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Kate Allen

@kateallen.ft.com
7.4K followers 164 following 1.4K posts

Weekend News Editor, the Financial Times @financialtimes.com. I did write the headline.

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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 27/09/2026
As night falls on both sides camped out at the Garvaghy Road, Northern Ireland faces a critical moment. www.ft.com/content/c995...
ft.com
Northern Ireland in tense stand-off as protests block Orange Order parade
March unable to proceed as police say they cannot facilitate Protestant route down largely Catholic road
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Burnham has just confirmed our scoop
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
FT exclusive: Andy Burnham has decided to press ahead with a revived Help to Buy scheme (although it won't be called that) www.ft.com/content/e23b...
ft.com
Burnham set to revive Help to Buy scheme in bid to boost housebuilding
Concern mounts among ministers that low construction activity could hit growth forecasts
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 26/09/2026
(90% of my job is saying ‘is there a Spark Planning entry for that?’ and ‘please always cc Saturday’)
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 26/09/2026
Oh dear, I’m sorry my reign of terror has such a psychological effect. If it’s any consolation I have a recurring anxiety dream that involves creating Spark Planning entries 😂
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 24/09/2026
The rest of my family would say law is a great choice!
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 24/09/2026
Sounds like he would make a tremendous journalist (ask me how I know … yes my relatives also found me very tedious)
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 24/09/2026
If you like social commentary types of plays, have you seen any Ava Pickett? 1536 or - currently at Stratford East - Bloodsport? I would recommend.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 24/09/2026
(Or actually, given the timings, perhaps series 5 of The Wire was trying to be The Story)
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 24/09/2026
I just realised I never replied to you about this after seeing it. I liked it more than I thought I would, given the various journalistic ‘that wouldn’t happen’ moments. Someone said it is trying to be series 5 of The Wire and I agree. Maybe too much going on. Very entertaining though.
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Catherine Fletcher @catherinefletcher.info · 23/09/2026
Someone should do a long read on the politics of migrant boats in Italy because a lot of what we’re seeing in the UK echoes what‘s gone on there for years. This was over twenty years ago (and the successors of this guy are still in government): www.aljazeera.com/news/2003/6/...
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 20/09/2026
I’m afraid this is par for the course for the BM. Their entry process is always an absolute shitshow. Timed tickets mean nothing. It’s ridiculous. Perhaps you could call George Osborne and ask him to sort it out?!
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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I would not like an AI summary, I would not like it on a boat, I would not like the email bloat, I do not like it on a chair, I would not like it anywhere! I do not like them on a phone, I do not like them in my home, I do not want them on a search, I do not like them in a church
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 13/09/2026
"the public needs to have a stake" taxpayer dollars are so clearly the direction of travel here
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 13/09/2026
The average @financialtimes.com reader is 49 according to the latest data I can find and that has remained constant over time, suggesting we’re doing ok at bringing in a younger generation. 22% are under 34.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 13/09/2026
m.youtube.com/watch?v=cSTB...
m.youtube.com
The Prodigy - Charly (Official Video)
YouTube video by The Prodigy
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 13/09/2026
Literally just about to say this.
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Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
“We’ve got a massive majority by mistake!” “Does anyone know any centre left crypto billionaires?”
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 11/09/2026
There have been many essential pieces written about 9/11 in the past 25 years but this is the one that I keep coming back to since it was first published 5 years ago. It’s hard to explain to younger people what it was like to experience at the time. Worth a read. www.esquire.com/news-politic...
esquire.com
The Falling Man
Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in i...
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 11/09/2026
Yes, unimaginably brave. I can’t imagine how hard it has been and will always be for their families to live with the not-knowing about the details of what happened to each person.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 11/09/2026
Part of what I like about the article is the questions about journalism that it raises. I can’t believe it’s been 25 years tbh. I think everyone who remembers it is feeling an echo of those emotions today.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 11/09/2026
I was actually just about to say to someone else that part of the reason I like that article is because of the questions it contains about what journalism is and wtf we’re doing here.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 11/09/2026
The 2002 New Yorker piece on Rick Rescorla (unfortunately paywalled I think) is another of the most essential 9/11 pieces. www.newyorker.com/magazine/200...
newyorker.com
The Courageous Life and Death of Rick Rescorla, a 9/11 Hero
The Vietnam veteran helped save hundreds of lives on September 11th, before he was swallowed by the South Tower collapse. “For Rick Rescorla, this was a natural death,” his best friend said—a hero’s e...
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 11/09/2026
There have been many essential pieces written about 9/11 in the past 25 years but this is the one that I keep coming back to since it was first published 5 years ago. It’s hard to explain to younger people what it was like to experience at the time. Worth a read. www.esquire.com/news-politic...
esquire.com
The Falling Man
Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in i...
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 11/09/2026
> early commuter train the next morning. The carriage was completely silent and every single person was reading a newspaper which had the same image on the front. It was a huge lesson in the power of journalism. I’m proud that we @financialtimes.com still put out a print issue today.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 11/09/2026
On 9/11 I had just moved to London to work at the Press Association & was in their newsroom when it happened. Not something you forget over the course of a career in journalism. I was staying with my mum in west London until I could move in with some friends, and I vividly remember coming in on the>
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Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It's hard to think of anything less British than the morons doing this to the heroic RNLI
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 10/09/2026
Why be classy when you can have TRUMP plastered all over the place?
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Philip Stafford @staffordphilip.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Terrible idea. As an international financial centre London already is top level. www.ft.com/content/32aa...
ft.com
City of London set to drop century-old rule against logos on buildings
Square Mile’s governing body considers allowing companies to display their logos on the top of offices for the first time
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 10/09/2026
As @chrisdillow.bsky.social said, it’s reminiscent of another English classic too … bsky.app/profile/chri...
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Cartoon by Stephen Collins for The Guardian. Script as follows:

[scene is Winston Churchill in a bbc studio, giving his 'finest hour' speech]

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CHURCHILL:
The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. 

