do young Russians think
about the only leader they’ve
ever known? Henry Foy reports
GENERATION
@FTMag
5 Simon Kuper
Why I love and deplore the
French welfare state
6 Inventory
Classical guitarist Miloš
8 Tech World
How smart are Hong Kong’s lamp posts?
10 Robert Shrimsley
The narcissism of ‘new-age’ celebrities
10 Letters
28 Observations
‘People think they know me. But they know nothing’ Douglas Coupland on why the fate of
the ozone layer should give us hope
An interview with the artist Sophie Calle, p20
about tackling global warming
SIMON
packed, as the rail workers’ strike might end up as deprived as post-Thatcherite
over pensions enters its second month. Suburban northern England.
trains are worse still: commuters can spend an
hour shuffling through dangerously overcrowded
stations just to reach the platform. (The strike is ‘Paying towards world-class
an almost entirely Parisian phenomenon. Most healthcare and the Métro
KUPER
people in other French regions drive to work or
use public transport run by private companies, makes me feel there’s a moral
whose employees aren’t striking.) purpose to my working life’
Ostensibly, the strike opposes Emmanuel
Macron’s attempts to reform pensions and end
the “special regimes” that allow some workers to I say this as someone who pays more than half
retire early (including train drivers at age 52). But my income to the French state. On the one hand,
as with the gilets jaunes’ protests, there’s a deeper this mildly disincentivises me from doing extra
OPENING SHOT issueatstake:theFrenchwelfarestate.Rightwing paid work. On the upside, it’s oddly relaxing:
foreign critics think that the French state, from since there is little point maximising your earn-
A
Why I love trains to hospitals, needs shrinking. French left-
ists think Macron is shrinking it too much. After
ings here, you can devote your life to something
more interesting.
and deplore
18 years in Paris, I disagree with both sides: I both
love and deplore the French system. t the risk of sounding insane,
I’m very familiar with the leftwing narrative, paying towards world-class
the French because I live on the boulevard where protest
marches are held. During a march last month, a
universal healthcare and the con-
struction of 68 Métro stations in
study at the Royal Academy of politics had a very direct influence Swimming in the Mediterranean. No Interview by Hester Lacey.
Music in London. – we all saw what happened in the matter what’s happening in my life, Miloš plays various dates this
Who was or still is your mentor? Balkans in the 1990s. But having the moment I dive in and come up, month, including Wigmore Hall,
Many people. My parents, my best lived in London for 20 years, it’s I have a smile on my face. It’s almost London, on January 25. His album
friend, my teacher at the academy. hard not to be politically engaged like rebirth. I have a deep spiritual “Sound of Silence” is out now on
And today, many of my closest now. These are challenging times. connection with the Mediterranean. Decca Classics; milosguitar.com
ILLUSTRATION BY PÂTÉ
program in King’s Cross until it
was revealed by the FT last year.
Other cities may not face
the breakdown of trust that
Just how smart to clarify its use of such technology recognition algorithms could run has happened in Hong Kong.
on the streets but the government on any video footage with sufficient But placing explicit limits on
are Hong Kong’s has avoided answering the question. resolution, even if the cameras surveillance would help citizens
lamp posts? The suspicions around facial didn’t contain hardware that fight more specific injustices;
recognition in Hong Kong provide a suggested links to facial-recognition San Francisco, which has a
warning of what can happen when a firms. This is correct; as long as commitment to not help deport
government’s lack of transparency the footage can be streamed to undocumented immigrants,
T
he New Year in Hong Kong in its use of surveillance tech another computer, citizens cannot has decided not to share certain
began with a bang – not collides with widespread anger know what is being done to it. data with immigration police.
the usual firework display, over governance. In the absence of Thus the government is being There is also the problem of
which the government trust, citizens are turning to their asked to prove a negative, that it is misidentification by the technology,
cancelled, but the sound of police own theories of what technology the not running any facial-recognition as well as databases being leaked
firing tear-gas canisters. Once government is using against them. algorithms on public surveillance – a common problem in China,
again, protesters turned out in force Last August, a viral video showed footage or passing the footage on where the government has hastily
to continue their seven-month protesters pulling down a “smart to third parties – such as China’s rolled out facial-recognition-
demonstration against Beijing’s lamp post” equipped not just mainland police, who we know enabled surveillance cameras.
influence in the nominally with lights but also cameras and are using such algorithms. In China, a public debate is now
autonomous region, the lack of real Bluetooth beacons. The government The only way that it might brewing over facial recognition.
democracy and police brutality. has said that smart lamp posts prove such a negative is if it had, But whether your government
Despite a government ban on are not facial-recognition enabled early on, credibly committed to is a one-party autocracy or a
face masks, the better-prepared but many are sceptical and have transparency and to constraints in functioning democracy, it’s
wore them to protect against the crowdsourced their own analyses its use of surveillance technology. always more effective to start
tear gas. But the masks served of what the posts can do. Hong Kong’s own Personal Data the discussion over surveillance
another function too: to prevent The moment the lamp post (Privacy) Ordinance, which allows technology before your town has
identification by automated facial- was felled, protesters scavenged people to request their data, does been turned into a “smart city”.
recognition technology. Over the components. Others analysed not do the job, as it has broad
course of the protests, legislators their functions. One anonymous exemptions for “the prevention or Yuan Yang is the FT’s
have repeatedly asked the executive researcher warned that facial- detection of crime”. The problem China tech correspondent
A
re you feeling yourself using a smartphone on either the
today, or are you feeling Tube or on a bus. I reckon it must
your you? I ask because be about 80 per cent, sometimes
one of Britain’s best- even higher. We are definitely
known personalities thinks it hooked on our mobile devices.
may be important. PMc via FT.com
It is a bizarre aspect of modern
celebrity that people who would
consider themselves far too cool @PascaleHarter January 5
to go around telling you they have If you read only one non-news
piece this Sunday, let it be this
found Jesus (I am talking about
column by Joshua Chaffin via @FT
Britain here, not the US, where you on how studying abroad shaped
are not allowed to have lost him in him. Leave time to stare out the
the first place) see nothing wrong window afterwards
with sententiously boring on about ILLUSTRATION BY LUCAS VARELA
their latest new-age guru.
Step forward Chris Evans, DJ, Paul Graham’s images of people
general scamp and long-term or good or evil, it is purely thinking Rosenberg. They too emerged from watching television (“Tuned in”,
sufferer of several diseases of the that makes it so.” Really, no such intensive all-day seminars talking January 4/5) featured beautiful
rich, with a Sunday Times Life thing as evil or wrong? What about, about the need to shake off the photographs of seemingly mundane
Lessons article so screamingly you know, just to be obvious, the “stories” we weave around our lives, moments. These still shots
devoid of self-awareness that at Nazis? Was it only my thinking that and with the same urgent desire to convey meaning and emotions,
first it seemed it must be a joke. made them evil? Or am I missing the make all of their friends follow the probably more than the forgotten
The path to inner peace, you will point, and it is their thought that life-changing experience. entertainment these people were
not be surprised to learn, does not made them evil? Is it just that the This burning need to persuade watching on TV.
