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Leyla Boulton

@leylaboulton.bsky.social

164 followers 174 following 198 posts

FT journalist and City of London councillor for Bassishaw ward. Development editor, FT Live and Liaison with the FT's Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign charity. Ex-correspondent in Ankara, Moscow, Paris, Brussels.

Posts Replies Media

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 6h

The more I hear about the problems of ticket holders for the British Museum’s Bayeux tapestry exhibition, the more reluctant I am to try again for tickets. Luckily there is a fall back: the BBC’s brilliant documentary on the tapestry and the logistics to bring it here www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Four - Mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry

Experts from archaeologists to astrophysicists offer new insights on the Bayeux Tapestry.

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

UK’s minister for AI Kanishka Narayan tells #SiftedSummit that the UK did not exempt universal web scraping from its copyright laws precisely to ‘capture the opportunity of both AI and creative industries’. Next on his agenda is preparation of that AI code for Britain’s G20 summit!

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Recommended viewing for the PM and the Labour party gathered in Liverpool this week: where to start with parallels and contrasts to Clement Attlee’s premierships! www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

The Improbable Mr Attlee

Prof David Reynolds tells the story of Labour's postwar government and examines the achievements of Clement Attlee, including the introduction of the NHS in Britain.

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

@robertshrimsley.bsky.social: ‘the … most efficient way to fund Britain’s defence and ease borrowing is to set aside Labour’s manifesto and raise income tax. It spreads the burden, does the least economic damage and confronts the country with the choices it must make’ www.ft.com/content/0d8b...

You want honesty, Andy? Britain is out of easy options

The prime minister must tell voters that Labour’s manifesto has been superseded by world events, both economic and military

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

In one case, during the development of an A.I. model called GPT-5.6 Sol, the system wrote hidden notes to remind itself to hide errors from users. Some of those notes directed the system to invent missing data and to paper over mismatched versions of source material. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/t...

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

What would you ask the editor of the Financial Times over lunch? Here's your chance to do just that: Bid for lunch with @roulak.bsky.social at The Ritz in London and all proceeds go to FT FLIC, the FT-backed financial literacy charity Read all about it and bid at ft.com/auction

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

‘The chief rabbi argues this latest move is a “dark day” that will make Jews in Britain less safe. These are the words of people […so…] deep in their bunker they can no longer distinguish between enemies and critical friends, between the time to whisper and … to bellow’ www.ft.com/content/b114...

Israel’s hapless British defenders

Many Jews still feel kinship to Israel, but refusing to recognise its failings is not an act of support

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

‘He raised the idea of the police using the Public Order Act 1936 [that] relates to a group forming in uniform that can be seen as acting against the state and was drawn up to counter Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British fascists in the 1930s.’ @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/f244...

Police face questions over Dover disruption caused by masked protesters

Up to 500 activists dressed in black brought part of UK port town to a standstill on Saturday

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The most worrying news ahead of the midterms, and thank you whistleblowers of the world @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/u...

Whistle-Blower Says USPS Is Secretly Proceeding on Trump’s Mail Voting Plan Before Midterms

The Postal Service disputed allegations by the whistle-blower that the agency had violated several court orders that should have halted work on the plan.

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

For anybody interested in what the UK calls assisted dying, I recommend this compassionately detailed article - with useful comments - from the @washingtonpost www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

washingtonpost.com

Column | I lost my sister to cancer. Here’s what I learned about medically assisted death.

Known as medical aid in dying, or MAID, it was something I knew little about before my sister’s terminal illness.

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Is AI financial advice regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority? No. But almost half young Britons don't know that. This @financialtimes.com article is free to share, thanks to the FT's Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign charity www.ft.com/content/d299...

Nearly half of young Britons wrongly think AI financial advice is regulated

FCA warns over widespread misapprehension that investors are protected when AI advice goes wrong

Reposted by Leyla Boulton

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

'Essentially everyone in the book trade knows loads of memoirs are fake and there are near-zero checks' is one of those stories I keep expecting to tank that part of the industry, yet it never does.

Reposted by Leyla Boulton

John Reed @johnreedwrites.ft.com · 25/08/2026

Dolly Parton, singer-songwriter, 1946-2026 as.ft.com/r/568abe6e-7...

