iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 23/08/2026

An FT reader has dubbed this streamgraph the 'melted ice cream infographic', which I'll take. New, with Dan Clark, an analysis of Premier League shirt sponsors in the wake of the (partial) gambling ban for the new season www.ft.com/content/4709...

A streamgraph showing main shirt sponsors at the start of each premier league season since 1992, by sector. After a growth in the number of gambling sponsors, a new gambling ban means financials, tech and travel make up the majority of sponsors for the new season

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 14/08/2026

Rolling out the Marimekko to visualise the impact of ODA funding cuts on African countries. Read from @pmdfoster.bsky.social and @lucyfisher.ft.com here www.ft.com/content/ef45...

A marimekko chart showing the proportion and scale of ODA funding cuts by comparing 2024-25 country allocations with plans for 2028-29. Sudan is the only country that will retain nearly all of its funding. Kenya faces a 94% cut, Ethiopia loses £134million

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 01/08/2026

Mexico now exports more hardware for data centres than it does cars - quite the reshaping of an economy... New, with Christine Murray www.ft.com/content/ac32...

A chart of exports for vehicles and data centre hardware showing that monthly exports of server-related hardware now outstrip exports of cars

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 30/07/2026

New with Kieran Smith - why is UK mobile phone coverage so bad? www.ft.com/content/db17...

A pair of maps, one showing Southwark in London, the other Derbyshire in the East Midlands. Each map is coloured according to the number of operators (between 0 and 4) that achieve good performance, using 135 metre swide cells. In urban London there is wide variation within the borough, particularly in the south. In rural Derbyshire, poor service is a feature of main transport arteries

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 21/07/2026

By my reckoning the median latitude of the cabinet has shifted north from Wolverhampton/Leicester to betwixt Sheffield and Knowsley ...

A pair of maps comparing the locations of the constituencies between Starmer's outgoing cabinet and Andy Burnham's new cabinet. There is a greater cluster of MPs now in the North West

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 15/07/2026

Ready for this… 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇦🇷

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 21/06/2026

Celtic Cross, Hindhead Common, on the summer solstice

A Celtic cross in early morning sunshine

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 13/06/2026

Cracking out the Gruyère and Emmental to support the Swiss

A photo of some cheese in front of a TV showing World Cup football Switzerland v Qatar

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 03/03/2026

Indeed - but we have now updated the Sankey...

Sankey diagram of crude oil transported through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia is top source of 5.3mn barrels per day, China is top destination with 5.4mn barrels per day

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 15/02/2026

8 years ago, at the British Library, I first saw this map: an FT reader competition to predict the boundaries of Europe after WW1. I made a note to find out more one day - which ultimately led me last month to this tomb in West Norwood cemetery. You can read more here: www.ft.com/content/79a4...

A photo of an elegant grade-II listed tomb in West Norwood cemetery

A 1914 competition map: Changing the map of Europe

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 17/01/2026

Surprised I didn’t see you in Harajuku last summer!

Screenshot of an insta post from FiveG in Harajuku

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 17/01/2026

Fun new toy - Waldorf Protein

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 26/11/2025

New: 'Shark's fin' chart reveals the uneven impact of 'fiscal drag', the stealth tax beloved of recent chancellors. Plus use our interactive calculator to see how fresh freezes announced by Rachel Reeves at todays Budget could affect you on.ft.com/3KqOYUL

A chart of the projected percentage point increase un share of income paid as income tax and national insurance from 2025/25 through to 2029/30. It whos that 'fiscal drag' is set to hit those at or near frozen personal tax thresholds

Screenshot of financial times fiscal drag calculator.

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 19/11/2025

New: A quiz - How well do you know your Budgets? Turns out you can learn a lot about the UK from these questions... on.ft.com/4pijy1y

Screenshot of quiz showing budget announcement: 'Introducing independent taxation of married women' and chancellor quote: "“Married women increasingly resent … that a wife's income is treated … as that of her husband, depriving her of the independence and privacy she has a right to expect”" - with challenge to guess year: 1956, 1964. or 1986

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 09/10/2025

Council tax valuation bands in England are increasingly disconnected from house prices - new with Sam Fleming and Jonathan Vincent. You can even tap in your own details to see how unfair your council tax bill is on.ft.com/46JBbB9

Screenshot of an interactive Sankey diagram showing how sale prices since January 2024 of properties in Waltham Forest relate to Council Tax bands. Band C sales are highlighted, which show sale prices ranging from under £200,000 to £1mn+

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 29/09/2025

@olihawkins.com getting deep into blockchain nerdery with maths students at @ucl.ac.uk

Oliver Hawkins pictured delivering a lecture to UCL students, who are seated in a lecture theatre

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 01/08/2025

A second seismic event of the week that has failed to create the impact most feared... According to Yale Budget Lab, the US effective tariff rate as at August 1 is now 17.3% (after consumption shifts). This is the highest since 1935, but still a shade down on estimates earlier this week...