Quiz answers The link was horse-drawn vehicles 1. Carriage clock 2. Surrey 3. Paint Your Wagon 4. Chariots of Fire 5. Head coach of the England cricket team
turn out to be wealth, which would Nazis did not realise that everything everyone to drink the same Kool- David M via FT.com
not make for a terribly spiritual they wanted, they already had? Aid – and the aggressive emotional
6. The Mousetrap – by Agatha Christie 7. “The Hay Wain” 8. Gig 9. Hackney 10. McFly Picture quiz Olivia Newton-John + Evelyn Waugh = John Evelyn
article. Some of these screeds run to Apparently, a lot of this new assault on anyone who refused Re “The evolution of video games”
1,000 words. Among the learnings wisdom has come courtesy of a guru – was the most alarming feature (January 4/5). Today’s games are
on offer from Evans were such epics called Eckhart Tolle, author of The of their spiritual awakening, masterpieces of storytelling, the
as: “What you are looking for, you Power of Now. I must admit to never to the point where I even worried way they can develop characters
are already looking from”; “We do having been troubled by any of his that one friend had been rather over 70-100 hours of gameplay is
not need to chase or find love, we musings, although it is possible brainwashed. We have all one of the biggest steps forward
are love”; “Everything you really that his book was read by myself, experienced the excitement of a over TV and film. Games such as
want, you already have”; and, my rather than me. Anyway, he’s huge. new discovery and the need to talk Red Dead Redemption 2, Horizon
favourite, “We say, ‘I am not myself Oprah Winfrey loves him, as does, about it, but at some point a true Zero Dawn and The Witcher 3 have
today,’ but we never say, ‘Myself is confusingly, the movie star Chris self-help guide needs to be the defined this generation.
not my I today.’” Evans, so maybe he is just a guru friend telling you to dial it down. Pete via FT.com
Now, I’ve always liked Evans, for rich and famous Chris Evanses. If there are lessons to learn from
for all his tiresome laddishness. At one level, this is merely the Evans, I’d prefer the one on Further to Gillian Tett’s column
No one can object if this helps him inane ramblings of another celeb becoming a multimillionaire. “Democracy works – but only
with his demons. But it is a bit rich who has found his version of In the end, if all this twaddle if we work at it” (January 4/5).
to be told by a multimillionaire that religion and apparently lacks the makes anyone a happier human, Yes, it still works but a certain
“Everything you really want, you self-awareness to remember how then more power to their elbow. category of the population assume
already have.” That might be true if old Chris might have mocked such But if it turns you into a tedious democracy isn’t working when it
you’ve got a bunch of Ferraris and a portentous piffle. narcissist, unable to recognise doesn’t produce the result they
seven-figure radio deal. If, however, But anyone who has seen friends that the life you have is beyond like. We need to accept the result
you are picking up parcels from a fall for similar guff knows the the reach of all those to whom you even if it isn’t to our liking. That
food bank, you may question that drawbacks. A number of mine were are now preaching, then perhaps is what makes democracy work.
particular piece of wisdom. Then sucked into aggressive self-help your you needs to have a quiet One example is Trump. The people
again, that may just be yourself not organisations such as Est and word with yourself. who vilify him forget that the same
being your you. The Forum built by Werner Erhard, system gave us Obama, Clinton
Another Evans gem ran: “There a Philadelphia-born car dealer robert.shrimsley@ft.com and the previous presidents too.
is no such thing as wrong or right, who changed his name from Jack @robertshrimsley Rationalhuman via FT.com
Sick of feeling inactive and unhealthy on work trips? Check out our To contribute
Please email magazineletters@ft.com. Include
top tips for a healthier stay in London and elsewhere on ft.com/globetrotter, a daytime telephone number and full address
the FT’s new digital city guides for the modern business traveller (not for publication). Letters may be edited.
F
romthearchitecturemuseuminMoscow we need to create and work towards a civil soci- police aggression and mass arrests, are futile and
where he works, Vasily can see the ety… [But] as long as my life does not drive me to unproductive.“IwenttoNavalny’smeetings,along
towering walls of the Kremlin. It’s just a the edge, I do not want to act, because it’s more with my brother and some friends,” says Vasily.
few hundred metres away but it might as trouble than it’s worth.” “I don’t like their methods, they are unpleasant…
well be hundreds of miles. Among her friends in Tomsk, a mid-sized city He and his people’s approach is too aggressive.
“There are two different worlds, the one in in central Siberia, Irina, 19, uses a common phrase “It’s funny because you’re taken to the police
which I live, and the one with a cortège and flash- for people who like to complain about Putin but station, and the police are thinking, ‘Again these
ing lights,” says Vasily, 23, who was raised in are afraid of taking action: divannye kritiki, or “sofa schoolchildren, we’ve been brought schoolchil-
St Petersburg. Like many we spoke to, he was not critics”. “A lot of people criticise but no one does dren again,’” he says. “These meetings, you’vegone
comfortable having his surname published, for anything…” she says. “The mentality is that all owe once, then twice, shouted around a bit, and then
fear of reprisals. “In theory, I understand that this something, but as an individual you don’t want what?... We do not have any real alternative.”
[political] world concerns me,” he says.“But on the to do anything. They think: ‘What can I do alone? Last summer’s events, which saw as many
other hand, it seems to me like some sort of game.” What can I change by myself?’ So they give up. as 60,000 people take part in weekly rallies in
M
any western politicians and pro- of a tough period of life they had to live through. prime minister.
democracy activists have long Putin is the thing that changed. The challenge for young Russians who do not
hoped that a young, liberal upris- “We try to change the minds of young people want to see his regime continue is stark: find
ing could unsettle the Putin regime by giving them the sense that politics can be about the means to unite and build a sustainable move-
andchangethefutureofRussia.But something else, about creating opportunities,” she ment that could provide an alternative, and
that may underestimate the likes of Diana Alumy- adds. “We aren’t going to schools and telling people convince their apathetic compatriots that change
ats, who was 13 (officially a year too young) when to vote for United Russia.” would not mean chaos.
she illicitly joined the youth wing of Putin’s ruling Analysts say that efforts such as Molodaya “We have a perspective that our parents don’t,”
United Russia party. Now 21, she is an active organ- Gvardiya are both a response to Navalny’s suc- says Dasha. “But there are millions of people who
iser at Molodaya Gvardiya, or Young Guard. The cess on social media and a recognition that, while live in the countryside, who live in small cities,
group is the Kremlin’s effort to engage with young the Kremlin’s efforts to make politics boring have thinking:‘Iamfinenow.Idon’twant tochangeany-
people disillusioned with a political elite in which helped it shore up power, it has failed to adjust to thing because anything different could be worse
manyoftheseniorroleshavebeenheldbythesame changing social trends. Putin’s strategists have than this.’ I used to be like this too,” she admits.
figures since 2012. The average age of Putin’s senior encouraged him to engage online through live “[But] after this summer I realised… we have some
Kremlin team and Russia’s top ministers is 62. video platforms such as Periscope and Instagram, things that need to change.”