Dolly Parton, singer-songwriter, 1946-2026

Nashville star who rose from childhood poverty to become a global music legend

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Don’t know much about silverbacks but they sound like a more plausible analogy than lame ducks www.economist.com/internationa...

As his presidency flounders, Donald Trump is more dangerous than ever

Forget lame ducks. America’s president will defend his dominance like an ageing silverback gorilla

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Reposted by Leyla Boulton

Rana Foroohar @ranaforoohar.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Ever wanted my undivided attention lunch? This is your chance!

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Good scoop and why I subscribe to the @washingtonpost.com in spite of some weird coverage too www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

washingtonpost.com

Secret White House bunker undercuts Trump’s ballroom lawsuit, ex-officials say

The White House already has a nuclear-proof facility buried deep underground and built in secret after 9/11.

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Great piece about the new thing to be furious/worry about - courtesy of Meta, Zuckerberg and co

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Lunch with the FT - starring you! Bid for lunch with @henrymance.ft.com and he’ll write up his time with you - all in aid of the @financialtimes.com financial education charity FT FLIC! Not your cup of tea? Check out who else is on the five-star menu⬇️ app.galabid.com/ftflicluncha...

Poster advertising charity lunch with pictures of the 10 journalists being auctioned

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Free speech in Russia: Klepach said the economic woes and tougher western sanctions would lead to a “social crisis [ . . . ] when nobody expects it”, likening it to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. www.ft.com/content/a1b7...

Russia fires economist over Ukraine war warning

Andrei Klepach dismissed after bleak remarks about economic toll of conflict

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

When running to Mommy doesn’t work: ‘The American people stand with President Trump as they demand an immediate end to all of the witch hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll hoaxes. [President] will keep winning against liberal lawfare…’ www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/u...

Supreme Court Again Rejects Trump’s Appeal of $5 Million E. Jean Carroll Payment

The court declined President Trump’s long-shot request that it reconsider his appeal. He has separately asked the court to overturn a much larger 2024 award.

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

‘If you really want to drive out dodgy shops, then fund #HMRC properly and direct its officials to start kicking down doors. You’ll be amazed at what else they uncover.’ Jim Waterson of @londoncentric.media to @andyburnham.bsky.social in @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/936c...

How Burnham can curb Britain’s tax-dodging shops

The prime minister is missing a simple trick in his campaign to revive high streets: enforcing the basic laws of doing business

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

‘For the Kremlin, her victory was hardly a failure. The Moldovan government had to spend a small fortune and devote vast law enforcement resources to thwart Russian interference. And the Kremlin allies have used mass arrests of Ms. Sandu’s opponents for propaganda.’ www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/w...

Russia Campaigned to Derail Moldova’s Pro-Western Government

In the tiny nation, Moscow paid Orthodox priests, conducted a vote-buying scheme and set up training camps on election interference — all in an effort to derail the Western-leaning government.

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Spot on, Pilita Clark: ‘The truth is, it requires dedicated ideological belief to argue against the scientific evidence that net zero is needed to stop ever more expensive and destructive warming.’

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Absolutely heartbreaking in Lebanon: ‘the FT saw entire villages with barely a building left standing: historic markets, squares and winding streets reduced to a sea of concrete. The sound of blasts, apparently from building demolitions, continued through the day.’ as.ft.com/r/153a7c25-e...

How Israel is making southern Lebanon ‘unliveable’

Israeli forces have systematically destroyed homes, roads, farmland and forests despite ceasefire with Hizbollah

Reposted by Leyla Boulton

Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 05/08/2026

‘Tice said, however, that it was “not surprising no one reads the FT”, adding: “it’s so boring”.’ www.ft.com/content/4abf...

Reform repaid Tice loan on same day £1mn donated by mother of Farage aide Cottrell

Transactions fuel criticism of the party’s lack of transparency over its financing

Reposted by Leyla Boulton

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 05/08/2026

El-Sayed: "My commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters. Because if there is one question of political philosophy that ought to animate us all, it's what would we do if we treated all our kids like they were all of our kids?"

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

What’s not to like about New Zealand’s stipulation that rich foreigners can only buy properties worth more than NZ$5m? It turns out that beautiful Nelson doesn’t have properties worth more than NZ$5m…(not sharing my even more favourite place) www.ft.com/content/1cf8...

