From the origin of the "grapevine" itself, through Motown and Marvin Gaye to The Slits' punk reinvention, Hilary Kirby charts the evolution of a classic. Credits: Motown Record Company, Motown Records, Island Def Jam Records.  

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This year’s carol was specially commissioned by the FT with the help of Nicola Clase, Sweden’s ambassador to the UK. Jane Owen talks to Clase about the piece, which was composed by Johan Hugosson and features lyrics adapted from medieval Scandinavian rune poems. It is sung by the choir of Stockholms Musikgymnasium conducted by Bengt Ollen.  

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Greg Lake died this week, and this track remains an enduring Christmas classic. Credit: Syco Music, Universal, Decca, Symphonia  

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What makes a good Christmas song? Should it be cheesy or serious? And why do millennials love them? 

FT pop writers discuss festive classics old and new - from carols to Mariah Carey, Greg Lake to Phil Spector, Sufjan Stevens to Run-DMC. Plus, which 2017's best Christmas song: Gwen Stefani's 'You Make it Feel Like Christmas' or Sia's 'Santa's Coming for Us'?

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Governments are fighting to keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay and their economies afloat

Claer Barrett explores some of the biggest issues facing small investors with investment columnist Merryn Somerset Webb and Fidelity’s Maike Currie. 

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Pandemic could set back the fight against malaria by 20 years, with Africa hit worst

From Muscat to Madeira, the best — and best-value — tipples for the festive season

A move to donate universal benefits to charity could turn up the political heat  

Canada’s deputy PM on moving from the ‘snark’ of journalism to the ‘smarm’ of politics

Prime minister escalates dispute over Canada-listed group’s licence

Oil price collapse and crumbling health system put Latin American nation at risk

Will PSA’s Carlos Tavares prove to be a better merger partner for Fiat Chrysler than Renault and help create the world's fourth-largest carmaker? Katie Martin discusses the terms of the proposed mega merger and the characters behind the deal with Peter Campbell, motor industry correspondent, and David Keohane in Paris.

Contributors: Katie Martin, capital markets editor, Peter Campbell, motor industry correspondent, and David Keohane, Paris correspondent. Producers: Fiona Symon and Persis Love

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Allegations of high-level corruption have convulsed the Mediterranean island state of Malta and shocked the rest of Europe. Public anger has been unleashed by dramatic recent developments in the investigation into the killing of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in a car bomb attack in October 2017. Ben Hall discusses the wider repercussions of the case with Josephine Cumbo and Michael Peel.

Contributors: Ben Hall, Europe editor, Josephine Cumbo, pensions correspondent, and Michael Peel, EU diplomatic correspondent. Producer: Fiona Symon

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Analysts fear government’s timid fiscal response will prolong the pain

Near-unconditional cash transfers are the most efficient form of relief

MEMX is hoping to disrupt the US equities market when it launches in July

Misjudged commercial is an example of an especially troublesome type of marketing mistake

UK airport reports slump in passenger demand as calls resurface for expansion to be axed

Virgin Atlantic could be followed by British Airways in abandoning UK’s second-biggest gateway

Willie Walsh points out that expansion plans face bigger challenges due to coronavirus impact

Companies analysis from our sister publication

Central African Republic has just three ventilators for its 5m people

Nikkei 225 average drops 16 per cent over the week amid broad pandemic-linked sell-off

Regulatory action sought to prevent intervention from having unintended consequences

Former Navy Seal who trained some of ragtag crew tells FT plan was ‘half-cocked’ and ‘inept’

Sensible and targeted state intervention can help capitalism to thrive post-crisis

Sector across region hit by fears of panicked mass withdrawals due to pandemic

A sharp-eyed editor and foreign correspondent who turned a killing phrase

Every major asset class has been disrupted

Human rights are regressing worldwide and the UN’s ability to defend them is under attack

Two questions serve as a reality check on excessive American declinism

Player values tumble as Europe’s top teams prepare to cut spending after pandemic weakens revenues

Airline forecasts capacity will be almost wiped out in the second quarter

If Berlin agrees a €9bn bailout for the airline, it is likely to want a 25 per cent stake and board seats

Discovery in Zenith factory attic helps watchmaker claim the first all-black wristwatch title

Turmoil in commodity market slashes state colleges’ revenues

Coronavirus exposes nation’s post-Fukushima vulnerability

Developers of clean energy projects defy wider turmoil in the global energy markets

If the populists gain power in France and Italy, the future of the euro will be in their hands

The EU is culpably complacent about the challenges of the digital age

London and Brussels have both turned these negotiations into a zero-sum game

Ideally governments would co-ordinate fiscal policy but there is no sense of urgency

Without a co-ordinated response, national stimulus policies will end up increasing imbalances

Google is reportedly on the verge of stepping up their hardware game in a way that follows the example set by Apple, with custom-designed silicon powering future smartphones. Axios reports that Google is readying its own in-house processors for use in future Pixel devices, including both phones and eventually Chromebooks, too. Google’s efforts around its […]

A startup that’s hoping to be a contender in the very large and fragmented market of human resources software has captured the eye of a big investor out of the US and become its first investment in Spain. Barcelona-based Factorial, which is building an all-in-one HR automation platform aimed at small and medium businesses that manages […]

A lot of enterprise cybersecurity efforts focus on malicious hackers that work on behalf of larger organizations, be they criminal groups or state actors — and for good reason, since the majority of incidents these days come from phishing and other malicious techniques that originate outside the enterprise itself. But there has also been a […]

Twitter announced today it’s introducing a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier to understand who you’re replying to and how the conversation is flowing. The company will also test putting engagement actions — including likes, Retweet and reply icons — behind an extra tap to make replies […]

Post-lockdown, technology could help us contain Covid-19. But why stop there?

Twitter announced today it’s introducing a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier to understand who you’re replying to and how the conversation is flowing. The company will also test putting engagement actions — including likes, Retweet and reply icons — behind an extra tap to make replies […]