“Typically, you hear this [complaining] from according to a Kremlin official. Just 23 per cent “I see there are lots of young people now who
people who do nothing. Who sit around watch- of young Russians surveyed in October said they arenotnecessarilyprotestingbutnotagreeingwith
ing television, complaining that nothing is getting watched television daily, and 78 per cent said they what is happening in this country,” adds Richard,
done andnothingisgettingbetter.Typically,young never got their news from newspapers or radio. who has rebuffed his parents’ suggestion that he
people who complain on the internet are doing More than 83 per cent said they used the internet emigrate. “For the first time in a long while, people
nothing themselves,” says Diana, from Serpukhov, each day “as a communication channel”. arethinking,‘WhatcanIdotomakethingschange?’
100km south of Moscow. “When Putin leaves, the “I am not embarrassed by this,” says Diana. And they might become a critical mass that could
people, the system he created will still be there. “I have an Instagram account where I share my affecteverythinginthiscountryoncePutinleaves.”
Things will not be totally different, I hope.” activities in Molodaya Gvardiya. Of course, some He pauses. “And hopefully he does.”
Molodaya Gvardiya’s iMac-filled offices in a con- friends are like, ‘Oh my god, United Russia again?
verted textile factory next to Russia’s government Whatisthisrubbish?’AndIsay‘No,lookatwhatwe Henry Foy is the FT’s Moscow bureau chief
L
ast November, the French thank you for, in a way, having
artist Sophie Calle was in decided for me.”
London to receive the Royal It was neatly done. Because Calle
Photographic Society’s is not a photographer, at least not
Centenary Medal. The in the traditional sense. Over the
society, founded in 1853, has been four decades she’s been working,
keen to update its image of late, contemporary art has expanded
and that night its efforts couldn’t in all directions, but it’s still hard
have been better served. If any to find a category for what she
contemporary artist has rock-star does: conceptual, certainly;
status among her fans, Calle has it, autobiographical, sort of. Most of
and she went up to whistles and her projects enjoy several lives –
cheers. Taking the lectern, she as exhibitions, as books, as films or
said that when she’d been told combinations of all three. Most are
a speech wasn’t necessary, “I based on some experience from
immediately felt the desire to say her own life, but it might be a single
a few words…” After all, she added, phrase from a chance conversation
with a shrug: “A medal – a talk!” or a meditation on a shared human
“Things didn’t start so well experience – betrayal, love,
between photography and me,” memory, death. Photographs
she began. Her first solo show had always play a part but they rarely
met with “loud” disapproval from have a leading role. Instead, they
other artists. When her pictures supply a layer of visual evidence
were projected at the Arles photo for the ideas she comes up with.
festival, the public had started Each work has its own
to boo: “For them, I was not a system, a rule book to be followed,
photographer and they were like a game. And each manages
not entirely wrong.” A profile in to expose some aspect of human
Le Monde had concluded that “she frailty. Calle is like an amateur
can’t even take a good picture”. psychologist, digging around in
“So, photographer or not a the human psyche, fascinated by
photographer? I don’t care any what motivates our behaviour.
more,” she told the audience. But while their sources may
“In fact, I never did. Nevertheless, be autobiographical, her projects
I am still surprised to receive a are not confessional. We seldom
photo prize. And I want to sincerely learn much about her own inner ▶ Sophie Calle at her home in Paris, November 2019
©SOPHIE CALLE/ADAGP, PARIS, 2019 COURTESY OF THE ARTIST; ©2019 ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK/
She had to agree not to republish He told her, “It’s finished, Sophie. her more about him: “I am not
it until after his death. You can stop smiling.” allowed to speak about him,
ADAGP, PARIS; FLORIAN KLEINEFENN; SUITE VENITIENNE PUBLISHED BY SIGLIO, 2015; CLAXTON PROJECTS
otherwise he leaves me.” She
It was this early work that had One of Calle’s most wide-ranging shrugs, “It’s very practical because
fascinated the American novelist works is “Prenez soin de vous” if one day I stopped loving him,
Paul Auster, who borrowed some (“Take care of yourself”), first I know what to do. I just have to
of Calle’s projects for the character shown at the Venice Biennale in write a story about him...”
of Maria in his 1992 novel Leviathan. 2007. The title is taken from the She has never wanted children.
Almost 30 years later, his last line of an email she received “I hate children. I am bored by
description of Maria/Sophie still from a lover, ending their affair. them. I am not moved by children.
fits. “Maria was an artist, but the Curious as to its real meaning, she All my friends, when they have
work she did had nothing to do with decided to investigate. “I received children, I stop seeing them. It’s just
creating objects commonly defined an email telling me it was over. that there is no room.”
as art. Some people called her a I didn’t know how to respond. It was I’m surprised that she doesn’t
photographer, others referred to almost as if it hadn’t been meant find children appealing – or at
her as a conceptualist, still others for me. It ended with the words, least interesting. “No. I was never
considered her a writer, but none of ‘Take care of yourself’, so I did.” attracted. I see a cat, I go on the
those descriptions was accurate, She decided to send the letter floor, I behave like an eight-year-
and in the end I don’t think she can to other women, asking them to old, I run after it. If I see a cat, the
be pigeonholed… Her work was too interpret it and report back. They world stops existing around me.”
nutty for that… this activity didn’t ranged from an anthropologist And if a four-year-old came in?
stem from a desire to make art so to a moral philosopher, a rapper, “I would want to throw up.”
much as from a need to indulge her an expert in women’s rights, a She offers a partial explanation.
obsessions, to live her life precisely nursery-school teacher, a lawyer, “When my brother was born, I was
as she wanted to live it.” a linguist, a magician. In the end, From the series The Blind, ‘My son’, 1986 11, and my life changed. Before, I
To Maria’s résumé he added she consulted 107 women, was very free. I could go round and
some projects of his own, such photographed each one reading sleep at my girlfriend’s. But then
as eating foods of one colour or a copy of the email, and then View of the exhibition Sophie Calle/Prenez soin de vous I became my brother’s babysitter.
spending the day living under organised all their analysis into an at the French Pavilion of the 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007 And my mother gave my cat ▶
◀ away. She was afraid it might hurt but I didn’t care. She wanted love. Had I done the same with my behind a curtain with the reasons
my brother. So I was stuck at home it. I wanted it. My brother was father, it would be an act of war.” embroidered on it, inviting the
[looking] after my brother. I lost OK with it. But I never thought So much of Calle’s work concerns viewer to read, then lift the curtain,
my freedom when he was born.” I would use it. I did it for myself, death, I wondered what she felt then think and look again.