A chart of the effective US tariff rate - now at 17.3, the highest level since 1930s. Based on actual trade, the rate at the end of May 2025 was 8.8%

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 29/07/2025

New: Donald Trump's tariff blitz brings US levies to highest level since 1930s on.ft.com/3IRgx8M

A chart showing the proprtion of non-USMCA 2024 US goods imports covered by Trump tariff deals. It shows that seven deals mean that more than 60% of US imports threatened with 'reciprocal tariffs' are now covered by a Trump tariff deal

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 22/07/2025

The UK government is set to raise tens of billions of pounds in debt to fund the Sizewell C nuclear power station - the costliest nuclear power plant in the world on.ft.com/40s9GZh

A scatter plot showing the comparative capacity and cost of nuclear power plants that shows Sizewell C is now set to be the costliest nuclear reactor in the world

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 12/07/2025

Great to do Hikarigaoka parkrun this morning - but once you see Donald Trump’s hair in the GPS track, you can’t unsee it…

A map of Hikarigaoka park showing the route of the parkrun. It resembles an outline of Donald Trump

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 26/06/2025

There's been a lot of talk of oil prices as the 'dog that didn't bark' over the past couple of weeks — but what happened to prices during and after previous crises in the Middle East? Our latest draw your own chart game with @raydouglas.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/c618...

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 23/05/2025

I’ve always wanted to demo an #XR version of a 75-year old water computer in a medieval piazza #trento

Photo of Piazza di Fiera in Trento, setting for the annual economics festival. A medieval wall surrounds it

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 01/04/2025

New with @pmdfoster.bsky.social - ahead of 'Liberation Day', a look at what an escalating trade war could mean for the global economy, based on new modelling by @shepotylo.bsky.social and Jun Du at @astonuniversity.bsky.social. Gift link: on.ft.com/4iOHIOi

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 25/03/2025

GIS nerds with a penchant for UK maps might appreciate Sir George Airy photobombing this Ian Bott illustration of the Airy Transit Circle. Check out Ian's amazing illustrated guide to London's Royal Observatory at Greenwich just in time for the clocks going forward (gift link: on.ft.com/4iVA2u1)

An illustration of the Airy Transit Circle of 1851, a device to fix the position of stars and other celestial bodies by determining two coordinates. Inventor Sir George Airy is shown to scale next to the machine which is considerably bigger than him

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 17/03/2025

New: The end of Europe's 'peace dividend' - [gift link] on.ft.com/41T31az

A grid of four charts shows how armed forces personnel numbers have contracted across Europe since the 1990s - in France, Germany, the EU overall - and the UK

Screenshot of an interactive calculator that allows reader to select a defence spending target (as a % of GDP) and see how much cuts in spending to health, education would be required to fund it

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 06/03/2025

👀 Latest US trade figures ... via our Trade tracker (free to read link on.ft.com/4bwBsYF)

Screenshot from an FT US trade tracker page. Featured is a bar chart of the US trade deficit which shows it reached a record $131bn in January 2025

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 06/02/2025

Waldo Tobler's first law of geography is alive and well on our new US trade and tariff tracker. Gift link: on.ft.com/3CAC7eT

A bar chart showing exports of G20 countries to the US as a & of each country's total exports in 2023. Neighbouring Mexico and Canada rely on the US for around 80% of their exports. the next highest is Japan at just over 20%. Data is from Unctad.

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 21/01/2025

I can now add 'running in sub-zero temperatures' to the list of things I've done for the @financialtimes.com - a little celebration of the international phenomenon that is Parkrun on.ft.com/4jlBXbN

A global map showing the locations of 2,500 Parkrun events, more than half of which are outside the UK. There are notable clusters in North America, Western Europe, South Africa, Japan, Australia and New Zealand

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 23/12/2024

Also, was amazing to see your self-defence skills spring into action when called upon unexpectedly at the FT!

A photo of Andy Kirk wearing g an Apple Vision Pro headset in the FT office. He has adopted a self-defence position with hands raised as (virtual) elephants run past him.

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 23/12/2024

An early christmas present courtesy of @visualisingdata.com - a 3rd edition to get tucked into over a mince pie and sherry - thanks Andy!

