FT Investigations

Hear some of the best-reported stories from the Financial Times’s investigative journalists. The dialogue in these podcasts is based on interviews, court records and other documents. We pace each story over a series of episodes.

  • 20 minutes 8 seconds
    PFI: a costly mistake?
    The UK's private finance initiative was designed as an alternative way to fund the building of hospitals, schools and other infrastructure. But was it a costly mistake? Matthew Vincent is joined by the FT’s Jonathan Ford and Gill Plimmer, Alex Jan of the global engineering company Arup and Labour MP Stella Creasy to discuss the question.

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    5 February 2018, 2:04 am
  • 22 minutes 3 seconds
    How to fix Britain's privatised railways
    There are two ways of looking at Britain’s rail privatisation story. If you focus on usage, it looks like a success. But look at the cost and level of passenger satisfaction and the picture is not quite so rosy. Matthew Vincent discusses what's gone wrong and what can be done to fix Britain's railways with the FT's Jonathan Ford, Gill Plimmer and Robert Wright and John Stittle of Essex Business School. Music clip courtesy of ACTORvist

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    29 January 2018, 11:51 am
  • 28 minutes 23 seconds
    Is Britain's privatisation model broken?
    Years of austerity and rising bills in the UK have eroded the consensus that private companies could run utilities more cheaply and efficiently than the state and opposition politicians are calling for renationalisation. Matthew Vincent discusses what has gone wrong with Britain's privatisation model with the FT's Jonathan Ford and Gill Plimmer, and they are joined by Stephen Littlechild, the man who devised the model, and infrastructure expert Martin Blaiklock.

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    22 January 2018, 12:37 pm
  • 18 minutes 17 seconds
    Afghan trailblazers
    Afghanistan has made great strides in areas of womens' education and employment, in spite of the insecurity and violence that dominate the headlines. Freelance producer Catriona Oliphant visited the country for the FT and produced this feature on Afghan women who are blazing a trail.

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    3 November 2016, 5:52 pm
  • 10 minutes 36 seconds
    Cambodia falls for China's corporate embrace
    China has a controversial history in Cambodia, where it was the main foreign supporter of the genocidal Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. These days China is pouring money into the country at an unprecedented rate but, as the FT's James Kynge reports, not everyone is benefiting from the billion dollar investment deals.

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    8 September 2016, 5:27 pm
  • 14 minutes 41 seconds
    Is Isis winning the cyberwar against the west?
    Was Omar Mateen persuaded by Islamist propaganda to carry out his attack on the Orlando nightclub? How can western security agencies fight back against jihadi websites or predict those most likely to be influenced by them? Tom Burgis puts these questions to Kara Scannell, FT investigations correspondent, and Erika Solomon, Middle East correspondent.

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    1 July 2016, 5:00 am
  • 8 minutes 53 seconds
    McKinsey's secretive investment arm
    McKinsey, one of the world’s most influential consulting firms, has built up a secretive $5bn internal investment arm that manages the fortunes of its past and present partners, raising questions over possible conflicts of interest. Andrew Hill talks to the FT journalists who investigated the fund about how it operates and why it may be a cause for concern.

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    8 June 2016, 5:28 pm
  • 16 minutes 31 seconds
    Unravelling how the secrecy industry works
    Through his investigation into the London operations of Swiss bank BSI, Tom Burgis has looked into the nuts and bolts of how some banks help clients hide their money from tax authorities. He talks to Christine Spolar and Ralph Atkins about what he found.

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    11 May 2016, 10:00 pm
  • 7 minutes 54 seconds
    America's prairie tax haven
    South Dakota's role as a prairie tax haven has gained unwanted attention since the release of the Panama Papers, an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which has drawn attention to the anonymity that is available in the US. The FT's Kara Scannell travelled to South Dakota to investigate. She talks to Christine Spolar and Vanessa Houlder about what she found.

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    9 May 2016, 5:47 pm
  • 14 minutes 15 seconds
    The Panama Papers and the role of tax havens
    The leaked “Panama Papers” show how a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, secretly shepherded a web of offshore accounts that resulted in billions of dollars in transactions passing through its doors. Its client list includes some of the world’s wealthiest people, from members of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s inner circle to the prime minister of Iceland. Tom Burgis talks to Vanessa Houlder, FT tax correspondent and Alex Cobham, head of research at the Tax Justice Network, about the significance of the revelations.

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    4 April 2016, 6:45 pm
  • 11 minutes 45 seconds
    Britain's troubled nuclear plans
    Britain's nuclear plans are in trouble after the French company building and designing a new facility at Hinkley Point said it needed more funds to proceed. Tom Burgis discusses what's behind the delays and cost overruns with French nuclear scientist Bertrand Barré, and FT energy correspondent Kiran Stacey.

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    20 March 2016, 3:00 pm
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