Even earlier than that: “My mother to look at it and see if she had about growing older. “I never The combination of texts and
had entrusted me to a group of told me something.” thought about my age before. random pictures is surprisingly
children. I was the youngest and And did she? “I don’t know And now I have to. But I am not effective. In some ways, it is more
they had to get rid of me: that because I could never watch [all the anxious. I am not afraid of getting revealing of her inner life than
was their game… I ran after them, footage]. I only watched the last short of ideas because I could many of her more complicated
shouting, ‘Wait for me! Wait for hour.” And in the last hour, things accept to stop. projects. One shows a white line
me!” This is another excerpt from didn’t turn out as planned. “I didn’t “When my father died, I had no painted on shingle leading out into
True Stories, opposite a snapshot see the death,” she says. “I couldn’t more ideas. I was paralysed. So I the sea, with the text “Because of
of little Sophie on a promenade. catch it. I realised there was this said to all my friends, you know, the temptation to follow it”.
strange moment between life and it’s fine. I am going to do something I wondered if regret plays any
Both her parents are dead now: death, where I could not see… else. I can survive with the money part in her work. “So far, in my
her mother died in 2006, her father There was a nurse with me, and my I have… I pretended to everybody work, I have no regrets. I like to
in 2015. Her mother had always cousin, and we touched here and that it was OK. Then my ideas came look back but I don’t look back out
wanted to star in one of her we touched there and we couldn’t back. I said to my boyfriend, ‘You of nostalgia.” If she has been drawn
daughter’s pieces and when it figure out if she was dead or alive.” know, I think I have new ideas…’” to ideas about absence and about
happened, it was at the very end of The footage showed it had These days, she does most of her death, it has been “just as a poetic
her life. She had cancer and had taken 11 minutes for her to decide work on her laptop, and she scrolls element, not out of sadness.
been given three months to live. whether or not to put on the music. down to show me the project in “I don’t think I’m revealing
“I decided to stay with her. Afterwards, she decided that she progress for her US show, which anything personal in a way. It’s
Everybody said that when people could make something with those opens in California later this like I said before. A man left me.
are going to die, they wait for you to 11 minutes. She added a text and month, entitled Because. Absolutely. Everybody that visited
go out [of the room], and I wanted worked the word “souci”, the last “I usually do photos only when my show, everybody has been left
to be there at the moment that she her mother had spoken – “Ne vous I have a rule of the game,” she says. one day. There is no information
died. Also, my mother had asked faites pas de souci” (“Don’t worry”) “I never take them randomly, I don’t about me. We just know he left me
me to put on a piece of Mozart when – into a film and an installation. walk with a camera. But sometimes, with a mail. So in many of those
she died, so I wanted to be there to When she showed it at the Palais like everybody, I see something – stories, they are one moment – as I
put the music on. I stayed with her. de Tokyo in Paris in 2010 she took with my phone generally – and I said – they are not my life. They are
I slept there. her father along. “He was the first to take it. But I never know what to do one minute of an event that I select.
“But then I realised I couldn’t be see it and I said, ‘Is it OK? I am going with these photos because they have I never feel I am revealing anything.
there 24 hours a day watching her. to show my mother dying?” And he no stories behind them.” No. People think they know me.
So I decided to put a camera next said, ‘Yes, it’s absolutely OK.’ Nevertheless, they all had a But they know nothing.”
to the bed. And when she saw the “And I was laughing, because I reason to be taken. And, looking
camera, she said, ‘Finally.’ knew my father, so I said: ‘Can I do at them again, other reasons came “Sophie Calle. Because” runs at
“She liked the camera, because the same with you when you die?’ into her head, building up layers of the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco
she felt that when I was not there, And he said, ‘Are you crazy?’ They memory around the very simple from January 23 to March 21.
I was there in a way. I know some were absolute opposites. To do this shots. She decided to turn it into “Because” is published by
of her friends were a little shocked, about my mother was an act of a kind of game, hiding the images Editions Xavier Barral, €36
28 29
Out of Office
James May
‘Screwdrivers
and chisels
really excite me’
I
t would be easy to suppose that James May
and Jeremy Clarkson, his co-presenter for the
past 20 years, are pretty similar. Both men
come from middle-class entrepreneurial fam-
ilies and mostly grew up in northern England.
Both started as journalists and spun motor-
ing columns into big-money TV careers. Now
kicking the tyres of 60 (Clarkson gets there this
year, May is three years younger), both are still
mucking about on telly, with their faded jeans
and blokey banter.
But Captain Slow, as May is known on The Grand
Tour, the Amazon series that emerged after Top
Gear imploded in 2015 when Clarkson punched a
BBC producer, is quick to set me straight. “I think
we probably do look very similar, if you condense
it into a bullet-point CV, but I disagree with Jeremy
about everything,” he says. “I mean, he likes to
make out that I’m really old-fashioned and living
in the ’50s but I think that’s transference – it’s the
other way round.”
May becomes animated, even removing his
hands from his jeans pockets for a moment; he
is wearing them with an orange jumper and blue
Adidas trainers. “Jeremy is very reactionary and
conservative in his views and I think he’s slightly
terrified about the decline of the class system.
He likes country sports and, you know, tramping
around in tweeds shooting at things. I’d rather go to
When he’s not travelling the world, or driving fast an art gallery or do some woodworking.”
TodayMayhasinvitedmetohisworkshop,which
cars, the television presenter has discovered occupies a corner of his three-car garage. Sawdust
the slow joys of woodworking. He’s even cleared thinly coats a Porsche 911 Carrera, which is parked James May at his
nexttohisbenches.There’salsotheFerrari458Spe-
a corner of his garage for a workshop, he tells ciale that May bought (starting price at the time:
Wiltshire weekend
home, which houses
Simon Usborne. Photographs by Gareth Phillips £208,090) after Clarkson’s “fracas” briefly left ▶ his wood workshop
◀ both men unemployed. May had the garage built imagine, but adds: “I mean, I haven’t been poor for
when he and his partner Sarah renovated their quite a while.”
weekend home in a village near Salisbury. It has Leaked viewing figures in 2018 showed that
underfloor heating, a bathroom, pop art on the The Grand Tour was attracting millions of new sub-
walls and a large TV on which May watches You- scribers to Amazon Prime. An arguably exhausted
Tube videos of more accomplished men making formula still pays. But The Grand Tour has now
stuff (they are all men). Woodworking provides shuttered its studio in favour of longer, occasional
simple furniture for the house and an emotional specials, leaving more time for May to spread his
outlet which he attempts to nail down for me: wings. For James May: Our Man in Japan, which
“When I’m in here I’m not thinking about anything streamed this month, he spent three months film-
but what I’m making, and I think that might be ing in east Asia.