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CHURCHILL:
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war.

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CHURCHILL:
If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free 
and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sun-

BBC PRESENTER:
Thank you prime minister 

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BBC PRESENTER:
Mr hitler, your response?

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HITLER [in the studio]:
Vell zis is hysterical woke nonsense as usual from mr Churchill

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HITLER:
What we are proposing -

CHURCHILL:
Hang on

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HITLER:
Let me finish - what we are proposing eez a simple power-sharing arrangement -

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CHURCHILL:
What's he doing here

BBC PRESENTER:
It's important we hear both sides of the debate

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CHURCHILL:
This isn't a debate 
You don't debate fascists

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HITLER:
Oh here we go with ze Godwins law!

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HITLER:
Why must you people always compare ze things you don't like to 'fascists, Nazis, Hitler'...

CHURCHILL:
Because you are a fascist Nazi Hit-

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HITLER [standing up, saluting]:
RAUSS!

BBC PRESENTER:
*Please* Mr Churchill let him speak

[ends]
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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I am sorry, I may have said this before, but there really are moments when British politics are astonishingly naive, and I really think this may have something to do with the fact that the British have not experienced occupation, tyranny, displacemen within living memory.
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Amy Borrett @amyborrett.ft.com · 08/09/2026
Britain’s state-owned electricity system operator has awarded Palantir a £21mn contract without inviting rival bids, arguing critical processes are too reliant on its tech to run a competitive procurement process Latest for @financialtimes.com: as.ft.com/r/7fe6c0b7-2...
as.ft.com
Britain’s grid operator gave Palantir contract without inviting rival bids
Neso cited a legal exemption that removes the requirement to consider other suppliers if dependencies leave no alternative
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
A suggested statement for Andy Burnham.
‘The British public decided in the 1930s that they would not tolerate black-shirted militias marching through their streets. They would cherish robust political argument; they would not accept thuggery and intimidation. When Oswald Mosley led his Blackshirts to Cable Street, local people turned them back. A new law – introduced by a Liberal, backed by Labour and carried by a Conservative majority – banned private militias, political uniforms and ‘the use or display of physical force in promoting any political object’. The British people are as determined today as in the 1930s that they will not accept the methods of Mussolini and the Munich Beer Hall. This government will uphold the law and defend the traditions of British democracy’.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 07/09/2026
A thread on the national security implications of this weekend’s far right displays of strength. Much for Westminster to reflect on here, if it wants to.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 07/09/2026
Yes I saw that. Farage was sounding bolder last night too. Doing a bit of running to keep up with the rapidly rightward moving momentum.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 07/09/2026
I agree on the latter. It was interesting on Saturday how Farage initially posted about stopping small boats and then there was a comms rethink and he and Jenrick pivoted to ‘masked men on the streets is unacceptable’. Clearly realised/remembered the need to create some distance.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
Tonight: defence and intelligence officials warn that Europe is failing to stop Russia from waging hybrid war. Russian proxies and intelligence agencies have for the past two years been prosecuting a covert war of aggression on European soil. (Gift link, 300 free clicks) as.ft.com/r/077657b5-6...
as.ft.com
Europe failing to deter Russia’s ‘hybrid’ war, warn defence officials
Foiled drone attack at German airport seen as sign of Nato’s weak response and Moscow’s impunity
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
I’m totally here for a discussion about journalistic objectivity and why we report how we do but we’ve reached the limit of what I’m going to say on here about the cops because this is my job. Would love to chat in some other venue, though, sorry, no offence meant.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
I try to set aside my personal experience on here as it’s my work persona. I think it’s fair to say that from a female perspective, past news stories explain why many women are very sceptical about the police. I was still very surprised at the strength of the anti-police sentiment tonight.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
Yeah ok fair, I see what you mean.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
I have been very surprised this evening by the sheer volume of that response. There are valid reasons for scepticism about the police but is the belief really so widespread that the police support / are involved in this?
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
Tonight: defence and intelligence officials warn that Europe is failing to stop Russia from waging hybrid war. Russian proxies and intelligence agencies have for the past two years been prosecuting a covert war of aggression on European soil. (Gift link, 300 free clicks) as.ft.com/r/077657b5-6...
as.ft.com
Europe failing to deter Russia’s ‘hybrid’ war, warn defence officials
Foiled drone attack at German airport seen as sign of Nato’s weak response and Moscow’s impunity
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
(For those objecting to ‘caught on the hoof’, it’s a quote, not our error)
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
Blame Kevin Mills, the Labour leader of Dover District Council, who we are quoting here
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
Today the U.K. government said it ‘condemns the intimidating and thuggish behaviour and the disruption it caused’. The police have not commented further since saying yesterday that they had made no arrests at the ‘spontaneous protest’.
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026
Police are facing growing questions over how up to 500 masked activists dressed in black brought parts of Dover to a standstill on Saturday. Authorities have been accused of failure to act, intelligence failures and being ‘caught on the hoof’. www.ft.com/content/f244...
ft.com
Police face questions over Dover disruption caused by masked protesters
Up to 500 activists dressed in black with their faces covered brought part of UK port town to a standstill on Saturday
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 05/09/2026
Have tix for it next week! Will attempt to rise above my inner nitpicking news editor …
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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
A common pattern among European governments with handling these kinds of security threats is to only start taking them seriously after the initial period of relative impunity escalates into direct violence
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Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 05/09/2026
As someone who has read too many history books, I also find this asinine complacency intensely frustrating.
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