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John Gapper

Chief UK Business Columnist

John Gapper is chief UK business columnist of the Financial Times, writing twice weekly on UK companies, entrepreneurs and business policy. He was formerly weekend business columnist and opinion & analysis editor. He has worked for the FT since 1987 in London, New York and Tokyo, writing widely on business affairs and contributing many features and interviews.
Email John Gapper @johngapper  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Friday, 30 May, 2025
    Technology
    Welcome to the age of cyber insecurity in business

    The hacking attack on Marks and Spencer shows breaches are inevitable and firms must focus on resilience

    A person walks past an M&S food storefront
  • Tuesday, 27 May, 2025
    Post Office Ltd
    The much-loved village post office that it hardly pays to run

    As the institution tries to move on from the Horizon scandal, its Shrivenham branch illustrates the profitability problem

    A man stands at a counter inside the Shrivenham post office
  • Wednesday, 21 May, 2025
    Cranswick PLC
    The ‘megafarm’ that is part of the UK’s agricultural future

    A Norfolk campaign against Cranswick’s plans to raise more chickens and pigs may undermine food security

    Chickens at Cranswick’s Larling Farm in Quidenham, Norfolk
  • Thursday, 15 May, 2025
    Renewable energy
    Labour needs to bend its promise of clean energy

    The government should not waste money by rushing to hit a 2030 deadline for net zero power

    Ed Miliband
  • Tuesday, 29 April, 2025
    Business InsightGreggs PLC
    Guess what’s coming to ever-expanding Greggs

    UK’s largest bakery chain is not curtailing its ambitious growth plans despite investor worries

    People walk past a Greggs store
  • Thursday, 24 April, 2025
    Irish economy
    Trump’s tariffs threaten Ireland’s pharma fortune

    The country’s windfall from overseas drug companies was aided by the US president’s own tax bill

    General view of one of Abbvie facilities in Carrowbeg Estate in Westport
  • Tuesday, 22 April, 2025
    Business InsightSage Group PLC
    Sage needs to scale faster from Newcastle to the world

    The 44-year-old UK software company has regained confidence as it emerges from a turbulent decade

    Sage HQ in Newcastle
  • Tuesday, 15 April, 2025
    Business InsightFinancial services
    Millions have been left behind by the payday loans crackdown

    Evlo is relaunching but many subprime lenders have closed after a wave of compensation claims

    Wonga advert
  • Thursday, 10 April, 2025
    Lloyd's of London
    Lloyd’s of London is Britain’s strangest success

    The inimitable insurance market has to ensure it remains attractive in the face of global competition

    Participants in the market at Lloyd’s of London
  • Tuesday, 8 April, 2025
    Business InsightUK universities
    Universities should not be greedy with technology spin-offs

    Letting software and life sciences companies emerge from research has long-term benefits for academic institutions

    A close-up of a researcher pouring a liquid from a test tube into a petri dish
  • Thursday, 27 March, 2025
    Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc
    Ben & Jerry’s fudge has come back to bite Unilever

    The ice-cream maker’s strange legal agreement with its acquirer 25 years ago was bound to cause trouble

    Tubs of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream
  • Tuesday, 25 March, 2025
    Business InsightBritish Airways PLC
    British Airways tries to regain its halo with a new first-class seat

    The UK flag carrier has called again on the London design studio that created a revolutionary product

  • Tuesday, 18 March, 2025
    Canary Wharf Group PLC
    Canary Wharf is turning organic in its drive to survive

    The finances of the London Docklands district have stabilised but it needs to transform quickly

    London’s Canary Wharf skyline at night reflected in the Thames river
  • Thursday, 13 March, 2025
    UK defence
    Industrial strategy turns from green to battleship grey

    Trump’s hard line on Ukraine and Nato poses difficult choices for the UK’s defence industry

    F-35
  • Thursday, 6 March, 2025
    Thames Water
    Thames Water has to keep borrowing and carry on

    The public water utility cannot avoid a debt refinancing, despite the horrifying expense

    Weir on the River Thames
  • Tuesday, 4 March, 2025
    Business InsightDriverless vehicles
    British start-ups need a new road to driverless vehicles

    Oxa and Wayve are making hard choices in face of well-funded Chinese and US competition

    The Oxa self-driving Ford E-Transit
  • Tuesday, 25 February, 2025
    Business InsightLondon Stock Exchange Group
    The London Stock Exchange has been left behind by its parent

    While its equities platform suffers an exodus, the LSEG itself is a financial success story — with an identity problem

    LSEG chief David Schwimmer
  • Thursday, 20 February, 2025
    Rail
    Do not let Great British Railways crush competition

    Labour will damage growth and innovation by curbing independent regulation of the rail network

    A blue train approaches a station
  • Tuesday, 18 February, 2025
    Business InsightLegal services
    Paul Weiss’s legal raid on London is a boost for the City

    The UK expansion of the quintessential New York firm is a long-term bet on the importance of English commercial law

    Outside view of Paul Weiss’s offices in Soho
  • Thursday, 13 February, 2025
    Drax Group PLC
    Drax’s power is not really green — but Britain needs it

    The UK government’s deal to retain the biomass electricity generating station is a painful but necessary compromise

    Rows of houses with solar panels on their roofs stand in front of the Drax power plant in Selby, with its cooling towers emitting steam into the sky
  • Tuesday, 11 February, 2025
    Business InsightSupply chains
    What the UK’s largest freezer tells us about future of food

    Automated stores run by global companies such as NewCold have become critical in keeping supermarkets stocked

    NewCold of a facility in Corby
  • Thursday, 6 February, 2025
    Competition & Markets Authority
    The CMA should be nudged on antitrust, not bullied

    The flaws of the UK’s competition regulator can be corrected without government interference

    Doug Gurr
  • Tuesday, 4 February, 2025
    Business InsightUK retail industry
    Itsu’s self-service lesson for retailers on what robots do best

    Many companies are considering greater automation as employment costs rise, but there are pitfalls

    Asian-style food and drinks in Itsu display cabinets
  • Wednesday, 29 January, 2025
    Charlotte Tilbury
    Duping is the sincerest form of flattery for Charlotte Tilbury

    The British make-up artist behind the billion-dollar cosmetics brand must live with a wave of imitators

    A woman stands in front of a background featuring various beauty products from Charlotte Tilbury, MCoBeauty and E.L.F
  • Friday, 24 January, 2025
    Stephen Schwarzman
    Blackstone’s Schwarzman stirs London art market with record purchases

    Private equity chief spends millions on 18th century society portraits by Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough

    Joshua Reynolds’ ‘Portrait of Lady Worsley’ and Steve Schwarzman, Blackstone private equity chief, right
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