part of the appeal. I’m not getting angry about the The show shares Grand Tour’s tone and Brit-
election or the world of TV – I’m just communing abroad faux pas, though May insists the haiku
with the wood.” masters he met were more amused than they
Then there are the tools. “Screwdrivers and looked when he read them his own poem with its
chisels really excite me,” May says, as if address- scatological theme. But there are also glimpses
ing a support group. “I know it’s weird but if you of the more thoughtful May, who has long loved
take something like this…” He pulls a bullnose Japan and chose it as a destination. At one point,
plane from a drawer, cradling it like a little bird. “I he describes a sled-dog journey through the snowy
mean, what a thing of beauty. And see here, this is wastes of Hokkaido as “being like Prokofiev”,
a fenced rebate plane.” He clamps an offcut to his before a clip shows him worrying with his crew
bench and strokes the tool along its edge, creating a over whether the reference is too “intellectual and
flat groove. A coil of shavings rises from the blade. pompous” (they go for Raymond Briggs instead).
M
The TV travelogue format is no stranger to
ayhasalwayslikedmakingthings. cliché, and sometimes cultural insensitivity. In
‘I’m an insomniac so He recently dusted off the square
and marking gauge he used in
the most recent Grand Tour, Clarkson, wearing a
Che Guevara T-shirt, crashes his Vietnam war-era
I spend two hours woodwork classes at his Rother-
ham comprehensive. Born in
US Navy patrol boat into a floating village on the
Mekong Delta.
a night watching Bristol to an itinerant foundry
manager, he was into metalwork too, as well as the
May is wary of the dangers: “If a Japanese person
came to England and did a travel show about
people making and harpsichord,whichheplayedwhilestudyingmusic
at Lancaster University. He performed at medie-
Beefeaters, old pubs and morris dancing, I’d get
annoyed.” Yet he believes “you have to put a bit of
mending things. It’s val banquets for cash at the weekends. After brief
stints at a Volvo dealership and as an NHS records
that [tradition] in Japan because they do have this
fantasticfusionoftheancientandmysticalwiththe
absolutely riveting’ officer, he then became a magazine subeditor and
writer in the early 1980s.
thoroughlymodernworld.Butyouneedtodomore
than that – and acknowledge that you’re not doing
In 1992, he was fired from Autocar magazine a PhD dissertation.”
after a prank in which the block capital letters that As he talks about the series, his first solo outing
began each page in an end of year round-up spelled for Amazon Prime, May seems happy to be doing
out a message that it was “a real pain in the arse” to his own thing – to show that, after years of banter-
produce. The episode epitomises the slacker shtick ing with Clarkson, there is more to him than the
that appears to have guided May’s career. “I’ve writer Caitlin Moran’s description that “he comes
neverhadanambition,”hesays.Butheacceptsthat across like someone who was at public school with
there is some direction in his dilettantism. “I mean, the younger brother of someone from Pink Floyd”.
I spent a long time working long hours writing for But if there is quiet ambition under the surface,
magazines.Somebodydidn’t just pluck meoffabus May appears still to be adjusting to the status his
stop and put me on Top Gear.” on-screen success has brought him. His house is
May’s car columns led him first to Channel 4’s very nice, but it’s no palace. He and Sarah, a dance
Driven, in 1998, and to the original Top Gear, with critic, bought it for less than £800,000 five years
Clarkson, the following year. The sleepy show ago. They are now rebuilding the home that they
had ticked over for almost 25 years when the BBC have shared in Hammersmith, west London, for
scrapped it in 2001. A couple of years later, May, 20 years.
then still in his thirties, joined Clarkson and co- In Wiltshire, May passed up a much grander
presenter Richard Hammond as the studio-based house for sale that he could easily have bought.
reboot of the show looked like it was taking off. “The people there now are terribly nice and mock
New Top Gear became a noughties entertain- me for living in my cottage,” he says. He blames
ment juggernaut, turning its greying presenters rural imposter syndrome (“I always argued the
into unlikely global stars. May was making his countryside was for driving through”) but adds:
21st series when Clarkson got cross on location, “If I’m really honest, deep down I don’t think I’m
reportedly over the serving of cold meat rather allowed to have a big posh house.” Why? “Because
than steak. A suspension and resignations fol- I’m not a big posh person. I’m supposed to have a
lowed, only for the trio to return in The Grand Tour reasonably modest house.”
in 2016. Even Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s billionaire chief May is not without an extravagant side. There
executive, described the deal as “very, very, very are the cars. Every few weekends he flies the plane
expensive”. May says he pockets less than people he keeps at a nearby airfield before egg and chips
in their own right. He now And do more woodwork. He wants to get a lathe he
runs The English Woodworker owns out of storage and – eventually – make a harp-
sichord. He’ll reacquaint himself with François
educational site and channel Couperin, a French baroque composer he used to
with his designer partner Helen play.“Thatwillprobablytakemeacoupleofyears,”
from their home in Lincolnshire. he says. “But I’d love to be able to sit there and
His most watched: “Hand Cutting play Couperin on a harpsichord that I had made.”
There’ll be a YouTube video for that, too.
Rebates” (222,000 views).
Theenglishwoodworker.com “James May: Our Man in Japan” is available
to stream now on Amazon Prime
I
t’s remarkable what footballers eat healthily is as hard as getting
used to consume, especially in your children to eat healthily.
Britain. Brian Clough, revered Even after Arsène Wenger
Nottingham Forest manager from became Arsenal manager in 1996
1975 to 1993, sometimes handed and led a reform of the English
out beers in the team bus before the game’s most egregious refuelling
game. Mick “Sumo” Quinn, feared habits, football nutrition remained
Newcastle striker of the 1990s, unimaginative at best. The standard
inspired the fan chant, “He’s fat, he’s prematch meal around Europe
round, he’s worth a million pounds”, became plain pasta (for carbs) and
and titled his autobiography Who chicken (for protein). For lunchtime
Ate All the Pies? Until the mid-1990s kick-offs, players would have to
Arsenal offered players a full force this down at breakfast. After
English breakfast before training. the game, almost every changing-
On one postmatch bus journey, the room took a pizza delivery.
team held an eating competition Even innovative Arsenal only
won by centre-back Steve Bould, appointed their first, part-time,
who consumed nine dinners. nutritionist in 2009. A year later,
The game has changed. We know Barcelona’s then manager Pep
much more than just a decade ago Guardiola, a rail-thin health fanatic,
about what footballers should eat. appointed Antonia Lizárraga as club
Many – though certainly not all nutritionist, just the second person
– now actually eat those things. in that job in the whole Spanish first
Meanwhile, their feeding support division. The game’s conventional
structures have burgeoned into a wisdom then, she told me, was:
mini-industry. One sunny day in “The most important thing is not
Barcelona last October, nutritionists nutrition, but that the ball goes in.”
from 35 countries, “performance But football has since become
chefs” (a new job in football) and ever more professional. Studies
players’ private chefs gathered in an show that the distance covered in
auditorium beside the Camp Nou sprints and high-intensity runs has
stadium for FC Barcelona’s Sports risen for all positions, especially
Nutrition Conference. The largest in the Champions League, so
national delegation was British. footballers need ever more reserves
During the breaks, these fit- of muscle glycogen, FC Porto’s
looking young people served their nutritionist Vitor Hugo Teixeira
fellow delegates the delicious told the Barcelona conference.