Photo of the front cover of the third edition of 'Data Visualisation: A handbook for data driven design' by Andy Kirk

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 19/12/2024

How well do you know the global jobs market? Fun 'draw your own' charts from Will Crofton and Stephanie Stacey. Free-to-read/play link: on.ft.com/3P3wpEY

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 07/11/2024

The last 37 districts where the winning party is not yet certain will determine who controls the US House of Representatives. We're tracking every race live, here (free to read): ig.ft.com/us-elections...

A map of the current state of play in the US House of Representatives, with 192 Democrats and 206 Republicans, there is still a race to get to 218 required to win control

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 06/11/2024

Phenomenal effort from the FT data team overnight to get this early analysis on the swing to Trump out (gift link) on.ft.com/3Cj7Fp1

A map of the swing between Republicans and Democrats between 2020 and 2024 which shows that red states have gone redder for Trump

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 15/10/2024

Love this cameo appearance from the FT Visual Vocabulary in the artwork for The Chancellor Game: can you run the UK economy? Superb stuff from Sam Joiner, @emmalewis.bsky.social, Caroline Nevitt, Justine Williams and Sam Fleming working with the @resfoundation.bsky.social ig.ft.com/chancellor-g...

Illustration showing detail from a classroom. The Financial Times Visual Vocabulary is a poster on the wall

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 14/10/2024

Sobering @financialtimes.com Big Read from @peter.andringa.me and Eva Xiao on attempts to throw doubt on US election results. Gift link on.ft.com/3Ynoxne

A grid of charts showing monthly mentions in rightwing podcasts and online video series of conspiracy themes. Speculation about non-citizen voting and voter rolls are the most popular conspiracy theories this cycle

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 12/10/2024

Watched the new Apple immersive film ‘Submerged’ on Vision Pro. The hardware needs to evolve - and the platform needs to be more social - but boy does it engage the senses. Felt like I was on a sinking submarine, not watching a film about a sinking submarine.

Poster advertising new Apple immersive film ‘Submerged’

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 04/10/2024

4/ … but not lead paint or cigarettes

An advert for white lead paint from Punch magazine

An advert for Cooltipt cigarettes from Punch magazine

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 04/10/2024

3/ … and also .. the ads. People in the 1950s seem to have been constantly worried about their trousers and socks falling down…

Adverts from Punch magazine for socks and trousers

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 04/10/2024

2/ includes the famous parody of the Phillips machine …

Cartoon of a machine showing working of the economy

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 04/10/2024

1/ Finally got my hands on an issue of Punch from April 15 1953 ….

Front cover of Punch magazine from 1953. A dog is wearing a hat

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 19/09/2024

An amazing evening as we reunited the London School of Economics with a piece of its history. 75 years after Bill Phillips stunned everyone with the first ever interactive computer model of a national economy, we returned to demonstrate an #AppleVisionPro rebirth apps.apple.com/us/app/ft-mo...

Alan Smith of the FT demonstrates the FT Money Machine using Apple Vision Pro

Panel session at the FT Money Machine launch event featuring alan Smith of the FT, Nick Barr and Mary Morgan of the LSE, Allan McRobie of Cambridge University and Reto Stuber of WongDoody

Martin Wolf of the FT gets hands on with the FT Money Machine using Apple Vision Pro

The FT Money Machine development team celebrate at the launch event at the London School of Economics

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 18/09/2024

Looking forward to re-introducing the London School of Economics to a piece of its economic history this evening ...

Photograph of a device partially obscured by a pink covering. Text says "Meet the FT Money Machine"

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 06/09/2024

16/ Beg/borrow/steal an Apple #VisionPro to give it a go!

Screenshot of interactive FT Money Machine. User is adjusting savings

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 06/09/2024

15/ As soon as we brought that into Apple Vision Pro, everything made perfect, mad, bonkers sense. It means I can drop a working Mk II Phillips machine into my living room and play around with it. Goosebump-inducing.

The FT Money Machine - a digital Phillips computer - in a sunlit living room

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 06/09/2024

14/ WongDoody built a 3D model of the machine in Maya and imported it into Unity to simulate the flow of pink water through the machine's veins.

Detailed render of digital Phillips machine with pink water

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 06/09/2024

13/ This is the amazing Professor Allan McRobie with Bob and the WongDoody team. Allan demonstrated it, and allowed us to measure and capture every nuance of its analogue beauty.

Moniac demonstration at Cambridge University. Machine inspected by Bob Haslett and colleagues under watchful eye of engineer Allan McRobie

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Alan Smith @theboysmithy.ft.com · 06/09/2024

8/ But amazingly, Bob produced a working prototype!

Screenshot of a prototype digital moniac by Bob Haslett showing sliders/checkboxes and machine

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