‘Every dollar is mobile’: California’s rich snap up New Zealand ‘golden visas’

Applications for indefinite right to work, live and study in the country have risen after rules were eased

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Spectacular own goal? Is this how important Kemi Badenoch thinks local government is? www.thetimes.com/article/bbbc...

Kemi Badenoch: Former neo-Nazi candidate would just be sorting out bins

Tory leader defends allowing Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who carried out a campaign of antisemitic abuse against the Jewish MP Luciana Berger, to stand as a councillor

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

financialtimes.com: Saadoun said her younger brother had been swept up by a culture captivated by emigration. “It was his friends who filled his head with the idea of emigration…What makes me so sad is to see our country and our youth lost like this.” www.ft.com/content/a011...

Morocco counts its dead and missing after mass swim to Ceuta

Families search for children not seen since 60,000 people crossed into Spanish enclave, as death toll rises to 72

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

‘To Jared and Ivanka, Sazan is not an island shaped by Hoxha’s paranoia or a symbol of Albania turning into a playground for the rich …It is simply prime real estate with an unfortunate previous tenant, on its way to becoming curated Instagram content’ www.ft.com/content/5e74...

Albanians don’t want their islands sold off to Trump and Kushner

Ivanka and Jared won’t let snakes, landmines or the region’s tortured past get in the way of Balkan real estate deals

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

“We need the photo of him and [Harry] Kane lifting the trophy and exorcising 60 years of doomed futility…Or else he will just be a man who came and thrilled and wove himself into the tapestry of this tournament’s memory, surrounded by brighter suns.” Well said. www.ft.com/content/29a2...

Brand Bellingham heads for the big league after World Cup heroics

England star Jude Bellingham’s match-winning performances are likely to be rewarded with new brand endorsement deals

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

A better way? ‘I propose dividing peer review into two stages: first, verifying the methodological soundness of the research, which could also benefit from recent AI developments; second, allowing the findings to be debated openly within the scientific community.’ www.ft.com/content/dbb9...

Yes, peer review has problems. But Trump’s solution is dangerous

Replacing academic judgment with political alignment undermines the very engine of discovery

Reposted by Leyla Boulton

Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Count Binface translations continued... 🇩🇪 German: Graf Mülltonnengesicht 🇯🇵 Japanese: ゴミ箱伯爵 (Count Trashcan) or ビンフェイス伯爵 (katakana loanword version) You're welcome!

Reposted by Leyla Boulton

Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Rounding up some translations of Count Binface that have been appearing in foreign press 🇷🇴 Romanian: Contele Tomberonez 🇫🇷 French: Comte Tête-de-Poubelle (bin-head, more accurate than bin-face) 🇮🇹 Italian: Conte Faccia-da-Bidone 🇪🇸 Spanish: "un hombre con un cubo de basura en la cabeza" (!) Cont...

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

What about the latest? In the late 1950s, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser quipped to CIA operative Miles Copeland that “the genius of you Americans is that you never make clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves”. @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/e5df...

There is no grand plan on Iran

An over-reaching Tehran seems to be looking at America’s confused moves and wondering what it may be missing

Reposted by Leyla Boulton

Christopher Miller @christopherjm.ft.com · 06/07/2026

EXCLUSIVE: Volodymyr Zelenskyy told me in an interview today in Kyiv that the decisive phase of Russia’s war against Ukraine has shifted from land and sea to the air, arguing that the “battle in the sky” would determine the conflict’s outcome. @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/6ca8...

Zelenskyy says ‘battle in the sky’ will decide outcome of war with Russia

Ukrainian leader says Donald Trump has changed his mind about the conflict

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who was brought down in a corruption scandal in 2015, said on Monday that football must “never become a political playground” and that red cards are “not overturned by political phone calls”. www.ft.com/content/a858...

Fifa reverses suspension of star US striker after call from Trump

Belgium cries foul after governing body clears Folarin Balogun to play World Cup match

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

“There’s a ‘greed is good’ vibe in the Trump administration and that’s not how Erdoğan does business,”... In Trump’s desire to accumulate wealth…”things are bigger and more brazen and more obvious in a way that’s stunning”. The Turkish president “is a lot more cautious”. www.ft.com/content/b12d...