“functional protein muffins” and “The demands are always getting
non-alcoholic “Bloody Marys” that greater,” AS Roma’s former England
clubs now try to feed their players. centre-back Chris Smalling told
Yet listening to the nutritionists, me. “We are playing more games,
you realised: getting footballers to but also players are getting ▶
• High-fibre vegetables such as “high competition”, with lots of than simply feeling like victims of now, at 32, remains pre-eminent.
broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and matches, travel and sleep loss. In injuries and luck, Lizárraga says. He says: “If you want to get better,
Brussels sprouts should be eaten this phase, players should ramp She helps Barça players find private you must train hard every day, but
Y
et for all the sport’s
nutritional advances,
most footballers still eat
suboptimally. Graeme
Close, professor of human
physiology at Liverpool John
Moores University, who has worked
for the England rugby union team
and for various English football
clubs, says rugby players tend
to take nutrition more seriously.
Every England rugby player has an
individual performance plan with a
nutritional component; footballers
often don’t. Many footballers,
especially younger ones, simply
don’t know what to eat or are fed by
someone who doesn’t understand
sporting nutrition, says Close.
Some players eat fast food. Some
will refuse the crucial restorative
postmatch meal, saying they
aren’t hungry. Some even balk at
drinking a bottle of water at half-
time, although a marathon runner
might drink 11 bottles during a race.
Managers can try prohibition (when
Guardiola took over at Manchester
City in 2016, he banned pizzas),
but they cannot break into players’
mansions and force-feed them. Arsenal players Spartan diets. After all, footballers Most football nutritionists,
Even players who are interested use less energy per match than powerless to dictate, try to
in nutrition might favour foods that once held an eating rugby players, not to mention educate players. Diogo Ferreira, a
make their bodies look good rather competition won cyclists riding a Tour de France. nutritionist who worked for Benfica,
than help performance. Female Clubs and nutritionists can be lists some promising methods:
footballers have their own eating by Steve Bould, left looking on in helpless horror. showing a player his blood-test
issues, says Nicky Keay, a sports who consumed Mickael Naya, one of four private results, pointing out deficiencies
and dance endocrinologist. Like nine dinners chefs fired by Barcelona’s forward and then drawing up a diet plan with
most women, they experience social Ousmane Dembélé, told the him; getting a full-time nutritionist
pressure to be thin – and possibly Le Parisien newspaper: “Ousmane to eat with the players and make
face financial pressure too if they is a nice boy but he doesn’t have “informal interventions” during
are endorsing fashion brands. his life under control. He’s always meals; giving players supermarket
Meanwhile, nutritionists have competitive game. “Football is such living with his uncle and best tours and cooking classes; printing
little power inside most clubs. The a skill-based sport,” he replied. In friend, who don’t dare tell him nutritional information on their
biggest influencer of footballers’ rugby, improving body mass and anything. It’s a bumpy life. I’ve food trays; instituting obligatory
eating habits, says the Barça’s fitness might compensate somewhat never seen alcohol, but he doesn’t hydration breaks or group meals;
guide, is the head coach. Often for a skill deficiency. The same at all respect his times for rest, banning phones during meals;
he is a reactionary who disdains applies in endurance sports. But there is no high-level structure putting a fruit basket in changing
nutrition and who won’t let the club as the English football manager around him.” rooms before training.
nutritionist sit in on team meals, Harry Redknapp said in 2008: “If Spanish newspapers have Yet in the end, clubs often
even presuming he knows who the you can’t pass the ball properly, a reported on Dembélé’s love of have to compromise on nutrition.
nutritionist is. One nutritionist bowl of pasta’s not going to make fast food. Messi publicly warned Postmatch, many still serve the
reports being given just four that much difference.” In this game, his teammate: “He must make traditional cheesy pizza. It may
minutes to address the team about the talent rules and sometimes the the transition and become more be packed with saturated fat and
food and encountering a club owner talent can afford to eat whatever it professional. And I hope he has salts, but compared with what some
who tried to ban salmon from the wants – often without noticeable less bad luck with injuries.” But players are eating at home, it’s
team menu because he’d heard it impact on performance. despite Messi’s obvious insinuation, health food.
was fattening. Many younger players, in Dembélé’s muscular injuries may
I asked Close why bad nutrition particular, still seem able to play really have been due to bad luck Simon Kuper is an FT columnist
persisted in such a moneyed, world-class football on less than and body type, not bad food. and author of “Soccernomics”
T
he Parker House roll was Serves four 1 — To make the tahini
invented in the 1870s at the sauce, place all the
For the tahini sauce ingredients in a blender
Parker House Hotel in Boston. • 200g tahini paste and blend until smooth.
The hotel also served the first • 3 tbs extra virgin
Boston cream pie – which is not olive oil 2 — Tear away the leafy
a pie at all but a cake – and it’s • 1 tsp ground cumin parts of the chard stalks,
where John F Kennedy proposed • 1 tsp salt wash well and set aside.
to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953. • 1 garlic clove, minced Dice the stems into small
• Juice of half a lemon cubes, wash and strain.
