From a look into the ethical questions involved in using voter data to the problem of e-waste, here is a selection of our best weekend reads. Also featured are interviews with British actor Dev Patel — where he relates to Dicken’s identity issues — and Tory grandee Ken Clarke — explaining what went wrong on Brexit.
Henry Foy
The Putin generation, who have grown up under his regime, are now coming of age. Over the past few months, the FT interviewed almost 50 of them, all aged between 18 and 25 and hailing from Moscow, St Petersburg, Siberia and beyond. We look at their lives and their attitudes and ask what they really think of their president.
Gillian Tett
Donald Trump’s 2016 victory exposed the dark arts of digital campaigning — but can parties use such technology without getting their hands dirty? We meet with some of the people struggling with this dilemma and examine the high, and high tech, stakes involved in the fight for the White House.
Danny Leigh
The son of Gujarati-born parents, the actor discusses being cast in Armando Iannucci’s zippy David Copperfield adaptation and how it challenges notions of British identity. ‘This was Charles’s struggle for identity, and I could relate to so much of that’, he says.
Aleksandra Wisniewska
E-waste is the fastest-growing element of the world’s domestic waste stream. Some 50m metric tonnes will be produced annually this year — about 7kg for every person in the world. Just 20 per cent will be recycled. The UK is one the worst offenders; we visit one depot gateway to a countrywide recycling process.
Sebastian Payne
In five decades as a member of parliament, the Tory grandee did just about every big cabinet job. Over steak tartare and cassoulet he talks about ousting Thatcher, being fired by Johnson — and how centrists’ complacency fuelled Brexit.