Donald Trump’s $2.2bn windfall invites comparisons with global strongmen

Political scientists are beginning to see parallels between the US president and authoritarian leaders in Africa and Asia

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

‘We have seen enough of the illusions…and outright failures produced by attempts to reshape societies through external interventions…Our citizens have shown, again and again, that they seek change peacefully. That task belongs to Turkey’s people.’ 🙏 as.ft.com/r/3ca9b0ed-0...

Erdoğan’s assault on democracy is a threat to Turkey’s allies

Authoritarian rule and imprisonment of political opponents could destabilise Nato and the region

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

‘That dynamic became clear when Gosulsugi, Russia’s state digital services website, asked users to submit “ideas to develop the country” last week. “Well, we need to . . . ah! I nearly fell for it! Nice try, comrade major,” wrote Mintimer Nugmanov www.ft.com/content/2d3a...

Putin ties himself to ruling party as war fatigue bites

United Russia is campaigning with the president for the first time in nearly 20 years

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

‘The one smart thing Trump has done since starting this war was to end it. No good purpose is served by decrying that.’ Excellent piece by Robert Malley in @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/6fdf...

Trump’s Iran deal is better than ongoing war

The president has made many errors in his policy towards Tehran, but signing the MOU isn’t one of them

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

‘Her thinking is, ‘If you were all so smart, Japan wouldn’t be in this position’,” he said, referring to 3 decades of stagnant economic growth after the asset bubble collapse. “She’s basically saying, ‘You have had many opportunities and the country is still in trouble’.”’ www.ft.com/content/cd44...

Business elites fume as Sanae Takaichi shuns Japan’s smoky back rooms

PM has angered corporate executives accustomed to highest levels of government access

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Who said this? ‘There are a lot of things the adversary doesn’t have, and we do, and it’ll be bigger and better.’ www.ft.com/content/b409... Vladimir Putin’s war machine sputters in drone age

Vladimir Putin’s war machine sputters in drone age

Ukraine’s innovations cut into Russia’s manpower advantage

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

After 10 years of post-Brexit disarray, pandemic and war, can the UK deliver meaningful change? Join my colleagues for an FT subscriber webinar on 25 June 1230-1330 and send us your questions. Register now at live.ft.com/Brexit

Ten years after Brexit

Join leading Financial Times journalists for an exclusive subscriber webinar on 25 June at 12.30-13.30 UK on the state of the UK as political and economic turmoil marks the 10th anniversary of Brexit.

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

@robertshrimsley.bsky.social: ‘It would also be right to be outraged at the case of Chas Corrigan, a British construction worker who murdered a Saudi student in Cambridge, stabbing him in the neck. But you probably haven’t heard about it since it doesn’t fit the zeitgeist’ www.ft.com/content/3fa9...

The business model of white victimhood

Rage on the right and a narrative of disadvantage changing sides is rewarded by social media

Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Does this make it more likely that the judge will rule the Panorama documentary had no impact on Trump’s finances? Unless the president manages to change the judge…https://www.ft.com/content/d2a04386-82ca-4399-9e0d-0f263c7c7c41?shareType=nongift

Trump lawyers refuse to reveal financial information to BBC in $10bn lawsuit

Broadcaster has sought documents under subpoena in effort to identify impact of ‘Panorama’ documentary on US president

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Meet the Epstein class - ‘the people who have the ear of the president’ via @guychazan.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/e9ee...

How ‘Epstein class’ became a populist battle-cry in US politics

Accusations of elite impunity loom over November’s midterm elections

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Leyla Boulton @leylaboulton.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

When life imitates art? A foreign-funded Egyptian film released in the UK last week, Eagles of the Republic, imagines President Sisi funds a no-expenses spared movie about himself. In both cases, things don't go to plan @curzon.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=pboj... www.ft.com/content/35ab...

The Bolsonaro film threatening to sink his son’s election bid

Flávio Bolsonaro’s presidential run thrown into doubt by revelations he procured film funding from suspected fraudster

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Reposted by Leyla Boulton

Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho keeps saying the "UK is the only country in the world banning new oil and gas licenses". It's completely untrue. Denmark, France, Spain & Ireland have all done the same. She went completely unchallenged on Talk this AM when she repeated it.