Across the Charles river, in pretty Cambridge, • 150ml cold water
there are two of the world’s best universities, one • Salt to taste 3 — Heat the olive oil over
of the world’s best bookstores and a restaurant a medium heat in a very
serving dishes that should become future Boston • 2 large bunches of Swiss large saucepan. Add the
classics. Ana Sortun’s Oleana was one of the first chard: green, rainbow or crushed garlic cloves and
restaurants to bring contemporary Middle Eastern a mix. Once separated, diced onions and sauté
should produce 400g for about eight minutes.
food to the west. Many chefs followed, including stalks, 400g leaves
us, but few have done it quite so well. • 4 tbs olive oil 4 — Add the stalk dice and
The produce at Oleana is superb. Much of it • 4 garlic cloves, crushed ½ tsp of salt and continue
is grown by Ana’s husband on their farm and it is • 1-2 large onions, peeled to sauté for another 10-12
treated with the lightest of touches in the kitchen. and diced (about 200g) minutes or until the stalks
From the lemon chicken with za’atar and cheesy • ½ tsp salt are very soft. Add the
• 2 garlic cloves, minced minced garlic and washed
pancakes to the candied, sesame-crusted cashews • 2 tbs roasted sesame green leaves, increase the
that were sprinkled over our dessert, all the food seeds to sprinkle heat to high, mix well,
was dream-worthy. But it was the simplest over top (optional) cover the pan and cook
dish that had us pining to go back to Boston: for about two minutes
Swiss chard with tahini that was so good, such a until the leaves are wilted.
feelings
sauce. Sprinkle with
supplied it, because she is not just a classy cook toasted sesame seeds
but a classy person too. Here it is pretty much and serve.
as we received it, simple and perfect. At Oleana,
they serve it as a mezze, which you would be wise
to do. It can also be a side to roasted meat or fish
– lemony chicken would work particularly well.
Or do as we do and have this beautiful dish all on
its own, with chard fresh from the farmers’
market. A real classic.
C
arlo Ferrini, 65, is 20 years ago. In those days,
one of the celebrated sensitive tasters blamed the small
winemaking consultants army of consultant winemakers
who have been so vital for wines that seemed to celebrate
to the Italian wine scene for the France more than Italy.
past few decades – possibly the There was a time when having
most celebrated. Three times Ferrini, or one of his peers, on
the Florentine has been awarded board was worn by the Italian wine
winemaker of the year. In the late producers who could afford them
20th century he became known as a badge of honour (it was also
as Mr Merlot because he was seen as a shortcut to high scores
popularly supposed to recommend in the guides). Today, however,
adding the plump French grape as Padua-based wine writer
to flesh out the notoriously bony Walter Speller observes: “Wine
structure of his native Tuscany’s consultants like Ferrini are still
signature Sangiovese. finding plenty of work, but the
When reminded of this recently difference is that producers who
by Stefan Pegatzky of Germany’s avail themselves of consultants
Fine Wine Magazine, Ferrini said, are now much more discreet about
in his mild-mannered way, that in them. Using consultants like him
fact he prefers Merlot’s Bordeaux
blending partner Cabernet
Sauvignon, but he stands by the ‘The celebrated Italian
advice he used to give. “We needed
the French grape varieties in the
consultant Carlo Ferrini has
1980s and 1990s because we didn’t been awarded winemaker
have our own viticultural expertise of the year three times’
and we didn’t yet understand our
own terroirs. When I first went As imagined by Leon Edler
to Bordeaux in the early 1980s, is slowly being perceived as an
I felt like a viticultural illiterate. inability to make your own wine
“But by the end of the 1990s, and understand your own terroir.”
I felt confident and calm. This Notwithstanding the current
century we have created our own climate, Ferrini can still reel off a
culture of vineyard management, long list of clients: San Leonardo
thanks to the mistakes of the (a particularly fine Trentino
late 20th century. Then it was estate), Fonterutoli (ditto of
necessary to use French varieties Chianti Classico), Brancaia, Brolio,
but nowadays we don’t need Poliziano, Terriccio… and assured
anything from France, neither me that his way of working is
from the point of view of vine- to have his own winemaking
growing nor winemaking. All team in each place and then
Italian regions are able – and want just drop in every few weeks.
– to express themselves, both in He doesn’t have an obvious
terms of terroir and local grapes.” Ferrini favourites winemaking successor, but his
As evidence of this general, daughter Bianca works with
UK prices from Lea & • Giodo 2012 Brunello
healthy trend in Italy, he can Sandeman are per di Montalcino
him. She is a retired water polo
now point to the wines of his own bottle in a mixed dozen. £81.50 Lea & Sandeman player who studied economics
personal projects, in Montalcino Single bottles cost a From $100 from various and agriculture. Ferrini says his
in southern Tuscany and Etna few pounds more. US wine retailers two personal wine estates are
in Sicily. They express their • Giodo 2010 Brunello being developed for her benefit.
geographical origins eloquently • Giodo Toscana di Montalcino His brand name is Giodo,
Rosso 2016 €195 Chateau & Estate
and could scarcely be less like £35.95 Lea & Sandeman The Wine Gourmet,
an elided tribute to his mother
Tasting notes on
the turbocharged Franco-Italian • Alberelli di Giodo Mühlheim, Germany JancisRobinson.com. Giovanna (from Friuli in the far
monsters that were so beloved by 2016 Sicilia DKr2,000 (£230), International stockists on north-east and possibly the reason
the powerful Italian wine guides £50.95 Lea & Sandeman Supervin, Denmark Wine-searcher.com why, along with his imposing ▶
ALAMY
the beautifully fresh, energetic jancis-robinson in London; officina00.co.uk
A decanter
Decanting can transform wines, bringing out their latent
magic, but can also spell disaster, warns Dan Keeling
T
o decant, or not to decant? That is By contrast, one of my greatest vinous
often the question with fine wines. epiphanies came from decanting a mighty
My decanter has been responsible for 2000 Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos.
both epiphany and tragedy, bringing Finding it devoid of all flavour or aroma at
out latent magic or hastening a rapid demise. the start of the meal, I returned it to the fridge
My first reason for using it is to remove and opened other bottles. Five hours later,
sediment from old wines. The second is to I checked on it – and the kitchen filled with
maximise younger wines’ exposure to oxygen comic book-style aroma-clouds of chalk and
in the hope of making them more expressive; seaweed so dense I could almost see them.
tannins soften, edges round and hidden The Chablis had transformed into one of the
nuances are revealed. Extended aeration also most evocatively perfumed whites I’ve drunk.
gives a glimpse of how they will develop. Decanters come in many shapes and sizes.
Your sommelier should always ask Though my two favourites were made 250
whether you would like a wine decanted, years apart, they share a beguiling simplicity.
but they don’t, as I found out last year at a For everyday use, I like a tall, narrow Zalto
restaurant with a famous and well-priced Wine Carafe No 75, which fits easily in a
cellar in Baden, Germany. Ordering 1981 fridge door; for special occasions, I love my
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée- elegant Georgian taper (c1770), bought from
St-Vivant at a fraction of the market value, antique glass specialist David Glick. I have
this sainted Pinot slowly met God in an commissioned Glick to source a variety of
unrequested decanter while we finished our decanters for our second Noble Rot restaurant,
whites. By the time it arrived in our glasses, opening in spring on the site of the historic Gay
it was fit only for seasoning chips. Had it Hussar in Soho. However, one thing is for sure;
shone brightly for 10 minutes before turning whether paradise or vinegar, we’ll always ask
into vinegar, as many delicate old wines do? before decanting your wine.
I’ll never know, but little wonder that many
top producers consider decanting their Dan Keeling is co-founder of Noble Rot,
wines sacrilege. the wine and food magazine and restaurant
L
ast month, Davies and Brook, The menu came, bound in grey, I overheard another waitress, for
Daniel Humm’s restaurant at and we opened it to find a clever example, tell an American couple
Claridge’s hotel in London, variation on the standard menu. It sitting nearby, after they had
opened six months later was divided into cold starters, warm spilled something, “If you don’t
than expected. In this industry, starters, main courses and dessert, ‘The best dish of my meal make a mess, how would I know
six months represents a long and with four courses costing £98. was a winter minestrone. whether you had had a good time?”
expensive delay. A waitress arrived with two rolls And there was the drama
The space, which is on the and an amuse-bouche: thin slices Appetising, salty and provided by the knowledgeable
corner of Davies and Brook streets, of scallop topped with horseradish restorative, this soup hit French sommelier, Gabriel Di Bella.
was previously occupied by Gordon and apple alongside a bowl filled When a neighbouring table ordered
Ramsay and then Simon Rogan. with a delicious scallop broth. all the right notes’ a bottle of Château de Beaucastel
The Swiss-born Humm, best For our cold starters, a ceviche 1998 (£250), he approached with
known for Eleven Madison Park in of sea bass – with avocado, a trolley, laden with tongs and a
New York, is a far better chef than cucumber and shrimp oil – was flame. As though it were a bottle of
his British predecessors. enhanced by a carefully seasoned vintage port, Di Bella proceeded to
For Humm, 43, this venture avocado sauce poured around heat the tongs and then place them
in the Mayfair hotel where he it, while the yellowtail had been around the neck of the bottle to
first cooked at the age of 15 is a marinated and given spice and crack it open before decanting.
particular challenge. He established crunch by the addition of toasted When I quizzed him about
himself alongside business partner amaranth seeds. this, Di Bella explained that most
Will Guidara, but that partnership For the warm starter course bottles more than 15 years old are
split up last year. Now he faces this (portions were moderate), we subjected to this palaver because,
Davies and Brook
transatlantic challenge on his own. went our separate ways. My wife Claridge’s hotel, Brook Street,
“It brings an extra bit of theatre
So much has changed in this airy selected an aubergine dish with London W1K 4HR into the dining room.”
space that for the first few minutes roasted garlic that was good, if 020 7107 8848 Such immediate confidence in
I sat there wondering whether it not particularly distinctive, while daviesandbrook.co.uk the kitchen and in the service has
could possibly be the same as the I chose perhaps the best dish of Starter, main and dessert only come about through practice –
(weekday lunch) £72
one formerly occupied by Ramsay my meal. Described as winter thanks, quite possibly, to the delay
Cold starter, warm starter,
and Rogan. The sight-lines seem minestrone with vegetables and main and dessert (dinner
in opening.
much improved. The colours are kombu (dried kelp), this soup hit and weekend lunch) £98
far lighter. The pale grey that all the right notes. Appetising, Tasting menu £145 More columns at ft.com/lander
+ =
D I S S O L V E A T R A N C E
drying, initially (5) A N A A A D A A A A A T A H A
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Answers page 10 an amount of liquid (6) F A I R L Y A S I N E C U R E
GILLIAN
blame it on imports from places such as
Mexico or China. Last month, though, America’s ‘The biggest illegal category is
Bureau of Economic Analysis – the branch of drugs, which are estimated to
government thatassemblesofficial data–jumped
into the fray. And its conclusions about drug have sparked a massive $111bn
trends might take some observers by surprise. of expenditure in 2017’
TETT
First, a little background. Until fairly recently,
government statisticians assumed their job was
to record observable legal economic activity cause, according to Soloveichik, is “huge drops
(such as factory output). However, the IMF has in relative drug prices between 1980 and 1990”;
long urged them to widen the lens. Since 2014, indeed, the price collapses have been so dramatic
EU member states have been encouraged by thatthey“mayappearimplausibleatfirstglance”,
Eurostat, the official statistics body, to include she notes.
some illegal activities – from prostitution to drug Nevertheless,thisdeflationdoesseemgenuine,
PA RT I N G S H OT trafficking and tobacco smuggling – in their GDP. anditreflectsbothhigherdrugpotency,increased
So far, American statisticians have taken supply and ease of access. To put it bluntly (no
GDP include
illegal market activity because of challenges in pattern seen previously with alcohol: during the
source data and different conceptual traditions,” Prohibition years of the 1920s, expenditure on
Rachel Soloveichik, a BEA economist, explained illegal alcohol peaked at a level equivalent to 4 per
illegal drug use? in a paper she presented at an IMF conference
last November.
cent of all consumer spending, because it was so
expensive;afterProhibitionended,totalspending
T
The obvious problem with tracking illegal levels collapsed because of deflation, even as
activity is that it is hard to count with confidence. consumption remained steady.
Soloveichik estimated what might happen if the
BEA did include illegal activity in its GDP figures, his has at least two implications.
by amassing all the available sources of data First, it suggests that America’s
about illegal drugs, prostitution, gambling and long-running war on drugs has not
corporate theft in the US. “worked” in the sense of making
On a macro level, the implications of this it harder for consumers to access
experimental exercise are not earth-shattering: drugs. That does not necessarily
if illegal activities were included, it seems total prove that decriminalisation would
GDP would be about 1 per cent bigger. Judging be better, given the damage drugs
from Eurostat figures, this suggests that the can do (at last week’s meeting of the
illegal sector is slightly larger in the US than in American Economic Association in
some European countries, but not by that much. San Diego, for example, a hot topic
But it is the category breakdown that is really was the economic damage of the
intriguing. The biggest illegal category is drugs, opioid epidemic). But the price trends certainly
which Soloveichik estimates sparked a massive merit policy debate.
$111bnofexpenditurein2017.However,spending Second, the data shows why we should widen
levels have shifted sharply over time. In the our view when we measure “the economy”. In
1950s, expenditure on drugs was negligible when recent years (as I have previously written), there
compared with overall retail spending. But it then has been growing concern about the failure of
rose sharply: in the 1970s, heroin purchases were GDP data to properly track digital innovation.
apparentlyequivalentto3percentofallconsumer But old-fashioned illegal activities clearly matter
spending, while for marijuana the ratio was 1 per too; if we exclude either of these, we miss part
cent. In the 1980s, the rising popularity of cocaine of the picture. In that sense, the next set of GDP
pushed spending on the illegal stimulant to an data releases should come with a public health
eye-popping 3.5 per cent. warning; or perhaps a link to Soloveichik’s
But after that, spending on most illegal drugs, marvellous paper.
as a proportion of all consumer expenditure,
tumbled so sharply that it now runs at below gillian.tett@ft.com; @gilliantett